Options 2 and 3 let a local administrator control when to download and install updates. When an administrator is logged on and updates become available for download or installation, the AU client notifies the administrator. If the administrator clicks the notification balloon, the AU client opens a dialog box in which the user can click Remind Me Later or Install.
If you select option 4, you can configure the AU client to automatically install new updates at a certain time each day or a certain time one day of the week. AU clients frequently check the SUS server for newly approved updates. When the AU client finds a newly approved update that's applicable, the AU client downloads to a temporary folder that updates from either the SUS server or a Windows Update server. The AU client throttles its download (i.e., adjusts how much bandwidth it's using) so that the download doesn't slow down the network. The AU client can handle interrupted downloads, such as downloads interrupted by system reboots. After the updates are in a temporary folder, the AU client waits for the next scheduled install time to arrive to install the updates. After you finish configuring the Configure Automatic Updates policy, click OK.
Double-click the Specify intranet Microsoft update service location policy. In the Specify intranet Microsoft update service location Properties dialog box, which Figure 5 shows, select Enabled. In the Set the intranet update service for detecting updates text box, specify the first URL you wrote down earlier (i.e., the URL to the SUS server that the AU client should periodically check for newly approved updates). In the Set the intranet statistics server text box, specify the URL to the IIS server to which the AU client should report its activities. (Typically, this URL is the same as the previous one.) Click OK and close the GPE.
Force the application of the group policy. Computers reapply group policies every 90 minutes, with a random offset of up to 30 minutes. So, you might have to wait as long as 2 hours for computers in your domain to start checking the SUS server for approved updates. To force the immediate application of the group policy on a Win2K machine, log on to the computer, open a command shell window, and run the command
secedit /refreshpolicy machine_policy
That computer should now start downloading any updates you've approved. If you're on an XP machine, run Gpupdate instead with no parameters. . . .
Register
And.. For me, a BIG improvement would be the inclusion of some DIAGRAMS that summarize each major section.
I realise that not all writers are diagrammers, and that it would take somebody some real work to do, but a DIAGRAM has instant learning power that no paragraph can match.
Thank you
IT Manager October 17, 2003