Upgrade downtime

[mariemqara1]

• Upgrade with Downtime: it is mentioned in the doc that downtime may be occurred for major update, How frequently do these major updates occur? Even though the schedule might not be fixed, can you provide an approximate frequency?"
• Communication: Regarding Major updates  :the changes may be communicated in advance to customers /stakeholders ' on what criteria is this based?"
• Feature Activation: "On what basis are new features activated by default or not? If they are not activated by default, when and by whom are they activated? Is it the customer who decides?"

[Dr Atul G- LNG]

Hi @mariemqara1 

• Upgrade with Downtime: it is mentioned in the doc that downtime may be occurred for major update, How frequently do these major updates occur? Even though the schedule might not be fixed, can you provide an approximate frequency?"
• Atul: SN release 2 major releases in a year and it depends on the customer do they want both or might be skip 1. As per Experience major release come in month of April and Sep. Down time in 5- 7 mins or less as well
• Communication: Regarding Major updates  :the changes may be communicated in advance to customers /stakeholders ' on what criteria is this based?"
• Atul: So it is like changes for end user , business users , fulfillers and admins.
• Feature Activation: "On what basis are new features activated by default or not? If they are not activated by default, when and by whom are they activated? Is it the customer who decides?"
• Atul: Again, there are few features coming as default now like next experience, Workflows studio, creator studio etc. It is responsibility of upgrade manager and platform admin to see what new is coming in upgrade and what need to activate.

[HIROSHI SATOH]

Instance upgrade FAQs.

https://support.servicenow.com/kb?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB1080479 

[Robbie · Accepted solution]

Hi @mariemqara1,

This is an interesting question which really depends on the individual instance itself - how customized (or not) the instance is, what integration or services are running etc. Sadly, it's not a 1-size fits all scenario.

For context, check the following link on 'Upgrades' - remembering that an 'upgrade' is upgrading the ServiceNow version form one to another.

From the link:

"During an upgrade, your performance may be impacted because your nodes initiate the distribution upgrade. All nodes are restarted during an upgrade, but your multi-node instances are available during an upgrade because ServiceNow instances operate on a multi-node system. This multi-node system staggers node distribution upgrades, ensuring that there is at least one active pair of nodes for multi-node instances during an upgrade.

To help you set accurate expectations for performance during upgrades, be aware of the differences between the nodes on your non-production and production instances. Instances with one node experience a short period of downtime during the upgrade, but multi-node instances do not have UI downtime. For details on your nodes and their status, see the Upgrade Progress screen."

Re Updates - ServiceNow provide communications (As in emails which are also available in the ServiceNow Support site) and advise explicitly if an update affects downtime or not.

https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/washingtondc-release-notes/page/release-notes/upgrades/task/upgra...

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Thanks, Robbie