TigerGraph Release And Patch Process
FAQ 1
Question:
What is the TigerGraph release process?
After installation, the license expires, and related functions are not available.
Answer Overview:
TigerGraph is committed to providing the most scalable, performant and secure enterprise-grade graph database.
To meet our commitment, we follow a release cadence. It allows us to regularly deliver product and service improvements in the form of new features, enhancements, bug fixes and security patches.
Generally, we plan to conduct at least two Full releases per quarter, with the ultimate goal of monthly releases to ensure timely distribution of our product advancement. Meanwhile, between Full releases we may create Patch releases as necessary which include bug fixes. That being said, we don’t recommend customers to adopt more than 1 release per quarter if there are no bug fixes or new features their workload depends on.
In addition to Full releases and Patch releases, occasionally TigerGraph will provide a timely one-off patch for a selected set of existing releases that may or may not impact all customers. These one-off patches are used to address security vulnerabilities or critical bugs in a timely manner.
In summary, TigerGraph release types include A) full release, B) patch release, and C) One-off patches. This article describes the process we follow for these three types of releases.
FAQ 2
Answer Overview:
For the full and patch release, we use sequence-based identifiers in the format of major.minor.patch, where major is a number and increment for the most significant releases, and minor is a number and increment for less significant releases, and patch is a number for numbering the patch release. For example, in the release version 3.2.1, the major version is 3, and the minor version is 2, and the patch version is 1.
Our documentation [docs.tigergraph.com] is updated with a new branch when the major or minor version number changes. For patch releases, we do not provide a new documentation branch. Instead, we may update the targeting major.minor version’s documents.
FAQ 3
Answer Overview:
Below we define the types of release and their corresponding upgrade or application guidance.
Definitions:
Full release:
A full release is a planned non-trivial product release, where either the major or the minor number in the release version name is changed. Either the minor number is increased while leaving the major number unchanged, or the major number is increased while resetting the minor number to 0. A full release’s name is usually “major.minor.0”, or abbreviated as “major.minor”. It may include any of the following:
1) New features
2) Feature enhancements or updates
3) Bug fixes
In addition, the following documentation deliverables accompany a full release:
1) Release Notes section included in the TigerGraph online documentation.
2) Upgrade section included in the TigerGraph online documentation.
3) Updated TigerGraph online documentation for each new full release version.
Notification: Full releases will be announced on our documentation website. TigerGraph’s Customer Success team will also proactively share the release notes with existing customers.
Upgrade: Customers using a legacy release can refer to the upgrade section of the online documentation to plan a server upgrade by themselves, or contact TigerGraph Technical Support Engineering by opening a ticket at tigergraph.zendesk.com or emailing support@tigergraph.com.
Patch release
A patch release is a release version that only includes fixes for the latest 1 or 2 full releases. It will only be created when a set of critical bug fixes has accumulated that will affect the majority of the customers before the next planned full release is out. However, depending on the schedule, if we have a full release planned at the same time, a Patch release may not be necessary.
If a patch release applies to version X.Y.Z, then its name will be X.Y.[Z+1]. If needed, additional patch releases will be published to address any issues that are encountered during or after the release process.
Notification: Patch releases are announced on our documentation website in a subsection of the Release Notes. TigerGraph’s Customer Success team work proactively sharing the release notes with existing customers.
Upgrade: The patch release upgrade process is the same as the upgrade guidance in a full release, as documented in the Upgrade section of the Major.Minor release document. Depending on the severity of the patch, our Customer Success team may proactively reach out to the customer to discuss the upgrade of the patch release.
Customers who need assistance with a patch release can contact TigerGraph Technical Support Engineering by opening a ticket at tigergraph.zendesk.com or emailing support@tigergraph.com.
One-off patches
In some instances, a one-off patch is released for a full or a patch release to address critical security issues or critical bugs. Unlike Patch releases, a one-off patch is usually an urgent point fix, meaning that it won’t be waiting on other fixes. One-off patches are released as the situation demands. It could be universal, applicable to all customers. Or, it could be specific, applicable to a handful of customers who have deployed a TigerGraph product under a specific environment.
Notification: When a one-off patch is being developed, the Customer Success team will reach out to the affected customers proactively to inform them of the discovered issue and the immediate remediation plan if applicable while waiting for the patch.
Application of the patch: After the patch is developed and has gone through the release certification process, the technical support team will email customers instructions on downloading and applying the patch.
Customers who need assistance with applying the one-off patch can contact TigerGraph Technical Support Engineering by opening a ticket at tigergraph.zendesk.com or emailing support@tigergraph.com.
Post-release: Since a one-off patch is for timely fixing of urgent issues, post-release it will be merged immediately with the new full and patch releases.
FAQ 4
Answer Overview:
For customers who subscribe to TigerGraph’s Managed Service, our Cloud Engineering team will apply upgrades for backward compatible changes or one-off patches transparently when the release is available or during the customer-notified system maintenance window (in situations when system downtime is needed). For releases with non-backward compatible changes, the TigerGraph Customer Success team will reach out to customers to discuss opt-out or opt-in choices. Should the customer choose to opt-in, our Cloud Engineering team will do the upgrade for the customer with coordination.