Software (Change) Release Cycle

At Surfly, we prioritise rapid development and deployment to maintain a secure platform. Changes undergo a user-acceptance cycle, allowing Enterprise clients and Partners to test future Production versions on our specialized environment (https://uat.surfly.com/) up to two weeks prior to release.

Our engineering teams work in 2-week sprints, releasing two types of changes.

1. Hot-fixes: Critical updates or a security patch. These go directly to the production.

2. Major Release: At the end of every two-week sprint, continuous product development, bug fixes, and feature enhancements are iteratively developed, internally tested, and released to UAT. This allows evaluation of upcoming changes and provides an opportunity for feedback alignment.

3. During the Major Releases, the legacy version (read further below) is updated with the previous Major Release's version.

The release flow for both types of changes is illustrated in the diagram below for two consecutive sprints. By following the sequence of numbered red dots, you should gain a clear understanding. If you have any questions or doubts, please don't hesitate to reach out to our support team.

Ability to fallback to legacy version instantly

We understand that testing upcoming versions may not always be feasible for all users, and unforeseen regressions could occur with new releases. To help with this, we have implemented a safety net for such scenarios. After completing the user-acceptance cycle and releasing a new version to production, we also deploy the outgoing major release’s version to a dedicated set of legacy servers in each region, currently AMER & EU.

This safety measure allows users to switch back to the legacy version instantly if they encounter any issues with the newly released version. You can do this easily through the "selected_regions" option available at https://app.surfly.com/profile/options/session_functionality/.

It is crucial to keep the IP address(es) of the legacy servers whitelisted, if your network has IP based rules in place for using Surfly. By maintaining these IP addresses on the whitelist, you ensure uninterrupted access to Surfly even if you need to revert to the previous version due to unforeseen issues with the latest release.

If you ever encounter a problem with the latest release, simply inform us about the issue, and we will begin working on a fix promptly while you stay on fallback version. Our priority is to ensure a seamless experience for our users, and your feedback plays a crucial role in helping us achieve that goal.