Buyer's Guide: Enterprise Patch Management
 

In these days of infectious computer viruses, rampant spyware, and endless spam, keeping systems patched is a crucial aspect of an IT pro's job. In the enterprise, the sheer size of the business and the multitude of desktops and servers that require updates make a patch-management product that minimizes the amount of time required to evaluate, test, and deploy patches indispensable.

This month's Buyer's Guide lists 12 enterprise patch management products. To make the guide specific to the typically heterogeneous environment of large businesses, we include only products that manage updates for both non-Windows and Windows OSs. Each listed solution also patches applications (e.g., Microsoft SQL Server, Exchange, Office). All the products let you schedule patch installation to minimize workflow disruption; assign client computers to groups and approve patches for each group individually; and roll back patches--if those patches support rollbacks.

The most bandwidth-efficient way to distribute updates to numerous clients is to first download the updates to local patch servers. In addition to letting you configure patch servers, all the solutions included in this Buyer's Guide support selective patch downloads, letting you download to patch servers only patches you've approved for distribution.