We are happy to announce an exciting improvement coming to N-sight Patch Management in the coming weeks. Exact dates will be communicated to you via email and in-app messaging.
Why is the patch management being updated?
Historically patches have been approved by severity. The severity of patches was provided by Microsoft however an increasing number of patches are being released with no severity attached to them. This meant potentially important patches may not be auto-approved.
N-sight’s patch management is being updated to provide the capability to automate patching based on Microsoft classifications, including critical updates, drivers, feature packs, or any other Microsoft patch classification. Furthermore, our new patch engine will allow automatic approval of around 100 of the most popular applications we find on devices monitored by N-sight, ensuring that your clients’ devices are up-to-date, stable, and secure.
What benefits will you see from this update?
This update provides the following benefits:
Key features of the update:
A. The “Microsoft Approvals” tab allows you to auto-set specific patch types with more control than ever, using all Microsoft patch classifications.
B. The “Other Vendor Approvals” tab allows you to auto-set different states for individual products, meaning if you want to auto-update Google Chrome but not Java you can now do so. We have also added a default action for new products so that each time we add more applications to our supported list it can be auto-added to your current setup.
2. A new classification column for the Patch Management Workflow, allowing you to execute granular searches and find specific patches quicker.
3. A new classification column for device-level patching to provide a consistent workflow for the entire process.
How can you prepare for the update?
During the policy upgrade your Microsoft patch approvals will be migrated and mapped to the new classifications based on your current selections. We recommend reviewing your current patch management policies to ensure you are prepared to manage Microsoft patches based on classifications, not severity level.
The mappings are:
- → Critical Updates, Security Updates
- → Definition Updates
- → Updates
- → Service Packs, Update Rollups
- → Drivers, Tools, Feature Packs
It is not possible to map other vendors from the current settings so these will be set to do nothing, prior to this upgrade 3rd party patching was only approved when all classes including the ‘Other’ class was selected.
This may have an impact on how you currently patch so we would recommend updating your policies to take advantage of these new settings immediately.
What is not changing?
The names of your policies and schedules will not change.
There will not be any need to update the RMM agents on the endpoints
On the day of the release, we will provide an overview video that will walk you through the update.
You can learn more about Microsoft’s patch classifications here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-client/deployment/standard-terminology-software-updates
Have feedback?
We’d love to hear from you! Please submit feedback to chris.dunsmore@n-able.com
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