Maintenance

WSUS

Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) can be configured from the command-line with wsusutil.exe

There are 5 basic WSUS architecture configurations

• Single WSUS Server downloads updates from Microsoft Update, and all the computers on the network download updates from it. A single server can usupport up to 25,000 clients.
• Replica WSUS Servers: a central WSUS server downloads from Microsoft Update, and after approval the updates are distributed to downstream servers at remote locations.
• Autonomous WSUS Servers: a central WSUS server downloads from Microsoft Update, all of which are distributed to remote servers; each remote site's administrators are individually responsible for evaluating and approving updates.
• Low-bandwidth WSUS Servers at remote sites download only the list of approved updates, which are then retrieved from Microsoft Update over the Internet, minimizing WAN traffic.
• Disconnected WSUS Servers have updates imported from offline media (DVD-ROMs, portable drives, etc), utilizing no WAN or Internet bandwidth whatsoever.

When a computer first communicates with a WSUS server, it is added to the All Computers and and Unassigned Computers group automatically, which is created by default.

Windows Server Backup

To back up a VM without any downtime, integration services must be installed and enabled, and all disks must be basic disks formatted with NTFS.

Windows Server Backup

• System state includes boot files, Active Directory files, SYSVOL (when run on a DC), the registry, and other data.
• System reserved is a special partition containing Boot Manager and Boot Configuration data.

Resources

• updateservices PowerShell module
• windowsserverbackup PowerShell module