Many customers have questions about how the Vault release timing works. The information below should help you understand the differences between general release and limited release vaults, and how to anticipate and find out about upcoming releases.
Definitions
- Limited (formerly “fast train”) refers to a set of Vault production servers that receive software updates approximately every 3 to 5 weeks. Limited releases include significant product enhancements and bug fixes. Limited releases are intended for customers who value speed of receiving new features over stability.
- General (formerly “slow train”) refers to a set of Vault production servers that receive software updates approximately every 4 months. General releases include all product enhancements and bug fixes that have gone into limited releases since the previous general release. General releases go through IQ and OQ validation prior to release.
- Pre-Release is an environment where customers can get a preview of new general release functionality. (See the Pre-Release FAQ for details.)
- Maintenance Release is a release that contains a typically small number of fixes for issues that are affecting customers. For general release customers, we ordinarily communicate 24 hours prior to the release that we will be applying a change and that there may be a short service disruption. A maintenance releases may also be referred to as a “hotfix”.
- System Maintenance is downtime that Veeva schedules for system infrastructure changes like server restarts. There is no regular schedule for system maintenance, but we typically communicate 1 week prior to the downtime that there will be a service disruption. During system maintenance, Vault displays the following error message, “Vault is currently unavailable due to system maintenance.”
Release Details
The following table contains information for the typical release, actual release details may vary slightly.
| Type | General Release | Limited Release | Maintenance Release | System Maintenance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Content | Significant feature enhancements and bug fixes, a roll-up of everything in the limited releases | Significant feature enhancements and bug fixes | Typically small number of fixes for bugs affecting customers | Scheduled infrastructure changes, e.g., planned server restart |
| Frequency | Every 4 months | Every 3 to 5 weeks 1 | Weekly | Not scheduled |
| Day 2 | Friday | Friday | Wednesday | Any day |
| Downtime | Up to 6 hours | Up to 4 hours | Typically none, may be up to 5 minutes. | Varies |
| Communication | 4 weeks in advance | 1 week in advance, plus a 2nd notification as the system is going down | 24+ hours and communicated at least by 12PM PT the day before 3 | 1 week in advance |
| Communication Recipients | All general release customers who opted-in on their user profile page | All limited release customers who opted-in on their user profile page | Only customers who signed up to receive maintenance release notifications; contact Customer Support to sign up. | All customers on affected PODs who opted-in on their user profile page |
| Documentation | Release Notes, Fixed Issues | Release Notes, Fixed Issues | Maintenance Releases | None |
| Validated | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
1 Frequency or day may change due to holidays.
2 We may release a Maintenance Release with less than 24 hours notice in the case of a critical or otherwise urgent product fix.
3 We may release a Maintenance Release with less than 24 hours notice in the case of a critical or otherwise urgent product fix.
Release Page & Impact Assessment Timing
Typically, the Release Impact Assessment and About the Release page become available 8 weeks before the General Release.
POD Details
AWS PODs have an ID with two numbers (VV1-19, VV2-29, etc.). The first number indicates the region: 1 for the US, 2 for Europe, 3 for Asia-Pacific.
| POD | Type | Location |
|---|---|---|
| VV1-1 | Limited Release | US – Oregon |
| VV1-2 | General Release | US – Oregon |
| VV1-26 | General Release | US – Oregon |
| VV1-3 | Limited Release | US – Virginia |
| VV1-4 | General Release | US – Virginia |
| VV1-5 | Limited Release | US – Virginia |
| VV1-6 | Limited Release | US – Virginia |
| VV1-7 | General Release | US – Virginia |
| VV1-8 | General Release | US – Virginia |
| VV1-9 | General Release | US – Virginia |
| VV1-25 | General Release | US – Virginia |
| VV1-11 | General Release | US – Virginia |
| VV1-12 | General Release | US – Virginia |
| VV1-13 | General Release | US – Virginia |
| VV1-14 | General Release | US – Virginia |
| VV1-15 | Limited Release | US – Virginia |
| VV1-16 | General Release | US – Virginia |
| VV1-17 | Limited Release | US - Virginia |
| VV1-18 | General Release | US – Oregon |
| VV1-19 | General Release | US – Oregon |
| VV1-20 | Limited Release | US – Oregon |
| VV1-21 | Limited Release | US – Oregon |
| VV1-22 | General Release | US - Virgina |
| VV1-23 | Limited Release | US – Virginia |
| VV1-24 | Limited Release | US – Virginia |
| VV1-37 | Pre-Release | US - Virginia |
| VV1-38 | General Release | US – Virginia |
| VV1-39 | Limited Release | US – Oregon |
| VV1-40 | Limited Release | US – Virginia |
| VV1-42 | Limited Release | US – Virginia |
| VV1-43 | General Release | US – Virginia |
| VV1-1045 | General Release | US – Oregon |
| VV1-1046 | General Release | US – Virginia |
| VV1-1049 | General Release | US – Virginia |
| VV1-1052 | General Release | US – West Coast |
| VV1-1053 | Limited Release | US – Virginia |
| VV1-1054 | General Release | US – Virginia |
| VV1-1055 | General Release | US – Oregon |
| VV1-1058 | General Release | US – Virginia |
| VV1-1061 | Limited Release | US – Virginia |
| VV1-1062 | General Release | US – Virginia |
| VV1-1065 | General Release | US – Virginia |
| VV1-1066 | General Release | US – Virginia |
| VV1-1067 | General Release | US – Virginia |
| VV1-1161 | General Release | US - Virginia |
| VV2-10 | General Release | Europe – Germany |
| VV2-27 | General Release | Europe – Germany |
| VV2-28 | Limited Release | Europe – Germany |
| VV2-29 | Limited Release | Europe – Germany |
| VV2-30 | General Release | Europe – Germany |
| VV2-31 | General Release | Europe – Germany |
| VV2-32 | General Release | Europe – Germany |
| VV2-35 | General Release | Europe – Germany |
| VV2-41 | General Release | Europe – Germany |
| VV2-44 | General Release | Europe – Germany |
| VV2-2050 | General Release | Europe – Frankfurt, Germany |
| VV2-2056 | General Release | Europe – Germany |
| VV2-2092 | General Release | Europe - Germany |
| VV3-33 | Limited Release | APAC – Japan |
| VV3-34 | General Release | APAC – Japan |
| VV3-3057 | General Release | APAC – Japan |
| VV3-3064 | General Release | APAC – Japan |
FAQ
Who receives the release communications?
For EDC releases, all users subscribed to Service Availability Notifications will receive release notifications.
For CDB releases, all users subscribed to the Veeva Trust Site will receive release notifications.
Who receives the maintenance release communications?
For EDC maintenance releases, all users subscribed to Service Availability Notifications will receive maintenance release notifications.
For CDB maintenance releases, all users subscribed to the Veeva Trust Site will receive maintenance release notifications.
Can users receive service communications for specific vaults?
Admins can provide any email address to receive detailed service availability information on a vault-level basis from Settings > General Settings > Service Availability Notifications. We recommend using a distribution list, as only one email address for service availability notifications is allowed per vault. Alternatively, Admins can enable Service Availability Notifications for an individual user from Admin > Business Admin > Users.
What will happen if a user is logged in at the time the system goes down?
The next time the user performs an action that sends a request to the server, the user sees an error. This means unsaved work may be lost, so it is a good idea to save and log off before the release begins. Note that for maintenance releases, there is no downtime for Vault CDMS, only for CDMS Utilities. For limited and general releases, Vault is unavailable during the maintenance window.
Can users log in while the system is down?
No, logins are disabled during releases.
Are customers notified when a release is finished?
Users can tell when a release is finished if they are able to log in successfully. Additionally, users can check the Veeva Trust Site for status updates related to Vault services.
What level of detail will we communicate regarding maintenance releases?
Users subscribed to Service Availability Notifications will receive maintenance release notifications based on their vault. A link is added to this notification which details all changes made.
Users subscribed to the Veeva Trust Site will receive maintenance release notifications based on their POD. A link is added to this notification which details all changes made.
What is a POD? How can I tell what POD I’m on?
POD stands for “point of delivery”. In simple terms, think of it as the Vault application server where your vault is hosted. PODs are located in data centers on the East Coast and West Coast of the US, in Japan, and in Germany. Admin users can confirm which POD their vaults are on from Admin > Settings > General Settings.