Introduction
The patch management feature lets you scan or install patches for Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instances based on default or custom patch baselines. You can also select updates such as security-related updates to automatically install patches for ECS instances.
Description
Most enterprises often have specific compliance requirements for IT assets, including Alibaba Cloud ECS instances. The system vulnerabilities of the instances need to be fixed at the earliest opportunity to prevent security attacks, or some software packages need to be kept up to date. In such cases, the patch management feature can be used. You can use the patch management feature to install patches for operating systems and applications. You can use the patch management feature to install a service pack on a Windows instance or update a minor version for a Linux instance. You can install patches for multiple ECS instances that run the same type of operating system at a time. The following types of operating systems are supported: Alibaba Cloud Linux, CentOS, Debian, Ubuntu, and Windows Server. You can scan instances only to view reports on missing patches, or scan instances and automatically install all missing patches. The following topics help you get started with the patch management feature:
1. Patch baseline: outlines patch baselines and describes how to manage patch baselines.
2. Scheduled fix: describes the background information, required permissions, and procedure for configuring a scheduled fix.
3. Immediate fix: describes the background information, required permissions, and procedure for configuring an immediate fix.
Supported operating systems
Linux
Alibaba Cloud Linux 2, 3, and 4
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, 8, 9, and 10
CentOS 7, CentOS Stream 9, or CentOS Stream 10
Anolis OS 8
Debian 11, 12, and 13
Ubuntu 16.04, 18.04, 20.04, 22.04, and 24.04
AlmaLinux 8, 9, and 10
Rocky Linux 8, 9, and 10
Fedora 40 and 41
openSUSE 15 and 16
Windows
Windows Server 2012
Windows Server 2016
Windows Server 2019
Windows Server 2022
Windows Server 2025