Stages in the staged upgrade
Perform a staged upgrade by upgrading your Content Delivery servers one by one. Then, after you have upgraded all of them, upgrade your Content Manager too. Throughout this process, your Web site remains operational, and publishing is only blocked while Content Manager is upgraded.
Stage 1: Before the upgrade starts
Initially, users use the old Content Manager to publish to the old Content Delivery servers. The old version can be SDL Tridion 2009 SP1, SDL Tridion 2011 SP1, SDL Tridion 2011 SP1 HR1, SDL Tridion 2011 SP1 HR2 or SDL Tridion 2013.
Stage 2: Copying and upgrading the Content Data Store and one Content Delivery server
First, create a copy of the Content Data Store and of at least one Content Delivery server, and upgrade them both. Then add the upgraded Content Delivery server(s) to your Publication Targets in Content Manager. Users now publish their content both to the old Content Delivery server(s) and to the upgraded new Content Delivery server(s).
Stage 3: Copying and upgrading remaining Content Delivery servers
At your own pace, copy and upgrade more Content Delivery servers, each time adding them to your Publication Targets.
Stage 4: All Content Delivery servers have been upgraded
After the Content Data Store and all Content Delivery servers have been upgraded, users publish to these new Content Delivery servers, and all of their published content gets stored in the new Content Data Store.
Stage 5: Copying and upgrading the Content Manager
To upgrade the Content Manager, create a copy of the Content Manager server and of the Content Manager database, and upgrade them. While this happens, a publish embargo must be in place, to prevent the introduction of changes that would be lost in the next stage.
Stage 6: Switching to use of the new Content Manager
After testing has confirmed that the new Content Manager is stable and publishes to the new Content Delivery servers successfully, users switch to the new Content Manager.
Stage 7: Retiring the old Content Manager
The old Content Manager server and Content Manager database are no longer needed and can be retired. The entire platform has now been upgraded to the latest version.