The sheer bulk of documentation that came with this product would win an award in itself, such was the scope of it. Ten manuals in all, and all on paper. This really is handy for reference, and other vendors should take heed.
But that is not all this product does well.
Security Patch Management also acknowledges that corporate environments are heterogenous, and have many operating systems within them that need to be kept up to date and secure.
It supports Windows, Linux, Macintosh and Unix systems.
However, it would appear that the core server from where things are run requires Windows. That aside, things started off impressively enough.
Installation takes some time, as we specified a complete installation of product.
It has to be said here that before installation of the patch management application, ManageSoft itself has to be installed. There is also a lot of configuration to be done too, but when considering the scope of this product, it is not unreasonable. The management console is easy enough to understand, with everything laid out in a logical order.
This product is more than just patch management – it manages hardware and software across the entire environment.
The Security Patch Manager node, however, is of most interest to us in this particular test.
The console takes a familiar form, with the window split into two panes with the left featuring the tree view of devices and tasks, while the right hand side displays individual details.
An interesting part of this console is the Hidden Bulletins. Information on patches not deemed relevant to an organization are kept here and can be restored to normal view quite easily. This is a mixed blessing, however, as it is human nature to overlook things, but can be a benefit in order to stop information overload.
The rolling out of patches takes some time to get used to, as it is not as intuitive as others in the group test. However, the product is far-reaching, and worthy of consideration for large enterprises and organizations.
