Step-by-Step Migration

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Before you begin the migration, you need to determine if you are running WSUS 3.0 or WSUS 2.0. Open the Administrative Tools folder on the server that has WSUS installed and look at the name of the WSUS icon.

  • If it is called Microsoft® Windows Server Update Services 3.0, you are running WSUS 3.0.
  • If it is called Microsoft Windows Server Update Services, you are running WSUS 2.0.

Step-by-step instructions for migrating from WSUS 3.0

Step-by-step instructions for migrating from WSUS 2.0

Step-by-step instructions for migrating from WSUS 3.0

To complete this migration, you will perform the following tasks:

  • Set the Management Server to be a replica of the existing WSUS 3.0 server.
  • Replicate settings to the Management Server.
  • Verify that the replication was successful.
  • Set the Management Server to be a stand-alone WSUS server (not a replica of the existing WSUS server).

Set the Management Server to be a replica of the existing WSUS server

To set the Management Server to be a replica

  1. Log on to the Management Server as domain administrator.

  2. Click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Microsoft Windows Server Update Services 3.0 SP1.

  3. In the left pane, click Options.

  4. Click Update Source and Proxy Server.

  5. On the Update Source tab, click Synchronize from another Windows Server Update Services server.

  6. In the Server name text box, type the name of the server.

  7. Type the port that the existing WSUS server is running on. To determine this port, log on to the existing WSUS server, open the WSUS console, and select the node in the left pane that corresponds to the name of the server. Under Overview, in the Connection section, look at the Port setting.

  8. Ensure that the This server is a replica of the upstream server check box is selected.

  9. Click OK.

Replicate settings to the Management Server

To replicate your settings

  1. In the left pane of the WSUS console, navigate to the node that corresponds to the name of your Management Server.

  2. Under Overview, in the Synchronization Status section, click Synchronize Now.

Check to see if the synchronization is complete

Wait several minutes, and then refresh the page. If the synchronization is still in progress (under Overview, see the Synchronization Status section), wait ten minutes and refresh the page again.

If the synchronization failed:

  • Check that you entered the server name and port correctly on the Update Source and Proxy Server page
  • Analyze the details of the failure on the Synchronizations node.

Check to see if the data download is complete

Note

Do not begin monitoring the downloading of update data until the synchronization has completed successfully.

After the synchronization completes, the update data will start to download from your existing server to the Management Server. There may be a delay of several minutes before the download begins. Wait several minutes and then refresh the page.

To see if the download process is complete, under Overview, look at the Download Status section. The download process is complete when Updates Needing Files is 0.

Verify that the replication was successful

Note

Do not attempt to verify the replication until all your update data has downloaded.

Ensure that all your data successfully replicated by verifying the following:

Computer groups   

In the left pane, browse the Computers node. If your computer groups did not replicate, check to see if your synchronization completed successfully.

Approvals   

In the left pane, expand the Updates node, and then click All Updates. Set Approval to Approved and set Status to Any. Click Refresh so you can see which updates are approved.

Update data   

Examine the number of files in the WSUSContent folder. The number of files in the WSUSContent folder on the Management Server should match the number of files in the WSUSContent folder of the existing WSUS server.

  • On the Management Server, the WSUSContent folder is located at %SYSTEMDRIVE%\updates\WSUSContent. This location may vary depending upon where Windows EBS was installed.
  • On the existing WSUS server, the WSUSContent folder is a subfolder that is located where WSUS was installed (try %SYSTEMDRIVE%\WSUS\WSUSContent).

If the folder contents do not match, wait 15 minutes for replication to continue, and then check again.

Set the Management Server to be a stand-alone WSUS server

To set the Management Server

  1. In the WSUS console on the Management Server, click Options, and then click Update Source and Proxy Server.

  2. On the Update Source tab, clear the This server is a replica of the upstream server check box.

  3. Select the Synchronize from Microsoft Update check box.

  4. Click OK.

Step-by-step instructions for migrating from WSUS 2.0

To complete this migration, you will perform the following tasks:

  • Configure WSUS settings on the Management Server so that they match the existing settings on the WSUS server.
  • Copy updates from the existing WSUS server to the Management Server.
  • Copy metadata from the existing WSUS server to the Management Server.
  • Copy target groups and approvals from the existing WSUS server to the Management Server (this is an optional step).

Configure WSUS settings on the Management Server

To configure WSUS settings

  1. Log on to the existing WSUS server as domain administrator.

  2. Click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Microsoft Windows Server Update Services.

  3. In the top-right corner of the console, click Options, and then click Synchronization Options.

  4. Under Products and Classifications, under Products, click Change to see the products that you are receiving updates for. Under Update classifications, click Change to see what types of updates you are receiving. Record this information.

  5. Under Update Files and Languages, click Advanced.

  6. Click OK to close the warning dialog box that appears. Record all of the settings that appear in the Update Files and Languages section.

  7. Log on to the Management Server as domain administrator.

  8. Click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Microsoft Windows Server Update Services 3.0 SP1.

  9. In the left pane, click Options, and then click Products and classifications.

  10. Make all of the settings on the Products and Classifications tabs match the settings that you recorded from your existing WSUS server.

  11. Click Update Files and Languages.

  12. Configure the settings on the Update Files and Update Languages tabs so that they match the settings that you recorded from your existing WSUS server. Do not copy the Do not store update files locally setting on the Update Files tab, even if it is selected on your existing WSUS server—Store update files locally on this server should be selected.

Copy updates from the existing WSUS server to the Management Server

To copy updates

  1. On the existing WSUS server, share the WSUSContent folder as WSUSContent.

  2. Log on as domain administrator on the Management Server.

  3. Open a Command Prompt window, type the following, and then press ENTER:

    robocopy \\ExistingWSUSserver\WsusContent  %SYSTEMDRIVE%\updates\WsusContent /E /COPYALL

    This location may vary depending upon how you installed Microsoft® System Center Essentials 2007.

    This will copy all of the updates from the existing WSUS server to the Management Server.

    Note

    This process may take an hour or more to complete depending on how many updates you downloaded, and it will create significant load on your corporate network.

  4. Verify that the RoboCopy output reports zero failed files (look for the FAILED column at the end of the output).

Copy update metadata from the existing WSUS server to the Management Server

Note

This process may take an hour or more to complete depending on how many updates you have downloaded, and it will create significant load on your network. Do not interrupt the export process once it has begun.

To export metadata from the existing WSUS server

  1. Log on to the existing WSUS server as domain administrator.

  2. Open a Command Prompt window, and change to a temporary directory on a drive that has at least 50 megabytes of free space.

  3. Type the following:

    “%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Program Files\Update Services\Tools\wsusutil.exe” export WSUSmetadata.cab exportlog.txt

    If you did not install WSUS in the default location, substitute the folder where you installed WSUS for:

    “%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Program Files\Update Services”

  4. After the operation is complete, the following message should appear: All updates are successfully exported. If you do not see this message, examine exportlog.txt.

Copy the WSUS metadata.cab file that was created in the previous step to the Management Server.

Note

This process will put significant load on the Management Server. This process can take four hours or more to complete. It can take up to an additional four hours after the import is complete for the database to verify the imported entries. Do not interrupt the import process after it begins.

To import WSUS metadata on the Management Server

  1. Log on to the Management Server as domain administrator.

  2. Open a Command Prompt window, and change to the directory that contains the WSUSmetadata.cab file you copied from the existing WSUS server.

  3. Type the following:

    “%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Program Files\Update Services\Tools\wsusutil.exe” import WSUSmetadata.cab importlog.txt

Copy target groups and approvals from the existing WSUS server

Note

This step is optional.

This task uses a tool called WSUSMigrate, which is not supported. If you do not want to use an unsupported tool, you can manually set your approval settings and target groups on the Management Server so that they match the settings on the existing WSUS server.

To copy target groups and approvals

  1. On your existing WSUS server, install the Windows Server Update Services API Samples and Tools kit for WSUS 2.0.

    You can find the link to the kit at the Microsoft Web site (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=93830).

    After you have successfully installed this kit, you should have a WSUSMigrate folder located at:

    %SYSTEMDRIVE%\Program Files\Update Services API Samples and Tools\WSUSMigrate

  2. Open a Command Prompt window, and change to a temporary directory on a drive that has at least 50 megabytes of free space.

  3. Type the following:

    “%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Program Files\Update Services API Samples and Tools\WSUSMigrate\WSUSMigrationExport\WsusMigrationExport.exe” WSUS-approvals.xml

    Note

    This process can take up to 30 minutes. Do not interrupt the export process after it begins.

  4. Copy the WSUS-approvals.xml file to the Management Server. You can use the following command:

    copy WSUS-approvals.xml \\ManagementServer\c$\tempdir

  5. On the Management Server, install the Update Services 3.0 API Samples and Tools kit for WSUS 3.0.

    To download this kit, click API Samples and Tools on the Microsoft Web site (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=94242).

  6. To import target groups, type the following at a command prompt:

    “%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Program Files (x86)\Update Services 3.0 API Samples and Tools\WSUSMigrate\WSUSMigrationImport\WSUSMigrationImport.exe” Drive:\Path\WSUS-approvals.xml TargetGroups None

  7. To import approvals, type the following at a command prompt:

    “%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Program Files (x86)\Update Services 3.0 API Samples and Tools\WSUSMigrate\WSUSMigrationImport\WSUSMigrationImport.exe” Drive:\Path\WSUS-approvals.xml Approvals None