NON-INVASIVE AUTOMATIC OFFSITE PATCH FINGERPRINTING AND UPDATING SYSTEM AND METHOD

摘要

Methods, systems, and configured storage media including a discovery agent (548) are provided for discovering software updates, discovering if a given computer (202) can use the software update, and then updating the computers with the software as needed automatically across a network (200) without storing the updates on an intermediate machine within the network. Furthermore, when a failure (316) is detected, the rollout is stopped and th e software can be automatically removed (324) from those computers that alread y were updated. The software update can be stored originally at an address tha t is inaccessible through the network firewall (214) by intermediately uploadi ng the software update to an update computer (220) which is not a part of the network but has access through the firewall, which is then used to distribut e the update.