Keeping current with patches and versions

In the last two weeks we have had a number of issues that could have been elimiated by staying current with the latest MS patches and the latest Software versions. We manage hundreds of servers and use a utility to do so (not sms), however managing this process can be overwhelming. Multiple versions of MS Server (2000, 2003), multiple functions and different software installs on each, even with a standard build, however, once we start laying down applications we loose track of which version and MS patch is installed on each server.

Next take that 3 to 4 MS patches delivered a week and you can understand our management nightmare. We rely strickly on critical patches, however recently, a non-critical but recommended patch caused multiple problems when it was not applied to all of the appropriate servers.

Then you have Service Packs. We started applying Windows Server SP1 to selected servers and ran into a problem on two servers. Patch Management is becoming a Full Time Job.