Upgrades – Backup, Perform, Test!

As a Technical Support Professional upgrades are part of the job, there is no getting out of them. Some are simple, others require a huge amount of planning, preparation and out of hours work. However it can be one of the most rewarding parts of the job.

Backup and Planning – The most important part of the entire process, backup everything before you begin, and also make sure  you know how to restore if you need too. If possible practice the backup and restore process in the lab. Any TechSupportPro should be able to backup and then restore if required.

Perform – Execute the upgrade procedure, make notes during and after each stage has completed, recording the success for failure of each stage. These notes will be invaluable at a later date when writing up a post upgrade report.

Test test and test some more – Never skimp on the testing, its so import to involve the end users to test as they are in the best position to report back post upgrade. These are the guys who use the system every day and any issues should be spotted quickly, allowing you to respond the the right way. Not every issue reported will warrant a restore, its part of a TechSupportPros job to determine the seriousness of the issue and apply the appropriate fix.

Ultimately the success or failure of the upgrade will depend on the backup and planning phase, it should be possible to eliminate all the unknowns beforehand in the lab, the more time and effort here and easier the whole process should be.

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Thanks for reading

Admin – TechSupportPro | uk