Update Management

Introduction

• Azure Update Management is a feature in Microsoft Azure that enables you to manage updates for your Windows and Linux virtual machines (VMs) in Azure, on-premises environments, or in other cloud environments.
• This feature allows you to assess the status of available updates, schedule installation of required updates, and review deployment results to ensure compliance.

Key features of Azure Update Management include:

1. Assessment and Reporting:
   • Update Assessment: Provides visibility into the status of updates for all your VMs, highlighting missing updates and the overall compliance status.
   • Reporting: Offers detailed reporting on update compliance, including which updates are installed, missing, or failed to install.
2. Update Deployment:
   • Scheduling: Allows you to create and schedule update deployments to ensure that updates are applied at a convenient time, minimizing disruptions.
   • Maintenance Windows: You can define maintenance windows during which updates are allowed to be applied, helping to align updates with your operational requirements.
3. Automation and Control:
   • Automation Runbooks: Integrates with Azure Automation runbooks to automate common tasks and custom update processes.
   • Pre/Post Scripts: Enables running custom scripts before or after the update deployment to perform tasks such as stopping services, creating backups, or notifying users.
4. Hybrid Management:
   • Cross-Platform Support: Supports both Windows and Linux VMs, whether they are hosted in Azure, on-premises, or in other cloud environments.
   • Integration with System Center: Can integrate with System Center Configuration Manager and other existing management tools to provide a unified update management experience.

• Azure Update Management is part of the Azure Automation service and leverages Log Analytics for monitoring and reporting.
• This service helps ensure that your systems are up to date, secure, and compliant with organizational policies.

Options for Applying Updates:

1. Manual Updates:
   • On-Demand Deployment: You can manually initiate the update process for individual VMs or groups of VMs at any time through the Azure portal.
2. Scheduled Updates:
   • Scheduled Deployments: Allows you to create schedules for applying updates to VMs. You can specify the time and recurrence pattern for the update deployments to align with your maintenance windows.
   • Maintenance Windows: Define specific maintenance windows during which updates can be applied to ensure they occur during off-peak hours or designated times.
3. Automatic Updates:
   • Automatic VM Guest Patching: For Windows VMs, this feature enables Azure to manage the installation of critical and security updates automatically.
   • `Automatic OS Image Updates1: For VMs created from custom images or gallery images, this feature ensures the underlying OS image is kept up-to-date with the latest updates.
4. Integration with Automation:
   • Azure Automation Runbooks: Use runbooks to automate complex update deployment processes, integrate with other automation tasks, and manage workflows that include custom pre-update and post-update steps.
   • Configuration Management: Combine Update Management with Azure Automation State Configuration or other configuration management tools to ensure updates are applied in a controlled and consistent manner.
5. Grouped and Sequenced Updates:
   • Update Groups: Organize VMs into groups based on criteria such as application tier, environment (e.g., production, development), or geography to manage and apply updates in a targeted manner.
   • Update Sequencing: Apply updates in a specific sequence to ensure dependencies are respected and critical applications experience minimal downtime.