Lite Upgrades

A lite upgrade occurs when there are incremental changes to the software that do not require any upgrade to the database. The appliance can perform a lite upgrade only if the format of the database between the existing NIOS version and the upgrade version is the same.
In general, when you upgrade from a patch release to another patch release, you are performing a lite upgrade. In a lite upgrade, members can be running a different software version than the Grid Master. You can add objects, such as zones, networks, and resource records to the members that are running an older NIOS version. Replication of zones, networks, resource records, and DHCP leases is supported between the Grid Master and members. When you want to revert a member however, you must revert the entire Grid.
Whenever possible, the appliance uses the lite upgrade mode to speed up the upgrade process. You can always schedule a lite upgrade. Note that the appliance disables the testing function for lite upgrades because you do not need to test a lite upgrade for any database translation. For information about how to schedule an upgrade, see Scheduling Upgrades in Upgrading NIOS Software.