B2C Commerce GA Update Deployments now Non-Disruptive

What is a GA Update?
A GA Update is a minor version release that includes bug-fixes only -- no new features, enhancements, or significant changes to functional behavior or API. The GA Update is a code-only update.

What is a Non-Disruptive GA Update deployment?
Starting in mid-2024, we are slowly rolling out the Non-Disruptive GA Update deployment process. We will be deploying GA Update releases using the same Non-Disruptive Update tooling used for B2C Commerce patches. The Non-Disruptive deployment tool waits for a "quiet" period with no jobs or replications running before performing a rolling restart of app servers to upgrade the code version.

How does this differ from past GA Update deployments?
In the past, GA Updates were performed via a rolling restart, which applies the new code version and then restarts each app server in batches to pick up the new version. This protected against storefront downtime, but did not prevent interruption of jobs or replications. With the new process, this will no longer be the case for jobs or replications running during the first 24-hour period of the deployment.

Will customers still be notified about GA Update deployments?

The GA Update will continue to be scheduled for a specific date (per the B2C Commerce Deployment Schedule posted on the Help site).  The Non-Disruptive GA Update deployment will begin in the maintenance window on the date in the schedule. Most realms should receive the new code deployment with no disruption to jobs or replications within the first 10-12 hours; however, if the restart has not fully completed within 24 hours due to a long-running job or replication, we will complete the restart during the next day's maintenance window. This may cause interruption to some jobs or replications running at that time.

Here is an example to illustrate the timeline:
 - The 24.6 GA Update deployment is scheduled for Thursday, June 27 2024, beginning at 2 AM Local POD Time, so POD 112, a POD based in Japan, will begin the deployment at 2 AM JST on June 27 2024.

 - Any app servers that have not been restarted via the Non-Disruptive process by 2 AM JST on June 28 will be restarted during the 2-7 AM maintenance window to finish the 24.6 GA Update deployment.

 - Any jobs or replications running during the restarts on June 28 2024 might be interrupted.

When will Non-Disruptive GA Update deployments be available?
We started using Non-Disruptive GA Updates for PODs based in APAC as of the 24.5 GA Update in May 2024. We will extend its use to the EMEA-based PODs with the 24.6 GA Update in June 2024. We will complete the rollout with the NA-based PODs with the 24.7 GA Update in July 2024.