Upgrading WSUS 2.0 to WSUS 3.0 in SCE 2007

Essentials 2007 incorporates the monitoring components of Operations Manager 2007 and an extended version of WSUS 3.0 to support update management, software deployment and inventory. But what if you already have a WSUS 2.0 installation in place? The good news is SCE can actually upgrade an existing WSUS 2.0 installation to WSUS 3.0 during the installation process, carrying forward relevant settings and preferences. Things to be aware of before upgrade: SCE will not participate in a distributed WSUS topology - If you upgrade and upstream or downstream server, you'll break the hierarchy, resulting in some headaches to get back to where you were before. You'd need to run the SCE install on the server where WSUS lives in order to upgrade to 3.0 - meaning locally. If your WSUS install does not reside on the server where SCE is to be installed, you'll need to move WSUS to the new server.  Good information on how to move WSUS 2.0 to a new server can be found  HERE. Benefits Update management via Essentials includes some nice benefits you dont get with the stand-alone WSUS 3.0 out of the box, such as: 3rd Party Updates - Ability to import third party application updates for partners publishing a Microsoft-approved partner catalog. You can also download and import hotfixes for 3rd party applications or QFEs not hosted in Microsoft Update via a wizard. System Center Updates Publisher - An add-on application that is designed to extend SCE update managment, allowing administrators to author custom update information and publish via the SCE server. These updates can be detected and deployed just as updates for standard Microsoft apps would be. Update status managment and reporting is integrated into the SCE Console, providing a single management interface for the administrator.   For System Center news, articles and tutorials, visit www.systemcenterforum.org