Best Practices

I’m new to KACE and have a number of questions. I haven’t had my JumpStart training yet, but I don’t want to waste the expensive JumpStart time asking questions that I can get answered elsewhere. I’d like to find out what people are using in the real-world, and not just what KACE’s recommendations are.

I started setting up patching schedules, and it quickly became apparent the method I was using would quickly become unwieldy. I was trying to setup a schedule for each product type (Windows, Office, Visual Studio, Acrobat, etc.). That allowed very granular control, but created a huge number of schedules. I had Smart Labels setup this way

                Devices – OS – Microsoft Windows 10

                Devices – App – Microsoft Windows 2013

                Devices – App – Adobe Acrobat Reader DC

                Etc.

                Patches – OS – Microsoft Windows 10

                Patches – App – Microsoft Windows 2013

                Patches – App – Adobe Acrobat Reader DC

                Etc.

Patch Schedules

                Detect and Deploy – OS – Microsoft Windows 10

                Detect and Deploy – App – Microsoft Windows 2013

                Detect and Deploy – App – Adobe Acrobat Reader DC

                Etc.

What I’m thing of now is to setup two patch schedules per computer (Microsoft and non-Microsoft)

                Devices – Virtual – No

                Patches – App – Microsoft

                Patches – App – Non-Microsoft

Patch Schedules

                Detect and Deploy – Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Apps – Virtual No

                                Device Labels: Devices – Virtual – No

                                Operating Systems: Windows

                                Detect Patch Labels: Patches – OS – Microsoft Windows, Patches – App – Microsoft

                Detect and Deploy – non-Microsoft Apps – Virtual No

                                Device Labels: Devices – Virtual – No

                                Operating Systems: Windows

                                Detect Patch Labels: Patches – App – non-Microsoft

What are the advantages and disadvantages to using a single patch schedule which includes Microsoft and non-Microsoft patches?

                Patches – All

                                Status is Active and

                                Type is not Software Installer and

                                Name does not contain Service Pack

Patch Schedule

                Detect and Deploy – Microsoft Windows

                                Device Labels: Devices – Virtual – No

                                Operating Systems: Windows

                                Detect Patch Labels: Patches – All