IBM Platform products and components may be separately versioned. For example, LSF and the IBM Platform Application Center are delivered as separate distributions and patched separately.
Product version is a number identifying the release, such as LSF version 7.0.6. The final digit changes whenever you patch the cluster with a new update release.
In addition to the product version, build date, build number, and binary type are used to identify the distributions. Build number helps identify related distributions for different binary types and is important when rolling back the cluster.
Patching the cluster is optional and clusters with the same product version may have different patches installed, so a complete description of the cluster includes information about the patches installed.
Like installation, patching the cluster sometimes requires you to download packages for each binary type.
Upgrades, patches, and hot fixes are used to update the software in an existing cluster.
Product upgrades deliver a new version of the software with valuable new features.
Patches deliver small changes and bug fixes that may result in a minor version change.
Hot fixes deliver temporary solutions for emergency problems.
This document describes installing and removing patches. Patches include fixes, fix packs, and update releases.
Update releases—are full distributions available to all customers at regular intervals and include all fixes that are intended for general use. Your cluster should always use the latest update release. The same package can be used to patch a cluster or create a new cluster. Each update has a different version number (for example, LSF7 Update 6 is 7.0.6).
Fixes—are partial distributions delivered as needed to resolve customer issues (identified by a specific fix number). Platform Support will advise you if you need install any fixes in your cluster. Installing or removing this type of patch does not change the version of the cluster.
Fix packs (FP)—contain two or more related fixes in one distribution for your convenience.