During a Friday maintenance window with 58 virtual servers, which approach is most efficient to install patches?

During a Friday maintenance window with 58 virtual servers, which approach is most efficient to install patches?

• A. Use the patch management tool to automate and orchestrate the patch installation.
• B. Use a security vulnerability scanning tool to apply the patch automatically.
• C. Schedule the patch to install from a remote file server upon server reboot.
• D. Connect the server instances to the Internet to download the patch automatically.

Answer: (A)

Efficient patch deployment across many virtual servers relies on automated patch management with centralized orchestration. Using a patch management tool allows you to discover targets, stage patches, deploy them in a controlled sequence, handle reboots, and monitor progress from a single console. For 58 virtual machines during a limited Friday maintenance window, this approach minimizes manual effort, reduces the chance of human error, and ensures consistency across all hosts. It also supports phased rollout (pilot groups, then bulk deployment), rollback if a patch causes issues, and auditable reporting for compliance and change management. A vulnerability scanning tool’s role is to identify missing patches and vulnerabilities, not to automatically deploy patches at scale, so it doesn’t provide the end-to-end deployment workflow you need. Scheduling a patch to install from a remote file server on reboot lacks centralized control and can lead to inconsistent timing and reboots across machines, complicating maintenance. Requiring each server to connect to the Internet to download patches bypasses centralized control, risks bandwidth spikes and security policy violations, and makes uniform patch levels harder to enforce.

Efficient patch deployment across many virtual servers relies on automated patch management with centralized orchestration. Using a patch management tool allows you to discover targets, stage patches, deploy them in a controlled sequence, handle reboots, and monitor progress from a single console. For 58 virtual machines during a limited Friday maintenance window, this approach minimizes manual effort, reduces the chance of human error, and ensures consistency across all hosts. It also supports phased rollout (pilot groups, then bulk deployment), rollback if a patch causes issues, and auditable reporting for compliance and change management.

A vulnerability scanning tool’s role is to identify missing patches and vulnerabilities, not to automatically deploy patches at scale, so it doesn’t provide the end-to-end deployment workflow you need. Scheduling a patch to install from a remote file server on reboot lacks centralized control and can lead to inconsistent timing and reboots across machines, complicating maintenance. Requiring each server to connect to the Internet to download patches bypasses centralized control, risks bandwidth spikes and security policy violations, and makes uniform patch levels harder to enforce.