Understanding How ConfigMgr Interacts with WSUS

This deep dive covers how Configuration Manager interacts with WSUS to set up a software update point and synchronize data between WSUS and ConfigMgr.

Video Guide

Tip: To get the most from this guide, we recommend watching the video guide and then using this doc as a reference throughout the video.

Scenario 1: Installing a New Software Update Point

When you install a new software update point, the following will take place!

The Install Flow of new Software Update Point (SUP)

Component/Log

Log Line Text

sitecomp.log

Starting service SMS_SERVER_BOOTSTRAP_DEMO1 with command-line arguments "DM1 D:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager /install D:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\bin\x64\rolesetup.exe SMSWSUS "...

SUPSetup.log

SMSWSUS Setup Started....

SUPSetup.log

Supported WSUS version found

SUPSetup.log

Installation was successful.

WSUSCtrl.log

Attempting connection to local WSUS server

WSUSCtrl.log

Successfully connected to local WSUS server

WCM.log

WSUS Server configuration has been updated. Updating Group Info.

WCM.log

Subscribed Update Categories <?xml version="1.0" ?>~~<Categories>~~

WCM.log

Configuration successful. Will wait for 1 minute for any subscription or proxy changes

WCM.log

Setting new configuration state to 2 (WSUS_CONFIG_SUCCESS)

Once the software update point installation is completed, a list of products/categories won't happen until the first successful SUP sync.

You can right-click All Software Updates and click Synchronize Software Updates to start the first sync.

The first synchronization can take a while to complete!

The table below lists the flow to verify the first synchronization and population of the WSUS catalog/categories.

Note: The log lines below are with debug and verbose logging enabled. You log lines may not contain this level of data.

First SUP Synchronization Flow

Component/Log

Log Line Text

wsyncmgr.log

Starting Sync

wsyncmgr.log

Synchronizing WSUS server DEMO1 ...

wsyncmgr.log

sync: Starting WSUS synchronization

wsyncmgr.log

sync: WSUS synchronizing categories

wsyncmgr.log

Synchronizing SMS database with WSUS, default server is DEMO1.CONTOSO.LOCAL

wsyncmgr.log

Synchronizing SMS database with WSUS server DEMO1 ...

wsyncmgr.log

sync: Starting SMS database synchronization

wsyncmgr.log

sync: SMS synchronizing categories

wsyncmgr.log

sync: SMS synchronizing categories, processed 0 out of 246 items (0%)

wsyncmgr.log

sync: SMS synchronizing categories, processed 246 out of 246 items (100%)

wsyncmgr.log

declare @refd xml = N'<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><Categories><Category Id="Product:7e903438-3690-4cf0-bc89-2fc34c26422b" /><Category Id="Product:e903c733-c905-4b1c-a5c4-3528b6bbc746" />......

wsyncmgr.log

Done synchronizing SMS with WSUS Server DEMO1

wsyncmgr.log

Set content version of update source {891B2E1B-4873-4092-B1FD-7EAADE75A3D3} for site DM1 to 10

Tip: During the first sync, the longest part will be WSUS pulling the catalog for Microsoft Update.

Scenario 2: How ConfigMgr Database Sync from WSUS Database

The ConfigMgr database pulls the update catalog from the WSUS database. Below, you can find more details about how this happens.

Sync Flow for ConfigMgr Sync from WSUS

In our example below, we manually triggered a sync using the step above.

Component/Log

Log Line Text

wsyncmgr.log

Wakeup by inbox drop

wsyncmgr.log

select cat.CategoryInstance_UniqueID, cat.CategoryInstanceName from fn_ListUpdateCategoryInstances(9) cat where cat.AllowSubscription=1 and cat.IsSubscribed=1 and cat.IsParentSubscribed=0 order by 1

wsyncmgr.log

Read SUPs from SCF for DEMO2.CONTOSO.LOCAL

wsyncmgr.log

Synchronizing SMS database with WSUS, default server is DEMO2.CONTOSO.LOCAL

wsyncmgr.log

Synchronizing SMS database with WSUS server DEMO2 ...

wsyncmgr.log

Syncing updates arrived after 03/05/2021 21:07:43

wsyncmgr.log

Requested categories: Company=Patch My PC, Product=Windows 10, version 1903 and later, UpdateClassification=Security Updates, UpdateClassification=Updates, UpdateClassification=Critical Updates

wsyncmgr.log

sync: SMS synchronizing categories, processed 378 out of 378 items (100%)

wsyncmgr.log

sync: SMS synchronizing updates

wsyncmgr.log

sync: SMS synchronizing updates, processed 0 out of 30 items (0%)

wsyncmgr.log

select CI_UniqueID, RevisionNumber, LastModifiedDate=convert(nvarchar, DateLastModified, 126)+N'Z', IsDeployed~from v_UpdateCIs~where CIType_ID in (1,8) and IsExpired=0 and UpdateSource_ID=16777217 and CI_UniqueID='6ec13d2d-306c-41fe-83bf-9789346721bf'

wsyncmgr.log

insert vCI_ConfigurationItems (CI_UniqueID, CIVersion, ModelID, CIType_ID, PolicyVersion, Precedence, DateCreated, DateLastModified, LastModifiedBy, CreatedBy, ContentSourcePath, PermittedUses, IsBundle, IsHidden, IsUserDefined, IsEnabled, IsExpired, SourceSite, ApplicabilityCondition, CI_CRC, IsTombstoned) values ('6ec13d2d-306c-41fe-83bf-9789346721bf', 200, 16780004, 8, 1, 0, '05/11/2021 18:15:49', '05/11/2021 18:15:49', N'', N'', N'', 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 'DM2', '<ApplicabilityRule ExpressionLanguage="Custom" Handler="{2DB70103-3DFB-4806-85B0-B27B561284BB}"><UpdateId>6ec13d2d-306c-41fe-83bf-9789346721bf</UpdateId><CISource><Id>{CA3F999B-7A81-43BF-912C-56E267C1E565}</Id><Version>9</Version></CISource><ProductId>b3c75dc1-155f-4be4-b015-3f1a91758e52</ProductId></ApplicabilityRule>', 'c02abc2', 0)

wsyncmgr.log

insert into CI_DocumentStore (DocumentIdentifier, Body, IsVersionLatest, DocumentType) values ('c344e7f6-f83b-4693-8c02-41b2e072127e', '', 0, 0)~;select SCOPE_IDENTITY()

wsyncmgr.log

sync: SMS synchronizing updates, processed 30 out of 30 items (100%)

wsyncmgr.log

sync: SMS performing cleanup

wsyncmgr.log

Done synchronizing SMS with WSUS Server DEMO2

wsyncmgr.log

Updated 60 items in SMS database, new update source content version is 9

Here's an example of us querying an update in the ConfigMgr database that was synchronized:

select * FROM CI_DocumentStore where DocumentIdentifier = 'c344e7f6-f83b-4693-8c02-41b2e072127e'

Scenario 3: WSUS Cleanup in ConfigMgr

Below are some key points mentioned in the video related to the cleanup.

Key Point for WSUS Maintenance in ConfigMgr

The setting in the Supersedence Rules tab determines how long an update needs to be superseded before it will be expired.

This setting in the WSUS Maintenance tab will determine if expired updates should be declined (improves WSUS performance and health)

Log Files for ConfigMgr Cleanup Task for WSUS

Component/Log

Log Line Text

wsyncmgr.log

sync: SMS performing cleanup

wsyncmgr.log

Removed 54 unreferenced updates

wsyncmgr.log

Starting cleanup on WSUS, default server DEMO2.CONTOSO.LOCAL

wsyncmgr.log

Cleaning up WSUS server DEMO2 ...

wsyncmgr.log

nclLocalizedPropertyID Index Already exists in column LocalizedPropertyID on table tbLocalizedPropertyForRevision. Did Not Create Index.Server: DEMO2, DataBase: SUSDB

wsyncmgr.log

nclSupercededUpdateID Index Already exists in column SupersededUpdateID on table tbRevisionSupersedesUpdate. Did Not Create Index.Server: DEMO2, DataBase: SUSDB

wsyncmgr.log

Done Indexing SUSDB. Custom indexes were created if they didn't exist previously. DEMO2

wsyncmgr.log

sync: SMS performing cleanup

wsyncmgr.log

Cleanup processed 57 total updates and declined 27

wsyncmgr.log

Done Declining updates in WSUS Server DEMO2

wsyncmgr.log

Starting Deletion of ObseleteUpdates

wsyncmgr.log

0 update(s) were deleted from SUSDB in Server: DEMO2 Database: SUSDB

wsyncmgr.log

Deletion Completed

wsyncmgr.log

Updated 54 items in SMS database, new update source content version is 11

Scenario 4: View Update Views in the Database in Relationships

Determining Compliance

Quick dive into getting compliance data. The below query is an example of how you can retrieve the compliance status of updates for all machines in SQL. This view pulls from a few different points of interest.

View Name

Purpose

v_Update_ComplianceStatus

Get compliance state for a CI_ID and a ResourceID (filtered)

v_UpdateInfo

Get real world Update Info

v_StateNames

Get the human meatning of state values

SELECT CASE
			WHEN v_Update_ComplianceStatus.Status = '0' THEN 'UNKNOWN'
			WHEN v_Update_ComplianceStatus.Status = '1' THEN 'NOT REQUIRED'
			WHEN v_Update_ComplianceStatus.Status = '2' THEN 'NON COMPLIANT'
			WHEN v_Update_ComplianceStatus.Status = '3' THEN 'COMPLIANT'
			ELSE 'NA'
		END AS 'PatchStatus'
	, v_Update_ComplianceStatus.Status
    , v_Update_ComplianceStatus.CI_ID
    , v_Update_ComplianceStatus.resourceID
	, v_Update_complianceStatus.LastStatusCheckTime
    , v_StateNames.StateName
    , v_stateNames.StateDescription
FROM v_Update_ComplianceStatus
LEFT OUTER JOIN v_UpdateInfo on v_Update_ComplianceStatus.CI_ID = v_UpdateInfo.CI_ID
LEFT OUTER JOIN v_StateNames on v_Update_ComplianceStatus.Status = v_StateNames.StateID
WHERE v_UpdateInfo.CIType_ID = '8' and v_StateNames.TopicType = '500'

The other side of the coin when you get ALL the data.

View Name

Purpose

v_Update_ComplianceStatusAll

Get compliance stat for a CI_ID and a ResourceID (ALL)

Note the query below can return a massive data set when run in production.

SELECT CASE
			WHEN v_Update_ComplianceStatusAll.Status = '0' THEN 'UNKNOWN'
			WHEN v_Update_ComplianceStatusAll.Status = '1' THEN 'NOT REQUIRED'
			WHEN v_Update_ComplianceStatusAll.Status = '2' THEN 'NON COMPLIANT'
			WHEN v_Update_ComplianceStatusAll.Status = '3' THEN 'COMPLIANT'
			ELSE 'NA'
		END AS 'PatchStatus'
	, v_Update_ComplianceStatusAll.Status
    , v_Update_ComplianceStatusAll.CI_ID
    , v_Update_ComplianceStatusAll.resourceID
	, v_Update_ComplianceStatusAll.LastStatusCheckTime
    , v_StateNames.StateName
    , v_stateNames.StateDescription
FROM v_Update_ComplianceStatusAll
LEFT OUTER JOIN v_UpdateInfo on v_Update_ComplianceStatusAll.CI_ID = v_UpdateInfo.CI_ID
LEFT OUTER JOIN v_StateNames on v_Update_ComplianceStatusAll.Status = v_StateNames.StateID
WHERE v_UpdateInfo.CIType_ID = '8' and v_StateNames.TopicType = '500'

Software Update Group Relationships

Software update groups are typically what we filter against as we typically have a group that we are targetting for a specific month. Get Software Update Group Names, and their CI's.

SELECT v_UpdateInfo.CI_ID
	, v_UpdateInfo.Title
FROM v_UpdateInfo
WHERE v_UpdateInfo.CIType_ID = '9'

Mapping the relationship of all updates in a software update group.

WITH SUGInfo AS
(
	SELECT v_UpdateInfo.CI_ID
	FROM v_UpdateInfo
	WHERE v_UpdateInfo.CIType_ID = '9'
)
SELECT v_CIRelation.FromCIID
	, v_CIRelation.ToCIID
FROM SUGInfo
LEFT OUTER JOIN v_CIRelation ON SUGInfo.CI_ID = v_CIRelation.FromCIID

Stringing it all together.

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