Understand Azure Update Management Basics

By Author: prash p
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Coping up with all of the patches an enterprise needs already takes careful and quick planning. Mixing the location of OSes in the cloud and on premises adds another challenge.
Microsoft created Azure Update Management to integrate and automate Windows and Linux patching, wherever the systems are situated. The service promises to simplify the process, but IT administrators must decide if the tool fits their company’s needs and understand how to assimilate it with their existing systems.
How to use Azure Update Management
Administrators allow Azure Update Management functionality through Azure Automation or Windows Admin Center, where they can check and plan the updates available with the help of Azure Log Analytics. The Azure Update Management service uses different configurations to deploy updates, such as Microsoft Monitoring Agent (MMA), PowerShell and Automation Hybrid Runbook Worker (AHRB) for Windows and Linux.
Azure Update Management keeps track of each system's status with multiple scans all through the day, which Azure Log Analytics processes. If a new update is offered, each OS retrieves an update from its source, such as Windows Server Update Services for Windows or a local repository (LR) for Linux systems.
The update service knows to add a fresh update by matching logs of each system's status. Once administrators schedule deployments, Azure Automation develops a master runbook to check each system against and approveif the system needs an update.
Confirm system compatibility
Before administrators dive into integrating Azure Update Management into their tool set, they should check that their systems are compatible. Azure Update Management provisions many Windows and Linux systems, both on locations and in the cloud, but there are exceptions: Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 and newer server versions meet Azure Update Management requirements because they have .NET Framework 4.5.1 or post, and Windows PowerShell 4.0 or post. Windows agents connect with WSUS or Microsoft Update. But administrators cannot use Azure Update Management to patch Windows client OSes and Nano Server deployments.
Many Linux distributions can use Azure Update Management, including CentOS 6 x86 and x64 versions, Linux 6 x86 and x64 versions, and Ubuntu Linux 14.04 LTS. Compatible Linux systems use agents with access to public or private repositories.
How to integrate management tools
Azure Update Management can lighten an administrator's update load in grouping with other automation and reportage tools.
Security services can block certain updates, but PowerShell runbooks work with Azure Update Management to automatically turn off security services with scripts before the deployment and turn them back on after update is done and complete. Administrators can schedule deployments with System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) and get a report back from Azure's update service or vice versa. This also requires configuration with Azure Log Analytics for the storage and study of reports.
Microsoft's Operations Management Suite (OMS) needs some modification to move to Azure Update Management; administrators must reconstruct deployments in Azure. Azure Automation can reconstruct update deployments by means of the OMS details.
Beware of additional fees
To use the basic functionality of Azure Update Management (AUM), such as system checks and deployment updates etc., companies need not have to pay; nevertheless, using the advanced functionalities comes with a price that upsurges with the size of the environment.
For example, Microsoft charges companies for advanced features based on the GBs of ingested and stored data in Azure Log Analytics per month after they use up the free 5 GB or some number of data ingestion and 31 days of storage per month.
Administrators should estimate the cost of the update service and keep track of charges during its use to make sure the charges equal prospects
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