SolarWinds Patch Manager

Why Choose SolarWinds Patch Manager?

Choosing SolarWinds Patch Manager offers several compelling reasons:

• Extended Patching Capabilities: It goes beyond the native capabilities of WSUS and SCCM, allowing for more granular control over patch deployments, especially for third-party applications.
• Centralized Management: Provides a single, unified console for managing patches across a diverse IT environment, including physical servers, virtual machines, and remote desktops.
• Automation: Automates many steps in the patch management process, from research and scheduling to deployment and reporting, saving IT teams significant time and effort.
• Comprehensive Third-Party Support: Offers pre-built and pre-tested packages for common third-party applications (like Adobe, Java, Apple, Google, Mozilla), eliminating the need for manual scripting and testing.
• Enhanced Security: By ensuring timely updates, it helps to proactively address software vulnerabilities and protect against potential security breaches.
• Compliance Reporting: Simplifies compliance efforts with robust, customizable reporting options that demonstrate patch status and compliance to auditors.
• Reduced Manual Errors: Automation minimizes human error associated with manual patching, ensuring consistency and accuracy.
• Scalability: Designed to manage patches across large networks and virtual environments, making it suitable for organizations of various sizes.
• Integration with Orion Platform: Integrates seamlessly with other SolarWinds products on the Orion Platform, providing a centralized view and correlated data across your IT stack.

Benefits of SolarWinds Patch Manager

The benefits of implementing SolarWinds Patch Manager include:

• Reduced Vulnerabilities: Proactively addresses known software vulnerabilities, significantly improving the overall security posture of your IT infrastructure.
• Improved System Stability and Performance: Keeps systems and applications updated with bug fixes and performance enhancements, leading to greater stability and smoother operations.
• Time and Cost Savings: Automates labor-intensive tasks, freeing up IT staff to focus on more strategic initiatives and reducing the manual effort (and associated costs) of patching.
• Simplified Compliance: Provides detailed, customizable reports that easily demonstrate patch compliance for audits and internal stakeholders.
• Centralized Control and Visibility: Offers a unified interface to view patch status, identify missing patches, and control deployments across all managed systems.
• Efficient Third-Party Patching: Streamlines the patching of non-Microsoft applications, which is often a complex and time-consuming task with native tools.
• Flexible Deployment Options: Allows for advanced scheduling, pre- and post-deployment actions (using PackageBoot™ technology), and the ability to patch offline machines using Wake-on-LAN.
• Customization: Enables the creation of custom update packages for unique or in-house applications.

How to Use SolarWinds Patch Manager?

Using SolarWinds Patch Manager generally involves these steps:

1. Installation and Setup:

   • Install Patch Manager on a system, often alongside an existing Microsoft WSUS or SCCM environment.
   • Configure the environment by adding your WSUS server to Patch Manager.
   • Set up credential rings to map user credentials to managed systems.
   • Generate a software publishing certificate to enable publishing of third-party and custom updates.
   • (Optional) Configure group policies to enable third-party updates if your organization uses them.
   • (Optional) Integrate with the SolarWinds Orion Platform for a consolidated monitoring view.

2. Downloading and Selecting Updates:

   • Run the Update Configuration wizard to synchronize with SolarWinds' Third-Party Updates Pack website.
   • Synchronize your WSUS server with the Microsoft Updates website to retrieve Microsoft updates.
   • Select the desired third-party and Microsoft updates from vendor catalogs.

3. Generating Inventory:

   • Generate an inventory of your WSUS server and managed systems to determine their current patch status. This populates reports and dashboards.

4. Approving and Publishing Updates:

   • Download the selected third-party update packages to your WSUS server.
   • Approve the updates you want to publish.

5. Deploying Patches:

   • Push the approved updates to your managed systems.
   • Schedule deployments for specific times (e.g., off-peak hours, monthly, weekly) or force immediate updates.
   • Utilize features like Wake-on-LAN to patch offline machines.
   • Use PackageBoot™ technology for complex patches that require pre- or post-installation scripts.

6. Monitoring and Reporting:

   • Utilize the Patch Status Dashboard for a quick overview of missing updates, system health, and installed patches.
   • Generate comprehensive and customizable reports on patch status, compliance, installation errors, and more.
   • Review task history to verify successful deployments.

Features of SolarWinds Patch Manager

Key features of SolarWinds Patch Manager include:

• Microsoft WSUS Patch Management: Centralized management of Microsoft updates, extending WSUS capabilities with enhanced scheduling, reporting, and control.
• Third-Party Application Patching: Supports patching for a wide range of popular third-party applications (e.g., Adobe, Java, Firefox, Chrome, Apple, Oracle, Mozilla) with pre-built and pre-tested packages.
• SCCM Integration: Extends Microsoft SCCM deployments to provide robust management of non-Microsoft updates and allows for viewing of third-party patch details.
• Patch Compliance Reports: Provides detailed and customizable reports to demonstrate patch status and compliance to auditors and internal stakeholders.
• Patch Status Dashboard: An intuitive, color-coded dashboard that offers a quick glance at security updates, missing patches, and overall environment health.
• Automated Patch Deployment: Automates the entire patching process, from scanning and identification to deployment and verification.
• Pre-built/Pre-tested Packages: Offers a library of pre-tested packages for common third-party applications, reducing the need for manual research, scripting, and testing.
• Custom Package Wizard: Allows users to create custom update packages for any MSI, MSP, or EXE without complex scripting, enabling deployment of in-house or specialized applications.
• Advanced Before-and-After Package Deployment Actions (PackageBoot™): Enables the creation of pre- and post-installation scenarios for complex patches to ensure successful deployment.
• Virtual Machine Patching: Simplifies patch management for virtual desktops and servers, including the ability to patch offline machines and organize virtual machines into groups.
• Remote Software Deployment Tools: Facilitates the remote deployment of software and patches.
• Wake-on-LAN (WoL): Can wake up sleeping or shut-down devices to apply patches, improving patch success rates.
• Computer Inventory Management: Provides comprehensive hardware and software inventory capabilities.
• Role-Based Access Control: Offers granular control over user permissions for managing patches.
• Alerting and Notification System: Sends alerts and notifications about patch status and issues.