When it comes to maintaining uptime, few things matter more than how you handle upgrades. For many IT pros, the traditional approach—taking systems offline, upgrading everything at once, and praying for the best—is a recipe for late nights and unexpected calls. That’s where rolling upgrades come in.

A rolling upgrade strategy allows you to upgrade your systems incrementally, node by node or component by component, without bringing the entire environment down. It’s a powerful way to maintain business continuity during maintenance windows and system updates. In this blog post, we’ll break down what a rolling upgrade strategy is, why it’s critical for high availability, and how to do it right.

Understanding Rolling Upgrades

A rolling upgrade is the process of updating systems or applications in a phased, sequential manner rather than all at once. This allows different parts of your environment to continue running while others are being updated.

Key components of a rolling update strategy:

• Incremental Updates: Upgrade one node or service at a time, verifying each step before moving on.
• Phased Deployment: Roll out new features or patches in phases to isolate issues early.
• Rollback Capabilities: Be prepared to revert changes if something goes wrong, without affecting the whole system.

Rolling upgrades are especially critical in high-availability environments where downtime is not an option. By carefully planning and executing these upgrades, you can keep systems online and ensure customer satisfaction.

The Importance of a Rolling Upgrade Strategy for Business Continuity

Why should you care about rolling upgrades? Simple: they minimize disruption and maximize uptime.

• Minimizing Downtime: Your business doesn’t stop just because you’re pushing a patch. Rolling upgrades keep operations running.
• Enhanced System Reliability: Each phase of the upgrade includes validation, which helps identify and address problems before they escalate.
• Real-World Impact: For businesses in healthcare, finance, or retail, even a few minutes of downtime can lead to lost revenue and reputation damage.

With a sound rolling upgrade strategy, you don’t just upgrade your system—you upgrade your resilience.

Challenges in Implementing Rolling Upgrades

Rolling upgrades offer plenty of benefits, but they’re not without challenges. Implementing them successfully takes planning, coordination, and discipline.

• Precise Scheduling and Communication: Teams must be aligned to ensure the upgrade process doesn’t cause unexpected disruptions.
• Version Compatibility: Not all components play nicely together during staggered upgrades. Make sure your systems support running mixed versions during the transition.
• Resource Constraints: Staging environments, QA cycles, and rollback plans all require time and staff.

Avoiding these pitfalls begins with knowing what to expect—and having a plan to address them.

Best Practices for a Successful Rolling Upgrade Strategy

Here’s how to get it right:

1. Know Your System: Understand your architecture, application dependencies, and how each component interacts.
2. Use a Staging Environment: Rehearse the upgrade in a lab environment before deploying it to production. Identify failure points and refine rollback procedures.
3. Segment Your Environment: Divide your system into upgradeable units—nodes, services, regions—so you can update them one at a time.
4. Rigorous Testing: Validate functionality after each phase. Smoke tests, health checks, and monitoring tools should be active throughout.
5. Rollback Plan: Have a tested rollback plan in place for each phase. Don’t roll forward unless the current phase is stable.
6. Communicate Clearly: Inform stakeholders of the schedule, expected impact, and escalation paths. Keep support, operations, and end-users in the loop.
7. Automate Where Possible: Use orchestration tools and CI/CD pipelines to reduce human error and accelerate the process.

A successful rolling upgrade strategy isn’t just technical—it’s organizational. Everyone needs to be on the same page, from engineers to execs.

Implementing Your Rolling Upgrade Strategy

So, how do you start?

• Assessment and Planning: Identify what components need upgrading and assess their dependencies.
• Tool Selection: Choose automation and orchestration tools that support phased rollouts (like Ansible, Jenkins, or Kubernetes Operators).
• Execution: Start with low-risk components or non-critical nodes. Monitor closely and validate before proceeding to the next phase.
• Post-Upgrade Review: Document lessons learned, evaluate system performance, and refine the process for next time.

Example: A retail chain upgraded its POS infrastructure across hundreds of stores using a rolling strategy. By upgrading five stores per night and verifying success before proceeding, they avoided widespread outages and maintained 24/7 operation.

Benefits of the Best Rolling Upgrade Strategy

When done right, rolling upgrades do more than just keep the lights on.

• Improved Business Continuity: Updates become routine rather than risky events.
• Enhanced Customer Experience: No disruptions mean no lost transactions or service interruptions.
• Future-Proofing: A well-oiled rolling upgrade process makes adopting new tech faster and safer.

Rolling upgrades aren’t just about survival—they’re about thriving in a world where uptime is non-negotiable.

Rolling Upgrade Strategy and Solutions

To wrap things up:

• Rolling upgrades are a proven method to minimize downtime and boost system reliability.
• Challenges exist, but they can be managed with the right planning and tools.
• Best practices—like automation, segmentation, and clear communication—are key to success.

At SIOS, we understand the value of uptime. Our high availability solutions support rolling upgrades across Windows and Linux environments, helping you keep your critical applications online, even during updates. Whether you’re running SQL Server, SAP, or custom applications, SIOS provides the tools to execute a smart, seamless rolling upgrade strategy.

Is your upgrade strategy up to the challenge? If not, maybe it’s time to roll with a better plan. Request a demo today!

Author: Dave Bermingham, Senior Technical Evangelist at SIOS

Reproduced with permission from SIOS