How OrbGIS handles maintenance, updates and downtime
How often we update OrbGIS, what a release means for your work, how backups and rollback work, and what changes with a service agreement.
OrbGIS is delivered as software as a service, or SaaS. That means you use it in the browser, and we run everything behind it: the servers, the updates, the backups and the security. There is nothing for you to install, host or patch. Your team can focus on the maps and the data, and leave the IT infrastructure to us. This article explains what that looks like in practice.
The short answer#
- Small updates, often. We ship improvements continuously, usually several times a week, rather than in a big quarterly release. Small changes are easier to test and easier to undo.
- Most releases are invisible. You get the new version on your next page load. Short interruptions of a few seconds can happen.
- Every release is tested before it reaches you. The exact build that goes live has already passed automated tests and run in our staging environment.
- Rollback takes minutes. Database changes are applied as one atomic step after a safety copy, and any release can be rolled back by redeploying the previous version.
- With a service agreement, interrupting maintenance is scheduled outside Swedish business hours with at least 5 business days' notice.
What a release means for you#
In the browser. Nothing to install, nothing to do. When the web app is updated, you get the new version the next time the page loads, and nothing you were working on is lost.
Uploads and exports in progress. We make sure a release does not disturb them. An upload or export that is running is allowed to finish, and you never end up with half a layer.
The QGIS plugin. The OrbGIS Connector is released together with the platform from our own plugin repository, so the two never drift apart. QGIS checks for updates by itself, and you accept the update inside QGIS like any other plugin. See the plugin documentation.
Published apps. Dashboards, Journeys and Surveys you have published keep working through a release, the same way the portal does.
How we keep releases safe#
Every update is tested before it reaches you. It runs first in a test copy of the platform, and what worked there is exactly what goes live. That means a new version does not affect your maps, your data or who has access to what.
Your data is protected during every update. We take a safety copy first, and changes to the database either go through completely or not at all, so your data is never left half-updated. If a release turns out to have a problem anyway, we are back on the previous version within minutes.
Backups and recovery#
| Without a service agreement | With a service agreement | |
|---|---|---|
| Backups | Daily, 7-day retention, stored separately from the production servers | Continuous database and object protection, 90-day retention, encrypted off-site copy in Sweden |
| If we ever have to restore | Best effort, no promised limits | You lose at most 10 minutes of work¹, and the platform is back within 4 hours² |
¹ If the database ever had to be restored, the most you could lose is what was changed in the last 10 minutes before the failure.
² OrbGIS would be running again within 4 hours of us starting the restore. We practice restores on real backups, so both limits are tested, not just promised.
Planned maintenance windows#
Most releases need no window at all. When maintenance does need to interrupt the platform, such as an infrastructure upgrade or a database version bump, this is what applies:
| Without a service agreement | With a service agreement | |
|---|---|---|
| Interruptions | Short interruptions can happen without advance notice | Scheduled outside Swedish business hours |
| Notice | None required | At least 5 business days |
| Dedicated deployments | Not available | An agreed maintenance window |
Swedish business hours are 08:00–17:00 Europe/Stockholm on weekdays, excluding Swedish public holidays. Scheduled windows are excluded from the uptime measurement.
When something breaks anyway#
- Uptime. A 99% monthly uptime target as standard. With a service agreement, a contractual 99.9% monthly SLA measured across core platform services, with service credits if we miss it.
- Response times. As standard, support is by email during Swedish business hours and we aim to answer within 3 business days. With a service agreement, a P1 (platform unavailable or critical production impact) is answered within 1 business hour, a P2 within 4 business hours and a P3 the next business day. 24/7 P1 coverage is available as an option. Response means a human acknowledgement and initial assessment, not resolution.
- Who answers. The team that builds the platform, not a first-line desk. A service agreement adds proactive monitoring, a named technical owner and a quarterly service review.
Changes to features, pricing and terms#
- Features. If we discontinue the platform or a material feature, you get reasonable advance notice to export your data. Exports are free, at any time, in open formats, see the export documentation.
- Pricing. Changes are announced 30 days ahead as standard, and at least 3 months before renewal under a service agreement.
- Terms. Always current at orbgis.se/legal/terms, with a "last updated" date. Material changes are announced by email or in the app.
- Your input. Feature requests are welcome from everyone. A service agreement adds roadmap input, feature prioritization and early access to new capabilities.
Quick answers for the operations review#
| The question | The short answer |
|---|---|
| How often do you release? | Continuously, usually several times a week, in small releases. |
| Will a release interrupt our work? | Usually not. Short interruptions of a few seconds can happen. Uploads and exports in progress are not disturbed. |
| Do we get advance notice? | Not for routine releases. With a service agreement, interrupting maintenance is scheduled outside business hours with at least 5 business days' notice. |
| Is every release tested first? | Yes. Every update runs in a test copy of the platform first, and exactly that version goes live. |
| What if a release goes wrong? | We are back on the previous version within minutes. Your data is never left half-updated. |
| How is the database backed up? | Daily with 7-day retention as standard. With a service agreement: continuous, 90-day retention, off-site copy in Sweden, at most 10 minutes of work lost and back within 4 hours if a restore is ever needed. |
| What uptime do you commit to? | A 99% target as standard. A 99.9% SLA with service credits under the service agreement. |
| How fast do you respond to an outage? | Standard: email support, 3 business days. Service agreement: P1 within 1 business hour, 24/7 as an option. |
| Do we update the QGIS plugin ourselves? | QGIS finds the update in our plugin repository by itself. Accept it inside QGIS. |
This article describes how we operate OrbGIS today. The contractual commitments are the ones in our standard terms and, where signed, the service agreement, which you can read in full from the pricing calculator on our start page.
Want the maintenance policy written into an agreement with your organization's name on it? Book a meeting and we will walk through it together with you.
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