Task 4: Prepare Your Upgrade Procedure

Before proceeding to the next phase of the upgrade, be sure that you have prepared a current, comprehensive upgrade procedure. See Upgrade Process and Upgrade Procedure for more information.

The goal of an upgrade procedure is to specify exactly who does what as you upgrade your Waveset application in each environment. You will develop and maintain this upgrade procedure as you upgrade your Waveset application in each environment.

• If you have an existing upgrade procedure, read Review Your Existing Upgrade Procedure.

• If you have not prepared an upgrade procedure, create one now using the guidelines described in Create an Upgrade Procedure.

Review Your Existing Upgrade Procedure

Does your existing upgrade procedure specify exactly who does what and when as you upgrade your Waveset application in each environment? Is it clear how and why the procedure differs in each environment? Is your procedure up-to-date? Does your upgrade procedure contain the same steps for your Test environment and for your QA environment that it does for your Production environment? If not, you must revise your upgrade procedure appropriately.

Are there important considerations that are unique to your Production environment? If so, your upgrade procedure must rehearse the same steps in your QA environment. See Special Considerations for Production. If the duration of the upgrade procedure in your Production environment is important, then be sure that your upgrade procedure says to record the duration of each step in each environment. Upgrading your QA environment should give you a particularly good indication of how long it will take to upgrade your Production environment.

Create an Upgrade Procedure

You must create an upgrade procedure if you have not already prepared one for your Waveset application.

The following is generally true of an update procedure:

• Takes the form of a checklist.

  Your upgrade procedure may include supporting documentation, but the administrator who performs the upgrade procedure will want a clear, complete, and concise set of instructions.

• Includes most, if not all, of the steps described in Task 8: Execute Your Upgrade Procedure.

  Your upgrade procedure is generally far more specific, spelling out exactly who must do what in each environment. For example, your procedure must include specific commands and specific parameter values that an administrator must issue in each environment.

• Includes additional steps.

  For example, you might have to stop and restart external processes if your Waveset application integrates with external applications. You might also be required to notify users or systems personnel before taking the Waveset application or other affected applications offline.

• Is the same for each target environment.

  Specific parameter values, such as host names and connection information, might vary from environment to environment. The steps in the procedure, however, should be the same in each environment. Even if, for example, there is no one to notify about application downtime in a Test environment or a QA environment, you should rehearse this step in each environment.

• Includes a timetable.

  Estimate the expected duration for each step, and record the actual duration of each step. The durations that you see in your QA environment are particularly important for predicting the durations that you will see in your Production environment.