SBS 2008 - ForeFront and Exchange Enterprise AntiSpam and BlockList Updates

Anthony and I have been having a good discussion over this particular topic: SBS 2008 - WSUS Synchronizations and Exchange.

The updates showing up in WSUS and being automatically approved are indeed the Enterprise level AntiSpam and BlockList ones.

So, for clarification, an e-mail was sent out to our favourite SBS Team Member Sean Daniel, and this is his reply:

This is my understanding of how all this works. Exchange is definitely weird, because all of the “Enterprise” stuff is in there, but you’re not licensed to use it all, without Enterprise CALs and PIDs.

So, with Exchange 2007 std, you have rights to download spam updates every 10 weeks or so via MU only. With the addition of FSE license, that gives you the right to override the 10 weeks and enable the automatic updates, this happens a few times a day.

Now, the details:
a) WSUS is configured for once a day, so the anti spam service is checking and checking, but will only get updates once a day. I think you’ve got this part
b) If FSE expires, the EULA says you have to disable the automatic anti-spam updates.

So I believe the short answer is, as long as you have FSE, you’re eligible for daily updates.

Pretty neat eh? We SBSers get to sneak under the wire on the licensing of those updates with ForeFront installed and licensed! ;)

So, the earlier blog post recommendation of changing your WSUS synchronization schedule still applies!

Thanks to Sean Daniel for taking the time to get back to us!

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.