Blue-Green Deployments in the Cloud
A blue-green deployment is a technique for releasing new software with little or no downtime and a fast way back if something goes wrong. It works by running two identical environments and switching between them.
This article explains how it protects your users during updates.
How It Works
One environment, ‘blue’, serves live traffic while the new version is deployed and tested on ‘green’. Once green is verified, traffic is switched to it. If a problem appears, you switch straight back to blue.
Why It Is Valuable
- Releases happen without taking the service offline.
- Rollback is near-instant — just switch back.
- The new version is tested in a real environment first.
The Trade-Off
Running two environments briefly costs more than one, and the approach needs care with shared data such as databases. For systems where uptime matters, the confidence it brings is well worth the modest extra cost.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this overkill for a small site?
Sometimes. For low-traffic sites a brief maintenance window may be simpler. We reserve blue-green for releases where downtime would genuinely hurt.
What about database changes?
Those need careful planning so both versions stay compatible during the switch — something we design for explicitly.
If you need a hand with any of this, your Progressive Robot delivery team is ready to help. Raise a ticket from the Support area of your client portal or speak to your account manager and we will guide you through the next steps.