Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Tool - Beta Program Now Available

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Are you having a growing number of virtual machines that may not be patched on a regular basis because they are offline?  Wouldn't it be nice to have a way to maintain them with the most up-to-date security patches?  Now, you have a free solution!  Yes - FREE!

Introducing Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Tool (Beta)

The Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Tool manages the workflow of updating large numbers of offline virtual machines according to their individual needs. To do this, the tool works with Microsoft® System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2007 (VMM) and with software update management systems (at present, either Microsoft Windows Server® Update Services 3.0 (WSUS) or Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007).

The tool uses "servicing jobs" to manage the update operations based on lists of existing virtual machines stored in VMM. Using Windows Workflow Foundation technology, a servicing job runs snippets of PowerShell scripts to work with virtual machines. For each virtual machine, the servicing job:

  • "Wakes" the virtual machine (deploys it to a host and starts it).
  • Triggers the appropriate software update cycle (Configuration Manager or WSUS).
  • Shuts down the updated virtual machine and returns it to the library.

The tool works with Windows Task Scheduler to determine when to run the servicing job.

This new tool is a member of the Virtualization Solution Accelerators including Microsoft Assessment and Planning Tool, Infrastructure Planning and Design Guides for Virtualization, Windows Server 2008 Security Guide and more....

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