Change is a constant factor in IT, with updates for software and hardware occurring on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. The leading cause of service reliability problems for Azure lies with these updates. With the cloud in a constant state of improvement and evolution, keeping up with these changes tests even the best deployment procedures. Tridius understands the pain this causes, so we have a list of safe deployment practices to follow that can help you roll out services safely.
Microsoft Azure Updates
When you have on-premise IT, hardware updates aren’t an issue, since you have everything you need on hand. When it comes to software, the necessary information and systems are outside your control. Due to this, many businesses will push out updates as long as possible to reduce downtime and mitigate security risks from an operating system update, machine learning change, or more. This form of updating stifles system improvements, risks the security of your business, and doesn’t work in a change and release public cloud environment like Azure.
Change is a natural process that should be embraced instead of ignored. Azure plans all its systems around the idea of change and so should you. Microsoft and Tridius understand that you need high availability, and maintenance events can cause you to lose precious time on a project. There are a few ways to safely deploy that reduce downtime and maximize convenience.
When Are Software Updates Safe?
Sometimes, you’ll be able to control platform update times to reduce your downtime. When this isn’t an option, which tends to be the case with public cloud systems like Azure, deployment becomes an issue. When you are deploying changes, the first step is to measure the effects of the changes against your current systems and determine the quality of the update. This should be done through testing and integration validations, which give you an accurate measure of how these changes will occur. Software updates are only as safe as you make them, so ensure that when you begin rolling out updates, it’s a gradual process that doesn’t infringe on the quality of your work.
Constant health signal monitoring detects any irregularities and finds any issues during the process. Keep a close eye on your team’s status, and if anyone has encountered any problems so far. Inform security teams about the updates as they roll out, so if any issues come up, they can first find out if the update causes the problem or if it’s an outlier.
When you are deploying changes, the first step is to measure the effects of the changes against your current systems and determine the quality of the update. This should be done through testing and integration validations, which give you an accurate measure of how these changes will occur.
Safe Deployment Mitigates Security Risks
Azure rolls out all of its updates through a safe deployment practice (SDP) framework. This ensures all the code and configuration changes go through the specific stages of a lifecycle to simplify the update and mitigate risk as much as possible. Adopting a similar method will help streamline your updates in the future.
- Testing: Any Azure updates being deployed should begin with a testing phase. This ensures you have all the tools, information, and system support possible to handle the update without reducing your uptime.
- Quality Gating: Run your testing through quality checks to make sure nothing causes ongoing issues and everything is up to your standards. If the updates don’t meet your requirements, continue to test them and work with your IT support to find the best solution.
- Integrate: This is the first step in rolling out the updates. Now you can place the update in an integration environment and push it live, section by section.
- Canary Regions: This is the first few test teams that handle the update first to gauge potential issues before being spread to a broader group.
- Pilot Phase: The update is now spread to a larger group of teams for testing, including a hardware diversity pilot to measure how the update handles on your current hardware.
- Early Regions: The final step of the testing phase, this is the buildup stage where multiple teams have access to the update and gauge its effectiveness.
Broad Rollout: Finally, you segment your organization into groups and roll out the update en masse. Continue to monitor any issues or changes while ensuring everything is going smoothly for the teams being updated.
IT Support Expertise
Azure is continually changing and updating, so understanding and adapting to these changes can significantly benefit your business. If you need assistance determining the best strategy, Tridius has all the solutions you need. We specialize in Microsoft Azure services and can help you streamline your update processes. We also have multiple cloud solutions to simplify your cloud storage, analytics, and more. When you need cloud experts, contact Tridius.
