[Today's post comes to us courtesy of Duncan Chalmers and Chris Puckett]

SYMPTOMS

• The Monitoring and Reporting link in the SBS console reports the following error
  message after 5 minutes.

The page cannot be displayed

An error occurred on the page you are trying to view.
------------------------------------------------------
To work around this problem, perform the following steps. After each step, try
again to access the page.
* Ensure that the MSSQL$SBSMONITORING service is started.
* Ensure that the server is not low on memory or disk space.
* Restart the server.
* Verify that the server is functional and that there are no system-wide
problems.
* Run the Set Up Monitoring Reports and Alerts task in the Server Management
Monitoring and Reporting taskpad.

• The Application event log reports the following error:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: ServerStatusReports
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1
User: N/A
Computer: SERVER
Description:
Server Status Report:
URL: http://localhost/monitoring/perf.aspx?reportMode=0
Error Message: Timeout expired. The timeout period elapsed prior to completion of
the operation or the server is not responding.

• If you have elected the option to have health monitoring reports emailed to you, they do not arrive when scheduled.
• You may receive an email report like the following:

CAUSE

This issue occurs if the WSUS API query exceeds the allotted time during report generation.

WORKAROUND

To work around this issue, follow these steps:

1. Ensure that your server meets the recommended hardware requirements listed for WSUS V3: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc708091.aspx

2. Do not run or schedule high resource demand processes or jobs during at the same time e.g. Disk Defrag

3. Minimize the size of the WSUS Database be removing any updates you do not need. There are many drivers published that may not apply to your network. Consider manually updating drivers and opting out of driver download to your server if it is not needed:

   • On the Start menu, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Microsoft Windows Server Update Services 3.0.

   • In the list on the left, select options. Then select Products and Classifications.

   • Select the Classifications Tab, and then uncheck Drivers.

4. Regularly run the WSUS Cleanup Wizard, and select the options for removing expired updates and unused update and update revisions:

   • On the Start menu, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Microsoft Windows Server Update Services 3.0.

   • In the list on the left, select Options. Then select Server Cleanup Wizard.

   • Select the options you desire, and then click Next.

MORE INFORMATION

As updates are released to WSUS, the size of the database grows. Performance issues may occur when the database is not maintained, when other processes compete for resources, and when the server hardware does not meet the recommended standard. SBS Update Services by default downloads most update classifications and types; performance is enhanced when updates are limited to only those needed by your network.