Maintenance Updates

Overview

Maintenance updates allow you to communicate progress during planned downtime, letting users know how the maintenance is proceeding.

Adding a Maintenance Update

To update an ongoing maintenance window:

Navigate to your Status Page
Click Maintenance
Select the active maintenance event
Click Add Update or similar button

Update Fields

Status:

Scheduled - Not yet started
In Progress - Currently underway
Completed - Finished successfully

Message:

Current progress
Any delays or issues
Updated completion estimate
What you’re working on now

Update Timeline

Provide updates at key milestones:

Before Maintenance Starts

24 Hours Before:

Reminder: Scheduled maintenance begins tomorrow at 2:00 AM UTC.
Website and API will be unavailable for approximately 2 hours.

1 Hour Before:

Maintenance begins in 1 hour (2:00 AM UTC). All services will be
temporarily unavailable while we upgrade our database servers.

During Maintenance

When Starting:

Status: In Progress
Maintenance has begun. Database servers are being upgraded.
Expected completion: 4:00 AM UTC.

Mid-Maintenance:

Status: In Progress
Upgrade is 50% complete. Proceeding as planned. Still expecting
completion by 4:00 AM UTC.

If Delayed:

Status: In Progress
We're experiencing a minor delay. New estimated completion: 4:30 AM UTC.
We'll provide another update in 30 minutes.

After Completion

Successful Completion:

Status: Completed
Maintenance completed successfully at 3:45 AM UTC (15 minutes ahead
of schedule). All services are now fully operational. Thank you for
your patience.

Early Completion:

Status: Completed
Great news! Maintenance completed ahead of schedule at 3:30 AM UTC.
All systems are operational and performing well.

Update Frequency

Normal Maintenance (< 2 hours)

Before start: 24 hours and 1 hour reminders
At start: Immediate update
During: Update if longer than 1 hour
At completion: Final confirmation

Extended Maintenance (> 2 hours)

Before start: 1 week, 24 hours, and 1 hour reminders
At start: Immediate update
During: Every 60-90 minutes
At completion: Final confirmation with summary

For maintenance longer than 1 hour, provide progress updates every hour so users know things are proceeding as planned.

Best Practices

Start and End on Time

Begin exactly when scheduled. If you finish early, that’s a bonus. Running late frustrates users.

Communicate Delays Immediately

If maintenance will take longer than expected, tell users right away and provide a new estimate.

Provide Progress Indicators

“50% complete” or “2 of 4 servers migrated” helps users understand how much longer to wait.

Confirm When Services Resume

Don’t assume users will check. Explicitly state “All services are now operational.”

Thank Users

Acknowledge the inconvenience and thank users for their patience.

Post-Maintenance Verification

After completing, verify all services are working before posting final update.

Handling Complications

Unexpected Issues During Maintenance

Status: In Progress
We've encountered an unexpected issue during the database migration.
Our team is working to resolve it. We'll provide an update within
30 minutes with a revised completion time.

Rolling Back

Status: In Progress
Due to compatibility issues discovered during testing, we're rolling
back the changes. Services will be restored to their previous state.
Expected completion: 3:30 AM UTC.

Converting to Incident

If maintenance uncovers critical issues:

Update: During maintenance, we discovered a critical issue that requires
immediate attention. We're converting this to an incident and will
provide updates as we work toward resolution.

Then create an incident to continue communication.

Communication Templates

Infrastructure Upgrade

Pre-Start (24h): Reminder - Server upgrade tomorrow at 2 AM UTC
Start: Server upgrade in progress. Services temporarily unavailable.
Progress: Upgrade 75% complete. On schedule for 4 AM completion.
Complete: Servers upgraded successfully. All services operational.

Database Maintenance

Pre-Start (1h): Database optimization begins in 1 hour
Start: Database optimization in progress. Read-only mode enabled.
Progress: Index rebuild complete. Running optimization checks.
Complete: Database optimization complete. Full service restored.

Security Updates

Pre-Start (24h): Critical security updates scheduled for tomorrow
Start: Applying security patches. Brief service interruption expected.
Complete: Security updates applied successfully. Services fully operational.

What to Include in Updates

Do Include:

Current status and progress
What you’re doing right now
Estimated completion time
Any changes to the plan
Impact on services

Don’t Include:

Internal team discussions
Technical implementation details
Internal tool names or ticket IDs
Blame or excuses
Unconfirmed information

Notification Behavior

When you add a maintenance update:

Status page is updated immediately
Subscribers receive notifications for status changes
Timeline is updated publicly
Status badge may update
Calendar feeds are updated

Not all updates trigger notifications. Typically only status changes (Scheduled → In Progress → Completed) generate notifications to avoid alert fatigue.

Completing Maintenance

Final update should include:

Confirmation of completion
Actual vs estimated duration
Service status verification
Benefits delivered
Thank you message

Example:

Status: Completed

Maintenance completed at 3:50 AM UTC. All database servers have been
successfully upgraded and are performing excellently. Initial tests
show a 40% improvement in query performance.

Thank you for your patience during this maintenance window.

Next Steps

Schedule Maintenance

Back to maintenance scheduling

Manage Incidents

Handle unplanned outages

Incident Updates

Communicate during incidents

Notifications

Configure update notifications

Getting Started

Monitoring

Status Pages

Incidents & Maintenance

Notifications

Organization

Overview

Adding a Maintenance Update

Update Fields

Update Timeline

Before Maintenance Starts

During Maintenance

After Completion

Update Frequency

Normal Maintenance (< 2 hours)

Extended Maintenance (> 2 hours)

Best Practices

Handling Complications

Unexpected Issues During Maintenance

Rolling Back

Converting to Incident

Communication Templates

Infrastructure Upgrade

Database Maintenance

Security Updates

What to Include in Updates

Notification Behavior

Completing Maintenance

Next Steps

Schedule Maintenance

Manage Incidents

Incident Updates

Notifications

​Overview

​Adding a Maintenance Update

​Update Fields

​Update Timeline

​Before Maintenance Starts

​During Maintenance

​After Completion

​Update Frequency

​Normal Maintenance (< 2 hours)

​Extended Maintenance (> 2 hours)

​Best Practices

​Handling Complications

​Unexpected Issues During Maintenance

​Rolling Back

​Converting to Incident

​Communication Templates

​Infrastructure Upgrade

​Database Maintenance

​Security Updates

​What to Include in Updates

​Notification Behavior

​Completing Maintenance

​Next Steps

Schedule Maintenance

Manage Incidents

Incident Updates

Notifications

Overview

Adding a Maintenance Update

Update Fields

Update Timeline

Before Maintenance Starts

During Maintenance

After Completion

Update Frequency

Normal Maintenance (< 2 hours)

Extended Maintenance (> 2 hours)

Best Practices

Handling Complications

Unexpected Issues During Maintenance

Rolling Back

Converting to Incident

Communication Templates

Infrastructure Upgrade

Database Maintenance

Security Updates

What to Include in Updates

Notification Behavior

Completing Maintenance

Next Steps