WSUS is great .. as long as you don't have too many cooks sticking their proverbials in the broth!! I've used in in tight (>1000 user) environments and I've participated in it in 320,000 plus user environments. It really needs someone to tightly control it, understand it and maintain it consistently with a single strategy. I've used Shavlik for servers in the past (a bit expensive for workstations too) with reasonable success. Auto-rebooting is perfectly fine for more servers, contrary to popular belief. Control it via your schedule agreed in Change Control, don't just willy nilly do the whole lot at 3am some night! Leave Exchange, ISA, DBs, etc. that are a bit more fragile to be rebooted manually (usually better to stop app services first, then reboot). a
________________________________ From: Joe Tinney [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: 11 June 2010 13:56 To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: Patch Management - again +1 Prior to that we used WSUS for the workstations. On the servers, we use WSUS to auto-download and do a manual install. WSUS is really rock solid. From: Tom Miller [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, June 10, 2010 11:32 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: Re: Patch Management - again We use the Dell Kace KBOX here. It gets its patching stream from Patchlink (not that it really matters). I have no issues with it, and it's very easy to use. KBOX is a full management product, so that might be overkill if you looking for patching exclusively. >>> "Joseph Heaton" <[email protected]> 6/10/2010 11:17 AM >>> I've been asked to research this arena again. What are you guys using for automating patch management for your servers? Our environment: A lot of VmWare Mostly Server 2k8, some 2k8R2, some 2K3. Not worried about 3rd party application patching within this project. ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure, or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message. ************************************************************************************ WARNING: The information in this email and any attachments is confidential and may be legally privileged. If you are not the named addressee, you must not use, copy or disclose this email (including any attachments) or the information in it save to the named addressee nor take any action in reliance on it. If you receive this email or any attachments in error, please notify the sender immediately and then delete the same and any copies. "CLS Services Ltd × Registered in England No 4132704 × Registered Office: Exchange Tower × One Harbour Exchange Square × London E14 9GE" ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~
