When your veterinary practice management software needs a major upgrade, you have two options. You can shut everything down, cross your fingers, and hope it goes smoothly. Or you can plan ahead so the clinic never skips a beat, even while the upgrade is happening behind the scenes.
We went with option two.
The Challenge: A Major Software Upgrade on a Live System
One of our veterinary clients here on Oahu runs AviMark, a practice management system that handles patient records, scheduling, prescriptions, and billing. Their AviMark software needed a significant version upgrade, and the vendor's support team would be handling the database migration remotely.
That kind of upgrade isn't something you rush through during a lunch break. Database upgrades can take hours, and if something goes wrong mid-process, you could be stuck with a system that doesn't work at all. For a busy animal hospital where staff need constant access to patient histories and treatment records, that's not a risk worth taking.
The Plan: Failover First, Upgrade Second
We run this clinic's AviMark server as a virtual machine (a VM is basically a computer running inside another computer, which gives you a lot of flexibility). Their setup includes two physical host servers, HOST1 and HOST2, with the primary AviMark VM living on HOST1 and a replica standing by on HOST2.
Here's how we set the stage before the vendor's team ever logged in:
Locked down fresh backups. We ran manual backups on both HOST1 and HOST2 and confirmed every one completed successfully. Automated backups are great for daily operations, but before a major change, you want to verify with your own eyes.
Failed over to the backup server. We powered up the replica VM on HOST2, confirmed its static IP was in place, and tested AviMark access from multiple workstations around the clinic. Staff kept working without interruption.
Isolated the primary server for the upgrade. With the clinic safely running on HOST2, we disconnected the network adapter on HOST1's VM and took it fully offline. We also created a checkpoint (essentially a snapshot of the VM's exact state) so we could roll back in minutes if the upgrade hit a wall.
Removed the replication link. We temporarily broke the sync between HOST1 and HOST2. You don't want a freshly upgraded database trying to replicate to a server still running the old version.
Disabled automatic restarts. Our managed services setup includes scheduled reboots and maintenance jobs. We paused all of those so nothing would interfere mid-upgrade.
The Upgrade: Smooth With a Couple of Speed Bumps
The vendor's support engineer connected remotely, and we transferred the necessary upgrade files from the host directly to the isolated VM. The actual database migration ran without major issues.
There were a couple of brief hiccups with the remote desktop interface during the process, but they resolved on their own and didn't affect the upgrade itself. Once the database migration finished, the vendor walked through settings adjustments and verified recent patient entries with the clinic manager to make sure nothing was lost or corrupted.
Bringing Everything Back Online
With the upgrade confirmed good, we reversed the isolation steps in order:
Powered off the temporary HOST2 VM and removed its network adapter so there was no IP conflict
Powered on the upgraded VM on HOST1, reconnected its network adapter, and confirmed the static IP was responding on the LAN and WAN
Restarted all terminal servers so every workstation picked up the new AviMark version
Ran test prints and verified recent records with the clinic manager
Re-enabled automated backups on both hosts
Double-checked all VM settings the following day to make sure everything was back to its standard configuration
We also stayed on standby through the next morning's business hours, just in case anything surfaced once the full staff was back at their stations. Nothing did.
Why This Approach Matters
The clinic's staff didn't have to come in early, stay late, or work around a broken system the next day. They used AviMark normally the entire time. The upgrade happened in the background, after hours, with a safety net at every step.
That's the difference between having a plan and just hoping for the best. Virtualization and proper failover setups aren't just for big corporations. Any business running critical software on a local server can benefit from this kind of setup, whether you're a vet clinic in Kailua, an accounting firm in downtown Honolulu, or a retail shop in Kapolei.
Is Your Business Ready for Its Next Big Update?
If you've been putting off a software upgrade because you're worried about downtime, or if your current IT setup doesn't have a failover plan at all, that's worth fixing before you need it. Give us a call and we'll walk you through what a proper setup looks like for your situation. You can reach the Cowabunga! Computers team at 808-468-4416 or drop us a line at https://www.smartcows.com/contact.