Before you attempt to install WSUS on a server, there are some pre-installation tasks that you need to be completed. This will ensure that the server meets all the configuration requirements needed to install WSUS.

Disk Requirements
The system partition and the partition that WSUS will be installed on must both be formatted with NTFS. The system partition requires at least 1 GB of free space and the volume that will be used to store WSUS content requires 20 GB of free space. Finally, the volume where the database files will be stored requires a minimum of 2 GB of free space.

Hardware Requirements
The server requirements do not stop there. Along with a specific disk configuration, the server must also meet specific hardware requirements. As you can see from the list below, the hardware requirements for WSUS are dependent on the number of clients on the network.

For networks with less than 500 clients:

• 750 MHz Pentium III processor; 1 GHz Pentium III or higher recommended.
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard or Enterprise Edition; Microsoft Windows 2000 Server or Advanced Server with SP4 or later
• 512 MB of RAM; 1 GB or more recommended
• CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive; VGA or higher-resolution monitor; keyboard and Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device

For networks with more than 500 clients:

• 1 GHz Pentium III processor or higher; 3 GHz Pentium IV or higher recommended
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard or Enterprise Edition; Microsoft Windows 2000 Server or Advanced Server with SP4 or later
• 1 GB of RAM or more
• CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive; VGA or higher-resolution monitor; keyboard and Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device

Software Requirements
To install WSUS on Windows Server 2003 SP1, the following software requirements must be met:

• Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0
• Microsoft .NET Framework Version 2.0
• Microsoft Report Viewer Redistributable 2005
• Microsoft Management Console 3.0 for Windows Server 2003

Firewall Requirements
The firewall requirements are only applicable to those WSUS servers that are located behind a corporate firewall. In such cases, the corporate firewall may have to be configured to allow the WSUS server to obtain updates. WSUS requires port 80 for HTTP protocol and port 443 for HTTPS protocol. Alternatively, instead of opening those ports and protocols to all addresses, access can be restricted to the domains listed below:

• http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com
• http://*.windowsupdate.microsoft.com
• https://*.windowsupdate.microsoft.com
• http://*.update.microsoft.com
• https://*.update.microsoft.com
• http://*.windowsupdate.com
• http://download.windowsupdate.com
• http://download.microsoft.com
• http://*.download.windowsupdate.com
• http://wustat.windows.com
• http://ntservicepack.microsoft.com

[tags]windows server, update services, microsoft[/tags]