Lesson 1

Planning a Security Update Infrastructure

13-9

a pilot deployment might be sufficient, followed by a general deployment if no prob-

lems occur.

Using Microsoft Software Update Services

Deploying any software on a large network is a complicated task, and security updates

are no exception. What might be a simple task on a single computer turns into a

major project when you have hundreds or thousands of computers. Microsoft SUS is

a free product that notifies administrators when new security updates are available,

downloads the updates, and then deploys them to the computers on the network

(see Figure 13-3).

f13pm03

Figure 13-3

The Microsoft Software Update Services interface

See Also

For more information on SUS, see the Microsoft Web site at http:

//www.microsoft..com/windowsserversystem/updateservices/evaluation/previous

/default.mspx.

SUS is essentially an intranet version of the Windows Update Web site that eliminates

the need for each computer to download software updates from the Internet and elim-

inates the need to deploy the updates to multiple computers manually. Administrators

can control which updates are applied to the network computers and when, automat-

ing the process so that users do not need to know or do anything.

SUS consists of the following components:

■

Synchronization server One computer, running SUS, functions as a synchro-

nization server, downloading all software updates from the Windows Update Web