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For all of you who have to update your servers with the new Daylight Saving Time (DST) changes: don't despair. You don't have to do things the hard way if you have ZENworks Patch Management.

Note: If you're only able to use ZENworks Desktop Management (and not ZENworks Patch Management), check out this article for nifty ways to use that tool to address the DST problem. As one customer said, "Once again Novell ZENworks saves the day!" One way or another, you've got to have ZENworks in times like these.

Without an automated way to distribute the DST patches, you and your staff will need to do everything manually, including:

1. Find out where all your assets are. (ZENworks Asset Management makes that a piece of cake -- otherwise, it's spreadsheet time for you)
2. Determine which assets are non-compliant by checking the lists on your vendors' websites.
3. Go to all the individual vendors' websites to get their DST patches.
4. Test the patches.
5. Visit the affected machines and apply the patches.

ZENworks Patch Management helps you patch all major operating systems efficiently and painlessly. DST Patches can be applied easily, and you can face March 11 secure in the knowledge that your servers are all springing forward at exactly the right time. Basically, you sit in your chair and do the following:

1. Assess your network assets for DST Compliance.
2. Prioritize non-compliant systems based on criticality.
3. Test and deploy the appropriate patches using ZENworks Patch Management across all non-compliant systems on or before the March 11th deadline.

DST 2007 Patches Available from ZENworks Patch Management

In order to help businesses and IT administrators meet this year's congressionally mandated daylight savings time (DST) change which starts on March 11th, ZENworks Patch Management is providing automated DST remediation for all major operating systems. Here are the patches currently available:

About ZENworks Patch Management

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ZENworks Patch Management lets you manage the software update and patch process across NetWare, Windows, Hewlett Packard HP-UX, Sun Solaris, IBM AIX and Apple MAC OS X operating systems, including the ability to:

• Apply all required updates and patches to new installations to match corporate standards.
• Patch all major vendors' software, including Novell, Microsoft, IBM, Adobe, Corel, Symantec, McAfee, WinZip, Citrix, and many others.
• Review detailed patch information to determine what patches are right for your organization.
• Target specific machines to ensure that the correct machines get the correct patches.
• Schedule the update times.
• Generate reports on patch compliance.

Check out
this demo to see how easy it is to use ZENworks Patch Management.

For more info, see this page.

Disclaimer: As with everything else at Cool Solutions, this content is definitely not supported by Novell (so don't even think of calling Support if you try something and it blows up).

It was contributed by a community member and is published "as is." It seems to have worked for at least one person, and might work for you. But please be sure to test, test, test before you do anything drastic with it.