While at MMS 2011 I attended a session on the new release of SCUP - System Center Updates Publisher 2011. If you are not familiar with SCUP, SCUP is an application that indirectly interfaces with ConfigMgr and allows you to create, manage and publish third party updates by using the WSUS engine. Currently only Adobe, Dell and HP are publishing their update catalogues for use with SCUP but interest is high so hopefully we’ll see more major vendors follow suit. Microsoft has pretty much completely rewritten the product which makes it much more user friendly. Some key features include:
• No database required
• The ability to set automatic publishing rules
• Support for ConfigMgr 2007 & 2012
• Software update cleanup wizard which help with any unreferenced updates
An important component that is still required by SCUP 2011 is a self-signed certificate. When an update is approved it is then made available to WSUS, once the update has been imported into WSUS it can be made available to ConfigMgr clients using your normal software update process. Watch for SCUP 2011 to drop sometime in Q2 of this year.
