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Changes to system upgrades introduced in SDL Web 8.5

If you want to perform a staged upgrade of SDL Web, rather than upgrading the Content Delivery machines first, as recommended previously, you should upgrade the Content Manager machines first.

The reasons that SDL recommends a Content Manager-first staged upgrade are:
  • Typically, the Content Delivery servers are more business-critical.
  • Typically, you will have fewer Content Manager servers than Content Delivery servers, so upgrading the Content Manager side first will be more cost-effective.
  • Most new Content Delivery functionality will not work until the Content Manager servers have been upgraded as well. By contrast, most new Content Manager functionality will work, regardless of whether Content Delivery has been upgraded. Therefore, a Content Manager-first staged upgrade is more likely to give you the functional benefits of the new release faster.