Smart Console global install policy vs target install

[4d10s]

What is the different between global install policy vs individual policy install in Smart Console? Let's say I've worked on several policy targets and I can click the "install policy" at top most of console and it will install all policy target changes instead I go to each policy target and click "install policy"? 

[PhoneBoy]

In short, there is no “install every change I’ve made to every gateway across every policy package” button. 

Policy Install will only install the currently active policy package to one or more targets.
If you’ve changed multiple policy packages, they will have to be installed individually.
Likewise, if you’ve made changes to a shared layer used in multiple policy packages, you will have to install the policy package(s) that contain them individually.
You can only have one Policy Install action going at a time (five are permitted in R81).

[Timothy_Hall · Accepted solution]

I read his question more as what the difference is between the two "Install Policy" buttons in the SmartConsole as shown here:

For purposes of discussion I'll refer to the leftmost one as the "Global" Install Policy button and the one on the right as the "Local" Install Policy button.

The Global button is available no matter what tab is currently selected (Gateways & Servers, Security Policies, etc.) whereas the Local one is only visible if the Security Policies tab is selected.  When the Local button is pushed, it will automatically select whichever policy package is currently being viewed as the one to be installed on the confirmation screen and you aren't allowed to change it.  In our example screenshot that is Corporate_Policy:

However if you click the Global button, the confirmation screen will require you to select the policy package you wish to install if you have more than one present in the configuration, and there is no default selected:

So assuming you just made some changes to the policy package currently being viewed in SmartConsole, you'll normally want to push the Local button as it will auto-select the currently-displayed policy package.  Clicking the Global button will require some extra clicks to select the policy package you want.

However note that when pushing the Global button and after selecting the policy package to install, by default both the Access Control and Threat Prevention checkboxes will be set:

However if you push the Local button, which checkbox is set by default will depend on whether you are currently viewing the Access Control policy or the Threat Prevention policy.  I've seen this effect cause confusion in CCSA class labs when only one type of policy was actually installed to the gateway instead of both:

So as long as you are aware of this limitation and double-check the checkboxes, I'd recommend using the Local Install Policy button.