SolarWinds® Patch Manager

Gain control over Windows server patching and workstations

• SolarWinds® Patch Manager is built to integrate with WSUS and the Microsoft update agent to automatically update Windows patches based on custom schedules. You can also create different patching schedules for different business groups within your organization per custom requirements.
• Patch Manager is designed to help you proactively identify which servers and workstations need to be patched, and can then help you build patch deployment packages. You can control and schedule software patching for target nodes based on operating systems, IP range, or any custom grouping or individual selections.

Streamline third-party software patch management

• With SolarWinds® Patch Manager, you can also easily build and designate specific actions to occur before or after package deployment to ensure your patches get installed and deployed per your schedule. For example, you can have a set of pre- and post-deployment scenarios, such as starting and stopping services, running custom scripts, and dynamically detecting applications in need of frequent updates.
• Using Patch Manager, you can easily create before-and-after deployment package scenarios to help ensure complex third-party patches such as Oracle Java are deployed successfully without any complicated scripts.

Manage patch deployments with advanced scheduling and rebooting

• You can also immediately download and install updates for specific servers or workstations—without doing an RDP session—and choose which patches have to be installed based on date released, critical level, or other criteria.
• Patch Manager can also give you the power to schedule patch applications within tight maintenance timeframes, and to force refresh on group policy for servers and workstations should a new urgent patch update be released.

Leverage patch management wizard for customized applications

• Users no longer have to rely on System Center Updates Publisher (SCUP). The Windows patch management software in Patch Manager can also enable the deployment of a custom package—MSI, MSP, EXE via Microsoft WSUS, or SCCM. When deploying or patching custom apps or software, Patch Manager is designed to offer a more streamlined process than with SCUP alone.
• SolarWinds® Patch Manager is designed to simplify the patching of custom software and other applications by allowing you to easily create custom packages, without complex scripting.

Benefits of using Patch Manager for WSUS

• It’s important for system administrators to have the right software to diagnose and fix Windows Update Agent configuration problems. Using Patch Manager, you can:
• Configure the Windows Update Agent using local policies
• Repair and re-install the Windows Update Agent using frequently used repair options
• Force refresh Group Policy on machines
• Check for failed patches with PackageBoot technology

Quickly send data with WSUS customizable patch reports

• Third-party software like Java requires a specific pre- and post-installation environment, which can be automated using PackageBoot technology. Patch Manager helps prevent security vulnerabilities by facilitating successful patching, and can significantly reduce patch workload.
• Patch Manager’s customizable reports provide a comprehensive view of patch status and application vulnerabilities. These can report over 500 fields of data using over 100 report definitions. Reports can be sorted, filtered, and grouped by application type, patch status, and WSUS target group.

Extend WSUS third-party patch management capabilities

• Third-party patch management for WSUS is a tedious and constant task that often requires hours of research, creation, testing, deployment, reporting, and troubleshooting.
• SolarWinds® Patch Manager helps companies using WSUS reduce the time associated with WSUS patch management by providing pre-built, tested, and ready-to-deploy packages for common third-party applications. Patch Manager is designed to leverage the Microsoft WSUS infrastructure to enable the successful deployment, management, and reporting for third-party patches.

Easily perform enterprise-wide inventory and discovery

• SolarWinds® Patch Manager leverages the WSUS infrastructure to perform full inventory and discovery across all desktops and servers—both physical and virtual—throughout your IT enterprise.
• SolarWinds PM WSUS patch management features are built to retrieve thousands of unique pieces of system information from all the systems in your environment, including some that may have escaped your attention. Once the data is collected, you can use the integrated reporting to get the answers you need regarding patches, system configurations, client health, and more.

Benefits of using Patch Manager for application patch management

• Creating the right pre- and post-installation environment for successful patching.
• If you have WSUS or SCCM in your systems environment, you are probably already patching Microsoft software. It can be difficult to use multiple tools for third-party application patch management, but it’s critical to keep apps like Adobe or Java updated as well. With SolarWinds® Patch Manager, you can centralize your application patch management tasks into one tool in addition to:
• Extending Microsoft WSUS and SCCM capabilities for publishing third-party applications.
• Reducing security risks by controlling patch deployment.
• Creating out-of-the-box reports, leveraging dashboard views, and managing vulnerabilities to improve compliance.

Implementing application patch management

• Patch Manager is designed to give IT managers a comprehensive list of available updates for applications categorized as critical, security, definition, third-party updates, and service packs. Also, these update notifications are available on the Patch Manager console and via email.
• You can select a specific update and perform various actions, including defining the target computer group, choosing to approve or not approve, and scheduling deployment time and date.

Streamlining the application patch management process

• If you are starting the application patch management process for a specific software, you can download the package or import it into Patch Manager. Patch Manager simplifies application management for popular third-party software by automatically publishing updates to the WSUS server.
• PackageBoot technology automates application patch management by creating the right pre- and post-installation environment for complex install scenarios. You can also address known security flaws through successful application patch management, which can significantly reduce patch workload.

Centralized SCCM patching for third-party applications

• Organizations grapple with multiple challenges in managing third-party applications patching. Usually, it's a labour-intensive process that calls for countless hours of research, creation, testing, software deployment, and troubleshooting. With SolarWinds® Patch Manager, you can extend Microsoft SCCM capabilities and simplify third-party patching with pre-built, industry-tested, and ready-to-deploy packages. You can even track the availability of new patches as they become available. Additionally, it’s easy to synchronize patches to your preferred schedule.

Mitigate vulnerabilities with SCCM third-party updates

• Virtual machines and third-party applications are easy targets for cybercriminals. Most organizations have a good patching tool in place to periodically update Windows OS and applications. However, there is a gap when it comes to patching virtual machines and applications like Java, Adobe, and Firefox. With the help of Patch Manager, you can extend Microsoft SCCM capabilities and achieve a more integrated approach to the patching process for both Windows and third-party applications. This tool also allows you to patch virtual machines and offline machines to better mitigate common security risks.

Demonstrate compliance with extensive reporting capabilities

• With an already stretched-thin IT team, it can be difficult to strike a balance between tracking the status of current patches and applying new SCCM third-party updates. SolarWinds® Patch Manager provides out-of-the-box, easy-to-use, built-in reports to help IT teams remain compliant as they develop new patches. These reports offer your teams increased visibility into your patch status and current compliance. You can also easily build your own patch management reports to help you show auditors that all your systems are patched and compliant with critical regulations like HIPAA.

Quickly check for critical or security updates

• When an update becomes available, Patch Manager can notify you through email and on the console window. To simplify the patch process, the updates are categorized as security, critical, definition, third-party, and service pack updates. Just select, approve, and schedule or deploy the update to the computer group or Active Directory organizational unit (OU).
• SolarWinds® Patch Manager is designed to work with Microsoft Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) and System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) to monitor for newly released software updates, including updates for third-party applications. The tool is designed to provide pre-built and pre-tested third-party application packages ready to deploy, so you no longer need to research, script, package, and test patches for third-party applications.

Ensure no failed patches in the security patch management process

• SolarWinds® Patch Manager comes with Package Boot™ technology, which is designed to ensure you don’t have any failed patches. When installing patches, sometimes the patches aren’t deployed correctly, resulting in unsuccessful patching that doesn’t work to block the vulnerability in the software. Package Boot can help you make sure even the most complicated patches are deployed successfully through the creation of custom before and after package deployment scenarios.

Gain tighter control over patch deployment

• With Patch Manager, users have control over when patches are deployed, this means you can schedule patches to automatically install during less busy times or non-work hours. You can also more easily see the status of all your patches from the intuitive dashboard in SolarWinds® Patch Manager.
• One of the reasons people don’t want to install patches and other updates to their systems is that they don’t want to interrupt their work.

Run readily available reports to assess current patch status and pass compliance audits

• To demonstrate compliance, it’s critical that you can easily create reports on your current patching status. With SolarWinds® Patch Manager, it’s easy to filter data according to built-in templates or custom criteria, and then run detailed, informative reports to help you monitor the patching process. Plus, you can schedule reports to automatically run and send to help ensure you’re fulfilling your part of the compliance process.