Administration and Reporting node

Use the Administration and Reporting node to select third-party updates and schedule tasks that install these updates on your managed systems.

You can schedule tasks immediately or during your non-business hours to minimize bandwidth and impact to your business systems. If you have custom packages (or Java updates with complex installation scenarios) created for your environment that require a specific pre- and post-installation environment, you can automate these patches using built-in Package Boot™ technology.

SolarWinds supports packages created and provided by SolarWinds or for packages of SolarWinds products. SolarWinds does not provide support for custom code or software packages created by third-party sources. See the Patch Manager Product Forum on THWACK for help with custom packages.

After you complete a task, you can generate a report to demonstrate patch compliance to your auditors and internal stakeholders.

The following table describes each child node in the Administration and Reporting node.

Child Node	Description
Software Publishing	Contains a child node for each third-party update vendor you are synchronizing. This node displays all updates for the selected vendor. It also contains a Rules node that lists your software publishing rules.
Task History	Displays a list of past Patch Manager tasks and details about whether the task completed or failed.
Scheduled Tasks	Displays a list of scheduled Patch Manager tasks. Use this node to view, manage, or run previously scheduled tasks.
Active Tasks	Displays the progress of all active Patch Manager tasks.
Reporting	View, run, manage, and create pre-configured and custom reports. This node contains a child node that stores WSUS, configuration management, and task history reports. This node also contains a child node that stores the WSUS, configuration management, and task history reports.