Management
Rack Updates
As Convox is in active development, new Rack releases are frequently available. Rack updates will typically be applied automatically but you can manually trigger an update via the CLI. Also keep in mind that some Rack releases are required, i.e. cannot be skipped even if there is a newer release available.
Updating via the CLI
You can update via the CLI by running convox rack update [--rack <rack name>] [version]:
$ convox rack update --rack dev
Updating to 20161111013816... UPDATING
Updating your Rack will not cause any application or resource downtime, or require app redeployment (unless explicitly noted to enable new features). Rack updates generally just update the Convox software stack running on the Rack seamlessly in the background. Sometimes they will update the underlying AMI’s the Rack runs on, which will initiate a rolling update, automatically migrating your apps to the new instances without causing any downtime.
Required Updates
Occasionally, enhancements to Rack will replace an old component with a new one, but in a two-step process to ensure a seamless and stable migration. The mechanism we use to guarantee that a Rack completes these migrations properly is the required update.
Let’s say your Rack is running on release version A, and you want to update it to version D, but version B is a required release. Running convox rack update would first update your Rack to B to ensure its new component is introduced and put in use. Afterwards, with the first step of the migration complete, you could update the Rack to version C or D, which could safely remove the old component.
In practice, if you notice that a convox rack update doesn’t update your Rack to the latest release, you’ve encountered a required release. Running convox rack update again will update your Rack to the latest release, unless another required release is encountered first.