Patch Management

This workflow example helps you manage and deploy system patches.
1) Click Run to see it in action
2) Click Edit to customize it
3) Set up integrations/Automations

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Gather and consolidate inventory data

Understand the consequences of making changes

Scan for vulnerabilities

Backup data and server configuration

Deploy patches to the test group

Document test results

Notify internal system owners

Roll out patch enterprise-wide

Gather and consolidate inventory data

This is a task, one of the actionable steps in your workflow.

⬆️ When you edit a workflow, you can assign tasks to other users, give them a deadline to be completed by, pause the workflow run at this point, or change who can see this task by adjusting the permission settings ⬆️

⚡️ You could automate this step by setting up an integration with your database such as SQL Server or MySQL, to automatically populate the fields below.

Hostname

Location

IP address

MAC address

Operating system

Current revision level

Notes

Understand the consequences of making changes

Make sure that the consequences of making changes to a system are fully understood and in any event, only implement changes one or two at a time and only on test systems first.

Note any consequences to consider

Note changes to be made

Scan for vulnerabilities

You could use a vulnerability scanning tool like Nessus to manage this step.

Depending on the importance of the systems and the priority of the vulnerabilities, scanning helps you decide which patches to apply where.

Store your scan report in the file uploader below to keep track of it.

Vulnerability report

Backup data and server configuration

Create a full backup of all data and server configuration information

Exactly how you create a backup of server config data varies based on the kind of server you're running. Find documentation for the most popular options here:

Deploy patches to the test group

Test users should be technicians, or at least staff familiar with reporting bugs and finding errors. Replace the rows below with your tester's names.

Test Group members selected

1

Person A
2

Person B
3

Person C
4

Person D
5

Person E

Document test results

Document test results and present for review by internal system owners

Using the logs from your test group, create a summary of the patch results.

Attach the summary below.

Summary report

Notify internal system owners

⚡️ You could automate this step with an integration that either runs the scheduled maintenance notification process for you, or you can build a Slack integration to send a channel message to those concerned.