The TestStand Deployment Utility does not support creating independent patch deployments that install side-by-side, as shown in the following figure.

NI does not support independent patch deployments for the following reasons:

  • Independent patch deployments contain only the items you define and do not automatically contain all the updates from previous deployments.
  • Installers for independent patch deployments do not include dependencies on other installers for patch deployments, which means that users can determine which independent patch deployments to install and the order in which to install them.
  • It can be difficult to maintain test system functionality when independent patch deployments share files with previous patch deployments because for each shared file, the independent patch deployment must include all the changes made in previous patch deployments to ensure that the test station continues to operate correctly.
  • Using independent patch deployments can create significant testing burdens because for each independent patch deployment, you must test each permutation of installation order.

NI recommends creating dependency patch deployments to enforce installation order, which can also reduce testing requirements.