My question is simple, and I think I know my answer – I'm really after a confirmation from others.
Obviously, if my WSUS server dies I will have some hefty downloads to do once it is back up, and that's not a problem. I was thinking more of the database behind WSUS – should that be backed up?
What I think would happen is that it would be just like setting WSUS up again for the first time – change the group policy and the WSUS server will then build its database of computers and their installed updates from scratch.
Am I right in my assumptions, or will it do something unexpected?
Is it better in the long run to just back the database up, say once a month and be done with it?
Best Answer
It sort of depends on how complicated your group layout is and whether you've done a lot of custom approvals/denials for certain groups. It also depends on whether you care about the history and current status of the computers in the database.
If you have a very simple setup where you're just approving all updates and you don't really care about the history of any of the computers, there's no need to backup the database or the updates. It would probably take less time to just re-build the service from scratch (depending on how fast your network connection is to Microsoft) than restore from backup. All of your existing machines will just check in with the new server once it's up.
It's a pretty basic risk analysis for any service. If you have data that would be costly (time or money) or impossible to re-create from scratch, you should back it up. Otherwise, don't bother.