The load increases aren't the large penalty you pay for switching databases.Ĭonfiguration Manager client scans put more demand on WSUS than the stand-alone Automatic Updates.

Sharing a database means when a client switches to another WSUS instance that uses the same DB, the scan penalty isn't incurred. And clients retry repeatedly in this case. It can generate enough load to cause errors when clients communicate with a WSUS instance. Transfers of greater than 1 GB per client may occur in these scenarios, especially if the WSUS server isn't maintained correctly. A full scan can cause large metadata transfers. If clients change to a different WSUS server that uses a different database, they must do a full scan. WSUS tracks activity in the database, so that both know what has changed since a client last scanned and will only send metadata that's updated since then. The shared database scenario also prevents a scan storm.Ī scan storm can occur when many clients change WSUS servers and the servers don't share a database. If one server goes down, it won't immediately spoil your weekend because no client can update while you must be updated against the latest zero-day exploit.

Instead, consider using a configuration of 2-4 servers sharing the same SQL Server database. Original product version: Configuration Manager (current branch), Windows Server Update Services Original KB number: 4490414 Capacity limitsĪlthough WSUS can support 100,000 clients per server ( 150,000 clients when you use Configuration Manager), we don't recommend approaching this limit. This article provides tips for avoiding configurations that experience poor performance because of design or configuration limitations in WSUS.

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