by Avi Miller and Ginny Henningsen
IT administrators face a tough challenge in provisioning systems and keeping them up to date with the latest patchesandoperating system updates. If errata are deemed critical from a security perspective, it's especially urgent to conduct testing and apply patches to reduce the risk of systems compromise or data exposure. As data centers expand and administrators are tasked to manage greater numbers of physical servers and virtual machines, it's clear that automation is a necessity for efficient and cost-effective systems management. 
Spacewalk is open source software that helps to automate Linux systems management, allowing administrators to control the system software lifecycle—from initial Linux installation through maintenance, software configuration, and upgrades.
Read more in this technical article.