Maintenance

Once it’s done, it’s done, right!?

No. Well, maybe sometimes, but mostly not.

If it’s software on a server, that server will need regular updating as the underlying operating system gets updated. If it’s an app on an app store, phone specs are always changing and the app store will require you to update the app. If it’s a WordPress blog/website it’s highly recommended to update the WordPress software for security.

The one situation I can think of when a piece of software may be ok for a long time and not need updating is if it’s a frontend app and it’s deployed on static storage such as AWS S3. Even in this situation, if you want to change a small piece of text in a year’s time, the underlying software will probably need updating.

The great thing about the cloud is that the maintenance of the server is done automatically and if there are any problems you get plenty of red on the control panel and emails. Products such as AWS Elastic Beanstalk and their managed databases bring peace of mind. NoSQL such as MongoDB is similar in that it is maintained by other people. Also, things like SSL certificates can be taken away from the server and dealt with and managed separately by AWS, meaning that you don’t have to worry about them when you’re updating other things.

So, some things are maintained automatically by others, making maintenance much easier than it once was. But generally software is always moving. Whether it be software languages and frameworks updating, app stores and browsers upgrading their standards, or individual packages and other third-party software updating or becoming deprecated.

Even if none of that affects something, the hardware the software is running on may need an upgrade.

Moral of the story… having a plan to maintain/upgrade your software regularly can lead to less painful events/downtime, even if no new functionality is required.