Re: Re: Third Party Patch Management

[chmod1777 () invalid-host name]

<With all the security updates to programs like Acrobat & Java, I am 
interested in how the community is handling patch management practically in 
small to medium sized organizations (50 to 200 computers). Microsoft Update 
Server works for Windows patches but will not handle third party patches. 
Microsoft System Center is nice but too expensive for this market. 


What solutions are you using and how effective are they? >

I know you're looking for a 'smaller solution' but as was mentioned, if you can afford Altiris, or Landesk, they're 
worth the money. We use Landesk (4800 desktops) and patch MS patches when they're released, and also can easily update 
third party apps like Firefox, Java, Acrobat, etc. It works great for us, but it's probably overkill for a smaller 
setup like you're talking about. If you think the company is going to be growing, and would someday need something like 
that, and have the money available, then it might be worth looking at. When a patch or update comes out, we deploy it 
to your pilot group. Once we're satisfied, we put it in the compliance bucket. The machines will download any patches 
or updates that are new in that bucket when they check in daily for their security scan. You can tailor it to check 
every hour, or every week, whenever. Very customizable. I'm LD biased because that's what I use, and that's what I've 
been trained on. But Altiris is another solution v
 ery similar.

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