Patent ID: 8291093

Claim:
A method of operating a computer system having a first client, a second client, and a centralized repository of update data, the method comprising: a) at a first time, obtaining access for the first client to a managed network, the obtaining access comprising providing information to an access control component indicating that the first client is configured in accordance with a software update policy of the network; b) at a second time, obtaining access for the second client to the managed network, the obtaining access comprising providing information to an access control component indicating that the second client is configured in accordance with the software update policy of the network; c) receiving, at the first client, update data from the centralized repository and updating first software installed on the first client according to the update data; d) at a third time, after the first time and the second time and during an attempt to establish a connection between the first client and the second client to communicate selected data between the first client and the second client, i) receiving at the first client an update status from the second client, the update status identifying updates applied to second software installed on the second client; ii) ascertaining a relative update status between the first client and the second client, the ascertaining comprising comparing the update status of the second client to updates made to the first software to determine whether the first client has an updated version of a common software component; and iii) when the relative update status indicates that the second client is out of date relative to the first client, communicating update information from the first client to the second client, the update information comprising at least some of the update data received at the first client in the act c), the update information comprising at least one patch for executable software installed on the first client and the second client; e) after the at least one patch has been successfully installed on the second client in response to communicating the patch, or when the relative update status indicates that the second client is not out of date, establishing the connection between the first client and the second client and communicating the selected data; and f) when the relative update status indicates that the second client is out of date relative to the first client and when the at least one patch has not been successfully installed on the second client in response to communicating the at least one patch from the first client to the second client, refraining from establishing the connection between the first client and the second client and refraining from exchanging the selected data.