Managing patches included in a patch group

The Patches tab provides the list of all patch packages which are included in the patch group, those currently being downloaded and those that are already available. In the line above the table, you can follow the progress of the currently effected downloads, the value in parenthesis indicates the amount remaining to be downloaded.

Note:

This tab is displayed only if you have a valid Patch Management license.

The following topics provide more information about managing patches of a patch group:

To add patches to a patch group

You can add other patch packages to the patch group. When you add one or more packages, the operational rule about the installation of the patch packages will automatically be created under a specific Premium Patches folder under the main Operational Rules, which will include all the necessary steps to install the added packages. Also the installation schedule (immediate installation once only) will be directly created for the added patch package bypassing the default schedule defined in the user preferences. If currently no devices are affected by this patch package, the operational rule will not be created. This will only happen once a device becomes affected by the patch package. To add a patch package to a patch group, proceed as follows:

Select the Patches tab of the patch group to which you want to add a new patch package.
Click Edit> Add Patch.
The Patch Selection dialog box opens on the screen. It displays the list of available patch packages sorted by bulletins and service packs in its display window.
Select the desired package and click OK to add it to the patch group and close the window.
If one or more of the selected patches were replaced by newer versions, a Superseded Patches window appears, for each superseded patch.
In this window you can define if only individual patches are to be replaced by their newer version, by clicking Yes / No in each appearing window, or you can define once for all patches to be superseded by clicking Yes to all / No to all.

You have now added a further patch package that will be installed on the target devices once the patch group is executed.

To manually download selected patches from a patch group

If a patch download has failed for a patch group, the download can be retried by proceeding as follows:

Select the failed download in the table, which is to be retried.
Click Edit > Download Selected Patch(es) or.
The patch download will be started directly.

You have now manually downloaded a patch package of which the automatic download failed.

To change the patch manager

It is possible to change the patch manager for a failed patch download or a download still being executed. To do so, proceed as follows:

Select the failed download in the table, for which the patch manager is to be changed.
Click Edit > Change Patch Manager.
The Change Patch Manager window displays on the screen, providing the list of all available patch managers.
Select the patch manager to use from now on for this patch from the list and then click OK to confirm.
The patch manager will immediately be changed and the patch to be download will be reinitialised directly.

You defined another device as the patch manager to download a specific patch.

To display products affected by patches in the patch group

To display the products which are affected by the patch added to the patch group, proceed as follows:

Select the package, for which the list of devices are to be displayed, in the table of the Patches tab.
Click Edit > Display Product List.
The Product List window will appear on the screen displaying the names of all products impacted by this patch.
Click Close to close the window.

You displayed the list of all products that are affected by a patch that is part of the patch group.

To export patches to the XML file

To export patches from a patch group, proceed as follows:

Select the patches to be exported on the Patches tab of a patch group.
Right-click and select Export Patches to XML File.

The Export Patches to XML File option is disabled if the patch group has no patches.
The Export the Current Node dialog displays.
Enter the file name and click Save.

You have exported the patches to XML files which are used for importing in other patch groups. You can export a patch only if the patch group is ready.

To import patches from the XML file

BMC Client Management enables you to import a list of patches in the XML format instead of manually searching for an individual patch. You can import a single XML file which has the details about the patches to be imported. The following is an example of the XML file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<import>

<patch name="notepad.exe">

<language id="040c"/>

</patch>

</import>

You can export multiple patches from a patch group into the XML file and import this XML file into a different patch group to import all the patches at once.

To import patches in a patch group, proceed as follows:

On the Patches tab, right-click and select Import Patches from XML File.
The Import a Node dialog displays.
Select the XML file to be imported and click Open.
A popup displays informing you if the import is successful or if there is no patch available to import.

The patch is added to the patch group. To take the patch group modifications into account, the group must be activated again. To do that, go to the Members tab. Right-click the patch group and select Activate Patch Group. The patch group is modified.

You can import the following either individually or in a group:

Patches	You can import patches by using: Patch name (recommended): It is the Microsoft name of the patch which does not include the language identifier in its name. For example: <patch name="notepad.exe"> <language name="English" /> <language id="040c" /> </patch> Patch key: It is the Ivanti name of the patch which includes the language identifier in its name. For example: <patch key="notepad_FRA.exe"> <language name="English" /> </patch> The language tag in the XML file is not mandatory but if this tag is not used, all the languages present in the inventory are downloaded by default. Use language name or region code to select the language.
CVE IDs	When you use the CVE ID to import a patch, all the patches related to that CVE ID are added to the patch group. For example: <cve id="CVE-2018-1234"> <language name="English" /> <language id="040c" /> </cve>
Service packs	To import service packs, use the product name and service pack name. For example: <sp product="Adobe Reader" name="SP2"> <language name="English" /> </sp>
Bulletins	To import bulletins, use the bulletin name. For example: <bulletin name="MS13-012"> <language id="040c" /> </bulletin>