Mass update deployment strategy

[mario <ml@bortal.de>]

Hello List,

i am responsible for 10 (ubuntu and debian) installations so far.
I have installed apticron which informs me about updates frequently. 
Actually, its that often that i sometimes need to invest 1h a day just
doing updates.

Do you have a strategy or anything to automate this task a little more?
The server farm is growing and i might have to look after 20 or 30
installations soon. I can already see myself updating ubuntu/debian
installations all day long :(.

My installations are most of the time small firewalls and samba servers.

Any comments or field reports about this?

Thanks, Mario