08-09-2011 01:04 PM
After looking at the SORT site more closely, in the Windows section, it appears that the Service Packs for SFW/SFWHA are getting posted on the SORT site, but they're being placed in the "P" (Patch) column under the Windows section, instead of the "SP" column. Would it be possible to create the SP column links under Windows, and place the Service Packs in the SP column, to be consistent with the other platforms on the SORT site, and to avoid confusion?
-John
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08-17-2011 08:25 AM
OK, we've done 3 & 4 on the SORT site, i.e., we've changed the "P" column for SFHA Windows (and SF, and VCS) to P / CP, which should help users trying to find a CP. We've also added a definition of a CP to the help. 1 & 2 will take a bit more work, we'll continue.
08-09-2011 01:22 PM
Hi John,
I'm not sure exactly why service packs are not available on Sort for the windows platform. I can bring this up to our Support Planner and they can take it under advisement.
As for the P (P-Patch) entry, the items listed there are Cumulative Patches (CP) that are for post SP2 issues. CPs are different than Service Packs. CPs will require the latest service pack to install. CP's are currently scheduled to be released every 30 days (release timing/frequency of CPs may change) for the current shipping service pack for the windows product.
Thanks,
Wally
08-09-2011 02:43 PM
Thanks, Wally. It would be helpful to customers to see consistency, across all platforms, on the SORT patch website.
Another minor item that would be helpful....consistency in the naming of files, that are posted on the SORT patch website.
A patch name that is written like this.......sfha-rhel5_x86_64-5.1SP1RP1 indicates to the customer that the patch is an RP1 patch that is applied on top of the 5.1 SP1 product. The Windows CP patches are named differently......vcs-CP2_SFWHA_51SP2.
It would be helpful if the Windows patch names followed the same naming format......5.1SP2CP2
-John
08-10-2011 06:02 AM
Hi John,
I agree that there should be more consistency between products and platforms using SORT.
I've got more answers for you. Service Packs for SFW/SFW-HA/VCS are different for Windows than other platform in that they contain the complete product and the entire product can be installed via a Service Pack on Windows. As such, full product installs are only available via FileConnect and the Trialware site. This will not be changing anytime soon for the Windows product that I'm aware of.
As for the naming of the patches and CPs, all of the information is there just like it is for other platforms. It is just in a slightly different order. In your example, vcs-CP2_SFWHA_51SP2, this is the VCS version of CP2 that applies on top of 5.1 SP2. At this point (since two CPs have already been released), I don't see the developers changing the names of the CP releases on the Windows product line.
Thanks,
Wally
08-10-2011 09:38 AM
Hi John,
You bring up several excellent points. I'd distill them thus:
1. Post Windows SPs to SORT, just like UNIX does*
2. Start naming Windows patches using the same order and nomenclature as the rest of the product line.**
3. SORT patch matrix should display P / CP for Windows instead of just P
4. SORT help should add a description of what CPs are.
Do those cover it?
*technically, we wouldn’t post the actual SP files themselves (we don’t post UNIX SPs either). Instead, we post a description page and a link to FileConnect. This is for the compliance reasons outlined by Wally earlier.
** As Wally noted, this probably would not occur until the next major/minor release in order to avoid switching horses in mid-stream.
Regards,
Scott Kaiser
Senior Director, SORT
08-10-2011 12:00 PM
Hi Scott,
Thanks for looking into this matter. Yes, your list pretty well covers it. Consistency across all platforms, for patching, would make life much better for the Client SAs, and for all the SFHA consultants and SEs.
Much appreciated.
-John
08-17-2011 08:25 AM
OK, we've done 3 & 4 on the SORT site, i.e., we've changed the "P" column for SFHA Windows (and SF, and VCS) to P / CP, which should help users trying to find a CP. We've also added a definition of a CP to the help. 1 & 2 will take a bit more work, we'll continue.
09-06-2011 08:40 AM
Hi John,
We've now done 1 as well, that is post Windows SPs just as we do UNIX SPs. Again, technically, we didn’t post the actual SP files themselves. Instead, we posted a description page and a link to FileConnect. This is for the compliance reasons outlined by Wally earlier.
We continue to pursue item 2 internally. It will likely not occur until a future release to preserve name coherency within a branch.
09-12-2011 09:37 AM
Hi John,
With respect to Point 2, we now plan to use the P-Patch nomenclature used by UNIX for Windows as well. We don't want to change horses in mid-stream, so we plan to make the change starting with patches on the 6.0 release, which is in the future.
Scott
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