[This is prerelease documentation and is subject to change in future releases. Blank topics are included as placeholders.]

Installing and updating software is an important and complicated task, but not all the software your business uses is from Microsoft Corporation. Microsoft Update helps you update Microsoft software only. To ensure that all software and hardware is up-to-date in your organization, you can use System Center Essentials 2010 to deploy arbitrary software packages from any vendor, including updates. In addition, for a select set of software vendors who partner with Microsoft, you can use Essentials 2010 to import a catalog of available updates to simplify your deployment tasks.

Deploying an update for an arbitrary non-Microsoft software package is similar to the process for Microsoft updates, except that you must first create the update package before approving the update for deployment to selected computer groups.

Use the following procedures to manage non-Microsoft updates. For more information about creating an update package for an arbitrary software product, refer to the Update Management section of the System Center Essentials 2010 Operations Guide..

How to import an update catalog from a Microsoft partner

  1. In the Essentials console, click Updates.

  2. In the Tasks pane, click Import updates from partner catalogs.

  3. On the Select Product Catalog page of the Update Catalog Import wizard, select one of the Microsoft-verified partners, or supply the URL of a catalog location.

  4. On the Review the Catalog page, ensure that the updates you want imported are listed on the Importable packages tab. The packages listed in the Non-importable packages tab are either:

    • Already imported (indicated by a status of No Changes)

    • Packaged with XML that the installed version of Essentials 2010 cannot read or cannot process (indicated by a status of Incompatible XML)

    • Require a dependency on another software installation that has not been or cannot be completed (indicated by a status of Dependency Failed).

  5. Click Import to import the catalog of updates from the vendor that you selected, and then close the wizard.

  6. Unless you selected the check box to create a view based on the catalog name, click All Updates in the Updates pane.

  7. Click Search to filter the software vendor name to locate the updates or go to the new view created during the import.

  8. View the properties for those updates and ensure the names, descriptions, and file sizes are correct (non-blank, non-zero).

See Also


Copyright © 2009 by Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.