MBSA 1.2.1 end-of-life statement

[Doug Neal [MSFT]]

The MBSA 1.2 tool will reach its end of life on March 31, 2006. After this
date, MBSA 1.2.1 will no longer be supported and the MSSecure.XML file
automatically downloaded by MBSA 1.2 will no longer be updated to include
new security bulletins. Customers are encouraged to migrate to MBSA 2.0
before this date to ensure continued security bulletin detection.

Special note to Systems Management Server (SMS) 2.0 using the Software
Update Services (SUS) Feature Pack: Microsoft is committed to providing
accurate security update detection and deployment for all MSRC security
updates for supported Microsoft customers. Catalog data for SMS 2.0 with the
SUS Feature Pack will continue to be updated to ensure continued security
update detection for SMS 2.0 customers.

In addition to continued catalog updates for SMS, the Extended Security
Update Inventory Tool will also be updated to ensure comprehensive detection
and deployment for all Microsoft Security issues listed on the Microsoft
Security Bulletin Search
(http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/current.aspx).

Microsoft remains committed to providing detection and enabling deployment
of security updates for all SMS managed clients.

For more information, please consider the following links:

MBSA Home page: www.microsoft.com/mbsa

Products supported by MBSA 1.2.1: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306460

MBSA 2.0 and MBSA 1.2, EST comparison:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/895660

For more information about SMS 2003:
http://www.microsoft.com/smserver/downloads/2003/default.asp

For more information about SMS 2.0:
http://www.microsoft.com/smserver/downloads/previous/default.asp

SMS newsgroup: Microsoft.public.sms.software_updates

--

Doug Neal [MSFT]
du...@online.microsoft.com

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

If newsgroup discussion with experts and MVPs is unable to solve a problem
to your satisfaction, feel free to contact PSS for support on the Microsoft
Baseline
Security Analyzer (MBSA). Information is available at the following link:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx

This e-mail address does not receive e-mail, but is used for newsgroup
postings only.

[Xavier]

Hi Doug,

Is there any plan to fix (or re-rtw) the MBSA 2.0 scripting errors that have
been reported in this NG on a couple of occasions ?

With the end-of-life of MBSA 1.2.1 and the unability to script MBSA 2.0
results, this would require an increased effort to some (at least of my)
customers to get an overview of their environment's security.

Thanks,

Xavier

"Doug Neal [MSFT]" <du...@online.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:u6xLHQZM...@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...

[Karl Levinson, mvp]

"Doug Neal [MSFT]" <du...@online.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:u6xLHQZM...@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...

> The MBSA 1.2 tool will reach its end of life on March 31, 2006. After this
> date, MBSA 1.2.1 will no longer be supported and the MSSecure.XML file
> automatically downloaded by MBSA 1.2 will no longer be updated to include
> new security bulletins. Customers are encouraged to migrate to MBSA 2.0
> before this date to ensure continued security bulletin detection.

> Products supported by MBSA 1.2.1: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306460

>
> MBSA 2.0 and MBSA 1.2, EST comparison:
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/895660

Wait a minute. What about the products listed that AFAIK can only be
scanned using MBSA 1.2? Such as MS Office 2000 Pro, which will still get
security patches through 2009? Is MBSA support for patch scanning something
you only get for products still listed as being under mainstream support?

[Bill Drake]

Agreed. It would seem to me that ending support for MBSA 1.2 is an
*extremely ill-advised* move -- considering that MBSA 1.2.1 support
is currently the *only* non-technical way to confirm proper XML
installation,
as well as to confirm proper and complete Office 2000 patchset installation.

In the absence of changes to MBSA 2.0 to support the above features,
I cannot support moving MBSA 1.2.1 to end-of-life status. The required
attention-to-detail needed to retain the feature-set of the combination of
MBSA 1.2.1 and Office 2000 installations is completely missing in the
MBSA 2.0 product line.

Best I can do for now. <tm>

Bill

[dot Oppalfens@googlemail.com Kim Oppalfens <MVP>]

Check Doug Neal's q&a post from 17-02

--
Kim Oppalfens
Telindus Belgium
MVP Windows Server System - SMS
"Bill Drake" <bdr...@telus.net> wrote in message
news:%23m9djvw...@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...

[Gerry Hickman]

Hi Bill,

> Agreed. It would seem to me that ending support for MBSA 1.2 is an
> *extremely ill-advised* move -- considering that MBSA 1.2.1 support
> is currently the *only* non-technical way to confirm proper XML
> installation,

> as well as to confirm proper and complete Office 2000 patchset installation.

I also agree, and mentioned this a long time ago when MBSA 2.0 first
arrived. I'm all for improving things and making them better, but MBSA
2.0 simply does NOT cover everything that MBSA 1.2.1 can do. A further
example is that MBSA 1.2.1 can give much more detailed reports regarding
Office 2003 (e.g. the patch to make Office 2003 compatible with .NET 2.0).

Another problem is that detection support no longer exists, so you can't
find out why you occasionally get false positives or negatives. We are
simply told to contact the WindowsUpdate or OfficeUpdate team, but I've
never managed to get an answer out of them.

--
Gerry Hickman (London UK)

[ericschu]

I work for Shavlik who write hfnetchk\mbsacli /hf for Microsoft.

We've just released an updated mbsacli.exe /hf style scan engine. You can
substitute the mbsacli.exe with our new hfcli.exe and everything works the
same. In fact, we've added XML output, CSV output, who installed which
patches and when, support for adobe and Office and firefox, etc.

more info and trial's here. the trial scans 50,000 machines for 30 days and
does Office, OS, and Adobe patches. the purchased version does all products.
(sorry, it's not free)

http://www.shavlik.com/netchk_analyzer.aspx

[Gerry Hickman]

Hi Ericschu,

Yes, I'm Shavlik.Announce and was excited about this until I saw the price!