Quick Guide - What are Rollups in CRM 2013

What is it

Rollups are updates to CRM 2013 which usually contain bugfixes, hotfixes and sometimes enhancements.  Here is a definition

RollupDefinition: An update rollup is a tested, cumulative set of hotfixes, security updates, critical updates, and updates that are packaged together for easy deployment. A rollup generally targets a specific area, such as security, or a component of a product, such as Internet Information Services (IIS).

Are they the same as service packs

Nope.  Service packs usually contain enhancements, rollups usually bugfixes.  To add to the confusion they can sometimes not both be installed

Check this article to understand how recently you could install a rollup if you had installed the latest service pack

http://niiranen.eu/crm/2014/07/update-rollups-service-packs-major-releases/

definition of a Service Pack

Definition: A service pack is a tested, cumulative set of all hotfixes, security updates, critical updates, and updates. Service packs may also contain additional fixes for problems that are found internally since the release of the product and a limited number of customer-requested design changes or features.

What can it do

Rollup's usually contain lots of bugfixes and sometimes they contain enhancements/performance improvements but mostly you won't notice any difference

Should I install it straight away

No, sometimes the rollups contain worse bugs than the bugs they are fixing.  That's an exaggeration but rollups do sometimes contain bugs, so it's best to wait a while and let other people find those bugs rather than your CRM users

What if I installed a rollup with a bug in
Tricky, you should be able to uninstall a rollup by going to 
control panel->programs

but some rollups cannot be rolled back once you install them!

Why do you need to know it

Rollup's can often contain fixes to bugs which might be affecting your users

Why is it important

Rollups contain fixes and can contains bugs/break your customization's

Why's it good for customers

potential fixes for only the cost of installing a rollup

Why should developers/consultants care

It's good for developers because rollups can contains fixes to the core CRM functionality.

Rollups can also break developers code, so you will need to do some regression tests on all the core functionality to test your fixes still work and Microsoft hasn't put in a bug

Rollups can sometimes contain fundamental code changes (CRM 2011 rollup 11 - core Javascript changes)

Limitations/Gotcha's

CRM Online automatically install rollups! You cannot stop them.

Some rollups can contain bugs or break your customizations

Some rollups cannot be uninstalled

Rollup best Practise

As a general rule, stay one rollup behind