Configure the Network

Before you start to install WSUS, you should make sure that your network is configured to work with WSUS. You should check two areas in particular: the proxy server (if your network uses a proxy server to communicate with the Internet) and the corporate firewall

Configure the Proxy Server

When you configure the root WSUS server on your network, you need to know whether there will be a proxy server between the WSUS server and the Internet. If you do, you will need to check the following issues before starting to install WSUS:

  • Protocols supported by the proxy server. WSUS will communicate with Microsoft Update via HTTP and SSL, so the proxy server must support both protocols.

  • The authentication method used by the proxy server (basic authentication or Windows authentication).

Configure the Firewall

If there is a corporate firewall between WSUS and the Internet, you might need to configure the firewall to ensure that WSUS can obtain updates.

To configure the firewall

Note

The steps for configuring the firewall are meant for a corporate firewall positioned between WSUS and the Internet. Because WSUS initiates all its network traffic, there is no need to configure Windows Firewall on the WSUS server.

Although the connection between Microsoft Update and WSUS requires ports 80 and 443 to be open, you can configure multiple WSUS servers to synchronize with a custom port.