Mention of patch releases prompts me to vent spleen about the following...
If you exercise NOW to fetch ONTAP 7.1.2 you end up at
http://now.netapp.com/NOW/download/software/ontap/7.1.2/download.shtml
which looks fine until you realise there's no reference to checksums for the files you are about to download. Mystified, I tried 7.1.2P1 instead, which ends one at
http://now.netapp.com/NOW/download/software/ontap/7.1.2P1/download.cgi
which has the expected link to a checksum page. So although I didn't need any of the fixes in the P1 version, I decide to use that instead.
Later, it occurred to me to look at
http://now.netapp.com/NOW/download/software/ontap/7.1.2/download.cgi
which does have a link to the checksums for the 7.1.2 files. But by then, it was too late ...
[In case you are wondering, I am not avoiding 7.2.x because of the problems described by various toaster-posters, but because I am stuck with an F800 series filer.]