Keeping your servers up-to-date with patches

Hello All,
Please note that this is NOT a WSUS question. I have that installed in our environment and I know how to use it, or at least I like to think I do. I am a System Admin of a completely virtualized environment. As our company grows, more and more servers have
been built and keeping up with the latest patches has become a challenge. So I am looking for some advice from users who have more experience here than I do.
Up to this point, we have been updating the virtual machines as we do the ESX(i) hosts. This was okay when there were fewer machines. Now, if there are 20 or more VMs on a single host, it is just too time consuming. Also, as we add more hosts, we fall behind
with the updates. So, I am thinking we can keep on top of it better if I can separate the ESX(i) updates from the Windows Updates. So perhaps I can update a different group of VMs each day. Production VMs will need to wait until the weekend of course. I am
thinking I will create a new group in WSUS that has all of the latest updates approved and then move the VMs into that group as I am ready to do each machine. I manually approve the updates but I can probably auto-approve critical updates.
Anyway, for those of you who who work in larger environments and keep on top of Windows updates for servers, how do you do it? What are your best practices? All of our desktop computers automatically install updates in the late-night hours but we obviously
cannot do that with servers. Let me know if you have any questions or need more information. Thanks for the help.
-Adam

Yeah it's a tricky balance. Well you could always choose option 2 to simply notify that there are updates awaiting installation, so they don't get downloaded until you tell a machine to update. Obviously the downside to that is having to wait while a potentially
large download happens (though if it's over the local network it shouldn't take too long). So you centrally control what is deployed to the servers, and get all the servers retrieving the data over the local network rather than having to download the updates
over the internet, but keep the actual download and install part as a manual process.
For desktop machines I tend to allow auto-approval and installation since the risk of a user doing something bad with an unpatched machine is higher than the risk of the update having issues. For servers though I never auto-approve, and prefer to manually
go through approving the latest updates for the servers once I've had a chance to confirm there are no reports of issues with the updates. Even then I tend to stagger rolling out the updates minimise any issues, and where possible test them first on staging
servers or servers which aren't as critical. I tend to look at it in terms of the two risks. The risk of the vulnerability being exploited vs the risk to the server if something went wrong. For a public facing / user facing server then the risk tends to sway
towards installing earlier, where as backend servers that are never directly connected to are less at risk. Additionally, things like IE updates while critical on a desktop really aren't important on a server, so can safely wait for a while. Any sysadmin that
goes surfing from a server shouldn't be in the job.
Thank you again. But a similar problem remains with the second option of the notification without the download. A user will still be notified that updates are ready to be downloaded and then choose to do so. So at that point it's probably better to have
the updates downloaded and ready to install. All of our servers report to WSUS so none of them hit the internet which makes sense considering most of the workstations are on the same LAN as the WSUS server so it's pretty quick.
As of run now, I don't schedule the synchronizations continually. I manually run them, update each group of computers in WSUS until all are green, and then run the synchronization again and repeat. An obvious disadvantage to this is that we won't have the
latest updates available until I get through all of the groups and run the synchronization again! So that leaves us vulnerable. I also manually approve each update. People sometimes call me crazy but I have seen WSUS auto-approve updates in the past which
I did not want pushed out, so I play it safe.
Thank you for all of the help!

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Version: 0.2
#!/bin/sh
# * E17-svn-builder *
# * A script to build E17 directly from SVN *
# * By smartboyathome *
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usage(){
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--help)
usage
exit 0
-h)
usage
exit 0
esac
done
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if [ -d $_E17PKG ]; then
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fi
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Last edited by smartboyathome (2008-12-21 21:10:47)

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Hi everybody this is my first post.
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#Then sort by score
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Last edited by stealthy (2011-05-13 17:18:04)

An empty mirrorlist.mlchk will produce an empty mirrorlist (which will leave you unable to get new packages including pacman-mirrorlist).
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Regards,
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Last edited by demian (2011-05-13 17:32:39)

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Last edited by Sanne (2014-11-05 11:55:28)

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Keeping your mac healthy

How can i know if my mac is healthy and how can i keep track on how its doing?

How to maintain a Mac
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3. Don't install crapware, such as “themes,” "haxies," “add-ons,” “toolbars,” “enhancers," “optimizers,” “accelerators,” “extenders,” “cleaners,” "tune-ups," “defragmenters,” “firewalls,” "barriers," “guardians,” “defenders,” “protectors,” most “plugins,” commercial "virus scanners,” "disk tools," or "utilities." With very few exceptions, this sort of stuff is useless, or worse than useless.
The more actively promoted the product, the more likely it is to be garbage. The most extreme example is the “MacKeeper” scam.
As a rule, the only software you should install is that which directly enables you to do the things you use a computer for — such as creating, communicating, and playing — and does not modify the way other software works. Never install any third-party software unless you know how to uninstall it.
The free anti-malware application ClamXav is not crap, and although it’s not routinely needed, it may be useful in some environments, such as a mixed Mac-Windows enterprise network.
4. Beware of trojans. A trojan is malicious software (“malware”) that the user is duped into installing voluntarily. Such attacks were rare on the Mac platform until sometime in 2011, but are now increasingly common, and increasingly dangerous.
There is some built-in protection against downloading malware, but you can’t rely on it — the attackers are always at least one day ahead of the defense. You can’t rely on third-party protection either. What you can rely on is common-sense awareness — not paranoia, which only makes you more vulnerable.
Never install software from an untrustworthy or unknown source. If in doubt, do some research. Any website that prompts you to install a “codec” or “plugin” that comes from the same site, or an unknown site, is untrustworthy. Software with a corporate brand, such as Adobe Flash Player, must be acquired directly from the developer. No intermediary is acceptable, and don’t trust links unless you know how to parse them. Any file that is automatically downloaded from a web page without your having requested it should go straight into the Trash. A website that claims you have a “virus,” or that anything else is wrong with your computer, is rogue.
In OS X 10.7.5 or later, downloaded applications that have not been digitally signed by a developer registered with Apple are blocked from loading by default. The block can be overridden, but think carefully before you do so.
Because of recurring security issues in Java, it’s best to disable it in your web browsers, if it’s installed. Few websites have Java content nowadays, so you won’t be missing much. This action is mandatory if you’re running any version of OS X older than 10.6.8 with the latest Java update. Note: Java has nothing to do with JavaScript, despite the similar names. Don't install Java unless you're sure you need it. Most users don't.
5. Don't fill up your boot volume. A common mistake is adding more and more large files to your home folder until you start to get warnings that you're out of space, which may be followed in short order by a boot failure. This is more prone to happen on the newer Mac notebooks that come with an internal SSD instead of the traditional hard drive. The drive can be very nearly full before you become aware of the problem. While it's not true that you should or must keep any particular percentage of space free, you should monitor your storage consumption and make sure you're not in immediate danger of using it up. According to Apple documentation, you need at least 9 GB of free space on the startup volume for normal operation.
Use a tool such as the free application OmniDiskSweeper to explore your volume and find out what's taking up the most space. Move rarely-used large files to secondary storage.
6. Relax, don’t do it. Besides the above, no routine maintenance is necessary or beneficial for the vast majority of users; specifically not “cleaning caches,” “zapping the PRAM,” "resetting the SMC," “rebuilding the directory,” “running periodic scripts,” “deleting log files,” “scanning for viruses,” or “repairing permissions.” Such measures are for solving problems as they arise, not for maintenance.
The very height of futility is running an expensive third-party application called “Disk Warrior” when nothing is wrong, or even when something is wrong and you have backups, which you must have. Disk Warrior is a data-salvage tool, not a maintenance tool, and you will never need it if your backups are adequate. Don’t waste money on it or anything like it.

I have the IPhone 4s and it is up-to-date with all upgrades. Just recently I changed my YAHOO! password however each time I go into settings to update the password I keep getting "YAHOO! Server Unavailable Please try again later."

I have the IPhone 4s and it is up-to-date with all upgrades. Just recently I changed my YAHOO! password however each time I go into settings to update the password I keep getting "YAHOO! Server Unavailable Please try again later." I have lost my YAHOO! email connection, all calendar entries and saved notes.

A lot of people have been unable to access Yahoo e-mail on their iPhones or iPads. My wife’s iPad was not downloading Yahoo mail, although her iPhone was. Both used IOS 8.2. We tried deleting the account several times and troubleshooting all of the other settings. The problem appears to have been that allowing the IOS to automatically create the account on the iPad resulted in the wrong settings for the incoming server. The following procedure, pieced together from two websites, fixed the problem for us. So far, so good.
https://portal.smartertools.com/kb/a2659/configure-imap-for-iphone-or-ipad.aspx
https://help.yahoo.com/kb/mobile-mail/imap-server-settings-sln4075.html
On the iPhone, tap Settings.
Tap Mail, Contacts, Calendars.
Tap your Yahoo account, then delete it.
Tap Add Account.
Tap Other.
Tap Add Mail Account.
Complete the Name, Address (email address), Password and Description fields.
Click Next.
Ensure IMAP is selected.
Enter the following incoming mail server information:
Incoming Mail (IMAP) Server - Requires SSL
Server: imap.mail.yahoo.com
Port: 993
Requires SSL: Yes
Hostname is mail.yahoo.com.
Username is your full email address
Password is the same password used to access webmail.
Enter the following outgoing mail server information:
Outgoing Mail (SMTP) Server - Requires SSL
Server: smtp.mail.yahoo.com
Port: 465 or 587
Requires SSL: Yes
Requires authentication: Yes
Username is your full email address
Password is the same password used to access webmail. It may have been entered for you.
Tap Next.
The iPhone will establish an SSL connection to your IMAP and SMTP servers.
That’s all!

I have multiple devices backed up to the same computer each with different data. how do i keep them from syncing all data when i back up or transfer stuff from the computer to a device?

i have multiple devices backed up to the same computer each with different data. how do i keep them from syncing all data when i back up or transfer stuff from the computer to a device? one is an iphone 6 and the others are ipad mini first gens, each ipad has 64gb and the iphone has 128, need to keep the data seperate as they are not all mine

Itunes content and pics are NOT part of the backup that itunes performs.
Backing up, updating, and restoring iPad, iPod touch, and iPhone software
You should transfer any purchases from iphone regularly: File>Transfer Purchases , if they fail to be transferred when you sync.
You buy one and only one download. It is your responsibility to move/copy/backup your purchases.
You can try contacting itunes support and asking for an exception, but they are under no obligation to allow.
http://www.apple.com/support/itunes

How do you keep your VPN clients up to date?

Hi, how do you keep your Cisco VPN clients up to date? Our users connect to a Cisco 3015 Concentrator. It needs to be as automatic as possible.
Thanks

Check this link,
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/security/vpn_client/cisco_vpn_client/vpn_cli
ent46/administration/guide/vcAch3.html
Example:
Steps to perform an automatic update for VPN client :
===================================================
1. Download update-4.8.00.0440-major-K9 file on your PC from the link below and unzip it.
http://www.cisco.com/cgi-bin/tablebuild.pl/vpnclient-3des
It will have the following files::
- binary_config.ini
- sig.dat
- vpnclient-win-is-8.00.0440-k9.exe
- vpnclient-win-msi-8.00.0440-k9.exe
2. Create a webserver with a folder and move all the above files to this folder on webserver.
3. Now on your vpn client create a new profile. This profile file will appear in the profiles folder of the vpn client. Copy this file to your desktop and zip it. Name the
zipped file as profiles.zip. Delete the profile from the client.
4. Make a copy of your binary_config.ini on your desktop. Rename it to new_update_config.ini. This is just to make sure its not saved as a txt file.
Open the above file and write the following on it:
[Autoupdate]
Required=1
5. Now move the new_update_config.ini and profiles.zip to the webserver. Once we browse to the webserver it should look like --
http://webserver/~razshah/vpn_profile_update462/
Index of /~razshah/vpn_profile_update462
Name Last modified Size Description
Parent Directory 09-Mar-2005 13:24 -
binary_config.ini 09-Mar-2005 13:26 1k
new_update_config.ini 11-Mar-2005 11:35 1k
profiles.zip 09-Mar-2005 13:26 1k
sig.dat 09-Mar-2005 13:26 2k
vpnclient-win-is-4.6..> 09-Mar-2005 13:26 7.6M
vpnclient-win-msi-4...> 09-Mar-2005 13:26 10.3M
6. The concentrator is configured as follows:
Client Type is Windows
URL http://webserver/~razshah/vpn_profile_update462
Revisions 4.6
7. On your PC go to the VPN Client > updates folder. Delete the update_config file if its already there. This folder should have only autoinstall (this file will be added if update works) autoupdate header files.
The update does take about 5 mins. To see the new file we have to close and reopen the client. Once connected make sure you are able to browse to the webserver and see all the files.
1- Auto update runs only on Windows 2000 and Windows XP, all other client types update manually. Windows NT users get notified and can get an update manually from the update server.
2- Remote users must have the VPN Client for Windows 4.6 or greater installed on their PCs to use the automatic update feature.
Regards,
~JG

Has anyone else had a problem with data? after updating my phone to the new update, i have all this data, and keep getting notifications that my data is getting high. i never had this problem before.

has anyone else had a problem with data? after updating my phone to the new update, i have all this data, and keep getting notifications that my data is getting high. i never had this problem before.

fair enough. No need for any unnecessary posts either. You issue had been addressed ad nauseum already in this forum had you bothered to search this forum (as forum etiquette would dictate) before posting.
In any case, I hope that your problem was solved.

Keeping your servers up-to-date with patches

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