The Familiar Ping of a Software Update

“Software Update: version X.XX is available to install on your phone”

We’re all too familiar with seeing this message on our personal devices. But what happens in the enterprise environment when updates are released? For self-hosted customers who manage software updates themselves, there are far more considerations and complexities.

Why Staying Current Is Crucial in Observability

In the world of observability, staying current matters. For self-hosted customers, though, this isn’t always straightforward.

At Instana, many enterprise customers use the self-hosted (or on-premise) editions of the product. The reasons for choosing Instana self-hosted vary, with the most prominent reasons relating to control and security. However, that control brings a challenge: managing updates independently. Whether it’s due to competing priorities or limited team bandwidth, self-hosted teams can face challenges updating immediately after every release.

When Version Lag Becomes a Problem

When self-hosted instances fall behind, the gap between the customer’s experience and the full value of Instana begins to widen. This makes it harder for customers to see and use Instana’s latest features, such as screen rendering times for mobile performance monitoring. Customers may also become more prone to vulnerabilities by not receiving critical software fixes in recent updates.

From a product perspective, version lag is as much an experience issue as it is a technical one. Supporting multiple older versions can increase complexity across our support teams. And for customers, the longer they wait to update, the more difficult it can become to do so within a short timeframe.

How Instana Self-Hosted Can Help

That is why the Instana team developed Self-Hosted Standard Edition with these concerns in mind. We believe helping customers stay current starts with reducing friction. We considered how customers can approach their self-hosted updates and better align with their internal update policies. To create a more seamless self-hosted update experience, Self-Hosted Standard Edition requires just one command to update all components and data stores. With less time spent managing updates, enterprise teams can focus on what matters most: building, monitoring, and shipping faster.

Moving Forward, Faster—Together

Ultimately, reducing version lag is a win-win. Instana self-hosted customers get a more reliable experience with the latest features, and our teams can focus on building more value for customers to adopt.

Let’s unlock the full value of Instana effortlessly. Learn more about Instana more here — and happy 300th release to Instana!

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