Summary

The process of deploying and applying security patches is arguably the easy part. As Microsoft has moved to a monthly patch cycle and provided additional patch quality testing procedures, the issues impacting SBS 2003 have gone down. If you as a consultant plan to perform any third-party testing of patches for your client, very carefully word your engagement letter. It is guaranteed that you cannot test adequately enough to replicate the use of a piece of software that your client depends on for her business needs. You cannot adequately build test data to ensure that variations of data will not be affected by patching. The best you can do is to not deploy patches the first day, read the known caveats included in each security bulletin, and, by all means, don't deploy service packs at a lunch hour on a Wednesday afternoon. You are introducing change into your client's business processplan accordingly.

Keep machines fully patched, and that's one less thing to worry about. These days the process of keeping computers patched is getting easier every day. Make it easier on yourself by arming yourself with tools to make the deployment easier.