My SCCM 2007 R2 Software Update relationship diagram.
Search Folder
This contains all the updates metadata that meets the criteria, e.g. superseded: no, expired:no, etc
Update List
This is the list of updates that are selected from search folder. I use this update list per month basis, e.g. Jan 2015, Feb 2015. This way, a compliance report can be run agains a specific update list.
Deployment Packages
This is the deployment package that gets deploy to the Distribution Point. I use the same deployment package for a specific product, for example I have "Windows Server 2012 R2" deployment package for all updates of Windows Server 2012 R2, respectively of their month.
Deployment Management
This is the deployment task that is created for a specific collection.
Collections
A collection of computers that is targeted for software updates
What to do every month to patch machines?
- Go to the search folder, select all the updates for this month for a specific product
- Right click and select Download Software Updates, target the deployment packages for that product. Don't forget to update Distribution Point
- Right click and select Update List, create a new Update list for this month.
- From the newly created Update List, select all the updates and click-and-drag them to the Deployment Task for a specific collection that you want to install the updates on
- Check the software available and installation deadline for that Deployment task
