Patch Management Settings

1 Overview

On this page you choose what SoftwareCentral asks the WSUS server to download. The settings are the update classifications, the products and the languages. Only what you tick is synchronized.

The page is part of the Patch Management module. For the WSUS server name that the page uses, see Patch Management Configuration.

2 Before you start

The Patch Management module must be enabled for your installation.
The WSUS Server name must be entered in Settings under Extra Modules › Patch Management. See Patch Management Configuration.
Configuration Manager must have a software update point with that same server name. SoftwareCentral asks Configuration Manager to synchronize it.

Open the page from the Patches menu, Patch Management Settings.

Patch Management Settings page. The panel Classifications to Synchronize is open with a list of classifications and some ticked, for example Security Updates and Service Packs. The panels Produts to Synchronize and Select languages are closed below it. On the right are the Tip, the Add subscription and Remove subscription lists, and the Synchronize button. — The **Patch Management Settings** page. Each panel is a row you open with its header. On the right, the lists of changes and the **Synchronize** button.

3 Choose what to synchronize

The page has three panels. Open a panel by clicking its header, and tick the items you want.

Panel	What you tick
Classifications to Synchronize	The kinds of update, for example Critical Updates, Security Updates, Service Packs, Update Rollups or Definition Updates. Only the classifications that can be subscribed to are listed.
Produts to Synchronize	The products, shown as a tree of vendors and products, for example Microsoft and the products under it. Ticking a vendor ticks all the products under it.
Select languages	The languages. For each language, tick Update Files to download the update files in that language, and Summary Details to download the summary information of the updates in that language.

Each tick moves the item to the right side of the page. A new tick is listed under Add subscription, and a removed tick is listed under Remove subscription. Nothing is saved yet.

Patch Management Settings with the panel Produts to Synchronize open. It shows a tree of vendors such as Microsoft, Antigen, Bing and BizTalk Server, each with a checkbox, and the products under them. — The **Produts to Synchronize** panel, opened. The label is shown as it appears in the product. Tick a vendor or a product to subscribe to it.

Patch Management Settings with the panel Select languages open. A grid with the columns NAME, UPDATE FILES and SUMMARY DETAILS lists languages such as Chinese (Simplified, China), English, French, German and Japanese, with checkboxes in the two columns. — The **Select languages** panel. Tick **Update Files** and **Summary Details** for each language you need.

Remove a choice before you press Synchronize Click an item in the Add subscription or Remove subscription list to take it off the list again. The matching tick in the panel is cleared as well.

4 Synchronize

Press Synchronize when all the changes are made. This button is the only one on the page that saves.

SoftwareCentral saves the products and classifications you added and removed.
If the languages changed, the language choices are saved too.
SoftwareCentral asks Configuration Manager to synchronize the software update point (the WSUS server). The synchronization finds the metadata of the updates that match your choices.

Each change is also written to the SoftwareCentral Log as it is saved, with a success or a failure message. The result of the synchronization itself is not shown on this page.

5 Best practice

Tick only what you deploy. Every ticked classification, product and language is downloaded to WSUS and has to be stored there. Start with the classifications you really use, such as security updates.
Tick the update files only for the languages you need. Update files are downloaded for each language with Update Files ticked. A language with only Summary Details adds the summaries but not the files.
Make all the changes, then press Synchronize once. Each press saves the choices and starts a new synchronization on the WSUS server.
Check the Log after a synchronization. A failure is written to the Log, and it does not appear on the page.

6 Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause	What to do
The Log shows "Failed Updating patch management settings and synchronzing software update point"	Saving the choices or starting the synchronization failed.	Read the entry in the Log for the details. Check that the Configuration Manager connection works, then press Synchronize again.
The Log shows "Failed to sync softupdate Point at site '...' on server '...'."	Configuration Manager could not start the synchronization. The most common reason is a WSUS server name that does not match the software update point in Configuration Manager, or an empty name.	Check the WSUS Server name under Settings › Extra Modules › Patch Management, and compare it with the software update point in Configuration Manager.
The Log shows "Failed to update subscibtion." for a product or classification	Configuration Manager could not change the subscription of that item. The Log entry for the failure contains the details.	Read the entry in the Log, then tick the item again and press Synchronize.