Each component of AWS Mainframe Modernization goes through version upgrades and a development lifecycle. You can use this page as an overview to understand these components, their version upgrade plans, and how AWS Mainframe Modernization communicates the release or deprecation of these components or their versions.
Components lifecycle overview
AWS Mainframe Modernization lifecycle describes the approach and timelines for releasing and supporting AWS Mainframe Modernization service components throughout their lifecycle. Providing predictable and consistent lifecycle helps you as you plan, test, and deploy newer versions.
All AWS-provided AWS Mainframe Modernization components benefit from the product support provided by
Support from the time they are released until their retirement per each component's
release calendar table. You can learn more about the Support scope and activities at
Compare Support
Plans
AWS Mainframe Modernization releases some components with versions originating from suppliers which can be AWS itself, select AWS Partners, or communities. For each AWS Mainframe Modernization component, a version has a major version number and a minor version number. Each component has its own major and minor version numbering.
For versioned components, we have the following intents:
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To release AWS Mainframe Modernization components newer versions on a regular basis or per customer demand. If a component's newer version is desired and not yet available in the AWS Mainframe Modernization service, you can make an explicit request via Support Product Feature Request (PFR).
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To have AWS Mainframe Modernization component-specific versions' end of support and retirement dates align with the component supplier end of support dates.
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To notify customers approximately one year prior to the retirement of a component's major version.
While we strive to meet these guidelines, in some cases, we may retire specific versions sooner with shorter notification timeframes. For example, we may retire a version with security issues promptly with a shorter notification timeframe. We may also retire minor versions early when a minor version has significant bugs or security issues that have been resolved in a later minor version. In the unlikely event that such cases occur, we will notify customers and communicate about the plan and the timeline for retirement. Specific circumstances may dictate different timelines depending on the situation.
Note
Critical updates to components might be made available at any time. For example, new versions may be made available promptly for security reasons or to provide fixes for the production environments. For requests made through Support, the support plan dictates the processes, severity, and the response times.
When a component version is retired, AWS Mainframe Modernization doesn't distribute these versions to customers for new deployments. Consequently, these versions are also unsupported by Support. Customers running existing component deployments past their version retirement dates should be aware of the risks of doing so. AWS is not responsible to provide security updates, technical support, or hot fixes for retired component versions. Also, we don't automatically remove access or delete your environment's resources. We strongly encourage you check for new versions every 3 months, and upgrade all your AWS Mainframe Modernization components to recent supported versions.
Version upgrade
AWS Mainframe Modernization provides newer versions of each supported component so you can stay up-to-date with the latest maintenance updates and features. Newer versions can include bug fixes, security enhancements, and other improvements for the components. We recommend you should upgrade regularly to benefit from security fixes, bug fixes, and feature enhancements. When AWS Mainframe Modernization releases a new version, you can choose how and when to upgrade your existing deployments. There are two kinds of upgrades: major version upgrades and minor version upgrades. In general, a major engine version upgrade can introduce changes that aren't compatible with existing applications. In that case, substantial application changes may be required for a major version upgrade. In contrast, a minor version upgrade includes changes that are mostly backward-compatible with existing applications. Little to no changes may be required for a minor version upgrade.
You should perform non-regression tests prior to performing components’ version upgrades. It's best practice to use DevOps test and deployment pipelines. DevOps test pipelines can be built during modernization projects, and should be maintained to automate application testing when performing component upgrades and application code changes. You can also use blue/green deployments or canary deployment during upgrades. You can learn more about such deployments and change management at AWS Well-Architected Reliability Pillar.
AWS Mainframe Modernization Refactor with AWS Blu Age release overview
With AWS Blu Age runtime, the version follows a Major.Minor.Patch pattern. For
example, for AWS Blu Age runtime version 4.1.0, the major version is 4, the minor
version is 1, and the patch version is 0.
We intend to release new AWS Blu Age runtime major versions when there are impactful changes to runtime or their dependencies. AWS Blu Age runtime major versions are supported for at least 12 months unless some Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) appear. The support covers for bugs in the runtime features as mentioned in our documentation. In case of Critical and High CVEs in the dependencies of the runtime (Spring, Java, Tomcat, and others), the major version support duration is reduced to 6 months for High CVEs, and 3 months for Critical CVEs from the release date of the new runtime version fixing the CVE, unless explicitly stated otherwise.
We intend to release new AWS Blu Age minor versions monthly. Customers are expected to upgrade versions regularly to obtain the latest security fixes, bug fixes, and feature enhancements. Active projects not yet in production have to adopt the latest runtime version as soon as it becomes available.
New fixes are provided in the latest minor version for the particular major version where an issue is raised. If you require new fixes, you need to upgrade to a new minor version to apply those fixes.
Patched versions for supported releases are provided only to address critical runtime defects not present in previous supported minor versions.
Alpha pre-releases are short-lived versions made available for quick iteration during delivery projects. Fixes for issues identified in alpha pre-releases are provided in the later minor versions, as no patches are delivered for Alpha pre-release versions.
You can find release dates and details about each runtime version in the AWS Blu Age release notes.
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