ManageEngine Patch Manager Plus Review

To improve security, one of the most effective steps that your company needs to take is to consistently patch both your operating system/s and applications and keep all endpoints current and secure.  But with multiple endpoints to monitor and manage, the patch management process can be challenging to wield.

Patch Manager Plus helps you save valuable time and resources by simplifying this tedious process, working through the different patching stages to help you secure all endpoints. It allows you to automatically test, package, stage, and deploy patches to thousands of systems in minutes.

Automated Patch Management

Patch Manager Plus allows complete automation to eliminate 90% of the time spent on patching.  Working through the different patching stages, the software scans endpoints for missing patches following a set schedule based on time, computer, or user-defined groups. The Patch Manager Plus server automatically downloads missing patches from respective vendors sites such as Windows, Mac and third-party vendor sites and deploys patches across the network automatically, without any manual intervention.

Cross-Platform Support

Patch Manager Plus is the first patch management solution that employs a cross-platform approach, enabling users to automate the patch process for Windows, Mac and Linux systems across entire infrastructures.  This helps to keep all your endpoints current, secure and error-free regardless of the OS platform.

Test & Approve Patches

Patch Manager Plus’ ‘Test and approve’ feature enables administrators to test the patches on a small group of computers before deploying them throughout the network. This helps to avoid compatibility issues or breakage of installed software. These patch tests can be automated and performed for specific applications or for all patches. Users have an option to automate patch deployment after successful testing or to approve deployment manually.

Third-Party Applications Patching

Like everything else on your system, third party applications should also be updated with the latest security patches to avoid risky vulnerabilities. Patch Manager Plus delivers broad third-party vulnerability content for third-party apps such as Adobe, Java, and more for multiple Internet browsers. It enables centralized updating for over 250+ third-party apps and makes use of available, tested, and ready-to-deploy patches for commonly used non-Microsoft applications. Patch Manager Plus acquires patches directly from vendor sites, enabling you to deploy these onto each workstation easily from a single point of control.

Deployment Policies

Patch Manager Plus allows users to set multiple deployment settings around critical systems and applications to avoid workflow disruption. Users can specify patch, software or service pack deployment policies such as installation windows, user notifications, post-deployment action/s, reboot, etc. You can create patching policies across your system’s endpoints regardless of location or activity status, and the solution gives you control of deployment timing, preferred days, and time zone considerations. It also gives you an option to automatically turn on computers that are shut down if these are connected to the company’s LAN/WAN network.

Patch Compliance

Patch Manager Plus helps achieve 100% patched and compliant status through a recurring cycle of endpoint evaluation and resolution. The solution lets you set your system’s health policy – the criteria to define the health status of your enterprise’s systems. With an established system health policy, Patch Manager Plus automatically maintains and monitors the patch compliance by detecting all susceptible systems and deploying the appropriate patch fixes to alleviate vulnerability.

Patch Management Reports

Patch Manager Plus generates patching intelligence with real-time dashboards, audits and comprehensive patch management reports. This helps administrators make patch-related decisions, identify and communicate risk and report patch compliance progress to executives. These reports include critical tracking updates, installation status, failed updates, and a vulnerability database, among others. On-premise users can also run queries to drill down on specific information.