Migration Requirements

This migration is optional. However, if you already have WSUS installed in your environment, you should perform this migration to preserve your settings and avoid downloading large amounts of unnecessary data.

If you already understand what this migration covers, advance to Step-by-Step Migration later in this document.

Preparing for the migration

Before you perform this migration, complete all of the tasks in the Configuration and Migration Tasks checklist that is displayed by your Windows® Essential Business Server Administration Console.

These include running the following wizards:

• System Center Essentials Feature Configuration Wizard
• System Center Essentials Computer and Device Management Wizard
  When you run the Computer and Device Management Wizard, it discovers existing computers in your network and installs management agents on them. Computers with management agents installed are subsequently managed by System Center Essentials.
• System Center Essentials Update Management Configuration Wizard
  When you run the Update Management Configuration Wizard, it configures update settings. This creates a Group Policy object (GPO) that instructs Automatic Updates to obtain updates from the Management Server (where WSUS is installed). This GPO is applied only to computers that are managed by System Center Essentials.

Note

When you perform this WSUS migration, the existing WSUS server settings overwrite the products and classifications that you chose in the Update Management Configuration Wizard.

Time estimate   

• Three hours if you are migrating from WSUS 3.0
• Six hours if you are migrating from WSUS 2.0

The majority of this time is the import tool performing automated processing, so the amount of time that you need to spend performing manual steps is considerably less.

Because this migration puts heavy CPU load on your existing WSUS server and the Windows EBS Management Server, it is recommended that you perform this migration at a time when increased CPU load on these servers will not impact your end users (such as a late evening or weekend).

Migration overview

For details about how to accomplish the tasks in the following table, see Step-by-Step Migration later in this document.

Target State	Benefit	Start State
Update settings for the Management Server match the settings on your existing WSUS server	If migrating from WSUS 3.0, centralized management experience by using the Windows EBS Administration Console If migrating from WSUS 2.0, new WSUS features	WSUS service on the Management Server is not configured
		WSUS service on the Management Server is configured
Computers in your environment download and install updates from the Management Server	Same	Computers in your environment use an existing WSUS server

If something goes wrong during the migration, your existing WSUS server will not be modified. This means that you can temporarily modify the GPO that was created by System Center Essentials to point to your existing WSUS server while you troubleshoot the issue. If you are unable to perform this migration, you can manually set the settings from your existing WSUS server on the Management Server and download the update data again.