Patch/application testing procedures & criteria.

[Guest Barkley Bees]

For our patch testing process we install our internally approved patches to

the lab environment systems (servers and clients). We then follow a basic

checklist to see if any post install errors/issues arise - such as

application problems and basic functionality. We also verify the all the

event logs to for any issues. If no problems are found we then approve these

pathes for production deployment. For our servers, we take backup images,

using True Image (during our monthly maintenance window), applying any

patches so we are able to roll back if any issues arise.

 

I imagine many of you follow a similar process but would like to know what

you folks use for your checklist criteria when doing patch testing as I

believe ours is somewhat lacking and needs to be revised and improved.

Appreciate any feedback. Thank you.

 

*note: We use WSUS for security updates but these testing procedures and

criteria are also applicable for application updates and hotfixes we

advertise via SMS.