Zendesk will perform scheduled database maintenance between June 25 and September 2, 2024 as part of a critical version upgrade to the “AWS Aurora” software. This will affect database clusters in all Zendesk regions and products between the dates previously mentioned, with different Pods affected in assigned timings listed below.

Most databases can be upgraded without any disruption to service, and these changes will be rolled out through a phased implementation during the allotted maintenance periods.

Affected products: All products

Important: A small percentage of database upgrades will cause some service impact. These upgrades will occur throughout the specific designated time windows as shown in the table below.
Customers affected: All customers across All Pods using All products, within different dates and times listed below. Please refer to the "Expected behavior" for further information.

Date

POD

Start Time

End Time

Tue - June 25, 2024

26 :white_check_mark:
(part 1*)

01:00 UTC  /
6:00 PM PDT (June 24)

02:00 UTC /
7:00 PM PDT (June 24)

Wed - June 26, 2024

26 :white_check_mark:
(part 2*)

01:00 UTC  /
6:00 PM PDT (June 25)

04:00 UTC /
9:00 PM PDT (June 25)

Wed - July 10, 2024

15 :white_check_mark:

17:00 UTC /
10:00 AM PDT

23:00 UTC /
4:00 PM PDT

Wed - July 17, 2024

13 :white_check_mark:

07:00 UTC /
12:00 AM PDT

12:00 UTC / 
5:00 AM PDT

Wed - July 17, 2024

18 :white_check_mark:

19:00 UTC  /
12:00 PM PDT 

01:00 UTC (July 18) /
6:00 PM PDT

Thu - July 18, 2024

19 :white_check_mark:

07:00 UTC /
12:00 AM PDT

12:00 UTC / 
5:00 AM PDT

Wed - July 24, 2024

23 :white_check_mark:

07:00 UTC /
12:00 AM PDT

12:00 UTC / 
5:00 AM PDT

Wed - July 24, 2024

29 :white_check_mark:

19:00 UTC /
12:00 PM PDT 

01:00 UTC (July 25) /
6:00 PM PDT

Thu - July 25, 2024

20 :white_check_mark:

07:00 UTC /
12:00 AM PDT

12:00 UTC / 
5:00 AM PDT

Wed - July 31, 2024

27 :white_check_mark:

07:00 UTC / 
12:00 AM PDT

12:00 UTC / 
5:00 AM PDT

Wed - July 31, 2024

28 :white_check_mark:

19:00 UTC /
12:00 PM PDT 

01:00 UTC (Aug 1) /
6:00 PM PDT

Wed - August 7, 2024

30 :white_check_mark:

17:00 UTC /
10:00 AM PDT

18:00 UTC / 
11:00 AM PDT

Wed - August 7, 2024

25 :white_check_mark:

17:00 UTC /
10:00 AM PDT

23:00 UTC /
4:00 PM PDT

Wed - August 14, 2024

31 :white_check_mark:

19:00 UTC /
12:00 PM PDT

20:00 UTC / 
1:00 PM PDT

Wed - August 14, 2024

17 :white_check_mark:

19:00 UTC /
12:00 PM PDT

01:00 UTC (Aug 15) /
6:00 PM PDT

Sat - August 24, 2024

All Pods :white_check_mark:

17:00 UTC /
10:00 AM PDT

21:00 UTC / 
2:00 PM PDT

*The subset of Owners and Admins in Pod 26 that will be affected by different windows will be notified via a service notification banner in the Support agent interface, containing their specific relevant dates. All other Owners and Admins will also see a banner up to 2 weeks prior to their Pod's window.

Expected behavior

During the maintenance window, customers with data in the associated Pod may experience intermittent errors or performance degradation. Any features not actively being upgraded at that moment will behave normally. These issues will be brief and specific to certain features. Here are a few key points to note:

  • Intermittent errors: Errors should only affect specific features when a related database is being upgraded. Any single issue should resolve within 5 minutes.
    • The most likely errors customers may encounter are 4xx or 5xx (internal server) errors.
  • Feature-specific impact: The term “features” is used to clarify that at no point should an entire product go down. Instead, only certain tasks within a feature may experience errors.
  • Database upgrades: As different databases are upgraded, the specific tasks that may cause errors will change. However, no more than a couple of databases will be down at any one time.
  • No data will be lost due to this process, and service will resume seamlessly once the upgrade completes.
  • Outside of the specific windows outlined in the table above, customers should not experience any service impact.

Note: The end date for this maintenance is set for September 2 to allow time for any necessary changes or adjustments after the last scheduled window on August 14.

What do customers have to do?

Customers are not required to take any action. Since Zendesk features will be upgraded incrementally, only small portions of Zendesk’s capability will be offline at any given time. Here are some important points to keep in mind:

  • Service availability: Zendesk products and services overall should remain active and functional throughout the maintenance period.
  • Intermittent impact: While there may be multiple instances of brief errors, they will only affect specific tasks within features. Depending on the tasks a user attempts at specific times, it’s entirely possible to work through the entire window without experiencing any errors.

What if something happens during a maintenance window?

Zendesk teams have thoroughly tested the tasks we need to perform to ensure customers feel minimal impact. However, due to the size and scope of this change, we are notifying customers of the “worst-case” potential for disruption.

Our product and engineering teams will closely monitor all related services during this time. If an unexpected event occurs, our teams will swiftly work to resolve any issues. If customers notice any of the following, please contact our Support team:

  • Errors that persist for more than 5 minutes
  • General system outages or inability to use Zendesk
  • Any evidence of data loss or corruption

Why we’re doing this

Zendesk utilizes the “AWS Aurora” software as part of our cloud storage platform. This software is regularly updated to improve performance, features, and security/reliability.

Zendesk must periodically upgrade databases to use a newer version of the Aurora software in order to reap these benefits and ensure we can offer the best available infrastructure support.

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