Upgrade strategy

Question

Hi all, 
 
 We are upgrading Appian. We see two types of upgrade strategies: 
 
 1) Stop and backup the server, install a new Appian server and migrate the appian stuff from the backup. Then start the new upgraded server. Following the update guide. 
 2) Install a parallel server in order to ensure high availability and maintain both environments for some time. Eventually migrate the data to the upgraded server. 
 
 Is option 2) possible / recommended? In order to have 2 running servers per environment we might need to have 2 Appian licenses. 
 
 Many thanks

chandu · Accepted Answer

We always prefer to go with 1st option, we use to communicate the business regarding the downtime and impacting applications during down time for upgrade. 
The implementation purpose the Option 2 is good subject to condition that Business will run 24/7. You can work with Appian Support so that they can provide you the good solution as per your Support case.

Robert Shankin · Answer

I've not seen HA considered as a direct factor in the upgrade process. 
 Sometimes, what we see is an upgrade environment - essentially a mirror of production that you upgrade first. Your stakeholders and testers should test their applications in the upgrade environment and once everyone is satisfied, and understands behavior changes, Production is upgraded. 
 There's a few details in the P laybook that might help you: 
 
 Why Update? 
 Recommended Environments