Roll out updates
Keep a fleet of HF Panel servers up to date: release channels, signed updates, automatic night updates and a staged rollout plan.
Every HF Panel server updates itself from the licence server. As a partner you decide how fast new releases reach your fleet.
Release channels
HostFog Ltd sets your partner account to one of two channels:
| Channel | What your servers get |
|---|---|
| Stable (the default) | every new release, as soon as it is published |
| LTS | the long-term release line: fewer, more tested changes. When no LTS release is published yet, servers get Stable, so nobody is left without updates. |
Every server licensed through you follows your channel. Ask HostFog Ltd to change it.
How updates are checked
Before anything is installed, each server checks the release three times: the release information must be signed, the download must match the SHA-256 checksum in that signed information, and the server's agent checks the package's own signed list of files again. A release that fails a check changes nothing. See Release policy.
Updating keeps every account, website, mailbox and setting, and websites stay up while it runs.
Automatic updates
On each server, Server Admin › Server › Updates › HF Panel updates has Install new versions automatically at night. It is off on a new server. With it on, the server installs new releases at night; with it off, the administrator gets an email and updates with Update now. See HF Panel updates.
A staged rollout
For a large fleet, do not update every server the same night. A plan that works:
| Stage | Servers | When |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Canary | a few of your own servers, with automatic updates on | the night a release comes out |
| 2. Early | about 10 % of the fleet, chosen across your regions and server types | 2–3 days later, if stage 1 is quiet |
| 3. Everyone | the rest, with automatic updates on | about a week after the release |
- Read the release notes first; for a major version (
xinx.y.z), take a provider snapshot of each server before it updates. - Use the fleet call with
?version=to see which servers still run the old version. - To update one server at once, click Update now on its HF Panel updates screen, or use the command line as described in Updating.
Important: security fixes are released as patch versions (
z). Install them within days, not weeks: keep at least stage 3 on automatic updates.
End of life
Only the newest release gets fixes; LTS releases get fixes for as long as they are the LTS line. Plan to move the whole fleet to each new major version while the old one still gets fixes. Your partner agreement states the times for your account.