10 WSUS Best Practices

WSUS is a vital tool for keeping Windows systems up to date with the latest security patches and hotfixes. However, WSUS can be challenging to configure and manage. In this article, we will discuss 10 WSUS best practices that will help you to better manage your WSUS environment.

1. Use a dedicated server for WSUS

Using a dedicated server for WSUS ensures that updates are downloaded and installed quickly and efficiently. It also helps to prevent any potential conflicts that could arise from sharing a server with other applications.

Additionally, having a dedicated server for WSUS allows you to easily scale up or down as needed, without impacting other applications. This is especially important as Microsoft continues to release new versions of Windows and other products on a regular basis.

2. Install the latest version of WSUS

The latest version of WSUS contains all the latest security patches and fixes. By running an older version, you’re potentially opening yourself up to attack.

Additionally, the latest version of WSUS often contains new features and improvements that can make managing your updates easier. So it’s always a good idea to install the latest version of WSUS when it’s released.

3. Configure Group Policy to manage clients

When you configure Group Policy, you can specify when and how often clients check for updates from the WSUS server, as well as which types of updates they should install. This gives you much more control over the update process, and helps to ensure that clients stay up-to-date without putting too much strain on your network.

Configuring Group Policy is a bit technical, but there are plenty of resources available to help you get it done. Once you’ve got it configured, you’ll be able to sleep soundly knowing that your clients are staying up-to-date with the latest security patches and other important updates.

4. Use HTTPS communication

When you use HTTP, all communication between the WSUS server and clients is done in the clear. This means that anyone with a network sniffer can see what’s being downloaded and installed on client machines.

With HTTPS, all communication is encrypted, so even if someone was able to intercept the traffic, they wouldn’t be able to read it.

Enabling HTTPS is a bit more complicated than just using HTTP, but it’s worth it for the increased security.

5. Enable SSL on your WSUS website

When you enable SSL on your WSUS website, all communication between the WSUS server and clients will be encrypted. This is important because the WSUS database contains a lot of sensitive information, such as which computers have which updates installed.

If SSL is not enabled, then this sensitive information could be intercepted by an attacker and used to exploit vulnerabilities on those computers. Therefore, it’s essential that you enable SSL on your WSUS website to protect your data.

6. Don’t store updates locally

If you store updates locally, you’re effectively creating a silo of security patches that can’t be easily shared with other systems. This increases the chances that some systems will be left unpatched, which puts your organization at risk.

It’s much better to use WSUS to download updates from Microsoft and then distribute them to systems on your network. This way, all systems have access to the same set of updates and you don’t have to worry about keeping them up-to-date manually.

7. Run the Server Cleanup Wizard regularly

The Server Cleanup Wizard is a tool that helps you clean up your WSUS server, and it’s important to run it regularly because it can help reduce the size of your database and improve performance. The wizard can also help you remove obsolete or unneeded updates, which can free up space on your server.

It’s recommended that you run the Server Cleanup Wizard at least once a month, but you can run it more often if needed. You can access the Server Cleanup Wizard by going to the Options page in the WSUS console.

8. Manage update approvals carefully

By default, WSUS is configured to automatically approve all updates for installation. This can be a problem because it means that any new updates that are released will be installed on client machines without any review or testing.

It’s much better to configure WSUS to only approve updates that have been thoroughly tested and approved by your organization. That way, you can be sure that only stable and secure updates are being installed on your machines.

To do this, open the WSUS console and go to Options > Update Approvals. From here, you can select which types of updates should be automatically approved and which ones should require manual approval.

9. Create computer groups and configure them appropriately

By default, when you install WSUS, all computers that connect to the server are placed in a single group called “All Computers.” This is not ideal from a management perspective, as it’s difficult to target updates to specific groups of computers when they’re all lumped together.

Creating computer groups in WSUS allows you to more easily manage which computers receive which updates. For example, you can create a group for servers and another for workstations, and then configure each group to only receive the updates that are relevant to them.

Configuring computer groups properly is essential for maintaining an effective WSUS deployment.

10. Monitor client computers

By monitoring client computers, you can see which ones have not contacted the server in a while, which ones have never contacted the server, and which ones have updates that have failed to install.

You can use the Client Computers page to monitor client computers. To access this page, click on the Client Computers node in the left-hand pane of the WSUS console.

The Client Computers page shows you a list of all the client computers that have been detected by WSUS, as well as some basic information about each one, such as when they last contacted the server, whether or not they are up-to-date, and so on.

If you see a computer that has not contacted the server in a while, you can try to force it to check for updates by right-clicking on it and selecting “Check for Updates.” If that doesn’t work, you may need to investigate why the computer is not contacting the server.

If you see a computer that has never contacted the server, you can try to add it to a group by right-clicking on it and selecting “Add to Group.” If that doesn’t work, you may need to investigate why the computer is not contacting the server.

If you see a computer that has updates that have failed to install, you can try to force it to install the updates by right-clicking on it and selecting “Install Updates.” If that doesn’t work, you may need to investigate why the updates are failing to install.