Microsoft last week delivered on a nearly two-year old promise with the release of two free tools to help users keep their systems patched and updated.
ORLANDO – Microsoft last week delivered on a nearly two-year old promise with the release of two free tools to help users keep their systems patched and updated.
Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), a free client and server tool for downloading and distributing patches, and Microsoft Update (MU), a Web site that hosts patches, form the cornerstones of Microsoft’s promise to deliver a set of comprehensive patching tools that have a common catalog and scanning technology.
WSUS and MU form the foundation for all Microsoft’s vulnerability assessment tools going forward, including System Management Server and Microsoft Operations Manager.
The linchpin is WSUS’s new client-side scanning engine, which details what patches are installed, and catalog technology that lists available patches and updates. WSUS also features a reporting engine, restart controls and bandwidth throttling.
Next month, Microsoft will complement WSUS and MU with two other tools, the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA) 2.0, a free vulnerability assessment tool. MBSA 2.0 also will incorporate WSUS scanning technology in favor of its current HFNetChk scanning engine. Microsoft also plans to release System Management Server 2003 Inventory Tool, which will collect vulnerability and configuration data using output from MBSA.
The software replaces a mismatched grab bag of Microsoft patching software that more often than not delivered conflicting data that left administrators unsure if they were patched or not.
Microsoft’s goal is to wrap it all the new components into its wide-ranging Dynamic Systems Initiative, a plan to create a management platform for Windows.
“We know your number one desire is for us to eliminate the need for all future patches, we’re working hard on that but we’re also working hard to make sure that you have the tools to reasonably and responsibly manage the security inside the organizations that you’re responsible for,” Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told attendees last week at the company’s annual TechEd conference. Ballmer originally introduced the tools in October 2003 and said they would ship in May 2004.
The free tools will work only with newer versions of the Windows OS and Microsoft applications.
Experts say the free tools will be significant to smaller users with mostly Microsoft software and less appealing to larger companies who will still need something like SMS, which adds features such as inventory and administrative controls the free tools don’t have.
The WSUS client runs on Windows 2000 SP3 and XP and Windows Server 2003 [stet]. The WSUS server runs on Windows 2000 SP4 and Windows Server 2003. While the software is free, each managed client will require a Windows Server client access license.
Initially, WSUS will support patches for Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP Professional, Office XP, Office 2003, SQL Server 2000, MSDE 2000, and Exchange 2003.
