Patch management process definitions interact with resources and existing patch configuration settings within Patch Management to automate certain patch management procedures.

This tutorial guides you through the creation of a basic patch management process definition specifically for patching agents. You can use this process into the Patch Management > Patch Configuration workflow.

The following image illustrates the simple patch management process definition you will create in this tutorial: The following image shows the simple patch management process definition you create in this tutorial:

A patch management process allows you to do the following types of patch service tasks:

While this tutorial does not include script tasks or platform service tasks, you can add these more advanced tasks to your patch management process definitions.

In the following tutorial, refer to the Process Definition Reference for detailed information about each component type and the properties available for customization.

Prerequisite

Agent: 10.0.0 and above.

Create a New Process for Patch Management

To create a new patch management process definition, follow the below 6 steps:

• Step 1: Define the Process Definition
• Step 2: Define the Start Event
• Step 3: Define the Patch Scan Task
• Step 4: Define the Patch Approval Task
• Step 5: Define the Patch Installation Task
• Step 6: Append the End Event, Save and Deploy

Step 1: Define the Process Definition

In this step, you create a new process definition. Ensure the Remediation and Automation package is enabled for the client.

1. Login to OpsRamp portal.
2. Navigate to Automation > Process Automation 2.0. The Process Automation Overview page is displayed.
3. Click the hamburger icon in the left top corner of the page and select Process Definition. The Process Definition page is displayed.
4. To add a new process definition, click + ADD. The ADD PROCESS DEFINITION page is displayed.
5. In the BASIC DETAILS tab, enter the following:
   • Name: A required Name for the process. Example: Simple Patch Workflow
   • Category: Select Patch Management.
   • Description: More information about the process definition.
   • Enable Process Definition: Toggle to enable or disable the process definition.
6. Click Next. The WORKFLOW tab is displayed.

Step 2: Define the Start Event

The first step of any process is to define the start condition.

1. Click the Create StartEvent symbol from the component tools menu, and place it on the canvas with a click.

2. Click the Start Event symbol to display the start event properties.

3. In the Properties Name. field, enter Start. The ID property is automatically populated.

4. For the Input Type select Resource.

   You do not need any other start properties because this process is started by the patch management schedule.

   When the process definition is used in the patch management workflow, a new process instance is created for each resource, and the process instance receives the resource ID as input.

Step 3: Define the Patch Scan Task

After adding the start event, add tasks to complete the process. The first task is to scan for missing patches.

1. Click the Start Event, and click Append Task.

   

2. Select the task, click the Change type (wrench) icon and select Service Task.

3. Click the task on the canvas to display the task properties.

4. Enter Patch Scan for the Name. The name is displayed in the task symbol as you enter it. The task ID is automatically populated.

5. Select Patch Service for the Service.

6. Select Run Missing Patches for the Task.

7. The resource field is context sensitive to the objects in the process definition. Enter a value in the Resource ID field in parts, using the following steps:

   • Enter a $, and the name of the start event, displays below the field, select or enter Start.
   • Enter a period . after $Start and select or enter resource.
   • Enter a period . after $Start.resource, and a list of possible values displays below the field, select or enter uuid.

   The value in the Resource ID field should be $Start.resource.uuid.

Step 4: Define the Patch Approval Task

After you scan for missing patches, you decide which patches are approved by filtering the patches on different patch properties.

1. Click the Patch Scan task, and click Append Task.

2. Select the task, click the Change type (wrench) icon and select Service Task.

3. Click the task on the canvas to display the task properties.

4. Enter Patch Approval for the Name. The task ID is automatically populated.

5. Select Patch Service for the Service.

6. Select Approve Patches for the Task.

7. Enter a value in the Resource ID field in parts, using the following steps:

   • Enter a $, and the name of the start event, displays below the field, select or enter Start.
   • Enter a period . after $Start and select or enter resource.
   • Enter a period . after $Start.resource, and a list of possible values displays below the field, select or enter uuid.

   The value in the Resource ID field should be $Start.resource.uuid.

8. Select the Approval Type: Generic or Emergency.

9. In the Filter Criteria field enter patch.name = "update-notifier-common" to include all patches named update-notifier-common.

   You can add more filters, but for this simple tutorial, one filter will do.

   The following table shows patch properties and queries for different filters.

   Filter	Property and Query
   Patches based on patch name	patch.name = "update-notifier-common"
   Patches if patch name contains "ABCD"	patch.name LIKE "%ABCD%"
   Patches based on external Id's	patch.externalId LIKE '%release-upgrade%'
   Patches based on severity	patch.severity = optional
   Patches based on category	patch.category LIKE "%update%"
   Patches with rebootRequired flag	patch.rebootRequried = false
   Only windows patches	patch.patchType = WINDOWS
   Only Linux patches	patch.patchType = LINUX
   All missing patches	patchStatus = "MISSING"
   Patches that showed up as missing in the scan in the last 2 hours	scanTime < -2h
   Standard update categories patches	patch.serverity = 'standard' AND patch.category LIKE '%update%'
   Important update categories patches	patch.serverity = 'important' AND patch.category LIKE '%update%'

Step 5: Define the Patch Installation Task

After you define which patches is installed, add a task to install the patches.

1. Click the Patch Approval task, and click Append Task.

2. Select the task, click the Change type (wrench) icon and select Service Task.

3. Click the task on the canvas to display the task properties.

4. Enter Patch Installation for the Name. The task ID is automatically populated.

5. Select Patch Service for the Service.

6. Select Run Patch Install for the Task.

7. Enter a value in the Resource ID field in parts, using the following steps:

   • Enter a $, and the name of the start event, displays below the field, select or enter Start.
   • Enter a period . after $Start and select or enter resource.
   • Enter a period . after $Start.resource, and a list of possible values displays below the field, select or enter uuid.

   The value in the Resource ID field should be $Start.resource.uuid.

8. Choose the Installation Type: Generic, Emergency, or Baseline.

Step 6: Append the End Event, Save and Deploy

When you are finished defining the patch management process, add an end event and save and deploy the process definition for use in your patch management schedules.

1. Click the Patch Installation task, and click Append EndEvent.
2. Click the task on the canvas to display the task properties.
3. Enter End for the Name.
4. Click Save & Deploy. The Simple Patch Workflow displays in the Process Definitions list.

Now, the newly created process has been created and you can view it on the Process Definitions Page.

Next Steps

After you create and deploy the Simple Patch Workflow patch management process, you can select the process in patch schedules as shown in the following figure.

See Configure Patch Scan Schedules for information on using a patch management process in a patch management schedule

Refer to the Patch Automation for more information on Patch Process Automation.