When publishing software updates in System Center Updates Publisher 2011, applicability rules are used to check whether the computer meets the prerequisites for the software update, and whether the software update is already installed on the computer. Each rule set contains one or more applicability rules that can be evaluated sequentially or combined into logical And or Or statements.
The following example shows a rule set that contains three rules. The first rule verifies that the MyFile file exists, and the second and third rules verify that the language of the Windows operating system is either English or Japanese.
And
..File ‘[PROGRAM_FILES] \Microsoft\MyFile’ exists
..Or
....Windows Language is English
....Windows Language is Japanese
The Rules Workspace
The Rules workspace allows you to manage the rule sets that you can apply to software updates. In the Rules workspace, you can create, edit, and delete rule sets. Rule sets are created by using the Create icon in the ribbon. You can edit or delete rule sets by using the Edit and Delete icons in the ribbon, or you can select a rule set, and then right-click Edit or Delete.
 Tip |
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| Applicability rules are applied to software updates as installable or installed rules. Installable rules are used to determine whether the software update should be installed on the target computer. Installed rules verify whether the update is already installed on the computer. |
My saved rules lists the rule sets that you have saved. You can select rules in the list, or you can use the search box to refine which rules are displayed.
In addition, when you select a rule set, an XML view of the rule set is displayed so that you can see how the rule set is defined.
In This Section
The procedures in this section describe how to use the icons in the Rules workspace to create, edit or delete rule sets, plus how to create, edit, delete, and save the rules of the rule set.
How to Create Applicability Rule Sets
How to Edit Applicability Rule Sets