Chapter 3: Identifying, Installing, and Troubleshooting Required Updates

Introduction

In a Utopian world, software would be released one time, work perfectly, and offer the absolute best in security and performance. Unfortunately, we live in the real world, and dealing with the seemingly never-ending game of keeping servers and workstations up to date can be a daunting task. To its credit, Microsoft has made some leaps and bounds in the past few years in regard to both initially creating more secure and functional software as well as keeping it that way over its lifetime through service packs and hotfixes.

In this chapter we cover a pretty large amount of ground, looking at keeping your computers up to date (and more important, secure) from the starting point to the ending point in the process. We begin by examining the ways that you, as an administrator, can identify the updates each of your computers will require. Naturally, after you've identified the updates you need, you will want to deploy them to your servers and workstations. Here we look at a variety of deployment methods you can use depending on the situation. Lastly, we examine some potential trouble spots you could encounter and discuss means to deal with them.