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General Patch/Update Questions
https://3parug.net/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=2958		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  geddy01 [ Fri Aug 17, 2018 10:39 am ]
Post subject:  General Patch/Update Questions
Hi All,

I've got a couple of general questions that I can't seem to find definitive answers to.

-Is it a requirement that the SP always be upgraded BEFORE the array?
-As for patches and updates - I'm a little fuzzy on the whole P patch, MU, EMU thing. I get that patches should be applied as they're released, but is it necessarily the case that if you're behind on patching, applying a maintenance update will cover you for previous patches? As in, the maintenance updates are a roll-up of all necessary patches prior to the MU, such that you don't need to apply the individual patches prior to that MU.

Somehow, for some reason, I have a feeling the answers to both of these questions is, "It depends...." :?
Author:  ailean [ Fri Aug 17, 2018 11:01 am ]
Post subject:  Re: General Patch/Update Questions
Indeed, it depends. ;)

SP update first if the patches to be installed require a newer version of the SP to work (i.e. SP versions normally backwards compatible so okay to do first, exception being the 4->5 update to support 3.3.1).
MU updates include P patches since the last MU plus addition features/fixes.
EMU updates include the MU updates plus critical P patches released since the MU that can typically cause issues during updating (basicly a more stable MU but nothing new to warrent a version increase, if already on that MU you can just add the P patches).

Sometimes there will be a minimum MU+P level required before installing a new MU, the extra P patches might fix Node reboot issues that have the potential to happen while the MU install is rebooting Nodes.

On top of that are the version updates (3.2.2 -> 3.3.1 etc), typically you can go direct to the latest MU but again might be a minimum MU+P version for stability of the update process.

These are all online options with single Node reboots, sometimes HPE have more flexibilty if you are able to take the array offline to do the work.
Author:  MammaGutt [ Fri Aug 17, 2018 1:34 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: General Patch/Update Questions
I somewhat disagree.

SP, yes. Pre SP5; they are backwards compatible so always upgrade SP first. But upgrade to a version that supports the version you are upgrading to. Example, SP 4.4 MU7 doesn’t support 3.2.2 MU3 for anything other than upgrade purposes if you for some reason would want to upgrade to that version.

SP5.0, every version supports every 3.3.1 MU.

Patches all depends. 3.3.1 MU2 and 3.2.2 MU6 are the latest MUs, but there are multiple patches for 3.3.1 MU1 and 3.2.2 MU4 which isn’t included in those MUs as patches are generally backported to all active versions as long as it is technically possible. So if you are at 3.2.2 MU4 with all patches, simply applying MU6 doesn’t include all the fixes you already had. Think of MUs as something between Service Packs and «R2» releases for Windows. Not all Windows 2012 patches are included in SP1 and for R2 there are also different hotfixes.

My recommendation is to ask the 3PAR SPS team. They have the latest info on what you should do and is free of charge as long as the system is under warranty/support (which is a requirement to access the downloads).

Also, adding to the «it depends»... some patches are highly recommended/mandatory patches prior to MU upgrades. So it is not uncommon that an MU upgrade is
1. Pre-req patches on current MU
2. MU upgrade itself
3. Post-upgrade patches
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