I didn’t post anything earlier today because I wanted this one to be pretty clear and mistake free. I read some contradicting articles online about the fate of good old Software Update Services. The first post I read state it’s end of life had been extended. I was then fluting about on microsoft.com and noticed an article about imminent end of life for SUS. I’d tend to believe a MS source before an independant one, especially on MS support issues, so I was confused.
Before I go any further, lets get SUS/WSUS versions out of the way. SUS was the first of the Microsoft solution for updating Microsoft products. It only updated Windows operating systems, 2000, XP and 2003. Internally, it is known as SUS 1.0. It’s successor was Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) and internally it is known as WSUS 2.0. WSUS 2.0 supported an extendible catalogue and thus is capable of supporting Windows, Office, SQL Server, Exchange, Forefront Client Security, etc. WSUS 2.0 also feature better reporting, group targetting and granular control of updates. WSUS 3.0 is currently in beta. It supports the extendible catalogue but adds other features such as delegated reporting, even more granualr control of updates, multiple group membership for targetting and a more flixible download architecture. I’ve documented the current beta release of WSUS 3.0.
This evening I checked the WSUS team blog. They’ve cleared up the end of life issue of SUS 1.0. It was due to end but due to customer demand, support for SUS 1.0 has been extended until July 10th, 2007.
It should be noted that SUS 1.0 can only be upgraded via a migration process to WSUS 2.0. WSUS 2.0 can be "inplace upgraded" to WSUS 3.0. So, anyone holding on to SUS 1.0 will litely need to consider either going through a 2 step upgrade to get to the latest release next year or just do a rip and replace.