Create Patch and Upgrade Plan

Create Patching and Upgrade Plan

60East releases ongoing hotfixes for supported versions of AMPS. 60East recommends that every AMPS deployment create a regular schedule for updating the version of AMPS in development, test, and production environments.

Hotfix releases are designed to address a single issue (although, of course, a single issue may present multiple different symptoms). A hotfix release typically involves simply deploying the updated AMPS distribution and restarting the server.

Every hotfix is a cumulative rollup. All hotfixes pass the release certification process, and all hotfixes produced are released as soon as they pass certification. This means that an installation of AMPS can treat any hotfix release as a cumulative upgrade, and that any hotfix release will also contain every previously-released fix. An installation can get the latest fixes at any point in time, without needing to raise a support case.

60East recommends that production deployments develop two processes for qualifying and deploying upgrades:

• Planned patch/upgrade - This process is followed for periodic updates and evaluates new releases of AMPS on an ongoing basis, with the intent of having qualified releases roll into production every few weeks or months. Most often, organizations will have patch or upgrade releases continually under evaluation in their development and test environments for regular deployment to production.

• Accelerated patch/upgrade - This process streamlines updates in the event that an issue affects a production deployment of AMPS. This is often an accelerated set of tests that provides a high level of confidence for a given fix in a shorter time than a full qualification cycle.

Regardless of the process you settle on, 60East recommends that you evaluate and deploy patched versions on a regular basis. Since every patch released by 60East is cumulative for a given version, there is no need to wait for "rollup" or "service pack" releases, which means that an installation can upgrade at any time.

60East typically recommends that critical applications upgrade on a monthly or quarterly cadence for planned upgrade. Less critical applications may be patched less frequently, but should still be updated at least every six months.

Once you set a cadence for planned upgrade, scheduling testing and upgrade at that interval. Since any hotfix release can be considered a "quarterly rollup" or "cumulative update", when the planned patch window arrives, pick the most current hotfix to test, certify, and deploy.