r/sysadmin • u/CurrentFig3376 • 4h ago

General Discussion Interview Question: How often do you update/patch your system?

I was asked this question during an interview and I said "it depends on what exactly you're updating, but I update as often as it's needed."

I don't think this was the answer they were looking for, but how would you answer this question?

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u/burdalane 1h ago

I think your answer was too vague. How do you define "as needed"? Are there policies, and what's the reasoning behind them? How do you handle testing and urgent security patches?

I suppose I would have trouble answering this question myself. When I do patch, I do it on non-primary systems first and then on the other systems when they become non-primary because this is the way my systems work -- some are operationally primary some of the time. Others require scheduling beforehand to handle reboots. I don't have a patch schedule or maintenance window.