Creating a custom patch baseline (Windows)

Use the following procedure to create a custom patch baseline for Windows managed nodes in Patch Manager, a capability of AWS Systems Manager.

For information about creating a patch baseline for Linux managed nodes, see Creating a custom patch baseline (Linux). For information about creating a patch baseline for macOS managed nodes, see Creating a custom patch baseline (macOS).

For an example of creating a patch baseline that is limited to installing Windows Service Packs only, see Tutorial: Create a patch baseline for installing Windows Service Packs (console).

To create a custom patch baseline (Windows)

1. Open the AWS Systems Manager console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/systems-manager/.

2. In the navigation pane, choose Patch Manager.

   -or-

   If the AWS Systems Manager home page opens first, choose the menu icon ( ) to open the navigation pane, and then choose Patch Manager.

3. Choose the Patch baselines tab, and then choose Create patch baseline.

   -or-

   If you are accessing Patch Manager for the first time in the current AWS Region, choose Start with an overview, choose the Patch baselines tab, and then choose Create patch baseline.

4. For Name, enter a name for your new patch baseline, for example, MyWindowsPatchBaseline.

5. (Optional) For Description, enter a description for this patch baseline.

6. For Operating system, choose Windows.

7. If you want to begin using this patch baseline as the default for Windows as soon as you create it, select Set this patch baseline as the default patch baseline for Windows Server instances .

   Note

   This option is available only if you first accessed Patch Manager before the patch policies release on December 22, 2022.

   For information about setting an existing patch baseline as the default, see Setting an existing patch baseline as the default.

8. In the Approval rules for operating systems section, use the fields to create one or more auto-approval rules.

   • Products: The version of the operating systems the approval rule applies to, such as WindowsServer2012. The default selection is All.

   • Classification: The type of patches the approval rule applies to, such as CriticalUpdates, Drivers, and Tools. The default selection is All.

     Tip

     You can include Windows Service Pack installations in your approval rules by including ServicePacks or by choosing All in your Classification list. For an example, see Tutorial: Create a patch baseline for installing Windows Service Packs (console).

   • Severity: The severity value of patches the rule is to apply to, such as Critical. The default selection is All.

   • Auto-approval: The method for selecting patches for automatic approval.

     • Approve patches after a specified number of days: The number of days for Patch Manager to wait after a patch is released or updated before a patch is automatically approved. You can enter any integer from zero (0) to 360. For most scenarios, we recommend waiting no more than 100 days.

     • Approve patches released up to a specific date: The patch release date for which Patch Manager automatically applies all patches released or updated on or before that date. For example, if you specify July 7, 2023, no patches released or last updated on or after July 8, 2023, are installed automatically.

   • (Optional) Compliance reporting: The severity level you want to assign to patches approved by the baseline, such as High.

     Note

     If you specify a compliance reporting level and the patch state of any approved patch is reported as Missing, then the patch baseline's overall reported compliance severity is the severity level you specified.

9. (Optional) In the Approval rules for applications section, use the fields to create one or more auto-approval rules.

   Note

   Instead of specifying approval rules, you can specify lists of approved and rejected patches as patch exceptions. See steps 10 and 11.

   • Product family: The general Microsoft product family for which you want to specify a rule, such as Office or Exchange Server.

   • Products: The version of the application the approval rule applies to, such as Office 2016 or Active Directory Rights Management Services Client 2.0 2016. The default selection is All.

   • Classification: The type of patches the approval rule applies to, such as CriticalUpdates. The default selection is All.

   • Severity: The severity value of patches the rule applies to, such as Critical. The default selection is All.

   • Auto-approval: The method for selecting patches for automatic approval.

     • Approve patches after a specified number of days: The number of days for Patch Manager to wait after a patch is released or updated before a patch is automatically approved. You can enter any integer from zero (0) to 360. For most scenarios, we recommend waiting no more than 100 days.

     • Approve patches released up to a specific date: The patch release date for which Patch Manager automatically applies all patches released or updated on or before that date. For example, if you specify July 7, 2023, no patches released or last updated on or after July 8, 2023, are installed automatically.

   • (Optional) Compliance reporting: The severity level you want to assign to patches approved by the baseline, such as Critical or High.

     Note

     If you specify a compliance reporting level and the patch state of any approved patch is reported as Missing, then the patch baseline's overall reported compliance severity is the severity level you specified.

10. (Optional) If you want to explicitly approve any patches instead of letting patches be selected according to approval rules, do the following in the Patch exceptions section:

    • For Approved patches, enter a comma-separated list of the patches you want to approve.

      Note

      For information about accepted formats for lists of approved patches and rejected patches, see About package name formats for approved and rejected patch lists.

    • (Optional) For Approved patches compliance level, assign a compliance level to the patches in the list.

11. If you want to explicitly reject any patches that otherwise meet your approval rules, do the following in the Patch exceptions section:

    • For Rejected patches, enter a comma-separated list of the patches you want to reject.

      Note

      For information about accepted formats for lists of approved patches and rejected patches, see About package name formats for approved and rejected patch lists.

    • For Rejected patches action, select the action for Patch Manager to take on patches included in the Rejected patches list.

      • Allow as dependency: A package in the Rejected patches list is installed only if it's a dependency of another package. It's considered compliant with the patch baseline and its status is reported as InstalledOther. This is the default action if no option is specified.

      • Block: Packages in the Rejected patches list, and packages that include them as dependencies, aren't installed by Patch Manager under any circumstances. If a package was installed before it was added to the Rejected patches list, or is installed outside of Patch Manager afterward, it's considered noncompliant with the patch baseline and its status is reported as InstalledRejected.

12. (Optional) For Manage tags, apply one or more tag key name/value pairs to the patch baseline.

    Tags are optional metadata that you assign to a resource. Tags allow you to categorize a resource in different ways, such as by purpose, owner, or environment. For example, you might want to tag a patch baseline to identify the severity level of patches it specifies, the operating system family it applies to, and the environment type. In this case, you could specify tags similar to the following key name/value pairs:

    • Key=PatchSeverity,Value=Critical

    • Key=OS,Value=RHEL

    • Key=Environment,Value=Production

13. Choose Create patch baseline.