July 6, 2025 |
Announcing LifeKeeper/SSP/DKCE for Windows 8.11.0: Enhanced Stability, Security, and SupportAnnouncing LifeKeeper/SSP/DKCE for Windows 8.11.0: Enhanced Stability, Security, and SupportWe are excited to announce the general availability of LifeKeeper/SSP/DKCE for Windows 8.11.0, scheduled for release on June 26, 2025! This latest version brings significant advancements designed to boost the stability, security, and supportability of your critical Windows environments. Key Highlights of LifeKeeper/SSP/DKCE for Windows 8.11.0:
The LifeKeeper/SSP/DKCE for Windows 8.11.0 release is a testament to our commitment to providing robust high availability and disaster recovery solutions. These new features and improvements underscore our dedication to delivering a more stable, secure, and easily supportable experience for our users. Reproduce with permission from SIOS |
July 2, 2025 |
Why an Effective Patch Management Strategy Is Essential for IT ResilienceWhy an Effective Patch Management Strategy Is Essential for IT ResilienceIn an era where cyber threats evolve daily, and IT environments become increasingly complex, patch management is no longer optional—it’s critical. Organizations depend on applications and infrastructure to operate without interruption, and even a single missed update can expose vulnerabilities that threaten security, compliance, and business continuity. Patch management refers to the process of identifying, acquiring, testing, and deploying software updates that correct bugs, address security weaknesses, and improve performance. These patches may target operating systems, applications, middleware, or firmware components across physical, virtual, or cloud environments. Yet, despite its importance, patch management often competes with other IT priorities and is delayed due to fear of downtime or unexpected consequences. That delay can come at a steep cost. According to recent reports, the majority of data breaches exploit known vulnerabilities, many of which had patches available for months or even years. In regulated industries such as healthcare and finance, failing to patch can also result in violating compliance requirements, which may lead to fines or reputational damage. Modern enterprises must approach patch management as a strategic discipline. It’s not just about fixing what’s broken—it’s about protecting what’s critical. And that starts with a structured lifecycle approach. A Closer Look at the Patch Management LifecycleBuilding a resilient patch management strategy begins with understanding the full scope of the lifecycle, from initial discovery through final validation. Each stage plays a critical role in ensuring updates are applied safely and effectively. 1. Patch Management Discovery: Know What You OwnYou can’t patch what you don’t know exists. The first step is to create and maintain a comprehensive, up-to-date inventory of all IT assets, including servers, virtual machines, devices, applications, and services. This includes shadow IT or any unmanaged systems that automated patching tools may not be able to cover. Asset discovery tools can help identify systems that fall outside of standard update routines, ensuring comprehensive coverage. Without this visibility, organizations risk leaving gaps that attackers could exploit. 2. Patch Management Assessment: Prioritize Based on RiskNot all patches carry the same weight. Some updates address cosmetic bugs, while others fix actively exploited vulnerabilities. An effective patch management strategy involves assessing the severity, relevance, and business impact of each patch. Questions to consider include:
Security teams and IT operations must collaborate to establish a risk-based framework for prioritizing patches. The goal is to ensure that the most urgent patches are applied promptly while less critical updates are scheduled appropriately. 3. Patch Management Testing: Reduce both Planned and Unplanned DowntimeBefore deploying patches to production environments, organizations should test them in a staging environment that mirrors real-world systems. This step helps identify potential compatibility issues, application failures, or unintended side effects. Testing is critical in environments where uptime is non-negotiable, such as hospitals, financial systems, or airport infrastructure. It provides an opportunity to validate that the patch does what it claims and that it doesn’t break existing functionality. 4. Patch Management Deployment: Roll Out with CareWith testing complete, patches can be deployed in a phased and prioritized manner. High-availability (HA) solutions, such as clustering software, can further reduce downtime risks by enabling patching on secondary nodes before switching traffic over. This approach, often referred to as “rolling updates,” helps ensure continuous service during maintenance. Scheduling deployments during low-traffic windows or utilizing automation tools to streamline patch distribution can also minimize the impact and enhance reliability. 5. Patch Management Verification: Trust, But VerifyDeployment doesn’t mark the end of the process. After patches are applied, teams should confirm that systems are operating as expected. This includes verifying that the patch was successfully installed, that applications remain stable, and that no new vulnerabilities have emerged. System monitoring, vulnerability scanning, and post-deployment checklists can all support this step. 6. Patch Management Documentation and Reporting: Prove and ImproveMaintaining detailed records of patching activities is essential, not just for internal tracking but also for regulatory compliance and audit readiness. Documentation should include:
Robust reporting supports continuous improvement, enabling organizations to refine their strategies over time. How High Availability Enhances Your Patch Management StrategyPatch management is more than a security function—it’s a business imperative. When executed with care and structure, it safeguards critical systems, protects sensitive data, and ensures operational resilience. By adopting a lifecycle approach and investing in the right tools, IT teams can stay ahead of threats without compromising uptime or performance. Want to take the next step? Consider how high-availability strategies, such as clustering, can support safer, disruption-free patching in your environment. Request a demo today to see how SIOS can help you protect critical workloads, minimize downtime, and ensure seamless patching. Author: Benjamin Roy, SIOS Marketing Program Specialist Reproduced with permission from SIOS |
June 22, 2025 |
Streamlining External Communication for Emergency ProceduresStreamlining External Communication for Emergency ProceduresIn the business infrastructure world, things can move very rapidly. Having to keep up with ever-growing company needs, compliance regulations, vulnerability patching, and problem resolutions keeps everyone on their feet and necessitates the ability to respond quickly and effectively. It’s one thing to keep up with all of this when dealing internally with the different stakeholders within your organization, but it’s another endeavor entirely when you have to start involving vendors and other external parties. When you have to engage with third parties for these types of emergency procedures that require quick turnaround times, it can be difficult for both sides, but there are some ways that you can make it easier for everyone. In turn, this leads to the whole process flowing more smoothly, and as one of my favorite sayings indicates, “Smooth is fast.” Best Practices for Communicating with Vendors During Emergencies1. Start Emergency Communication Early to Support Business ContinuityEarly and proactive communication is always a good thing when planning out procedures or organizing multiple parties for the same work. This gets increasingly apparent the more urgent or short-term the planned work is. If you need people to be ready and able to help you with something, you need to communicate with them as soon as you can. This starts turning the organizational gears needed to align resources, nail down the specifics, and align on any paperwork or documentation that needs to be dealt with first. Depending on organizational requirements, some of these items absolutely have to be finished before any work can be done, so a longer delay in communication means a longer delay before the actual work that needs to be done can be started. 2. Communicate Truthfully to Improve Disaster Recovery PlanningAnother one of my favorite sayings (I have many) is “Honesty is the best policy.” Honest communication is a cornerstone of effectively engaging with and organizing groups and maintaining healthy relationships. When you are communicating with external parties for these types of emergency procedures, it is crucial that, from the outset, you are being honest about what is needed and what level of priority the work is. If you understate it, then resources may not be aligned in time, paperwork may not get signed and stamped in the timeframe that you require, or additional costs or delays may be incurred. After all, how were they supposed to know without being told? On the other hand, if you overstate the urgency of the work, things may get done faster than they need to, and some items may fall by the wayside, causing complications further down the line. Additionally, if you state everything to be the highest priority regardless of whether or not it truly is, then your partners will be unable to discern the actual priority of any of the tasks, and when a high-priority emergency occurs, it may not be handled in a timely manner. Of course, you can’t tell everyone everything. Please take into account your security and compliance regulations when communicating externally, and it is more helpful to let the external parties know that you simply cannot tell them a piece of information than it is to secretly withhold it. 3. When to Call Instead of Email During Emergency ProceduresEmail is a wonderful tool, and I would go as far as to say it is the backbone of the global business workspace. However, sometimes emailing just isn’t good enough. It can take a long time to hammer out details and plan for complex scenarios through emails, especially when time zone differences are in play. Hopping on even just a 1-hour call with the invested parties can save you upwards of several days of emailing back and forth. I also find that verbal conversation has a way of helping to recall and discuss smaller details that may not have made it into an email thread, and this helps to really build a comprehensive picture of what work needs to be done and when. Far too often, I’ve seen a request for a call be turned down, just to be followed by 30 (or more) emails back and forth that end up leading to a call being necessary. Imagine how much time you could save by carving out that little chunk of time to have it in the first place! Everyone gets aligned, everyone has all the information, and after that, you can email back and forth as little or as much as you need to iron out the smaller remaining details. 4. Treat Vendors as Partners to Improve External Emergency CollaborationOrganizing work between different teams, different branches in an organization, or different companies can be difficult. Everyone has their own workloads to consider, everyone has their own policies or procedures, and everyone has their own ideas of how to do the work. This is true in any scenario, and it is further exacerbated when there’s a sense of urgency hanging over everyone’s heads. This can often lead to frustrations between the different groups, as some may feel that the others are doing something the wrong way, are not being quick enough to respond, or aren’t properly hearing what you are saying. When you get into this state, it’s important to take a step back and remember that you’re not on different sides of the issue. Everyone wants to resolve the problem in the quickest and most effective way that they can. Your external partners are no exception to this, as they want to build and maintain a strong business relationship with you and make sure that they are meeting your needs and expectations. Everyone is simply trying to offer the best route that they are aware of to a successful outcome for everyone involved. 5. Stay Engaged to Complete the Emergency Response Process SmoothlyOnce you are through the bulk of the work and the emergency has passed, the common reaction is to take a deep breath, sit back, and appreciate the moment. This is understandable, and there’s nothing wrong with celebrating a job well done, but you can’t let it distract or delay you from finishing strong. There’s usually going to be some paper that has to be filled out, some emails to be sent, or some spreadsheet that needs to be updated. Once you’ve taken your respite and realigned yourself, this work is best knocked out while the iron is still hot. This is especially true for your external vendors and partners, who are typically only involved for specific periods of the work relevant to the products and services that they provide for you. From their end, they may not be aware of when exactly everything is completed. It’s best to stay engaged with all involved parties through the entire process, from the first email sent to the last one crossed. Don’t make them have to chase you down for a week or two to know if everything was completed successfully. Go ahead and write that email to let them know the work is done, the storm has passed, and everyone can start tying up the little loose ends and close everything out. Improve Business Continuity with Streamlined External CommunicationThe next time you have to run around to put out a metaphorical fire at the office and you need all hands on deck (even those who work on a different ship), try to remember these 5 points and put them into practice. You’ll see that everyone gets on board, organized, shipshape, and ready to sail much faster than if you had not, and this leads to a job that is done with speed and grace. This kind of workflow resonates in a positive way with everyone involved, and they will be both impressed and happy to work with a team that makes everything so streamlined. You may even get the best outcome possible, which is to inspire others to emulate the way that you have done the work because it was more effective than what they have been doing, and that is what we call strong leadership. Ready to streamline your emergency communication and strengthen your disaster recovery strategy? Request a demo to see how SIOS can help you build a more resilient, coordinated response plan. Author: Matthew Pollard, CX – SIOS Software Engineer, Team Lead Reproduced with permission from SIOS |
June 14, 2025 |
Avoiding the Disaster You Don’t See Coming: Building a Resilient DR PlanAvoiding the Disaster You Don’t See Coming: Building a Resilient DR PlanNobody anticipated that all the data centers in lower Manhattan would be knocked offline before Super Storm Sandy hit in 2012. But they were—and it was days before electricity, network connectivity, and access to those data centers was restored. Some businesses never recovered from that outage; they simply lost too much money and too much business; others survived, but lost a lot of money during the outage. The Importance of a Disaster Recovery Plan for Unexpected OutagesYou can’t anticipate a Super Storm Sandy, but you can develop a disaster recovery (DR) plan designed to ensure that you have access to your data and critical applications even when disaster unexpectedly strikes. This article published in Cloud Data Insights by Dave Bermingham of SIOS looks at how to build a DR solution using cloud infrastructure in a region that is geographically distant from the one in which day-to-day operations are running. It also looks at methods of replicating data to the remote infrastructure and practical matters related to the implementation and testing of a DR plan. After all, a DR plan not only needs to work on paper; it also needs to work in practice, and only by testing the DR plan will teams know what to do to ensure that the organization can continue to access its data and critical applications in the face of a disaster. Contact SIOS today for a demo and find out how our solutions can help you build a resilient disaster recovery plan that keeps your business running smoothly, even in the face of unexpected disruptions. Author: Beth Winkowski, SIOS Public Relations Reproduced with permission from SIOS |
June 8, 2025 |
The Best Rolling Upgrade Strategy to Enhance Business ContinuityThe Best Rolling Upgrade Strategy to Enhance Business ContinuityWhen it comes to maintaining uptime, few things matter more than how you handle upgrades. For many IT pros, the traditional approach—taking systems offline, upgrading everything at once, and praying for the best—is a recipe for late nights and unexpected calls. That’s where rolling upgrades come in. A rolling upgrade strategy allows you to upgrade your systems incrementally, node by node or component by component, without bringing the entire environment down. It’s a powerful way to maintain business continuity during maintenance windows and system updates. In this blog post, we’ll break down what a rolling upgrade strategy is, why it’s critical for high availability, and how to do it right. Understanding Rolling UpgradesA rolling upgrade is the process of updating systems or applications in a phased, sequential manner rather than all at once. This allows different parts of your environment to continue running while others are being updated. Key components of a rolling update strategy:
Rolling upgrades are especially critical in high-availability environments where downtime is not an option. By carefully planning and executing these upgrades, you can keep systems online and ensure customer satisfaction. The Importance of a Rolling Upgrade Strategy for Business ContinuityWhy should you care about rolling upgrades? Simple: they minimize disruption and maximize uptime.
With a sound rolling upgrade strategy, you don’t just upgrade your system—you upgrade your resilience. Challenges in Implementing Rolling UpgradesRolling upgrades offer plenty of benefits, but they’re not without challenges. Implementing them successfully takes planning, coordination, and discipline.
Avoiding these pitfalls begins with knowing what to expect—and having a plan to address them. Best Practices for a Successful Rolling Upgrade StrategyHere’s how to get it right:
A successful rolling upgrade strategy isn’t just technical—it’s organizational. Everyone needs to be on the same page, from engineers to execs. Implementing Your Rolling Upgrade StrategySo, how do you start?
Example: A retail chain upgraded its POS infrastructure across hundreds of stores using a rolling strategy. By upgrading five stores per night and verifying success before proceeding, they avoided widespread outages and maintained 24/7 operation. Benefits of the Best Rolling Upgrade StrategyWhen done right, rolling upgrades do more than just keep the lights on.
Rolling upgrades aren’t just about survival—they’re about thriving in a world where uptime is non-negotiable. Rolling Upgrade Strategy and SolutionsTo wrap things up:
At SIOS, we understand the value of uptime. Our high availability solutions support rolling upgrades across Windows and Linux environments, helping you keep your critical applications online, even during updates. Whether you’re running SQL Server, SAP, or custom applications, SIOS provides the tools to execute a smart, seamless rolling upgrade strategy. Is your upgrade strategy up to the challenge? If not, maybe it’s time to roll with a better plan. Request a demo today! Author: Dave Bermingham, Senior Technical Evangelist at SIOS Reproduced with permission from SIOS |
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