Introduction to Patch Manager

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Introduction to Patch Manager

Patch Manager is an IT management and security tool that automatically discovers and analyzes missing or installed patches for mission-critical platforms and applications. The software displays the status of patch configurations, provides information about the latest versions of security patches and hotfixes, and allows administrators to deploy patches in groups, individually, or during off hours. Software security and consistency can be easily maintained across the enterprise with Ecora's Patch Manager.

Patch Manager provides users with a simultaneous, single-console, agentless and agent-based deployment option to quickly scan, analyze, and patch servers, desktops and laptops throughout unique computing environments. With consistent, accurate patch analysis and reporting, it’s easy to keep your systems patched and eliminate new vulnerabilities before they can be exploited. Generate over 25 web-based reports with Patch Manager’s Reporting Center to constantly validate you are in compliance with your security policies and regulatory requirements.

Key Benefits of Patch Manager

Optional Agent. Maximize the speed and effectiveness of automated patch management by selectively deploying agents to ensure mobile and other less accessible users are protected, while also giving administrators the flexibility to reduce the information load on the network.
Reporting Center. Review comprehensive, web-based, ready-made reports that provide details from a managerial to technical level.
Extensibility. Quickly add third party vendor patches and manage their deployment without the need for complicated SDKs and scripts.
Repository Manager. Automatically schedule patch downloads to repositories in your enterprise so patches are always readily available for immediate deployment.
Partial Analysis. An alternative to our comprehensive Sure-Scan technology, check for missing and installed patches quicker based on analysis of file versions only.
Sure-Scan™. Thoroughly and accurately analyze missing and installed patches by dynamically updating its database with current patch information, based on file versions and Checksums.
3-D Patch Views™. Quickly see what critical patches are missing and/or installed by host, application, or patch in sortable displays.
Alerting. Alert on multiple events, including new patch databases, new patches for a specific OS or application, patches missing, or failed patch installation.
Test Center. Designate a reference system to conduct patch testing against before deployment.
Patch Rollback. Automate the removal of a selected patch if conflicts develop due to a patch install.
Wake on LAN. Optionally boots powered-off machines for patch installation performed during off hours to assure successful patching of all systems. Eliminate the additional labor of having to physically reboot each computer.
Import/Export Manager. Users can import and export existing corporate patch policies into Patch Manager. This feature helps users enforce their corporate patch policies across their enterprises.
International Language Support. Supports international versions of Microsoft and Sun operating systems, including: Danish, Dutch, French, Finnish, German, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, and United Kingdom.

Benefits in Patch Manager 6.0

Wake on LAN – scan machines that are turned off
Ability to patch across firewalls and on workstations and servers in a DMZ
Enforce corporate patching policy with Import/Export feature
Improve scanning time by 25% or more with Rapid Scan
Allow/deny reboot on agent systems
Faster, snappier UI
Scan for only the patches you want
Ability to select all missing patches in a scan with one click
IIS-hosted Repository in addition to UNC
Bandwidth throttling
Ability to quickly abort patching on agent systems
Keep UI window re-sizing

Patch Manager Reporting Center

The reporting center is a website interface created by Ecora to provide an intuitive way to query the Patch Manager database. The URL can be accessible to anyone in an environment who can access the share on which you installed the reporting center. CIOs or auditors can see a report of Policy Compliance across all systems; IT staff might be interested in the Patch History of a machine. The reports and views are highly customizable and provide a comprehensive insight on the software status of your systems.

Reporting examples:

Application Inventory Report