All About K1000 (KBOX) Patch Management

The introductory article on patch management can be found here.

The K1000 receives security patches which are then delivered to campus computers.  Feature related patches and upgrades are not available as Kpatches.

What patches are delivered by the K1000?

The K1000 delivers security-based patches for the following applications:

When are patches delivered by the K1000?

When software vendors release patches, KACE tests them before making them available to the K1000. This provides more levels of review to catch any potential problems. The K1000 downloads new patch signatures and patch package files for selected operating systems nightly. Then, Carleton computers use the available patches based on the patch schedule to which each computer is assigned.  KPatching has two different phases

1. Detect which patches a computer needs
2. Deploy patches to a computer

What do I see when the patch schedule steps run?

When a patch schedule Detect only step runs, nothing is displayed. 

The patch schedule Deploy step has these characteristics:

• When starting, the K1000 displays an OK/Snooze choice to you for 15 minutes, then proceeds if there was no response.
  • If you choose Snooze, the K1000 waits 5 minutes and asks again.
• The K1000 displays a Patching in Progress message continuously until this step is completed.
  
  • Some applications (e.g., web browsers) will not patch successfully if the application is running at the time the patching is attempted, so during close any Web browsers you are not actively using.
• If a reboot is needed, the K1000 displays a Reboot prompt to you for 5 minutes, and re-prompts every hour (unless reboot is set to automatically).

Which patch schedule should I choose?

It depends on when the computer (or VM or booting operating system) is active and on the campus network, and whether you want patching to compete with your trying to get other work done. In general, if you don't want to be interrupted, choose an EndOfDay schedule Before you leave that day, close all open applications, and leave your computer powered on, not in sleep mode, and connected to the campus network.

If you take your laptop computer home most nights, choose instead a schedule that runs during the day at a time when you may be away from your desk (e.g., Convo, CommonTime).

If your laptop computer is seldom on campus at all, choose the NextCheckIn schedule which will try to run every time you are back on the campus network if you miss the scheduled times. But NextCheckIn can be very annoying, so choose it only if none of the other schedules works for you.

How do I tell if my machine is on a patch schedule?

1. Visit the K1000 user portal in your web browser
2. Log in with your Carleton username and password
3. Click the My Computer tab
4. Scroll down the page to the Activities section
5. Click on the Labels link
6. If you have a Label beginning with PatchSelf, your machine is on a patch schedule
   1. Note: If you have a VM, multiple Operating Systems, or multiple computers, you'll need to repeat this process from each VM/OS/computer

How do I join a Kpatch schedule?

1. Visit the K1000 user portal in your web browser
2. Log in with your Carleton username and password
3. Click the Software Library tab
4. In the Search field, type Patch and click Search, or scroll down the page until you see the entries beginning with Patch Schedule: 
5. Click on the desired Patch Schedule. (If the Patch Schedule you want does not appear in the list, contact the ITS HelpDesk x5999.)
6. Read the Installation Instructions and click Install Now
   1. Note: If you have a VM, multiple Operating Systems, or multiple computers, you'll need to repeat this process from each VM/OS/computer

What if my software is already up-to-date?

K1000 patch management should not reinstall patches that are already applied, nor should it downgrade your applications.