Shavlik NetChk Protect 6.5 Enables Offline VM Patching

eWEEK Labs tests Shavlik NetChk Protect 6.5, the first tool we’ve used that enables offline virtual machine patching. By Cameron Sturdevant

Notice on the left side of the screen that “cameron ewk023 w2003R2” is powered off.

In the upper left, notice that “ewk023” is noted as an offline virtual image with a blue “v” icon. Upper right is the patch list that shows a sea of red missing patches. Across the bottom of the screen is useful graphical information about this particular offline image.

I’ve selected a single patch (details are shown in the screen across the bottom).

I’ve specified that the patch should be installed immediately to the offline image. This really means that the image is mounted, and the patch and the NetChk installation components are copied to the image. The patch is not actually executed until the image is powered on in the VMware VirtualCenter environment.

Here we see that the image has been mounted and the components are being copied to the image.

Notice in this screen that the highlighted patch has a status of scheduled. (Look in the “Deployment” column.) Although I specified that the patch should be deployed immediately, the console shows that the offline image is scheduled for deployment, but that the action hasn’t yet been executed.

This screen shows me powering on “cameron ewk023.”

There wasn’t a lot to see in the actual patching process. It wasn’t until this reboot screen appeared that I was sure the patch had been deployed.

The last step in the patch process. After shutting down ewk023, I reran the offline scan. The result shows that the patch was found installed on the system.