Windows Update Details - OS Test

Microsoft regularly releases various Windows updates to enhance and protect the Windows operating system. The Windows updates fix newly discovered security holes and bugs, add malware definitions to Windows Defender and Security Essentials utilities, strengthen Office security and add new features/enhancements to the Windows operating system. By installing these updates regularly, you can keep the operating system highly secure, reliable and stable, and can maintain the performance of the operating system at peak. If the operating system is not updated regularly, the critical bugs and security errors may increase vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities can be exploited by the malware or hackers, thus exposing the operating system to malicious attacks and degrading the operating system's performance. To avoid such eventualities, you should regularly check whether the Windows operating system is up-to-date or not. This check can be easily done using the Windows Update Details - OS test.

This test continuously monitors the desktops and reports the current status of the Windows updates on the Windows operating system hosted by the desktops. Besides, this test indicates whether any update is pending for the operating system and whether the Windows system is rebooted or not. In the process, this test also reports the total number of updates to be installed for the operating system and the number of Windows updates of different types at regular intervals.

This test is disabled by default. To enable the test, go to the enable / disable tests page using the menu sequence : Agents -> Tests -> Enable/Disable, pick Physocal Desktop Group as the desired Component type, set Performance as the Test type, choose the test from the disabled tests list, and click on the < button to move the test to the ENABLED TESTS list. Finally, click the Update button.

Target of the test : An Amazon Cloud Desktop Group

Agent deploying the test : A remote agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for each desktop.

Configurable parameters for the test
Parameter Description

Test Period

How often should the test be executed.

Host

The nick name of the Amazon Cloud Desktop Group component for which this test is to be configured.

Port

Refers to the port at which the specified host listens to. By default, this is NULL.

Inside View Using

To obtain the 'inside view' of performance of the desktops - i.e., to measure the internal performance of the cloud-based virtual desktops - this test uses a light-weight eG VM Agent software deployed on each of the desktops. Accordingly, this parameter is by default set to eG VM Agent.

Report Powered OS

If this flag is set to Yes (which is the default setting), then the 'inside view' tests will report measures for even those desktops that do not have any users logged in currently. Such desktops will be identified by their name and not by the username_on_desktopname. On the other hand, if this flag is set to No, then this test will not report measures for those desktops to which no users are logged in currently.  

Report By User

This flag is set to Yes by default. The value of this flag cannot be changed. This implies that the cloud-based virtual desktops in environments will always be identified using the login name of the user. In other words, in cloud environments, this test will, by default, report measures for every username_on_desktopname.

 

Since this test runs for a 'Amazon Cloud Desktop Group' component, this flag is set to Yes, by default.

DD For Total Updates

In large environments where hundreds of desktops have been deployed, the frequent collection of detailed diagnosis information related to the update details of the desktops may increase the processing overheads of the eG agent, and may even choke the eG database. To avoid this, by default, the DD For Total Updates flag is set to No indicating that this test will not report the detailed diagnostics for the Total Updates Available measure. However, you can set this flag to Yes if you want to collect the detailed diagnostics of the Total Updates Available measure.

DD Frequency

Refers to the frequency with which detailed diagnosis measures are to be generated for this test. For instance, if you set to 1:1, it means that detailed measures will be generated every time this test runs, and also every time the test detects a problem.

Detailed Diagnosis

To make diagnosis more efficient and accurate, the eG suite embeds an optional detailed diagnostic capability. With this capability, the eG agents can be configured to run detailed, more elaborate tests as and when specific problems are detected. To enable the detailed diagnosis capability of this test for a particular server, choose the On option. To disable the capability, click on the Off option.

The option to selectively enable/disable the detailed diagnosis capability will be available only if the following conditions are fulfilled:

  • The eG manager license should allow the detailed diagnosis capability.

  • Both the normal and abnormal frequencies configured for the detailed diagnosis measures should not be 0.

Measurements made by the test
Measurement Description Measurement Unit Interpretation

Are pending updates available?

Indicates whether/not the updates are pending.

 

The values that this measure can report and the numeric values they indicate have been listed in the table below:

Measure Value Numeric Value
No 0
Yes 1

Note:

By default, this measure can report the Measure Values mentioned above while indicating whether/not the updates are available. However, the graph of this measure is indicated using the numeric equivalents.

Is a system reboot pending?

Indicates whether the Windows system is rebooted or not.

 

The values that this measure can report and the numeric values they indicate have been listed in the table below:

Measure Value Numeric Value
No 0
Yes 1

Note:

By default, this measure can report the Measure Values mentioned above while indicating whether the system is rebooted or not. However, the graph of this measure is indicated using the numeric equivalents.

Windows update service status

Indicates the current status of the Windows update service.

 

The values that this measure can report and the numeric values they indicate have been listed in the table below:

Measure Value Numeric Value
Unknown 0
Running 1
Start pending 2
Continue pending 3
Pause pending 4
Stop pending 5
Paused 6
Stopped 7

Note:

By default, this measure can report the Measure Values mentioned above while indicating the current status of Windows update service. However, the graph of this measure is indicated using the numeric equivalents.

Total updates available

Indicates the total number of Windows updates available for the operating system.

Number

The detailed diagnosis of this measure, if enabled, lists the Windows updates available for the system and the categories of the available updates.

Critical updates available

Indicates the number of critical updates available for the operating system.

Number

A critical update is a widely and frequently released update that deals with the specific, non-security related, critical bugs. If these bugs are not fixed quickly, they can cause serious performance degradation, interoperability malfunction or disturb application compatibility.

Important updates available

Indicates the number of important updates available for operating system.

Number

The important updates help fixing the vulnerabilities using which malware/hackers can exploit the system resources or steal data. This in tun may leave the confidentiality and integrity of the system defenseless and make the user data unavailable.

Moderate updates available

Indicates the number of moderate security updates available for the operating system.

Number

The moderate updates fix a vulnerability whose exploitation can be mitigated to a significant degree by default configuration, auditing, or difficulty of exploitation.

Low updates available

Indicates the number of low security updates available for the operating system.

Number

These updates fix the vulnerability whose exploitation is extremely difficult.

Optional updates available

Indicates the number of optional updates available for operating system.

Number

An optional update includes Feature Pack and standard Updates, and does not have a severity rating.