Patch Release Timing for Red Hat and Microsoft

Both vendors have adopted a policy of releasing patches. Microsoft’s policy groups patches on a monthly cycle, whereas Red Hat bundles “errata” together when possible but often releases security patches as needed.

Specifically, Microsoft’s policy is to release patches on the first calendar Tuesday of every month; although Red Hat states that there is a grouped release of patches there is no indication of any static date or release cycle allowing system administrators to schedule patch management cycles.