Software is a vital component in the success of any SaaS business. Without software of various kinds, it would be challenging to do anything efficiently or effectively. Unfortunately, any patch management software is also vulnerable to various security issues and bugs. If left unpatched, these vulnerabilities can create entry points for hackers, leading to corporate data leakage and malware infiltration. Windows patch management process ensures your Windows operating systems don’t face security issues or fall prey to malicious third-party patches.
What is Windows Patch Management Policy?
Windows patch management is a process that involves the installation of updates, service packs, and hotfixes on a Windows-based computer system or any Microsoft device. A Windows patch deployment policy is a set of guidelines that an organization or company uses to determine which patches apply to the systems. It is an automated process to keep your Microsoft devices up-to-date with the latest security patches and bug fixes.
Why is a Patch Management Policy Important?
Applying patch processeds is crucial for various reasons like adding new features and fixing performance issues and security vulnerabilities. Hence, defining a patch management policy simplifies IT efforts to deploy timely software updates and patches, and it minimizes security risks.
Here’s how a patch management policy benefits businesses:
- A patch management policy ensures that your software is patched and updated routinely.
- It ensures that all patches and updates are systematically executed within a defined time frame that does not clash with the employees’ productive hours.
- It helps organizations keep up with various compliance requirements, like HIPAA and GDPR, to avoid audits and fines.
- It strengthens customer trust and satisfaction for your products and services.
Learn More: Patch Management Best PracticesHow to Create a Windows Patch Management Policy with Scalefusion?
Scalefusion MDM acts as a patch management tool to simplify Windows asset management for organizations and offers an extensive feature set with powerful capabilities, including patch compliance. IT admins can remotely drive updates and apply patches to their Scalefusion-managed Microsoft systems on their servers. These systems need to be enabled with Windows server update services.
The following are the prerequisites to configure a Windows patch manager policy with Scalefusion:
- Scalefusion account with Legacy or Modern Enterprise Plan
- Windows devices enrolled with Scalefusion MDM
- The latest version of Scalefusion MDM agent (v6.0.0.)
- Windows 10 or Windows 11 supporting 32-bit and 64-bit OS updates
Creating a Windows Patch Manager Policy with Scalefusion: A step-by-step Guide
1. Global-Level Policy
Step 1: Log into your Scalefusion account and navigate to the Update & Patch Management section on the dashboard.
Step 2: Click Configure. Configure the default global settings for the Windows MDM agent to query and sync updates.
Step 3: Switch on the Scalefusion MDM agent-based management tool option. Enabling this option allows you to manage MDM agent-based updates and other granular settings such as;
- Update sync interval for 12 or 24 hours
- Option to sync driver updates
- Force reboot devices immediately, 5 minutes or 10 minutes after updates
- Configure the update schedule to set the time, day, and week or force install on missed schedule
Step 4: Click Save after configuring the settings as per your requirements.
2. Profile-Level Policy
You can also apply the Windows patch management policy on a profile level. It automatically applies the configured patches to every device in the profile.
Step 1: Log into your Scalefusion account and navigate to the Device Profiles option under the Device Profiles & Policies section on the dashboard.
Step 2: Create a Windows device profile or edit an existing one.
Step 3: Navigate to the Windows Updates section and configure the patch management settings under the Scalefusion Agent-based Settings tab.
Step 4: Click Update Profile after configuring the settings as per your requirements.
3. Viewing the Update & Patch Status
On configuring the Windows patch management policy, Scalefusion syncs all the available updates.  You can view a summary of available updates on the dashboard. Navigate to the Update & Patch Management section to select any one of two views – Device View or Updates View.
Device view:
The device view gives an overview of the total number of Microsoft devices that have been successfully updated, those devices that have pending updates, as well as those which require a reboot after the update. You can filter and view devices based on groups, devices, update type, installation status or reboot requirement.
You can view a summary of the device details, including the device name, group, and the installed, available or hidden updates. You can execute device-level actions like rebooting devices, viewing a consolidated status of the updates or downloading a CSV of all updates. You can also perform bulk actions like updating, rebooting, syncing, hiding or unhiding all devices.
Updates view:
The updates view gives an overview of the installed, available and failed updates. You can filter and view devices based on groups, devices, update type, installation status, hotfix ID or search feature.
The updates view displays the number of devices on which updates have been installed, missed, hidden or failed. You can complete device-level actions like viewing a consolidated status of the updates or downloading a CSV of all updates. It also allows you to perform bulk actions like updating all devices, pushing selective updates, syncing, and hiding or unhiding the update status.
Closing Lines
Windows patch management brings a sense of surety and relief to the IT stakeholders and business leaders, knowing that their Windows devices are well-secured. Scalefusion empowers you to take a systematic, automated, policy-driven deployment of regular updates and patches with minimal IT intervention.
Schedule a live demo with our product experts to explore more about Scalefusion’s Windows Patch Management capabilities.
Please visit https://scalefusion.com/book-a-demo
