Rolling upgrade overview

To support the need to perform regular updates without stopping the entire production installation, Guidewire provides a way to update each application instance in a PolicyCenter production cluster separately. Guidewire calls this type of upgrade a rolling upgrade. In a rolling upgrade, it is possible to stop an individual PolicyCenter server and deploy supported changes to that server without stopping the other servers in the cluster. In this way, PolicyCenter continues to function even through the upgrade process.

For this to be possible, Guidewire restricts the types of changes that are possible with a rolling upgrade. The target (new) application build must be compatible with the source (old) application build. Guidewire provides a command prompt tool that you use to determine if the two application builds are compatible. If the two builds are compatible, you can perform a rolling upgrade of each server instance in the cluster. If the two builds are not compatible, you must perform a full application and database upgrade.

The requirements for a rolling upgrade are much simpler than for a full application upgrade. Thus, it is possible for a PolicyCenter system administrator to perform a rolling upgrade of the cluster server members. Alternatively, a member of your IT department can perform this type of upgrade.