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.
