In the fast-paced technology realm, long-term support (LTS) has emerged as a vital component of product development and maintaining customer satisfaction. Unlike standard support, which often covers an initial release phase followed by a few patches, LTS provides continuous updates, security patches and maintenance over an extended timeframe. Progress will offer LTS support for its Progress Chef product portfolio going forward as a commitment and to strengthen the relationship with our customers. In this blog, we’ll discuss the advantages of long-term support for Chef.
What Is a Product Lifecycle?
A product lifecycle refers to the time it takes for a product to go from being introduced into the market until it's taken off the shelves. A product lifecycle consists of a series of milestones and activities that determine the various stages of a product release’s life cycle, starting from its first General Availability (GA) to the eventual end of life. Sometimes, there might be multiple types of releases. Releases, sometimes referred to as new versions, contain crucial product features and enhancements to existing features, along with quality and security corrections. Each release is available as a complete package to all customers with active maintenance and support services.
What Are the Different Types of Product Releases Supported by Chef?
Innovation Release
Innovation releases are designed for customers seeking a faster pace of modernization and innovation. Progress recommends using continuous integration and continuous delivery to help benefit from the faster release cadence. Innovation releases also allow all customers to explore features appearing in future LTS releases.
With the introduction of LTS in Chef, any other major release will be termed an innovation release. This release will not be time-bound and will allow Progress to release significant versions and new features without LTS.
Long-Term Supported (LTS) Release
Occasionally, Progress may choose to designate a new release as LTS. An LTS release is meant for customers who primarily look for stability and minimal change for their implementation over many years.
Having fixed timelines (at least three years) with LTS, customers can predict how long their software will be supported. Upgrade planning is more manageable for customers since they know when the next LTS version will be out.
Non-Supported (NS) Releases – Technical/Private Preview/Alpha/Beta Release
Progress may offer Technical/Private Previews containing Technical Preview Features on a Progress-hosted environment under the terms in the applicable End User License Agreement.
Progress may provide a preview of features/products that are planned to be released as future LTS features/products so that customers can validate if new features/products meet their use case and provide early feedback to Progress ahead of a general release. This release does not include CVE fixes, which Progress may choose to do.
For Chef products, once GA is available, customers must move to the GA release. We do not provide support for release candidates such as Alpha, Beta or Private Preview after the GA launch.
What Are the Different Chef Product Lifecycle Phases?
In Chef, we have the following four lifecycle phases:
General Available (GA) Phase
- This stage indicates that the product or version is in active development and/or maintenance.
- GA releases are fully supported (LTS or Innovation). If problems are found, Chef will work with customers toward an appropriate resolution if active maintenance and support services cover them.
- Chef responds to customer needs by addressing security vulnerabilities and providing regular releases to a particular version or application.
- Chef welcomes customer feature requests for the product roadmap for the application.
- Progress will evaluate GA releases for certifications of new third-party products, including new operating system versions. Only LTS releases will be considered for ports to new operating systems that were not previously supported.
Note: NO NEW FEATURES will be added, retrofitted or backported in Updates. New features/enhancements will only be introduced in subsequent releases (LTS or Innovation).
Progress recommends that customers begin all new projects with the latest release and migrate or upgrade their existing applications or environments to the latest releases as soon as possible. When it’s offered, Progress recommends that customers consider adopting the latest LTS release version.
Migration Phase (MP)
An LTS/I release enters the Migration Phase with the launch of the LTS+/I+ release. When Sunset Phase starts, in parallel Migration Phase starts, which is the transition period (at least six months) provided to customers to move to LTS+/I+. LTS and Innovation releases in the Migration Phase are fully supported and will be evaluated by Progress for certifications on new operating environments but not for ports to new hardware systems. If problems are found using product releases in the Migration Phase, Progress will work with customers to resolve them as soon as possible if their licenses are covered by active maintenance and support services.
Sunset Phase (Only for LTS releases)
An LTS release enters the Sunset Phase when both of the following conditions are met:
- When release has been launched for two or more years
- When a new LTS version has been released
The Sunset phase is not applicable to Innovation releases. Once a subsequent Innovation release becomes available, the prior Innovation release immediately moves to the EOL life cycle phase with a given period of migration phase.
If problems are found using product releases in the Sunset Phase, Progress will work with customers to resolve them as soon as possible if active maintenance and support services cover their licenses. This includes the possibility of an Update provided by Progress.
Progress does not provide standard support for the LTS release in the Sunset Phase unless the customer has opted for Extended Paid Support.
End Of Life (EOL) Phase
Progress is continually re-evaluating its product roadmaps and the existing product line-up for strong alignment with the strategy and the optimal allocation of resources to serve the customers’ evolving needs and priorities. Sometimes the difficult decision to end of life (EOL) a product is made, enabling Progress to accelerate the pace of modernization and to introduce new emerging solutions.
The following describes the general impact of a product reaching EOL:
- This stage indicates that Progress has set a date after which the version will no longer be supported or recommended for customers' use.
- Products covered by active maintenance and support services at the time of an announced EOL will continue receiving Technical Support on the same terms as Sunset product releases for the duration of the purchased maintenance and support services.
- Progress does not allow renewal of maintenance and support services for EOL products.
- Once the existing maintenance and support coverage expires, customers will not receive further improvements or fixes from Progress, and no new support cases can be opened. The existing product documentation, knowledge base articles, and online user community discussions will remain the only support channels.
What Are the Advantages of LTS for Chef Product Releases?
Long-term support for Chef products provides advantages such as:
Predictability from Fixed Timelines
Upgrading Chef products for many customers is time-consuming and complex and may require extensive testing and certification internally. With LTS, customers will have a declared minimum lifecycle for them to be able to better plan for upgrades and sunset
Reduced Risk
An LTS is designed to provide a stable platform. It minimizes the chances of encountering compatibility or disruptive issues caused by rapid software updates.
Migration and Extended Support
LTS releases will provide customers with free support during the migration window, which will start with the sunset phase. With the release of LTS+, customers who want to stay in the migration phase longer than the declared support window can also purchase extended support (for one year).
For more information about Chef LTS, please reach out to your account managers.
