[cisco-voip] Patch Management

[Eric Jones]

Hi All,

I am part of a team charged with putting together a patch management
solution for our VoIP environment [which is quasi-isolated from other
environments].  We are considering evaluating Microsoft SMS,
UpdateExpert, and possibly Opsware.  We're targeting OS and
application patching though we may expand the scope after this 1st
phase.

I'm getting mixed and somewhat inconsistent information with regard to
deploying Cisco's patches using a 3rd party tool.  In particular we
are concerned about CCM and Unity.  We expect some pushback or "no
touch" from Cisco, but I would be very interested in hearing about
anyone's experiences with patching their VoIP environment.  I know
every application has its issues, sometimes neccessitating manual
intervention, but has anyone experienced a solution that was
*properly* implmented that out-right *broke* any of Cisco's VoIP
applications?

Beyond that, has anyone has particularly distinctive success in
managing patches/updates in their VoIP infrastructure?

TIA,

-Eric C. Jones