New Application Patching Strategy for Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0 SP1

The process for developing, building, and releasing application hot fixes and updates will fundamentally change from Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0 SP1 onwards.

The hot fix layer files will be made cumulative in the sense that previous fixes will be included in the latest released hot fix or the next critical update. Due to this cumulative approach, released hot fixes are expected to be tested in conjunction with all supported updates and their fixes. In this way, we intend to reduce conflicts between fixes.

Another major difference between the patching strategy of Microsoft Dynamics AX 3.0 and 4.0 SP1 onwards, will be the type of hot fix deliverable. We expect to release cumulative hot fixes as an AOD file, which will be distributed out of the DIS layer inside Microsoft Dynamics AX. This should make it simpler to distinguish Microsoft code from code developed by a partner, as well as making it possible to use the inbuilt upgrade tools to upgrade a partner’s customization layer(s) in a similar manner to installing a service pack in Microsoft Dynamics AX 3.0. A major advantage of this new approach is that it will now be easier for Microsoft as well as partners to better determine the current hot fix status of any customer system.

We expect that all cumulative hot fixes will be rolled forward into the next critical update and major release, so that partners upgrading their customers to a new major release should only need to delete the entire DIS layer to help ensure a smoother upgrade path.


Source: Partnersource