Version 9.7 of Octez has just been released. This version improves how the node handles pending consensus operations to remove costly computations in cases where they are not needed. This should improve the rate at which blocks are produced and propagated.
Full changelog and update instructions are available in the version 9 release page: Version 9.6 — Tezos (master branch, 2021/08/06 15:12) documentation
The Git tag for this release is v9.7 and the corresponding commit hash is 853629c2c4db0003b073cce0dddbfb69e73d3275. Branch latest-release now points to this new tag.
Note: the Docker images, static binaries and the release page are currently being published and should be available soon.
