Patch Management Solution for Linux ensures that your Red Hat Linux and SUSE Linux computers have the most up-to-date patches applied and protected against security threats.The solution lets you inventory the managed Linux computers for security vulnerabilities and then reports on the findings.
In the following table are links to articles that explain the key tasks and topics in Patch Management Solution for Linux.
| Task | Description | Article link |
|---|---|---|
| Download software updates catalog | You must download the Novell and Red Hat software updates catalog (patch management metadata, or patch management import files) before you can distribute updates. | HOWTO63739 |
| Configure the update files storage location and create custom severity levels | You can configure to which location the software updates should be downloaded. You can also create custom severity levels that you can later apply to software updates. | HOWTO63718 |
| Configure the software updates installation settings | You can configure when the software update plug-in can install software updates and restart the target computer. | |
| Configure the system assessment scan interval | The system assessment scan lets you periodically gather information which is then used to determine which software updates the managed computer requires. Based on this information, filters are automatically created to assist with the targeting of software update policies. | |
| Run compliance and vulnerability reports | You can view and manage your patch management data through reports. Reports give you the information that is specific to Patch Management Solution. For example, you can use compliance reports to determine how many urgent software updates your managed computers require. | |
| Review and distribute available software updates | To deliver and install the software updates to the appropriate computers, you must create software update policies. | |
| Evaluate the patch distribution results | The Linux Software Update Delivery Summary report summarizes the results of all scheduled Linux software update policies. It shows you which computers the software update tasks target, and if the updates have been successfully installed. The report also shows you if any software update tasks failed, or if they have not yet completed. | HOWTO63744 |
| Replicate patch data in hierarchy | You can download the patch files once to a single parent Notification Server and the use replication rules to send the relevant data to any number of child Notification Server computers. | HOWTO63746 |