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Also known as: Rolling Upgrade
Incrementally replaces running instances with a new version to minimize or avoid downtime.
DESCRIPTION
A rolling update deploys a new application or service version by gradually replacing existing instances in batches. Health checks and readiness probes protect users from unhealthy instances. It supports controlled rollout speed, surge capacity, and automated rollback on failure. Platforms like Kubernetes, Google Compute Engine MIGs, and AWS provide native rolling strategies. Rolling updates suit stateless services best and require careful session handling for stateful components.
ALTERNATIVE DEFINITIONS
Wikipedia
A rolling upgrade, rolling update, or rolling reboot is the process of updating software running on a set of machines without shutting down the entire system.
Stresses continuity of service across a fleet during upgrades.
AWS Elastic Beanstalk
With rolling updates, Elastic Beanstalk replaces your instances in batches.
Highlights batch replacement mechanics in managed PaaS.
RELATED TERMS
Deployment Strategy Health Check Rollback Kubernetes Deployment Managed Instance Group Load Balancing Continuous Delivery
COMPETING TERMS
Blue-Green Deployment Canary Release Recreate Deployment
KNOWLEDGE AREAS
Software Engineering MLOps Infrastructure Platform & Tooling Observability & Telemetry
TARGET AUDIENCE
DevOps Engineer MLOps Engineer Software Developer Cloud Architect IT Manager Application Administrator Solution Architect
EXTERNAL SOURCES
- Wikipedia - Software deployment
- Kubernetes - Deployment strategy with rolling updates
- Google Cloud - MIG rolling updates guidance
TOP QUESTIONS
Why use a Rolling Update instead of a Blue-Green Deployment?
Rolling updates minimize extra infrastructure and can be more cost-efficient, but blue–green offers simpler rollback and isolation at the expense of duplicating environments.
Category: Alternatives
How do health checks affect a Rolling Update?
Readiness and liveness probes gate traffic to only healthy instances, preventing user impact during replacement.
Category: Requirements
What is a common mistake with Rolling Updates?
Forgetting backward compatibility across versions can break clients mid-rollout. Design for compatibility or use canaries first.
Category: Mistakes
Can Rolling Updates work for stateful services?
Yes, but carefully. Coordinate draining, session migration, and data schema compatibility to avoid interruptions.
Category: Risks
How do you roll back a failed Rolling Update?
Automate rollback on probe failures or error thresholds, reverting to the previous version quickly and safely.
Category: Management
How is surge capacity used in Rolling Updates?
Temporarily adding instances maintains capacity while older ones are replaced, reducing user impact.
Category: Example
What metrics matter during a Rolling Update?
Error rate, latency, saturation, and user-facing SLOs guide whether to continue, pause, or roll back.
Category: Testing
How do Rolling Updates relate to CI/CD?
They are a deployment strategy stage in CD pipelines, often triggered after passing tests and promotions.
Category: Collaboration
When should you prefer Canary Releases over Rolling Updates?
When risk is high or uncertainty exists, canaries validate changes on a small audience before broader rollout.
Category: Opinion