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What are Chkk Upgrade Assessments?

Chkk Upgrade Assessments are high-level reports that map the scope, impact, and dependencies of upgrading a cluster—along with its Cloud Native Projects and application services—to the next minor version. They serve as the foundational analysis that helps teams understand what’s involved in an upgrade before creating detailed execution plans.

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Key Characteristics

1. Comprehensive Mapping
  • Scope Analysis: Identifies all components that need to be upgraded (control plane, nodes, Cloud Native Projects, application services, operators)
  • Impact Assessment: Evaluates the potential effects of upgrading each component
  • Dependency Mapping: Maps relationships and dependencies between different infrastructure layers
2. Early Risk Identification Upgrade Assessments surface critical information including:
  • Required version hops: Which components need multi-step upgrades
  • Deprecated APIs: Applications using APIs that will be removed
  • Potential blockers: Issues that could prevent successful upgrades
  • Breaking changes: Configuration or behavioral changes to expect
  • EOL risks: Components approaching end-of-life status
3. Multi-Layer Analysis Upgrade Assessments analyze dependencies across:
  • Platform Layer: Control plane and nodes
  • Application Layer: Cloud Native Projects, application services, and operators
  • Cross-layer compatibility: How changes in one layer affect others

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How Upgrade Assessments Work

1. Generation Process
  • Assessments can be requested for specific clusters through the Chkk Dashboard
  • Or via CLI (local mode): device‑code login; no in‑cluster install; request and view an Upgrade Assessment from the terminal (use when you want a quick read without installing anything)
  • They analyze the current state of your infrastructure
  • Agentic analysis identifies upgrade requirements and potential issues
2. Status Lifecycle
  • Waiting for Assessment → Being generated
  • Available → Ready for review and download
3. Output and Usage
  • Assessments can be downloaded as Markdown files for team sharing
  • CLI output is Markdown today; JSON schema and flags are available/coming for automation and dashboards
  • They provide the foundation for requesting Upgrade Templates
  • Teams can use them to gauge upgrade readiness and remediate issues early
4. Operationalization (when to run):
  • Planning (months ahead): T‑shirt size platform work; decide what’s delegable vs. needs Staff/Principal review; create app‑team work items (e.g., remove deprecated/removed APIs, fix PDBs)
  • Readiness tracking (weekly): run a CI/cron job to generate a fresh Upgrade Assessment and publish to team dashboards/Wikis for continuous visibility
5. Expectations Upgrade Assessments optimize for speed and planning‑grade signal (no pre‑verification). Use an Upgrade Template or Upgrade Plan for execution‑grade workflows.

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Key Benefits

1. Early Planning
  • Allows teams to understand upgrade complexity before starting
  • Helps with resource allocation and timeline planning
  • Enables proactive issue resolution
2. Risk Mitigation
  • Identifies potential blockers before they cause problems
  • Surfaces deprecated APIs that need attention
  • Highlights compatibility issues between components
3. Team Coordination
  • Provides a shared understanding of upgrade scope
  • Enables delegation of upgrade tasks across Platform Team members
  • Facilitates proactive, frictionless coordination with Application Teams

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Integration with Chkk Upgrade Copilot

Upgrade Assessments are one of the three complementary capabilities of Chkk Upgrade Copilot:
  1. Upgrade Assessments → Map scope, impact, and dependencies
  2. Upgrade Templates → Provide detailed, pre-verified workflows
  3. Upgrade Plans → Instantiate templates for specific cluster execution
Upgrade Templates/Plans are preverified against a Digital Twin of your running configuration and take longer to generate; use them closer to execution.
This comprehensive approach ensures teams can scope effort and delegate work early, making upgrades faster, safer, and more predictable.