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Patching

Patch Tuesday won't break your monitoring.

Windows Update and the Linux package manager. Policy-driven, scheduled, with deferral windows. The agent self-tests after every patch run — no silent updater failures.

  • Policy-driven

    Org → client → asset hierarchy. Standard MSP shape, no surprises.

  • Self-test

    After every patch run. No silent updater failures. We learned the hard way.

  • Audited

    Per-asset history, org-level coverage report, SLA reporting for patch lag.

Approved categories, deferral windows, reboot orchestration — per policy.

Policy hierarchy

Org → client → asset. A policy specifies approved categories (security, critical, optional, drivers), deferral window (start / end day-of-week, hour-of-day), reboot behaviour (auto, prompt, never), and maintenance window override.

What gets patched

The targets.

  • Windows — Windows Update API. Cumulative, security, drivers, .NET. Reboot orchestrated.
  • Linux — apt, dnf, yum, zypper depending on distro. Held packages respected.

Pre-flight, learned the hard way

The agent self-tests after every update before reporting success, so a failed binary swap never gets reported as a clean run. Updater follow-up work is tracked openly.

Audit

Every patch run logged.

  • Per-asset patch history with timestamp, KB / package, success / failure, reboot status
  • Org-level patch coverage report — what is compliant, what is outstanding, what is overdue
  • SLA reporting for patch lag (e.g., critical patches outstanding > 7 days)

Common questions

  • Can I exclude specific KBs?
    Yes. Per-policy KB blocklist.
  • What about WSUS?
    The Windows agent uses the Windows Update Agent API directly. WSUS sources are honoured if configured at the OS level, otherwise we go to Microsoft direct.
  • Do you patch the agent itself?
    The agent self-updates on a separate path with its own self-test gate. Agent updates are not driven by the patch policy.
  • What happens if a patch fails?
    Agent reports failure with exit code. Telemetry event publishes. Patch run is retryable. Audit log captures the trail.
  • Can I see drift across the fleet?
    Yes. Compliance dashboard shows patch posture per asset, per client, per organisation.

Patch with confidence, audit with proof

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