How to deploy a new version of binary to a server when it's already running?

Question

I'm trying to put a new version of my webserver (which runs as a binary) on an amazon ec2 instance. The problem is that I have to shut the process down each time to do so. Does anyone know a workaround where I could upload it while the process is still running?

Answer 1

Even if you could, you don't want to. What you want to do is:

1. Have at least 2 machines running behind a load balancer
2. Take one of them out of the LB pool
3. Shutdown the processes on it
4. Replace them (binaries, resources, config, whatever)
5. Bring them back up
6. Then put it back in the pool.
7. Do the same for the other machine.

Make sure your chances are backward compatible, as there will be a short period of time when both versions run concurrently.