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Product Updates

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title: Product Updates category: System & Maintenance tags: updates, upgrade, version, patches, release-notes priority: Normal

Product Updates

The Updates page at /admin/updates provides a built-in mechanism to check for, download, and apply IdentityCenter updates. The UpdateCheckerService periodically checks for new versions, and the UpdateDownloadService handles downloading update packages.

Accessing the Updates Page

Navigate to Updates from the System Center or the main administration menu. The page is divided into two sections: the main content area (current version and available updates) and the configuration sidebar.

Current Version Information

The Updates page displays:

Field Description
Current Version The installed version of IdentityCenter
Last Checked Timestamp of the most recent update check
Status "You're up to date!" or details of an available update

Checking for Updates

Automatic Checks

The UpdateCheckerService runs on a configurable interval:

Setting Description Default
Auto-Check Enabled Whether to check automatically Enabled
Check Interval Hours between automatic checks Configurable in settings
Manifest URL URL of the update server hosting version manifests Configured during installation
Download Path Local directory for downloaded update packages Configured in application settings

Manual Check

Click Check for Updates to immediately query the update server. The button shows a spinner while the check is in progress. If the check fails (e.g., network issue), an error message is displayed with details.

Available Updates

When a new version is available, the Updates page shows:

Field Description
Version Number The new version (e.g., v1.2.0)
Release Date When the update was published
Critical Badge Red "CRITICAL" badge if the update addresses security vulnerabilities
Release Notes Detailed description of changes, fixes, and new features
File Size Size of the update package

Downloading an Update

  1. Review the release notes to understand what the update includes
  2. Click Download to begin downloading the update package
  3. A progress bar shows download status (percentage and bytes transferred)
  4. Cancel the download at any time with the Cancel button
  5. When complete, the page shows the local file path of the downloaded package

Applying an Update

After downloading, follow these steps to apply the update:

  1. Stop the IdentityCenter application or service
  2. Extract the downloaded ZIP to the installation directory, overwriting existing files
  3. Start the application -- database migrations will apply automatically on startup

The DatabaseMigrationService detects any new migration scripts included in the update and applies them in order during application startup.

Pre-Update Checklist

Before applying any update, complete this checklist:

Step Action Why
1 Back up the database Enables rollback if the update causes issues
2 Back up the application directory Preserves current binaries and configuration
3 Review release notes Understand breaking changes, new requirements, and deprecated features
4 Check system requirements New versions may require updated .NET runtime or SQL Server version
5 Test in staging Apply the update to a non-production environment first
6 Verify no jobs are running Check the Processing Center for active jobs
7 Notify users Inform administrators of the planned maintenance window

Post-Update Verification

After applying an update and restarting the application:

Verification How to Check
Schema migration Visit /admin/updates and verify the database schema version matches the application version
Service health Check the System Center for all components showing healthy status
Connection status Verify all directory connections are still connected
Sync test Run a manual sync on one project to verify sync engine functionality
Policy evaluation Trigger a policy evaluation to verify the compliance engine
Email delivery Send a test email from System Center to verify SMTP
Report generation Run a built-in report to verify the reports engine
ChatHub Test a query in the AI Chat to verify LLM integration

Database Schema Version

The right sidebar of the Updates page shows database schema information:

  • List of applied migrations with version, name, and date
  • Current schema version
  • Migration status indicators (green checkmark for applied, yellow for pending)

This helps verify that all expected migrations have been applied after an update.

Configuration

The configuration panel displays the current update settings:

Setting Description
Auto-Check Enabled or Disabled
Check Interval Frequency of automatic checks (in hours)
Update Server URL of the manifest endpoint
Download Path Local directory where updates are saved

These settings are configured in the application settings file and displayed here for reference.

Rollback Procedures

If an update causes issues:

  1. Stop the IdentityCenter application
  2. Restore the application directory from your pre-update backup
  3. Restore the database from your pre-update SQL Server backup
  4. Start the application with the previous version
  5. Verify functionality using the post-update verification checklist

Tip: Database migrations are forward-only. If a migration has already run, restoring the application files alone is not sufficient -- you must also restore the database to the pre-migration state.

Best Practices

  1. Always back up first -- Create a full database backup and application directory backup before every update
  2. Test in non-production -- Apply updates to a staging environment before production
  3. Review breaking changes -- Release notes may call out changes to configuration, APIs, or behavior
  4. Schedule a maintenance window -- Apply updates during off-peak hours when users are not actively using the system
  5. Verify after updating -- Complete the post-update verification checklist before considering the update successful
  6. Keep one version behind -- If your environment is risk-averse, wait one release cycle before adopting new versions (except for critical security updates)
  7. Monitor after updates -- Watch job success rates and system performance for 24-48 hours after an update

Next Steps

Tags: updates upgrade version patches release-notes

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