Understanding Arcserve Backup Patch Manager › Introduction

Introduction

A patch lets Arcserve deliver product improvements (published patches) to users. Patches are used to deliver bug fixes, new hardware support, and performance and security enhancements. (Service Pack releases are not delivered through Arcserve Backup Patch Manager).

In the past, Arcserve Backup users needed to download and apply patches manually when they were released. They also needed to access the Arcserve Support website frequently to learn about the existence of a fix or a patch. Arcserve Backup Patch Manager simplifies this process and provides a fast, easy, and reliable solution to automatically keep your Arcserve Backup installations up-to-date with the latest patches and updates. Arcserve Backup Patch Manager is your link between Arcserve and your Arcserve Backup (and agents) running on Windows and should be installed on every machine that has Arcserve Backup installed to get automatic updates.

Arcserve Backup Patch Manager provides the following features:

• The capability to check for all new and available patches.
• The capability to perform automatic checks for critical patches and to determine dependency rules for selected patches during the download, install, and uninstall process.
• The capability to trigger automatic (for critical patches only) or manual downloading and installation of available patches.
• The capability to specify a custom schedule for automatic patch download and install (for critical patches only).
• If configured, the capability to automatically send email notifications when new patches become available, when they are downloaded, and/or when they are installed.
• The capability to generate reports to view the current state of Arcserve Backup (patches installed) and also view a history of the patches that were downloaded, installed, and uninstalled on a server. This comprehensive reporting allows you to easily access reports to help understand the complete patch status on any machine.
• The capability to display handy tool-tip references about specific patches (for example: the patch download date, patch install date, patch type, and so on).
• The capability to display "Alerts and Messages" in a quick and easy-to-see information pane. These alerts and messages contain information such as the time and date of the last check update, number of new patches, which patches are classified as critical, security updates, device patches, and so on.
• The capability to display the Readme of a patch published at the Arcserve Support website. For more detailed description or additional information about a specific patch, contact Arcserve Technical Support for online technical assistance.
• The capability to display the Patch Manager Service status in the GUI.
• The capability to configure the client and a staging server to connect to Arcserve Support (either directly or through a proxy server).
• The capability to use staging servers for data centers that have limited access to the internet.
• The capability for Arcserve Backup Patch Manager deployed as Staging Server to refer to another Staging Server that is already existing.
• The capability to use proxy servers.
• The capability to manually uninstall a patch (if necessary).
• The capability of the Arcserve Backup Patch Manager to update itself when self-patches become available.

  Note: Patches to the Arcserve Backup Patch Manager will not be displayed in the Product drop down menu or the Patches Update pane. These self-patches are always considered as critical patches and all actions (Check for Updates, Download, and Install) will be performed automatically as scheduled.