Update deployments

A deployment is how updates are delivered to one or more devices. Deployments are always associated with a device group. A deployment can be initiated from the API or the UI.

A device group can only have one active deployment associated with it at any given time. A deployment can be scheduled to begin in the future or start immediately.

Dynamic deployments

Deployments in Device Update for IoT Hub are dynamic in nature. Dynamic deployments empower users to move towards a set-and-forget management model by automatically deploying updates to applicable, newly provisioned devices. Any devices that are provisioned or change their group membership after a deployment is initiated will automatically receive the update deployment as long as the deployment remains active.

Deployment lifecycle

Due to their dynamic nature, deployments remain active and in-progress until they are explicitly canceled. A deployment is considered inactive and superseded if a new deployment is created targeting the same device group. A deployment can be retried for devices that might fail. Once a deployment is canceled, it cannot be reactivated.

Deployment policies

Deployment scheduling

Update deployments can be scheduled to start immediately or to start in the future at a particular time and date. This allows the user to efficiently plan device downtime so that it doesn't interfere with any other critical device workflows.

Automatic rollback policy

After deploying an update, it is critical to ensure that:

• Devices are in a clean state post-install that is, if an update partially fails, devices should be back to their last known good state.
• Device ecosystem is consistent. That is, all devices in a group should be running the same version for easier manageability.
• The rollback process is as hands-off as possible, with an option for the device operator to intervene manually only under rare, special circumstances.

To enable device operators to meet these goals, update deployments can be configured with an automatic rollback policy from the cloud. This allows you to define a rollback trigger policy by setting thresholds in terms of percentage and minimum number of devices failed. Once the threshold has been met, all the devices in the group will be rolled back to the selected update version.

Deployment monitoring

Deployment details give you information on the devices that are part of the deployment as well as their status. As the deployment progresses, devices will move from In progress to Completed or Failed state. If the deployment is Canceled, then all the devices within the deployment will also reflect the Canceled state.

The devices may move directly to a terminal state i.e. Completed or Failed state, if the deployed update is very small or the network latency is high. These states are set when the service receives the deployment status from the Device Update agent. They cannot be manually changed.

Next steps

Deploy an update