Is there a patch buffer window?

Yes, there is a buffer of 30 minutes before the end of the maintenance window. This buffer helps ensure there won't be any workflow activities outside of the maintenance window.

Thus, our minimum recommendation for a maintenance window is two hours.  If you are patching a lot of machines at once in the same maintenance window (eg: 500), then we recommend you increase the max-allowed-concurrent-operations.  More information can be found here: https://kc.jetpatch.com/hc/en-us/articles/360024120271-Advanced-Configuration

If the endpoint is inside the Patch buffer window - workflows won't start to execute on the endpoint.

If a workflow is in progress while the patch buffer window starts - JetPatch will try to complete the Workflow without the patching activities if they didn't execute yet:

Pre-Patching Tasks - In case the Pre-Patching tasks are still being executed while the patch buffer windows start, the Pre-Patching tasks will complete but JetPatch won't continue to the patching operations. However, the Post-Patching tasks can be executed based on the configuration.

Example:

JetPatch executes a Remediation Plan on an endpoint with the following details:

• Maintenance Windows is between 02:00 AM - 04:00 AM
• Workflow:
  • Pre-Patch task = Stop firewall
  • Post-Patch task = Start firewall
• Post Patching configuration is to run always 
• Buffer Window is configured for the last 30 minutes of the Maintenance Window (03:30 - 04:00 AM)

Scenario 1: Pre-Patch Started at 03:29AM (before buffer window has started) and ended at 03:49 AM (during buffer window) 

Scenario 2: Pre-Patch Started at 03:29AM (before buffer window has started) and ended at 04:05 AM (after maintenance window has ended)

Results (for both scenarios) ---> 

1. JetPatch Completed the Pre-Task (Stop Firewall)

2. JetPatch did not execute the patch activities on the endpoint

3. JetPatch executed Post-Task (Start Firewall)

Notes - In the above scenarios, JetPatch will execute all the Pre/Post tasks if there is more than one.

Patching Tasks - In case the Patching tasks are still being executed while the patch buffer windows start, it will continue till the end of the Maintenance Schedule.

If a patching task starts to execute on an endpoint before the buffer window starts, the patching task will be terminated if the Maintenance Schedule ended (the buffer window was finished) and the patch operation is still in progress. JetPatch will execute post-patching tasks based on the patching results and the configuration.

Post-Patching Tasks - In general, post-patching tasks will run if:

1. JetPatch had at least one successful patch operation as part of the remediation plan.
2. If there is no successful patch operation, but it is configured to always run post-patching tasks (see configuration)

Hence, JetPatch ignores the maintenance window and the buffer window for post-patching tasks.