1The challenge
Magento updates, new extensions and configuration changes normally need a maintenance window. During that window the webshop is offline:
- Visitors see a maintenance page and leave.
- Orders that were about to be placed are lost.
- Webshops that sell across time zones have no quiet moment to deploy.
- Teams end up releasing at night, with no one fresh to respond if something goes wrong.
What is a zero-downtime deployment?
The new version of the webshop is built and prepared next to the live version. Compilation, static content and checks happen before the switch, not during it. When everything is ready, the webshop switches to the new version in one step.
2Our approach
We set up the deployment process and the DevOps tooling around it per client, on their hosting and their CI/CD setup.
Built next to live
The new release is prepared separately while the current version keeps serving customers.
Prepared in advance
Static content and compilation run before the switch, so cache flushing doesn’t disrupt the live webshop.
Checked before done
Health checks confirm the release works before it is marked as complete.
Staging first
The same process runs on staging and production, so releases are tested the way they go live.
3The result
Updates and new features at Wink & See now go live during the day, without a maintenance page, lost visitors or interrupted checkouts. The same approach runs for Solo Solis, Maxifleur and Extreme Intimo, on Hypernode and with Bitbucket Pipelines.
Maintenance no longer has to happen outside office hours, so releases go out when the developers who built them are available to respond.
Also read: how we upgraded six Magento installations for Extreme Intimo with a scripted process.
?Frequently asked questions about zero-downtime deployments
Is zero downtime possible for every release?
For most releases, yes. Some database changes need a short maintenance moment; we plan those deliberately instead of taking the webshop offline for every update.
Which hosting do you need?
We run this on Hypernode, with Bitbucket Pipelines for CI/CD. The method works on most professional Magento hosting with SSH access and a proper build step.
What if a release goes wrong?
Health checks run before a release is marked as done. Because each release is built separately, switching back to the previous version is quick.
Can you set this up for a webshop another agency maintains?
Yes. We look at your current hosting and release process and set up the pipeline around it.
