I want to be able to push software updates to remote clients; approximately 100 machines

[G+_Rusty Bryant]

I want to be able to push software updates to remote clients; approximately 100 machines. The Navy does this on the NMCI network to push updates to 1000's of machines. So I know it's possible, but what would I use to do it on a smaller scale? Thanks.

[G+_Golden Retriever]

This is not my area of expertise, but most large chain POS registers don't even have a HDD they load the OS & peripheral drivers, directly into RAM using IPX boot protocol, you put the machine name in the bios so the server knows what machine it's loading and what peripherals it has, there are similar techniques for Windows machines I have used for drive imaging, if your updating machines rather than fully reloading them most IT departments use active directory.

[G+_Ben Reese]

I'm not a domain admin, but I believe this is done through a Windows Server Update Server.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Server_Update_Services

en.m.wikipedia.org - Windows Server Update Services - Wikipedia

[G+_Travis Hershberger]

I'd look at using salt or ansible. WSUS has gotten very unreliable lately.

[G+_Rajarajan Rajamani]

OP needs to clarify what type of system/OS he is using. For ansible the remote end has to be reachable (at that point of time when the ansible script is run). Dont know about that limitation with Salt. If you use Puppet, the update/upgrade will get done whenever the clients contact the server daemon the next time.

[G+_Travis Hershberger]

Rajarajan Rajamani salt is a state system, so a client pulls it's configuration each time it checks into the server. I normally use a 15 minute interval. If you want to really automate things, you have the server pull it's configs from a git repo and manage the git repo from whichever device you happen to be using at the moment.

[G+_Rajarajan Rajamani]

Travis Hershberger Then it seems that salt is similar to Puppet where the client talks to the server and runs its associated roles/profiles.

[G+_Rusty Bryant]

Basically I'd want to run a cached proxy/dns server so I'd control all internet access to include pushing windows and software updates. This would be a Windows OS system.

[G+_Travis Hershberger]

Rusty Bryant If you want to run this service from a Windows box, remember that proper licensing is Server + CALS. CALS are per device or per user, and you must have one for every user and device that accesses the DNS server. Basically, anything that communicates with the server requires a CAL. Just for the proper licensing from Microsoft, you're looking at $1200 for the server license and then $50 per CAL.

[G+_Joshua Saunders]

We update using power shell commands and remote copy/execute.

[G+_Eric Mallory]

Another option I have used in the past...fog... https://wiki.fogproject.org/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page for remote cloning, etc...

[G+_John Hillen]

puppet is a popular solution for this kind of scale