Deploy patches manually

The Install/Uninstall Patches configuration enables you to manually install or uninstall patches from a central location. You can click on Install Patch and select the OS that you wanted to deploy patches to. While systems running on Windows and Mac OS do not have any preconditions, certain Linux distributions necessitate the below requisites

Prerequisites to patch Red Hat and SUSE Machines
To patch the systems running on these Linux distributions using the Central Server, configure the Red Hat Linux Settings and SUSE Linux Settings suitably

Follow the steps mentioned below to install/uninstall patches.

  1. Click Patch Management
  2. Under Deployment select Install/Uninstall Patch
  3. Choose the operating system and then create a configuration that needs to be deployed.

Step 1: Name the Configuration

Provide a name and description for the Install/uninstall Patches Configuration.

 

Step 2: Define Configuration

specify the operation type as "install" to install patches and define the following values:

Parameter Description

Add the Patches

Click the Add More Patches button to invoke the Patch Browser. From the patch browser select the patches that have to be applied. The patch browser has an option to view the missing patches or all patches, which can then be filtered based on the application and service pack.

If you have reached this configuration page from the Patch Management tab by selecting the patches, the selected patches automatically gets added to the List of Patches.

Scheduler Settings

Install After

  • Select this option and specify the date and time after which the patches have to be installed. The patches will be installed based on the Install Options selected after the scheduled time.

Deployment Settings

Specify the following Deployment Settings:

Installation/Uninstallation Option:

  1. Install during computer startup: Select this option if the patches have to be deployed during computer startup.
  2. Install during 90 minutes refresh interval: Select this option if the patches have to be installed after the computer startup when the next update happens (within 90 minutes)
  3. Either of the above, whichever is earlier

Install Between

  • If you want the installation to happen only between a specified time of a day, you can specify the Start and End time within which the deployment should begin. The Start Time can also be greater than the End time - in such cases, the End time is assumed to be on the following day. For example, if you wish the deployment should happen between 10.00 PM and 4.00 AM, you can specify the Start Time as 22:00:00 and End Time as 04:00:00

Allow Users to Skip Deployment

  1. Specify whether the user can skip the deployment at a later time by selecting the "Allow Users to Skip Deployment". When you do not select this option, the deployment will be forced and the user will not have any control over the deployment.
  2. When you allow users to skip deployment, you can also specify whether they can skip it as long as they wish or force deployment after a specific date.

Reboot Policy

  1. Do not reboot: Select this option if the client computers should not be rebooted after installing the patches.
  2. Force Reboot when the user has logged in: Select this option to force the user to reboot the computer. Specify the time within which the client machines will be rebooted and the message that has to displayed in the client machines.
  3. Force Shutdown when the user has logged in: Select this option to force the user to shut down the computer. Specify the time within which the client machines will be shut down and the message that has to displayed in the client machines.
  4. Allow the user to skip Reboot: Select this option to allow users to reboot later. Specify the message that has to displayed in the client machines.
  5. Allow the user to skip Shutdown: Select this option to allow users to shut down later. Specify the message that has to displayed in the client machines.

 

Step 3: Define Target

Using the Defining Targets procedure, define the targets for deploying the Install Patches Configuration

 

Step 4: Deploy Configuration

Click the Deploy button to deploy the defined Install Patches Configuration in the defined targets. The deployment will be initiated during the next system startup.

To save the configuration as a draft, click Save as Draft.

Note
Patch uninstallation is currently not supported for Mac and Linux machines.

Creating a configuration from Detailed View

If you are trying to create a configuration from Detailed View under All Patches, then the below-mentioned scenarios will come into effect. The Detailed View will list every missing patch against every single computer in a separate row, which means if a single patch is missing in 5 computers, 5 rows will be listed.  
when you have chosen to deploy more than one patch for more than one computer as mentioned below, then you might end up in deploying the patches to the computers which you never intended to deploy. 


Creating a configuration based on the above selection will work as follows:

Selected Patches:  Patch 1, Patch 2  and Patch 3.

Defined Target: Computer 1, Computer 2,  and Computer 3.

Result of this Deployment:

Patch ID Included Target

Intended target

Missing Patch

Deployment Initiated

Expected  Result
Patch 1 Computer 1

Yes

Yes

Yes

Will be deployed
Patch 1 Computer 2

Yes

Yes

Yes

Will be deployed
Patch 1 Computer 3

No

No

Yes

Will not be deployed
Patch 2 Computer 1

No

Yes

Yes

Will be deployed
Patch 2 Computer 2

Yes

Yes

Yes

Will be deployed
patch 2 Computer 3

No

No

Yes

Will not be deployed
patch 3 Computer 1

No

No

Yes

Will not be deployed
Patch 3 Computer 2

No

No

Yes

Will not be deployed
Patch 3 Computer 3

Yes

Yes

Yes

Will be deployed

As per the above-mentioned table, the configuration will be deployed across to all the computers to which the patch is applicable. Patch 2 is applicable for computer 1,  but you never intended to deploy it, however, the deployment will happen on it since it is a missing patch.

In order to overcome this, it is recommended to deploy multiple patches to a single computer or single patch to multiple computers from "Detailed View". If you want to deploy multiple patches for multiple computers, then it is recommended to create multiple configurations or initiate deployment from Missing Patches View.

Note: When a Patch Management task is initiated, the agent residing on the client computer scans the computer for the missing patches and downloads only the applicable patches from the Central Server.
If you are managing computers in a remote office using a Distribution Server, then WAN agents will download the applicable patches from the Distribution Server. The deployed patches will be replicated to the Distribution Server irrespective of whether the patch is applicable for the remote office computers or not.