Boost Security: Stage & Test Patches with Azure Update Manager

Key insights

• Implement Staged Patching for Reliability: A staged patching approach in Azure Update Manager decreases risk by ensuring patches are first tested in non-production environments. The process involves dev/test, pre-production, and production stages, enhancing the safety of OS updates.


• Use of Automation and Tagging: The process includes automating stages 1 and 2 with a PowerShell script and utilizing tagging for servers based on OS version and patching stage. This helps in maintaining a predictable and organized patching workflow.


• Recommended Strategy for Diverse OS Environments: For environments with multiple OS versions, it's advised to create separate staged patching workflows for each OS version. This ensures that patches tested on a specific OS version in a non-production environment are applied to the same OS version in production.


• Pre-requisites and Setup: Machines must be supported by Azure Update Manager and have Customer Managed Schedules patch orchestration mode. The setup involves creating a Maintenance Configuration for dev/test servers, utilizing an Azure Automation Account, and installing necessary modules.


• Importance of Pre- and Post-Maintenance Tasks: Integrating pre- and post-maintenance tasks with Azure Update Manager enhances the staged patching solution, allowing for tasks such as turning machines on or off as part of the maintenance process.

Exploring Azure Update Manager's Staged Patching Approach

Azure Update Manager offers a staged patching feature designed to enhance reliability and decrease risks associated with deploying OS updates in production environments. By employing a structured approach, updates undergo testing in development and pre-production environments before reaching production. This method significantly reduces the likelihood of update-related disruptions in critical systems.

The process relies heavily on automation and tagging, capitalizing on Azure's capabilities to streamline the patch deployment process across different stages and OS versions. It reflects a recommended strategy for managing updates in environments housing a diversity of operating systems, ensuring that only vetted patches are rolled out to corresponding production machines.

Setting up a staged patching workflow entails meeting specific pre-requisites, including machine compatibility with Azure Update Manager and configuration of scheduled patching and automation accounts. It's a comprehensive strategy that, while requiring initial setup efforts, offers significant benefits in terms of update management and system reliability.

Incorporating pre- and post-maintenance tasks further bolsters the efficacy of the staged patching solution. These tasks, which can automate actions such as machine startup and shutdown, are vital in ensuring that the patching process is as seamless and non-disruptive as possible. Azure Update Manager's staged patching, therefore, represents a robust framework for maintaining up-to-date and secure systems in complex IT environments.

Read the full article Test your Patches! A Staged Patching Solution with Azure Update Manager

Test your patches! A staged patching solution with Azure Update Manager is essential for enterprise organizations aiming to automate their OS patching cycles. This ensures that only tested updates from dev/test environments reach production. The step-by-step guide provided aims for a smooth implementation of a staged patching process, focusing on enhancing patching reliability.

The staged patching process begins with updates first deployed in a test environment, then moved to pre-production, and finally implemented in production. This strategy significantly reduces the risk of updates disrupting production systems. A typical setup involves recurrent patching of Dev/Test machines, determining a specific set of updates for progression to the next stages, ensuring consistency and reliability.

The implementation of this approach is facilitated by the Create-StagedMaintenanceConfiguration PowerShell script and Azure Automation. This script, deployable as an Azure Automation Runbook, automates the transition between stages, catering to both Windows and Linux systems. The architecture supports Azure VMs and Azure Arc-enabled servers, implementing a thorough and reliable patching regimen.

A successful staged patching strategy requires a detailed maintenance configuration for each OS version, ensuring patches tested in non-production environments are the only ones deployed in production. Tagging servers based on their OS version and patching stage streamlines the process. This strategy relies on precision and careful planning, from initial testing to final deployment.

Setting up this solution involves tagging Azure VMs and servers, creating recurring patching Maintenance Configurations, and utilizing an Azure Automation Account. The Managed Identity of the Automation Account must have specific permissions, allowing the smooth execution of the Create-StagedMaintenanceConfiguration Runbook. This setup ensures a structured and controlled patching workflow.

Moreover, addressing pre-and post-maintenance tasks is crucial. Azure Update Manager's event-based architecture allows for a flexible configuration of these tasks, further enhancing the reliability of the patching process. However, it's essential to manually configure these tasks for stages beyond the initial reference maintenance configuration.

The Create-StagedMaintenanceConfiguration script is a pivotal tool in this solution, guiding the creation of subsequent maintenance configurations based on initial test results. Following these structured steps leads to a well-tested patching process, minimizing risks and ensuring stability across environments.

It's important to note that these scripts are provided without any warranty, emphasizing the need for users to assume all risks associated with their use. This solution underscores Microsoft's commitment to offering innovative, albeit unsupported, solutions for complex IT challenges. Happy and well-tested patching!