Patch Management
What is Patch Management?
Software publishers routinely issue updates to their software that address bugs or cybersecurity vulnerabilities in the software, improve performance, add new features, and ensure compliance with security standards or regulations. Patch management is the process of testing and applying these updates programmatically. A strong patch management strategy mitigates cybersecurity and uptime risks for OS and applications and ensures compliance with regulations that require timely application of software updates (e.g. HIPAA, PCI-DSS, and GDPR).
It also plays a vital role in ensuring system stability and reliability. Bugs (errors or defects in software code) can lead to system crashes, data corruption, or unexpected behavior.
Near-Zero Downtime Patch Management
In today’s IT landscape, staying ahead of security vulnerabilities and ensuring unwavering system stability hinges on timely patch management. However, IT faces the challenge of applying patches quickly without taking critical systems offline. This challenge has two components: unplanned downtime that can be caused by applying inadequately tested patches and planned downtime required as part of the standard patching process. Patches may cause immediate system crashes or cause application-level problems that may require extensive troubleshooting to diagnose and resolve.
Fortunately, there’s a strategic path to navigate this challenge: High Availability (HA) failover clustering solutions – offering a seamless approach to patch management, enabling organizations to safely test patches and to apply them with zero or near-zero downtime.
SIOS High Availability Failover Clustering for Patch Deployment
IT teams use SIOS HA clustering software to test and apply patches using a rolling maintenance methodology that keeps production applications operational throughout the process.
Understanding HA Clustering
In a typical configuration, IT runs critical applications on a primary server that is “clustered” with a secondary server using SIOS LifeKeeper in a Linux or Windows environment or by combining SIOS DataKeeper software with Windows Server Failover Clustering. In the event of an application or network failure, clustering software automatically and seamlessly moves operation to the secondary server. IT admins can manually switchover application operation between the primary and secondary servers as they choose.
SIOS Clustering is the Key to Safe Patch Management
When an essential patch needs to be applied, IT admins can apply them to the secondary server. This server provides a safe place to install and thoroughly test the patch on the primary (now passive) system without interrupting end user operation on the primary.
If the patch update proves successful, IT can seamlessly failover the application from the primary server to the newly patched secondary server and then proceed to apply the same patch to the primary node. This rolling update approach ensures that critical applications remain operational throughout the entire patching process with little to no downtime.
Mitigate Downtime and Security Risks While Maintaining Compliance
SIOS LifeKeeper and DataKeeper products enable organizations to test patches in isolation before deployment. If an issue arises during testing, the cluster workload can continue to operate on the stable, unpatched server until the issue is resolved or, if necessary, to quickly rollback to unpatched status.
99.99% Uptime for Critical Applications
SIOS LifeKeeper and DataKeeper software not only facilitate efficient patch management, they also protect critical applications and databases from downtime and disasters. SIOS LifeKeeper monitors the health of the entire application environment – network, storage, OS, and application. In the event of a failure, SIOS’ application recovery kits (ARK) technology orchestrates a failover in full compliance with application-specific requirements for maximum reliability.
The Case for HA Failover Clustering for Patch Management
Incidents like the CrowdStrike outage highlight the challenges with efficient patch management. The automation inherent in SIOS LifeKeeper and DataKeeper software streamlines the patching process, minimizing manual intervention and increasing productivity. Contact SIOS to learn more.