WSUS import - replacing a database

Question

I have a offline WSUS server which we routinely load exported metadata and content into.

Recently, I had a bad export which when imported into the offline server was missing some content files. I elected to import an older "known good" export to recover. When I did this, I discovered that the import process is "additional" in nature (not replacement), so while I had the metadata from the "known good" export, I also had metadata from the later export as well.

Is there a way to perform a "replacement" style import into WSUS?

Answer 1

Uninstall and re-install the disconnected WSUS server
https://www.ajtek.ca/wsus/how-to-remove-wsus-completely-and-reinstall-it/

Load back the database that you have. If you encounter the SAME issue, the files from the upstream are missing or corrupted and you should run a wsusutil reset on the upstream to fix that.

Answer 2

Hi TonyGedge-0532,

It seems there is no update for a couple of days. May we know the current status of the problem? Is there any other assistance we can provide?

If you have any questions, please keep us in touch.

Regards,
Rita

Answer 3

The sequence is like this:

1. Export "May" updates from online WSUS
2. Import "May" updates into offline WSUS
3. Apply patches in offline environment - works OK
4. Export "June" patches from online WSUS
5. Import "June" updates into offline WSUS - WSUS shows missing content files (probably a export error)
6. Import "May" updates into offline WSUS - WSUS shows missing content files

I had thought the import was "replacement" but this isn't the case. How can be "reset" the database so that the import can be redone?

Answer 4

Hi TonyGedge-0532,

It seems the there are missing content files in the export WSUS Server. We could run the wsusutil.exe reset command first and then export updates files. Here are related operations for your reference:

1. Open the CMD as an administrator and navigate to the wsusutil.exe tool(Location: C:\Program Files\Update Services\Tools)
2. Enter the command: wsusutil.exe reset

Note:

Reference picture:

Please remember to mark the answer if they are helpful.

Regards,
Rita

Answer 5

I am aware of what wsusutil reset does.

Unfortunately I don't want to put additional content to match the metadata. I want to replace the current metadata with the exported set of metadata.

From the observed behaviour, it would appear that the wsusutil import process only adds the metadata to the database and does not remove metadata which exists in the database but does not exist in the import.

How can I get the metadata in WSUS to match exactly with the imported metadata?