As part of our ongoing efforts to deliver the latest platform and content updates to CCS customers, we will be moving to a single release methodology for content updates across all current versions of CCS. In the past, all new features have been separately added to 9.0, 10.0 and 10.5 Data Collection PCU (Product Content Update) packs to meet our customer needs. We will now maintain and deliver a single version of the Data Collection PCU to ensure 100% consistency, minimize testing cycles across multiple versions and to deliver more features per PCU. Starting in July 2011, with the 2011-3 PCU, a single Data Collection PCU will be released for 9.0.x, 10.0 and 10.5 versions which will be compatible with all supported versions of R&A.
The July 2011 PCU installation will update the Data Collection components to 10.5.1 and will deliver the following new features;
New Standards & Platforms
- Security Essentials for ESXi (4.x) with VCenter support
- CIS for IIS 7.0 (along with support for IIS 7.5)
New Regulatory Content Packs
- Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) Controls Matrix
- SAS 70 & SSAE 16 (replacement for SAS 70)
Stay tuned for the 2011-3 PCU release announcement during end of July 2011 for the full list of features and fixes!
Please see below for additional FAQs. If you have further questions or need additional info, please post a comment here or contact your account team.
FAQ
Why this change?
You may not be aware that we deliver the same platform support and security standards for all supported CCS versions (9.0.1, 10.0 and 10.5) in every PCU. Therefore, instead of having three different Data Collection PCU packages, we will now deliver a single package. Internally, this translates to significant engineering cost savings as we now need to maintain a single code base. In the past, we maintained three different code-bases which were updated separately for each new PCU feature. Since the code-bases were almost identical, there was unnecessary engineering effort spent on updating and testing each code-base. With the new model and the resultant savings in engineering bandwidth, we can now deliver more features per PCU.
What packages will be delivered in PCU 2011-3? And how is this different from the earlier model?
Please see image above. The 2011-3 PCU will deliver the following packages;
- Single DC update pack – “CCS DC 10.5.1 PCU 2011-3”
- Three R&A update packs – “CCS R&A 9.0.1 PCU 2011-3” , “CCS R&A 10.0 PCU 2011-3”, “CCS R&A 10.5.1 PCU 2011-3”
Previous PCUs (PCU 2011-2 & before) delivered six packages (for 9.0.1, 10.0, 10.5) – three R&A update packs and three DC updates packs (one per R&A version)
The new DC PCU package has a version of 10.5.1. So, for customers running 9.0.1 and 10.0, is this a major upgrade?
Even though the DC PCU package version is now 10.5.1, this is not a major upgrade as the DC functionality and code-base is common across 9.0.1, 10.0 and 10.5.1 (even though the DC packages were shipped separately for these versions earlier).
My environment has 9.0.1 installed. What are the steps to install PCU 2011-3 in this environment?
The “CCS R&A 9.0.1 PCU 2011-3” package should be installed on the 9.0.1 R&A server. The “CCS DC 10.5.1 PCU 2011-3” package should be installed on the DC.
10.5 and 10.5.1 versions have new features like SCAP. After installing this PCU, will 9.0.1 & 10.0 customers also get SCAP functionality?
The 2011-3 DC PCU will install the SCAP Data Collectors. However, 9.0.1 and 10.0 R&A servers do not support SCAP and therefore this functionality will not be exposed. The 2011-3 R&A PCU packages do not add SCAP functionality to 9.0.1 & 10.0 R&A servers.