Baselines
Use this guide to identify the baselines that define patch scope for a given operating system, environment, or release and serve as the primary input to patch jobs.
Types of Baselines
Examples include:
- Standard monthly baseline – all approved vendor updates for a given month.
- Security‑only baseline – only security patches above a certain severity.
- Platform‑specific baseline – focused on a particular OS or middleware stack.
You can maintain separate baselines for Dev, Stage, QA, and Prod if needed.
Inclusion and Exclusion Rules
Baselines can be customized to:
- Exclude packages known to cause issues in your environment.
- Defer certain updates until additional testing is complete.
- Include additional packages that are important for your specific workloads.
Document the reasoning behind non‑standard inclusions or exclusions internally so future operators understand why they exist.
See also: Exceptions