IMPORTANT: We troubleshoot and investigate issues for supported product versions, regardless of the current update level. Be aware, part of the troubleshooting and resolution process might involve applying the most current product update.
If the resolution requires us to create a hotfix, the hotfix is based on the code for the most recent product update and requires you to apply the update.
Product Release Cycle
Security moves fast and we want our customers to be protected, and constant updating is costly. We've moved to a predictable, regular cadence—the second Tuesday of the month—so you can plan and prepare for updates to keep your environments protected. The monthly cadence doesn't mean that every product has a release every month. It means that when a product releases, it's generally on the second Tuesday of the month.
NOTE: Sometimes, we might choose to release a product on a day other than the second Tuesday of the month. Examples include coverage for a critical incident or vulnerability that's important to customers.
The monthly cadence reduces the number of independent updates and provides more coordination of product interoperability. Release types include the following:
- Major and minor releases – Major and minor releases include a combination of fixes, new features, and architectural changes.
- Updates – An update is a rollup of fixes needed by most of the customer base. Updates aren't used to introduce changes such as new features, architecture changes, or schema changes. Updates are released on our standard monthly cadence. This schedule doesn't mean that each product releases an update every month. The product teams decide how frequently they release updates. Updates are also used to provide operating system support, for example, zero-day support for a Microsoft Windows 10 Update release. In this case, the update might be released outside of the second Tuesday cadence to provide zero-day support.
- Hotfixes – Hotfixes are used for urgent fixes for a targeted set of customers. Hotfixes are sometimes publicly available before the normal release cadence. These releases only apply when the hotfix contains a fix for a critical issue or vulnerability that might impact multiple customers.
NOTE: As of 2020, Endpoint Security (ENS) only provides .MSI packages for standard major, minor, and update releases.
1 We made this decision based on customer feedback regarding the need to reduce complexity and required deployment effort.
This single package type performs the following:
- Install ENS on new systems
- Upgrade existing installations of ENS
1 This decision doesn't apply to the current ENS hotfix delivery and format, which remains unchanged.
Ratings for Hotfixes and Patches
Some products might have a rating applied to their hotfixes or patches. Listed below are the guidelines for those ratings:
| Mandatory |
- Required for all environments
- Failure to apply mandatory updates might result in a security breach
- Mandatory patches and hotfixes resolve vulnerabilities that might affect product functionality and compromise security. You must apply these updates to maintain a viable and supported product
|
| Critical |
- Critical for all environments
- Failure to apply a critical update might result in severe business impact
- A hotfix for a Severity 1 or Severity 2 issue can be considered critical
- A patch that resolves commonly reported kernel crashes, or other issues that might cause significant business impact, might be considered critical
|
| High Priority |
- High priority for all environments
- Failure to apply a High-Priority update might result in potential business impact
- Most patches and hotfixes are considered High Priority
|
| Recommended |
- Recommended for all environments. Apply this update at the earliest convenience.
- Not applicable to hotfixes, because a hotfix is only created in response to a business-impacting issue.
- A patch that resolves non-severe issues or improves product quality might be considered as recommended.
|
Support FAQs
Technical Support helps customers who have issues with any update level of the product. But, for any issue that requires a code change, only the latest update or next update receives that code change. Hotfixes are built only for the latest update, and only in response to high-severity cases where no viable workaround exists. Hotfix code will be included in the next update.
What can I expect from Technical Support?
Technical Support often advises customers to test issues against the current or latest update, if the reported incident occurs in an environment using an older update.
NOTE: It's best practice to run the latest update in your environment, because the latest update contains the latest fixes available for the product. Confirming that an issue exists with the latest update is also valuable to help understand the nature of an issue.
Why must I stay current?
Update releases solve business-impacting product issues reported from the field. They might also provide operating system support, and improve product security to combat malware and malicious users. Failure to update the product regularly increases risk to your environment.
We expect to follow Microsoft Windows release schedules to maintain support for newer operating system platforms. It's advisable to plan for, and test the adoption of, a new update when it becomes available. You can download updates from the following locations:
NOTE: If needed, you can obtain older updates from Technical Support.
Are system restarts needed?
We make every effort to minimize the number of reboots, but updating certain low-level drivers might require a reboot to fully deploy them.
Are monthly updates cumulative?
Yes.
Is there an upgrade path?
Specific upgrade information is provided in the product release notes.
