Patch Integration - Implementation

Prerequisites

Other prerequisites

It is necessary to have previously installed the patch file(s) in a server directory. If several patches must be simultaneously installed, it is necessary to ensure that there are only patch files to be integrated in the directory (because in this case, the directory name will be given as a setup).

It is advisable (even if it is not mandatory) to connect to the supervisor folder (which is named, according to the package, X3, PAYE, GX...) in order to install the patches. In effect, carrying out all folder management or maintenance in the reference folder is a good principle.

Before installing the patches, it is also necessary to ensure that:

• The accounting tasks in all folders are stopped, as well as all other batch tasks.
• The batch server is inactive (as a measure of security in case a batch case is pending). This advice only applies if the patches are not integrated in batch mode!
• The integration of patches is performed in a mono-user environment and from the supervisor folder (this control is provided when installation of the patches is by batch).

The standard installation of a patch is applied as a minimum to the supervisor folder, and generally to all the folders found in the environment concerned. In effect, if a folder is not at the correct patch level, there is a risk of incorrect functioning, because a process present uniquely in the supervisor folder can be applied to a data structure modified in the same patch. Where a supervisor folder process will be automatically inherited by all the other folders, and the data structure to which it is applied has not been installed in the folder in question, an incoherence can arise. In this case, if the supervisor folder is not part of the list of folders, the processes are not patched.

There are particular case:

• If a folder is of the type Test (this flag is defined in the folder management setups), the processes are integrated to the folder itself. In this way, if it is necessary to carry out a patch functionality test (for example in a folder integrating many customizations) without upsetting the live environment, it is possible to only apply the patch to this folder: the processes and the dictionary will be patched, so a complete test can be carried out. Warning, the fact of installing the standard process in a folder lead to this folder becoming specific/custom: the uniform application of another patch on all the folders including this one risks the possibility that it will not operate in the test folder (because the processes existing in the test folder are not inherited from the supervisor folder).
• if a patch contains custom/specific processings (starting with X,  Y, or Z, or by SPE, or SPV, or if complying with the model CNS???SPE), these processings will not be installed in the folder except if they exist already; otherwise they will be installed in the folder(s) of type  Specific (this flag is defined in the folder management setups). This is valid for a standard, specific or vertical patch (this difference is used only to manage correctly the specific and vertical actions in the screens).
• if it is a patch is a Supervisor patch, it integrated only in the supervisor folder. It is namely the case of some patches that contain updates of the standard documentation, or of default parameter sets.

If an update of all folders is carried out (this is the most common case), the folder that will have an inferior patch level to that of the supervisor folder must be revalidated in order to be appropriate for the environment.

Tables used

The following tables are implemented by the function :

Table	Table description
APATCH [APT]	Patch tracking

Even if only a single table is identified in the implementation tables, it should be noted that the installation of the patches is likely to update all the tables in the database and notably:

• the tables in the dictionary (those that store the meta-data associated with the software package, such as the screens, windows, actions...).
• the table structure (if a new table description has been sent).
• the setup data (potentially for any table).

Within the framework of the delivery of a standard patch list, it is advisable to read the accompanying files: they describe the contents of the list.

It is important to identify that certain fields in the dictionary tables are not updated during the patch integration, because they are considered as relevant to the setup. More detail is found in annex documentation.