Recommended upgrade procedure?

[BDD]

I'm very new to Invision Community. (I have a cloud community.) I come from a WordPress background (8+ years) and I'd been doing things online for many years before that, so I'm not unfamiliar with updates and such. However, for some reason I'm a little hesitant to update my Invision Community now that I've launched my site and I have members.

I think part of it is that I feel out of control of everything -- on a WP site, I make my own backups (of files and the database) and know exactly what to do if I need to restore an old backup or rollback a plugin. Here, though? It feels like more of a mystery situation.

I would appreciate some guidance on timing and procedure for applying updates, and direction to any resources you feel would help me feel a little more settled about all of this.

Some of my specific questions include:

• How long do I wait before I apply a maintenance update? (What do you typically do?)
• Once I do apply a maintenance update, if something breaks, then what?
• What do I do if something goes wrong?
• Is there any sort of backup and restore option available? (And if so, is it something I can initiate, or does support do it?)
• What's the best time to do these types of updates so there's the least amount of downtime if something goes wrong? (For example, is Support available over the weekend or should I stay within certain weekday hours for the best response if needed?)

Similarly, I'm not clear on upgrading applications and plugins.

• When do I update applications and plugins?
• Is there any way to roll back applications and plugins if there's a problem? 
• Is there any way to back up data and customizations for applications and plugins so they can be restored in case anything goes wrong?

Any other guidance on this definitely appreciated. 

Thanks!

[bfarber]

On 11/16/2019 at 5:45 PM, BDD said:

Some of my specific questions include:

• How long do I wait before I apply a maintenance update? (What do you typically do?)
• Once I do apply a maintenance update, if something breaks, then what?
• What do I do if something goes wrong?
• Is there any sort of backup and restore option available? (And if so, is it something I can initiate, or does support do it?)
• What's the best time to do these types of updates so there's the least amount of downtime if something goes wrong? (For example, is Support available over the weekend or should I stay within certain weekday hours for the best response if needed?)

Unless you have customizations you think are likely to break (which is more a concern with major upgrades vs minor point releases), there's little reason to wait very long. Generally speaking, most plugins, applications and themes work through minor point releases as we intentionally do not make major changes in minor point releases.

If something breaks, you would submit a ticket to support at that point. Same if something "goes wrong".

There is no backup/restore option available to you, although we take automatic backups and can roll back on our side if necessary. It is rarely necessary, however.

Support for major issues is available almost around the clock 7 days a week as we have agents across the globe, however for the best coverage ... Mon-Fri approximately 3AM-5PM EST will have the most technical support coverage.

On 11/16/2019 at 5:45 PM, BDD said:

Similarly, I'm not clear on upgrading applications and plugins.

• When do I update applications and plugins?
• Is there any way to roll back applications and plugins if there's a problem? 
• Is there any way to back up data and customizations for applications and plugins so they can be restored in case anything goes wrong?

Any other guidance on this definitely appreciated. 

Thanks!

I would update applications and plugins whenever there is an update available. When you go to update the Invision Community software, that's often a good time to check for any available updates for your customizations.

There is no way to rollback individual applications or plugins, outside of explicitly reinstalling an earlier version.

There is no way to backup data for an individual application or plugin, no.