11.3. Windows Server Update Services

SBS 2011 Essentials does not include Windows Server Update Services (WSUS). You have two choices—you can add a patch management solution to your SBS 2011 Essentials network (either WSUS or a third-party solution), or you can configure the update settings for the SBS 2011 Essentials server and all of the clients. In small networks, it’s probably simple enough to manually configure each of the computers on the network. We think having client computers configured for automatic updates from Microsoft Update makes the most sense, and we wish that the Connector application would set this automatically when you join a client computer to the SBS 2011 Essentials network. But it doesn’t, so you should ensure that all client computers are automatically updating.

11.3.1. Configuring Update Settings on the Server

The default software update setting for SBS 2011 Essentials is to install updates automatically. This is probably the best setting for client computers—especially for users who connect to the network remotely. However, this is not the ideal setting for a server. Automatically downloading and installing updates can lead to a problem when an update requires a reboot. An unscheduled reboot at an inconvenient time can cause data loss and unexpected downtime.