Installation guide

What to do next
Use filter sets to collect data from Windows managed machines. See "Collect Data from Windows
Machines by Using the VCM Patching Filter Sets" on page 153.
Collect Data from Windows Machines by Using the VCM Patching Filter Sets
To obtain the current patch status of Windows managed machines, collect patch data from those machines.
VCM requires that you collect current information about the File System, Hotfixes, Registry, and Services
Windows data types.
After the patch deployment, collect patch data again from the managed machines.
Procedure
1. On the toolbar, click Collect.
2. Select the Windows machines from which to collect data.
3. Click Select a Collection Filter Set to apply to these machines and click Next.
4. Select the Patching - Windows Security Bulletins filter set and click Next.
This filter set gathers information for all available Windows security bulletins that you can use to patch
Windows machines. Select any monthly filter set to filter the bulletins released in a particular month.
5. If no conflicts appear, click Finish to begin the collection.
If problems occur during data collection when you use the VCM patching filter sets and the default
Network Authority Account, either give the account access to the Windows servers, or use a separate
Network Authority Account for these machines. For more information, see Default Network
Authority Account .
What to do next
Use a patching assessment template to assess the patching state of managed machines. See "Assess
Windows Machines" on page 153.
Assess Windows Machines
To assess the patch status of Windows machines, use a patching assessment template. After you deploy
patches to managed machines and collect updated patch data, run another patch assessment to assess the
updated patch status of Windows machines.
Because the assessment is run only against data in the VCM database, you must collect patching data from
managed machines before and after you run an assessment. When run, the assessment template checks
the data collected from managed machines to verify whether the patches that the bulletins reference must
be installed on those machines. For example, a template might contain all bulletins related to Internet
Explorer 9 to ensure that all of the installed instances have the latest security fixes.
The patch assessment checks all of the managed machines in the active machine group. A patch
deployment applies only to the machines in the machine group that are managed by VCM.
You can create an assessment template based on bulletins or affected software products, or by importing a
text file that lists machines that require a particular patch or that lists machine and patch pairs. This
procedure generates an assessment template based on bulletins.
Prerequisites
Review the collected patching data and determine which managed machines must be patched.
Patching Managed Machines
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