Automox vs. Perforce Puppet

Every organization would work better with Automox on board. It not only approaches patch management as a whole, but also ensures that our third-party applications are secure against all vulnerabilities. It ensures that we keep track of all software and hardware in our OS. As a health tech company, we cannot overemphasize the need for Cybersecurity compliance.

Incentivized

Most of the major issues that people had with the language have been addressed in Puppet 4 which primarily pertain to the limitations of the language and its ability to scale. It would be nice to allow for full ruby support as an unsupported option though so developers are able to reference their own data sources dynamically.

Incentivized

• Shows applications installed on a specific asset
• Able to push policies and updates remotely , creating policies is easy.
• Keep track of compliant devices and when is the last time they have connected to the servers
• All the great information provided within one single device

Incentivized

• Provides a reliable mechanism for deploying infrastructure-as-code, especially when integrated with source control (such as Git).
• Manages system configuration drift to provide greater stability and system up-time; the same configuration-as-code can be pushed out over and over.
• A strong asset when moving teams towards DevOps by providing development a way to take control of their own assets.

Incentivized

• There exists an issue where you register some Amazon AMIs, which in even samples of 4 or 5, sometimes contain a duplicate identifier. Automox has provided a fix document, but it requires manual intervention and digging to discover this. I think they should identify a better way to assign UUIDs to machines, as sometimes registering too many VMs makes others "fall off"
• Allow for multiple global admins

Incentivized

• Steep learning curve for first time users.
• The complexity can get a little overwhelming in a more collaborative deployment methodology across multiple platforms and data centers.
• Some external changes to Puppet like the new Puppet 4 architecture can cause considerable time consuming migration efforts especially if you have a lot of legacy classes and configuration that do not conform readily to the new design.

Incentivized

This is a software that just works. Once configured its a set and forget kind of tool that keeps things up to date and alerts me if something is wrong. I was able to work through an expansion project to deploy an additional 500 devices in almost no time and create a robust self-patching environment.

Incentivized

It's great at what it does. We're able to veiw endpoints that are online in real time, and run scans on them to ensure they're still compliant. The software itself is very easy to use and set up on end points, with the main admin portal having a clean and very easy to understand set up

Incentivized

I did not need to reach out to support often but when I did the answers were relatively correct and they were answered quickly. The only thing I might "ding" their support on was their lack of understanding of OS's different from Windows and especially Linux. Other than that I was satisfied

Incentivized

Puppet has top class support. You can simply mail them with their query and they will respond to your query in a timely manner. We do have enterprise license for puppet. Also there is a vibrant community for puppet out there. So even if you dont purchase a premium support option you can simply google your queries and get answers

Incentivized

Implementing Automox successfully starts with a clear strategy for organizing and grouping devices based on operating systems, environments, or business criticality. This ensures that patching and configuration policies can be applied with precision. A phased rollout approach is essential—beginning with a pilot group allows teams to test patching schedules, reboot behaviors, and custom Worklets before scaling across the organization. Leveraging Worklets from the start can significantly boost automation by enforcing security baselines and performing routine system tasks. Integration with existing SOC tools, such as SIEMs, enhances visibility and response time by correlating patch compliance with threat intelligence. Additionally, aligning patching schedules with operational downtimes minimizes disruptions, and consistent monitoring and reporting helps maintain compliance and prepare for audits. Overall, Automox offers a streamlined and effective solution, but its true value is unlocked through thoughtful planning, testing, and integration with existing IT and security workflows.

Incentivized

I have used Tenable Patch Management, but the reason I did not go with it is because it uses on prem servers that we have to host instead of using Agent and cloud platform like Automox. I feel like that is dated as most solutions are now changing into the cloud solutions. Tenable system is also very hard to navigate and complex policy which makes it hard to get anything done.

Incentivized

Puppet was selected before I joined the team, had it been my choice I would have much rather went with Chef as it has the ability to do things that Puppet has not yet added to their system such a the ability to quickly query what host currently are allowing puppet to maintain their files or the ability to run remote commands without having to include it in a manifest like Chef does with the knife command. Salt allows you to do similar things to the knife command that is included with Chef, and also allows you to transfer files quickly to multiple host at once with a short simple command.

Incentivized

• We wanted to like the remote support software, but the experience was poor compared to a solution like BeyondTrust.
• Development and deployment of worklets is fast for experienced coders.
• Policy execution and reporting is fast and reliable.
• The new analytics dashboard excels at reporting Mean Time to Remediation for executive reporting purposes.

Incentivized

• With all the DevOps and automation that we have going on, we save a ton of time on the configuration of the server. It's safe to say that configuring servers via console or via UI is a thing of the past.
• We try to get all the things done by using a centralized repo (GitHub). Puppet is one tool that actually gets the actual work done.
• The small amount that we spent on purchasing premium Puppet is completely justified because of the time and effort that this tool actually helps us save.

Incentivized