Getting started with patch management
The following topics introduce you to the concept of patch management in TrueSight Server Automation.
Tip
BMC Education Services provide Foundation courses covering the topics discussed in the walkthroughs available in this section. The education classes discuss when and why to make use of various features as well as the “how-to”. If you are interested in looking deeper into these topics, we recommend that you check out the Server Automation education offerings at TrueSight Server Automation Training.
BMC does not guarantee patch support for operating systems that have reached their end of life dates. In some cases, operating system vendors provide extended support contracts for continued access to new patches.
For Microsoft Windows servers, BMC has reached an agreement with its OEM provider Ivanti to support customers still wanting to patch end of life servers (For example, Windows 2003 and Windows 2008). However, there are additional costs to consider. For more information, see this advisory:
Extended support for Windows 2008 patches
This section includes the following topics:
| Topic | What is it about? |
|---|---|
| This topic introduces you to the concept of patch management in TrueSight Server Automation, which is the process of building and maintaining a patch repository, analyzing target servers, and, if necessary, packaging and deploying patches. | |
| Walkthrough: Restricting permissions for a patching administrator | This topic walks you through the process of setting up a patching administrator and limiting permissions so that administrator cannot perform other types of actions in TrueSight Server Automation. Although this process is not essential for patch management, BMC always recommends that you grant users the minimum set of permissions needed to perform actions. |
| Walkthrough: Setting up and managing an online patch catalog for Windows | This topic walks you through the process of creating a patch catalog for Microsoft Windows patches. A patch catalog provides a place to store metadata about patches and the patch payloads themselves. Patch catalogs can be designed for specific needs. |
| Walkthrough: Setting up and managing an offline patch catalog for Windows | This walkthrough shows how to download Windows patches from the Shavlik website to any server having internet access, using the offline downloader utility shipped with TrueSight Server Automation. After downloading the Windows patches, you can perform patching operations by transferring the metadata and payload information, using a removable storage, to the patch repository within the air-gapped environment. |
| Walkthrough: Setting up and managing an online patch catalog for Linux | This topic walks you through the process of setting up a patch catalog for a Red Hat Linux. It also explains how to set up a smart group that automatically selects a subset of the patches in the patch catalog. |
| Walkthrough: Setting up and managing an offline patch catalog for Linux | This walkthrough shows how to download RHEL patches from the Red Hat website to any server having internet access, using the offline downloader utility shipped with TrueSight Server Automation. After downloading the RHEL patches, you can perform patching operations by transferring the metadata and payload information, using a removable storage, to the patch repository within the air-gapped environment. |
| Walkthrough: Basic Microsoft Windows patch analysis | This topic walks you through the process of using TrueSight Server Automation to analyze the Microsoft Windows systems in your environment to see if there are systems that require patches and updates. |
| Walkthrough: Basic Linux patch analysis | This topic walks you through the process of using TrueSight Server Automation to analyze the Linux systems in your environment to see if there are systems that require patches and updates. This example demonstrates analysis on Red Hat Linux servers. |
| Walkthrough: Basic patch remediation | This topic walks you through the process of automating the deployment of patches and updates for Microsoft Windows operating systems, using TrueSight Server Automation. |
| Walkthrough: Identifying potential patching and deployment problems | This topic walks you through a process that can identify servers with access and writeability issues before those problems are exposed during critical patching, scripting, or deployment operations. |
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