Scope

This manual explains how to:

• set (or change) the update window of an environment
• schedule an upgrade to a specific version (available or planned)
• postpone (reschedule) a previously scheduled update

1) Key concepts (must know first)

Update cycles

Business Central Online follows a calendar managed by Microsoft with 2 major updates per year (approximately in April and October) + minor updates in the other months.

Update window

The update window defines the hours of the day (with a time zone) during which the environment can be updated. When an update is performed, it always starts during this window , but not necessarily at the beginning.

Important rules

• If the update does not finish by the end of the window, it is canceled to ensure operation during business hours and is automatically rescheduled 7 days later ; notification recipients are notified.
• Each environment has a default window (usually 20:00–06:00 local time of the country/region).
• Users with web clients connected during the update receive a warning before it begins.

2) Set or change the Update window (recommended before scheduling)

1. Open the Business Central administration center .
2. Go to the Environments tab.
3. Click on the Name of the environment (open details).
4. Select Update Settings → Set update window .
5. Tax:
   • Time zone
   • Start time and End time
   • Note: The window must be a minimum of 6 hours .
6. Save .

Best practice: Choose a nighttime window when the environment can be idle.

3) Schedule an update (most common scenario)

You can schedule an update to a higher version than your current one, within the current major or the next major .

Useful information on the environment page

On the environment page, these fields help you plan:

• Latest Available Version : latest version you can update to
• Next Update : Target version and date of the next update
• Update window : hours and time zone (with UTC offset)

During the update, access is blocked with the message “Service is under maintenance” .

3A) Schedule towards an Available version

1. Environments → open the details by clicking on the Name of the environment.
2. In Update Settings , on Next Update do Modify .
3. In the Schedule Environment Update panel, choose a target version marked Available .
4. Select a date within the update period of the current major environment.
5. Click Schedule Update .

Note on “today”
If you choose today but today's update window has already passed, the update will start in the next day's window .

Immediate execution (with caution)
If you want to start the update immediately, you can set:

• date = today
• Allow the update to run outside the update window = Yes
  This way, the update can start immediately and isn't automatically cut off at the end of the window (useful for very long updates). Avoid this if the environment needs to be available again by a specific time.

3B) Schedule towards a Planned (not yet released) release

Planned releases aren't yet released by Microsoft. You can select them as your Next Update : this way, Microsoft won't schedule automatic updates until that release becomes available.

Steps:

1. Environments → open environment details.
2. Update Settings → on Next Update do Modify .
3. Select the planned target version (also shows the expected month of availability).
4. Schedule Update .

When the selected version becomes available, the update is automatically scheduled after a few days with a date at least 7 days from now ; you can then change the date as for the “Available” versions.

4) How to postpone (reschedule) an update

“Postponing” basically means changing the date of the Next Update (or choosing a different target version).

4A) Postpone by changing the date (Next Update)

1. Environments → open environment details.
2. In Update Settings , under Next Update select Modify .
3. Choose the same target version (Available) and set a later date , still within the allowed update period .
4. Schedule Update .

Please note: If you set a date and then Microsoft later changes the “Next Update” target/version, the date you chose will remain valid for that target/version.

4B) Postpone by choosing a “Planned” version

If your goal is to procrastinate “until a certain build comes out,” choose a Planned version as your Next Update: this way you avoid being scheduled for an update to an unwanted older version (within the limits of the current/next major).

4C) Automatic postponement in case of incomplete update

If the update starts but does not finish within the update window , it is cancelled and automatically rescheduled 7 days later (with notification to recipients).

5) Cancel an update in progress (emergency case)

• Running updates are automatically canceled if they do not finish within the update window.
• If you need to cancel manually:
  1. Go to Operation Details (from the Environment Details or the Operations page).
  2. Click Cancel update next to the operation status.

Note : Canceling restores the state prior to the update and may take up to an hour, during which the environment will not be accessible.
Limitation : You cannot delete updates in environments that are in the Enforced Update Period for the source version.