Azure's patching service: it assesses which OS updates Azure VMs and Arc-enabled servers are missing and installs them, whether right away or within scheduled maintenance windows.
Also called Update Management.
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Terms in this definition
- Virtual machines
Infrastructure-as-a-service compute giving complete control of the operating system, making it a fit for lift-and-shift moves and for software relying on OS-level pieces like COM.
Related terms
- Cloud update
Handles Microsoft 365 Apps updates for devices on Current or Monthly Enterprise from within the Microsoft 365 Apps admin center, with waves, exclusion windows, pausing and rollback. Where other update management also applies, it wins.
- Dynamic scope
Instead of a fixed machine list, an Azure Update Manager maintenance configuration can select machines by tag, OS, region or resource group, worked out each time it runs.
- Maintenance configuration
Holds a schedule plus update options as an Azure resource. Azure Update Manager relies on these, with the InGuestPatch (Guest) scope, to patch Azure VMs and Arc-enabled servers on a timetable.
- Marketplace
Where VCF Operations admins browse, install and update management packs from VMware Marketplace, under Administration > Integrations.
- Periodic assessment
Scans machines for missing updates once a day automatically. Azure Policy can roll this Azure Update Manager setting out at scale.
- Scheduled patching
Lets Azure Update Manager apply updates to Arc-enabled servers and Azure VMs inside a window that a maintenance configuration defines.