Streamline Updates with Azure Update Manager

Azure Update Manager allows you to manage updates for multiple Azure resources with a single dashboard.

You can manage updates for Azure Virtual Machines, Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) clusters, and Azure App Service environments with this tool.

With Azure Update Manager, you can schedule and automate updates for your Azure resources, reducing the risk of downtime and improving overall system reliability.

This can be particularly helpful for organizations with large-scale Azure deployments, where manual updates can be time-consuming and error-prone.

Azure Update Manager is a cloud-based service that helps you manage updates for your Azure resources.

First, you need to sign in to the Azure portal and navigate to the Azure Update Manager page.

You can find this page by searching for "Azure Update Manager" in the Azure portal search bar.

Next, you'll need to create a workspace to store your updates.

A workspace is a container that holds your updates, and you can create multiple workspaces if needed.

Azure Update Manager supports multiple Azure subscriptions, so you can manage updates across your entire organization from one place.

This feature is especially useful for large enterprises with multiple subscriptions.

Before you start managing updates, make sure you have the necessary permissions to access the Azure Update Manager page.

You'll need to check your Azure subscription's access control settings to ensure you have the right permissions.

Deploying software across on-premises and multicloud environments can be a complex task, but Azure Update Manager makes it easier. You can manage updates for all your machines, including those running on Windows and Linux, across Azure, on premises, and on other cloud platforms.

With Azure Update Manager, you can monitor update compliance from a single dashboard. This dashboard provides a clear view of your entire fleet of machines in Azure, on premises, and other cloud environments.

To create a new Updates deployment, follow these steps: click "Schedule update deployment" in the Update Management pane, configure the settings in the "New Update Deployment" tab, and click Create. This allows you to create different deployments for different servers.

You can also create scheduled deployments by selecting Update Management and clicking "Schedule Update Deployment" to create a scheduled job for installing Windows patches. This ensures that your machines receive critical updates at the right time.

Azure Update Manager offers flexible patching options, including automatic virtual machine (VM) guest patching, maintenance schedules, and on-demand updates. This allows you to choose the best approach for your organization's needs.

Here are some key benefits of using Azure Update Manager for deploying software across on-premises and multicloud environments:

By using Azure Update Manager, you can streamline your software deployment process and ensure that your machines are always up-to-date and secure.

Security and Updates are crucial for any Azure server. You can apply security and critical patches with access controls by providing granular access control for patch management at a per-resource level and delegating permissions for patch management tasks using role-based access control (RBAC).

To ensure your distributed Windows Server 2012 R2 and SQL Server 2012 resources stay secure, you can get Extended Security Updates. This includes flexible pricing options, compliance status for each individual machine, and easy deployment and tracking of updates.

Azure Update Management offers a number of features to make understanding update classifications and security vulnerabilities easier. You can configure software update classifications and set up a Log Analytics Workspace to monitor patch status and update assessment. This allows you to quickly identify any security vulnerabilities that need addressing.

To get started with Update Management, you need to enable it in your Automation account. You can do this by opening your Automation account, which is a unique identifier like ROD-IT-SRV-PATCHING-WE.

Click on the "Update Management" option in the left-hand menu to proceed. From there, you can choose the Subscription and Log Analytics Workspace that you want to associate with Update Management.

To complete the process, simply click the "Enable" button.

To apply security and critical patches, you need to provide granular access control for patch management at a per-resource level. This allows you to delegate permissions for patch management tasks using role-based access control (RBAC).

You can configure software update classifications to ensure only necessary patches and updates are installed on your virtual machines. Azure Update Management allows you to configure software update classifications and set up a Log Analytics Workspace to monitor patch status and update assessment.

The Update Deployment wizard lets you choose from various classifications, including Critical Updates, Security Updates, Update Rollups, Feature packs, Service Packs, Definition Updates, Tools, and Updates. This helps you identify and address security vulnerabilities quickly.

To ensure seamless patching, it's essential to update the Windows Log Analytics agent to the latest version. This reduces security vulnerabilities and benefits from bug fixes. You can check the current version of the Log Analytics agent by going to the installation path and right-clicking on HealthService.exe to check Properties.

Here's a summary of the recommended update classifications:

You can easily manage and maintain your machines with Azure Update Management. It allows you to create scheduled jobs or one-time jobs.

One-time jobs are useful for out-of-band patching or rebooting nodes outside of business hours. This can be especially helpful if you need to perform maintenance during off-peak hours.

You can create maintenance windows and schedule update deployments for all of your machines using Azure Update Management. This ensures that critical updates are installed on a regular basis.

To manage your machines, you can use Active Directory Groups, Windows Server Update Services groups, Configuration Manager Device Collections, or Saved Computer Groups.

To get started with Azure Update Management, you need to onboard your machines. This involves enabling the scope of the machines you want to manage.

There are three options for enabling onboarding: enable on all available machines, enable on all available and future machines, or enable on selected machines.

Enabling onboarding on all available machines is a good starting point, but keep in mind that it will apply to all machines, regardless of their current state.

If you want to onboard machines that are not yet available, you can enable onboarding on all available and future machines.

On the other hand, if you only want to onboard specific machines, you can enable onboarding on selected machines.

Here are the three options for enabling onboarding at a glance:

Scheduling maintenance windows is a crucial part of keeping your machines secure and up-to-date.

You can configure Azure Update Management to create maintenance windows and schedule update deployments for all of your machines. This ensures critical updates are installed on a regular basis.

Azure Update Management allows you to create scheduled jobs or one-time jobs. One-time jobs are good for out-of-band patching or rebooting nodes outside of business hours.

To create a maintenance window, select a duration of at least 30 minutes and no more than 300 minutes. This duration is based on the number of Windows Security patches and servers.

You can create a scheduled job for installing Windows patches by selecting "Schedule Update Deployment" under Update Management. This will create a scheduled job for installing updates.

Here are the options for configuring groups to manage updates:

Reboot Options play a crucial role in ensuring your system is up to date and running smoothly. In Azure Update Management, there are four reboot options to choose from.

Always Reboot is the most straightforward option - once the patch installation is completed, your system will automatically reboot. This is a good choice if you want to ensure that all updates are applied and your system is restarted immediately.

Reboot If required is a more flexible option, where your system will only reboot if necessary. This means that if the updates don't require a reboot, your system won't be restarted unnecessarily.

Never Reboot is the opposite of Always Reboot - your system will not automatically reboot after patch installation. This option is best suited for systems that are critical or cannot be restarted at a certain time.

Only Reboot – Will not install updates is a unique option that allows you to reboot your system without installing any updates. This option is useful for testing or troubleshooting purposes.

Here are the reboot options in Azure Update Management in a quick reference format:

If you're looking to update your Windows systems with third-party software, Update Management relies on the locally configured update repository to do so. This can be WSUS or Windows Update.

To import and publish custom updates with WSUS, you can use tools like System Center Updates Publisher. This allows you to manage updates for machines that use Configuration Manager as their update repository.

To learn how to configure Updates Publisher, you can refer to the instructions in the article.

Here are the steps to configure Updates Publisher:

Hybrid Runbook Worker groups are automatically configured when you enable Update Management, and they're used to support the runbooks that support Update Management.

Each Windows machine managed by Update Management is listed in the Hybrid worker groups pane as a System hybrid worker group for the Automation account, using the Hostname FQDN_GUID naming convention.

You can't target these groups with runbooks in your account, as it will result in a failed attempt.

These groups are intended to support only Update Management, and you can view the list of Windows machines configured as a Hybrid Runbook Worker by following the instructions in the article.

If you use the same account for Update Management and the Hybrid Runbook Worker group membership, you can add the Windows machine to a user Hybrid Runbook Worker group to support Automation runbooks.

This functionality was added in version 7.2.12024.0 of the Hybrid Runbook Worker.

Azure Update Manager offers a robust Linux classification system, but it's essential to understand the nuances. Linux classification is only available in supported Azure public cloud regions, excluding Azure US Government and 21Vianet in China.

Update Management uses data from package managers like YUM, APT, or ZYPPER to classify updates into Critical, Security, or Others categories for patching. This classification is solely based on data from these package managers.

For assessment, Update Management classifies updates into three categories: Security, Critical, or Others, using data from two sources: package managers and other data sources.

CentOS machines are an exception, as they don't have classification data available from the package manager. However, if you have CentOS machines configured to return security data for a specific command, Update Management can patch based on classifications.

To classify updates on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, you must install the YUM security plugin, while on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, the plugin is already included.

Here's a breakdown of the Linux update classifications supported by Update Management:

To get started with Azure Update Manager, you'll want to check out the resources and documentation available. Get started in the Azure Update Manager portal.

The Azure Update Manager portal is your one-stop-shop for everything you need to know about managing updates for your Azure resources. You can find all the necessary information and tools to keep your updates up-to-date and running smoothly.

To access the portal, simply click on the link provided, and you'll be taken directly to the Azure Update Manager dashboard. From there, you can navigate to the different sections and resources that interest you.

Azure Update Manager resources and documentation are constantly being updated and expanded to ensure that users have the most accurate and comprehensive information available.