Microsoft Ships Patch Management and Security Tools at TechEd

by Alex Woodie

At its TechEd 2005 conference in Florida this week, Microsoft announced the immediate availability of its new systems management tool, Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) software, as well as its Microsoft Update (MU) service. The software vendor, which is making a big push to improve the manageability of its software, also announced it would have Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 and Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA) 2.0 ready to ship by mid-July.

WSUS is the low-end choice of tools for automating the roll-out of patches and updates for Windows XP, 2000, and Server 2003 operating systems and popular Microsoft products, including Office XP and 2003, SQL Server 2000, Exchange Server 2003. The software, which runs on Windows 2000 with Service Pack 4 (SP4) or later and Windows Server 2003 and contains client components as well, is free, and suited for use by small, medium, and large companies, Microsoft says.

A release candidate of WSUS was made available to testers in March, and a final production version is now available. The product is based on the old Software Update Services (SUS) software, and had gone by the unfortunate name of Windows Update Services--or WUS--before Microsoft wisely changed the name in March to WSUS to more "accurately describe the functionality and value of the product." To download WSUS, click here.

Meanwhile, Microsoft's MU, which will function as a superset of Windows Update (WU), is also now available. MU will provide a single place for consumers and small businesses to find, download, and install patches and updates for a variety of Microsoft products, including Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003, Office 2003, and Exchange Server 2003.

"MU is the next generation of the popular Windows Update (WU) service," says Gordon Mangione, corporate vice president of the security business and technology unit at Microsoft, in a Q&A conducted by Microsoft. "It's a one-stop destination for updates that help keep computers more secure, up-to-date, and performing at their best. MU includes the Automatic Updates functionality already found in WU so users can choose to automatically install high-priority updates."

Mangione also says Microsoft will be releasing two other updating tools by mid-July, including the SMS 2003 Inventory Tool, and the final and complete version of Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA) 2.0. The SMS 2003 Inventory Tool, which works with SMS 2003, will help users detect and deploy the latest security updates and product service packs. MBSA 2.0 will help small and medium size businesses analyze their security state and detect common security mis-configurations and missing security updates.

Microsoft customers demanded a common set of tools to replace the various update tools used previously, Mangione says. "Because the new services and technologies draw information and updates from a single source--the Microsoft Update catalog--and use a common polling engine (provided by the new Windows Update Agent), our customers will have a much more integrated and reliable update management process," he said in the Q&A.

Microsoft recommends that large companies needing patch management as well as advanced deployment capabilities--such as support for deployment of software packages, reporting on software and hardware inventory, and remote-control functionality--should consider Systems Management Server 2003, which starts at $1,219. Check out this page for a good comparison of SMS 2003, WSUS, and MU features.