Mitigating network impact of disruptive device changes

An apparatus comprising:

• a network interface unit configured to communicate with a plurality of network elements in one or more networks;
• and
• a processor configured to:
• obtain, via the network interface unit, a request to install an update on the plurality of network elements, wherein installing the update in each respective network element of the plurality of network elements removes the respective network element from operation for an outage duration of time;
• identify at least one set of one or more critical network elements based on business factors associated with removing the one or more critical network elements from the one or more networks;
• identify one or more non-critical network elements that are similar to the one or more critical network elements based on a previous outage duration of time for installing a previous upgrade;
• obtain timing information related to installing the update on the one or more non-critical network elements;
• generate an update plan including timing for installing the update on the one or more critical network elements, wherein the timing is based on the timing information related to installing the update on the one or more non-critical network elements;
• and
• direct the one or more critical network elements via the network interface to install the update according to the timing of the update plan.

One or more non-transitory computer readable storage media encoded with computer executable instructions operable to cause a processor in a network controller to:

• obtain a request to install an update on a plurality of network elements in one or more networks, wherein installing the update in each respective network element of the plurality of network elements removes the respective network element from operation for an outage duration of time;
• identify at least one set of one or more critical network elements based on business factors associated with removing the one or more critical network elements from the one or more networks;
• identify one or more non-critical network elements that are similar to the one or more critical network elements based on a previous outage duration of time for installing a previous upgrade;
• obtain timing information related to installing the update on the one or more non-critical network elements;
• generate an update plan including timing for installing the update on the one or more critical network elements, wherein the timing is based on the timing information related to installing the update on the one or more non-critical network elements;
• and
• direct the one or more critical network elements to install the update according to the timing of the update plan.