Patch Management for Closed Networks

When the Patch Manager Plus server is installed in a closed network without Internet connection, such as the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), basic Patch Manager Plus capabilities such as patch synchronization, automatic updates etc, cannot be performed. The following steps will help you manually download all the missing patches and update them to the required computers.

1. Configure Proxy Settings
2. Configure Patch Database settings
3. Download and setup the DMZ tool
4. Update the Patch Database
5. Download the required patches

Configure Proxy Settings

1. Click Admin Tab and select Proxy Settings, under Patch Settings
2. Choose No connection to Internet
3. Click OK to save changes.

Configure Patch Database settings

1. Navigate to Patch Settings -> Patch Database Settings
2. Under Schedule Vulnerability Database Update, disable Schedule

This prevents the DB sync from being initiated without the necessary data in the <installdirectory>/conf/CRSData directory because the updatedb folder in the above-mentioned directory will get erased after a successful sync. So, the upcoming DB sync will get failed if the required folder is expunged.

Download and Setup the DMZ tool

1. Download this zip and extract it on a Windows machine with an internet connection.

   If the computer does not have direct internet connection, open the downloadMgr.prop file available within the extracted location and provide the details of the proxy server, port and authentication details.

You have successfully configured the tool and it is ready to be used. Configuring Proxy and setting up the tool are one time operations, whereas Updating the Patch Database and Downloading the required patches need to be done every time you wanted to deploy the latest missing patches.

Update the Patch Database

1. Go to the machine where you have extracted the downloadMgr.prop, open a command prompt and navigate to the extracted directory.
2. Execute the following command depending on the operating system of the machines you manage:
- If you manage only Windows & Mac: patchsync.bat -c updatedb
- If you manage all three Windows, Mac and Linux: patchsync.bat -c updatedb -i linux

3. This will update the latest patch information available on the Zohocorp website to the local computer. The update will take some time and after completion, the necessary information will be updated in the updatedb directory.

4. Copy the updatedb directory to the Patch Manager Plus server to <Install Directory>/conf/CRSData directory.

5. From the Web Console, click the Patch Mgmt tab and click Update Now button. This will copy the necessary information from the updatedb directory to the database. Now, the local database will have the latest patch information.

6. Now, scan the computers in the network to identify the missing patches. 

   You will not be able to view all the missing patches unless scanning is completed for all the computers. Ensure that all the computers are scanned, before manually downloading the missing patches.

The next step is to download the missing patches from the computer with internet connection and copy it back to this computer.

Download the required patches

1. To download the patches, you would first require the details of the missing patches. To get this, go to the Missing Patches view and click Export Missing Patches button. This exports the details of the missing patches that have not been downloaded and the dependent patches which should be downloaded as downloadUrlJson.txt

2. Copy this file to the directory in the computer where you extracted the downloadmanager.7z

3. Open a command prompt and execute the command: patchsync.bat -c dwnpatch -f downloadUrlJson.txt

4. This will download all the missing patches to the store directory. Once all the files are downloaded, copy the contents of the store directory and copy it to the Patch Manager Plus server to <Install_Dir>/webapps/DesktopCentral/Store directory (this is the default location; if this has been changed copy it to the appropriate location)

5. You should then update this information in the database so that all these patches are shown in the Downloaded Patches view. To do this, open the Downloaded Patches view and click Update Downloaded Patches button

6. All the manually downloaded patches will appear in the view from where you can deploy them to the required computers.

You have successfully configured the patch management process in  a closed network.