Microsoft Ready to Release Patching Tool
New Microsoft Update service will be delivered in June, software giant says.
Joris Evers, IDG News Service
LAS VEGAS -- After several delays, Microsoft is set to deliver in June the Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) patching tool and the Microsoft Update (MU) software patching service, a company executive says.
Both MU and WSUS were originally due in the first half of 2004, but were delayed several times. Microsoft has blamed the delays partly on work it had to do on Windows XP Service Pack 2, a security-focused upgrade to Windows XP released last August. Most recently the company has said it would deliver MU and WSUS in the first half of 2005, a target it expects to make.
MU is the successor to the current Windows Update service. It is a single service for users to get patches for a number of Microsoft products, not just Windows. The service will be aimed mostly at consumers and small businesses, as Windows Update is today.
"Windows Update in a short two months will become Microsoft Update," Kirill Tatarinov, corporate vice president at Microsoft's Enterprise Management Division said in a presentation at the Microsoft Management Summit here this week. "The product is rock solid."
WSUS, which depends on MU, will ship at the same time, Tatarinov says, speaking during an interview after his presentation at the event. Attendees at the annual Microsoft systems management software event applauded after Tatarinov gave the update on the much-anticipated patching tool and service.
Microsoft in June will host its U.S. TechEd event in Orlando, which could be the launch venue for MU and WSUS. Microsoft spokespeople would not commit to that, however.
New and Improved
WSUS succeeds the existing Software Update Services (SUS) tool, Microsoft's no-charge patch management tool for business users. The new version includes improvements in patch delivery, status reporting, network usage, and improved implementation and administration flexibility, according to a Microsoft presentation Tuesday.
Like MU, WSUS also offers patches for Windows operating systems as well as Office XP, Office 2003, SQL Server, MSDE (Microsoft Desktop Engine), Exchange 2000 Server, and Exchange Server 2003 products, Microsoft says.
The WSUS client will run on versions of Windows 2000 with Service Pack 3 and beyond and on all Windows XP releases. The WSUS server requires Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 and later or Windows Server 2003, Microsoft says.
WSUS is currently available in release candidate version, the final before release, says Jason Leznek, a product manager at Microsoft. The product has undergone two name changes. It was originally called SUS 2.0 and then renamed Windows Update Services. It got the Windows Server Update Services name earlier this year.
About a month after the release of WSUS, Microsoft plans to release an update for its Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 product with the new MU and WSUS scanning engine. SMS is Microsoft's enterprise change and configuration management product, which is also used for patching.
Right now, users sometimes get different results when scanning for patch requirements with Windows Update, SMS, and Microsoft's Baseline Security Analyzer, Leznek says. The new engine should eliminate the problem, he says.
