WSUS Server Management Mode

WSUS supports two management modes: centralized management and distributed management. You can choose one mode based on your actual situation. However, you are not only allowed to adopt one management mode in your enterprise network. You can adopt both management modes at the same time, but one WSUS server can only work in one mode at the same time.

Note: you cannot import update program data to the centrally managed WSUS Server replication server. WSUS servers disconnected from the Internet always work in Distributed Management Mode.

1. Centralized Management

The WSUS server in centralized management mode uses two roles: independent server management and replication server. The meaning is that a single server master server is used as an independent management server, one or more slave servers copy data from the master server, as shown in the organizational structure. The computer group you created on the master server and the updated approval information will be copied to all replication servers. Note: The computer group members are not copied. Instead, you only need to copy the computer group objects. You must add client computer objects to the computer group on the replication server. You can only configure the WSUS server as a replication server when installing the WSUS server. If your organization needs to centrally manage update approvals and computer groups, you can implement this solution.

 

If the WSUS server runs in replication mode, only limited management functions can be executed on the server. These functions include:

Add or delete computers to or from a computer group;

Set a synchronization plan;

Specifies the proxy server settings;

Specifies the Update source. The Update source can be a server other than the management server, but cannot be Windows Update;

View available updates;

Monitors updates, synchronization, and computer statuses, And the WSUS settings on the server;

All standard WSUS reporting functions are provided.

Note: When you modify the language options in the synchronization options, Microsoft recommends that you manually synchronize the master server and the replication server immediately. This avoids the mismatch between the update sequence number approved on the master server and the update program number approved on the replication server when the language option is modified on the master server.

2. Distribution Management

The distribution management mode only allows you to configure each WSUS server as an independent management server. The organizational structure is shown in. If you need to assign WSUS to the administrators of other sites for control, this mode can be used.

 

The distribution management mode is the default installation option for all WSUS servers. You can configure the server to this mode without any modification. You can configure the WSUS server to obtain the Update program from Windows Update or other WSUS servers. However, if the configuration is to retrieve the Update program from other WSUS servers, the upstream WSUS server only synchronizes the update metadata and Update file to the downstream WSUS server, without other information, such as the computer group and update approval information.