WSUS Question

billybob01

Guys, what size hdd do you recommend when installing WSUS. I will be using the local MSDE option instead of using a SQL database.

Slowhand

This wiki talks about some of the features and requirements of WSUS:

wsuswiki.com wrote:

Server Disk Space Requirements
WUS Server disk space requirements fall into three categories: the WUS service, WUS updates and the WUS data base.

Microsoft recommend that you have at leaast 6GB free disk space to store WUS content. At present, typical usage is around 1-2GB/language, although this does depend on what updates you specify and is likely to grow over time.

The WSUS service installs (by default) into C:\Program Files\Update Services\. This folder takes up 365MB (371MB on disk) after the initial installation.

The WSUS Database is managed by MDSE, and is installed by default into C:\WSUS\MSSQL$WSUS. This folder takes up 216 MB after the initial install, synchronise and with only 2 clients. The size of the DB grows as you add more computers, and as you manage more updates.

It looks pretty accurate, but I'd say going for a 10GB - 20GB wouldn't be a bad idea, either. Then again, considering the size of drives on the market today, I don't think you have much to worry about, even with used drives you may have pulled from scrapped machines. And if you have a choice, I'd recommend going with SQL Server Express instead of MSDE. It's essentially the same idea as MSDE, except it is the free version of SQL Server 2005 where MSDE was the free version of SQL Server 2000, and it is a great deal more powerful than MSDE ever was, despite the fact that it's no more difficult to install and configure. (I believe the current version of WSUS even lets you pick which database engine to use, but I could be wrong.)

billybob01

Thanks, i read that microsoft recommends min of 30GB for the updates? and i was told to use at least 100gb to store the updates!! Hence my question. Am i getting confused?

Slowhand

Where did you read that?

sprkymrk

You need to jump through hoops to get MSDE installed on W2K3 anyway, so I echo slowhand's advice on using SQL Server Express. If you have 10-20GB of space you're good to go. 100GB is way overkill.

JDMurray

MS has practically abandoned the MSDE in favor of SQL Server Express; as a programmer who has used both, I agree with MS 100%.

Ahriakin

billybob01 wrote:

Thanks, i read that microsoft recommends min of 30GB for the updates? and i was told to use at least 100gb to store the updates!! Hence my question. Am i getting confused?

It depends on what you clear for installation and how many languages you plan to support. For example we rolled out 2.0 a month or so back and have been twiddling with it since. With all updates for the core operating systems and Office, no drivers and little else we were using about 70Gb. I realised some of it was from not having cut down the multilanguage support initially but 2.0 resets all approvals if you go back and change those, and I sure as hell didn't have time to go through them all again. I installed 3.0 at the start of the week, de-selected all but 4 language options (no reset ) and used that nice spangly new Cleanup function, now it's using about 24Gb.

blargoe

I have a WSUS 2.0 installation that is >35 GB and growing. I guess it depends on what updates you are distributing and the diversity of your environment. I hope the cleanup function in WSUS 3 will help alleviate the size issue.

I would go no less than 30 GB. Sure it may be 10-20 GB now but who knows what may be added to WSUS and how large the updates may grow to be. It would be a pain to run out of space if you don't have servers or disk growing on trees to remedy the problem.

sprkymrk

Looks like the consensus is "more is better".
I forgot to check the space used on my WSUS server at work.
If I remember Monday I'll post back. Otherwise go for as much space as you can afford.

blargoe wrote:

Sure it may be 10-20 GB now but who knows what may be added to WSUS and how large the updates may grow to be. It would be a pain to run out of space if you don't have servers or disk growing on trees to remedy the problem.

Good advice.