How to Use the Upgrade Information Tool

The upgrade information tool gives you insight into your environment, its versions, and any compatibility issues you might encounter as you contemplate upgrade. When you upgrade to the recommended version of the technology stack, you gain access to the latest:

  • product features and enhancements
  • supported components
  • supported instance types

Engine Yard always recommends that you keep your environment on the latest Engine Yard technology stack whenever possible. It's also a good idea to stay up to date on component versions (for example, framework or database). Moving to the latest instance types means that you can take advantage of the latest server technology and performance advances.

Note: In the near future, all environments will be required to use the recommended stack and software versions. See Engine Yard Technology Stack Update Policies for more information.

Get started with upgrade information

To use the upgrade information tool

  1. Navigate to the environment page from the Engine Yard dashboard.
  2. Scroll down to the More Options section and click Upgrade information.

    EnviroMoreOptions.png

  3. Review the upgrade information page, which includes:

    Technology stack

    Compatibility

Technology stack

This section compares your environment's tech stack version to the current and recommended releases of the Engine Yard tech stack.

A tech stack release number includes the Gentoo distribution and cookbook version. For example, stable-v2-1.1.407 is a tech stack of Engine Yard Gentoo 2009, and cookbook version 1.1.407. A tech stack of:

If This Environment is on Engine Yard Gentoo 2009, the Current Release column displays the most up-to-date release of the Engine Yard Gentoo 2009 tech stack, and the Recommended Release column recommends upgrading to Engine Yard Gentoo 12.11.

Note: Engine Yard Gentoo 12.11 is the required tech stack for R3 instances.

Compatibility

The next sections compare your existing environment to the current release (most up to date) of your tech stack, and to the recommended tech stack release. Depending on what your environment looks like today, and where you need to go, you can get an idea of compatibilities.

Software

The software list displays this environment's components and version numbers.

SoftwareCompat.png

If any of your components display X_Icon.png in the Current Release column, it means that component / version is no longer compatible on this tech stack.

If your components display X_Icon.png in the Recommended Release column, see the Engine Yard Gentoo 12.11 tech stack to find the component versions you need when you upgrade your tech stack.

Instance types

The instance list displays the latest generation AWS instance types (for a list of all the supported instance types, see Amazon Instance Type Support.). The new servers are faster, more powerful, and less expensive. Engine Yard strongly encourages you to take advantage of the latest generation instances for the best performance. For more information, see About Instance Sizes.

If the instance type you want displays X Icon.png in This Environment, but displays Check_ICON.png in the Current / Recommended Release column, then upgrading your stack will make the instance type available in your environment.

If the instance type you want displays X Icon.png in both This Environment and Current Release columns, it means that upgrading your tech stack will do nothing. (The X Icon.png appears in this case either because of VPC, or the instance type is not supported on that particular tech stack.)

If the instance type you want displays X Icon.png in the Recommended Release column, it means that your environment does not support VPC. See Virtual Private Cloud.

Virtual Private Cloud

This section lets you know if Amazon VPC (Virtual Private Cloud) is enabled for this environment. In general, whether or not your environment has VPC enabled is based on your Engine Yard account and the region you're using. However, there are some special cases. See About VPC for more information.

VPCenabled.png

VPC is required for dedicated and T2 instances. It is also required for HVM (hardware-assisted virtual machine) with any of the listed instance types: M3, C3, R3, T2, C4. If you really need VPC and your environment displays X Icon.png then you will need to create a new Engine Yard account.

FAQs

You might have these questions about the upgrade information tool.

How do I upgrade my environment to take advantage of the new generation instances?

Depending on your current environment and its tech stack version, choose the appropriate upgrade document:

More information

This table provides other resources related to the upgrade information tool.

For more information about... See...
Intro to upgrade and related tools Upgrade Guide
Tech stack policies Update Policies
Recommended stack Engine Yard Gentoo 12.11
AWS instances List of instance types
About instances on Engine Yard About instances
VPC (Virtual Private Cloud) About VPC
HVM (hardware-assisted virtual machine) HVM versus PV
Dedicated instances Dedicated instances

If you have feedback or questions about this page, add a comment below. If you need help, submit a ticket with Engine Yard Support.

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