By Michael Cherry [bio]
Posted: Jun. 9, 2008

The following is an illustration accompanying an article published by Directions on Microsoft, an independent research firm focused exclusively on Microsoft strategy & technology. More samples of our content, as well as a list of upcoming articles and reports are also available.

The Offline VM Patching Solution Accelerator works with Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) and maintenance servers to keep virtual machines patched and up to date.

By using Windows Task Manager, the Windows Workflow Foundation, and PowerShell, the Offline VM Patching Solution Accelerator can keep virtual machines (VMs) that are stored in the VMM library up to date and safe to deploy by doing the following:

• Determining whether or not a VM needs patching
• Creating groups of VMs to be serviced and scheduling servicing jobs
• Getting each VM's virtual hard disk (VHD) file from the VMM library and running it on a maintenance server
• Triggering an update cycle from either Windows Server Update Service (WSUS) or System Center Configuration Manager
• Shutting down the VM and storing the updated VHD in the VMM Library.