Key Differences Between Upgrade Plans and Upgrade Templates
Upgrade Templates
Upgrade Templates are agentic, reusable workflows that serve as blueprints for upgrades:- Purpose: Generic, environment-scoped workflows that can be used across multiple clusters
- Scope: Generated for an entire environment (e.g., dev, staging, prod)
- Content: Contains tested sequences of steps and stages for safely upgrading clusters or Projects
- Reusability: Can be used to create multiple Upgrade Plans for different clusters
- Customization: Can be reviewed, customized with custom steps, and approved before use
- Status Lifecycle:
Upgrade Plans
Upgrade Plans are instantiated, cluster-specific workflows created from approved Templates:- Purpose: Specific execution workflows tailored to individual clusters
- Scope: Generated for a specific cluster by instantiating an approved Template
- Content: Inherits all Template information PLUS cluster-specific details like:
- Cluster name and region
- Node Group details
- Which applications are using deprecated/removed APIs
- Application client changes in Projects
- Application misconfigurations (like incorrect Pod Disruption Budgets)
- Execution: Ready-to-execute workflows with step-by-step instructions
- Status Lifecycle:
The Relationship
- Templates are created first - either requested directly or derived from Upgrade Assessments
- Templates are reviewed and approved - teams can add custom steps, comments, and approve them
- Plans are instantiated from approved Templates - each Plan is customized for a specific cluster
- Plans are executed - providing the actual upgrade workflow for individual clusters