Cloud service selectively switches tunnels for smooth maintenance

A non-transitory computer readable medium containing instructions that when executed by at least one processor cause the at least one processor to perform operations for altering network connections during maintenance periods, the operations comprising:

• monitoring via a cloud service, a network of distributed servers and client devices, wherein the monitoring includes maintaining records of software upgrade schedules for the distributed servers and existing tunnels between the client devices and the distributed servers;
• receiving at the cloud service a request to upgrade software on a particular server among the distributed servers;
• in response to the request, scheduling the software upgrade;
• accessing the records to identify an existing tunnel between a client device and the particular server;
• prior to the scheduled software upgrade, accessing the records to identify an alternative server to which existing tunnel traffic can be directed during the software upgrade;
• and
• following identification of the alternative server and prior to the scheduled software upgrade, rerouting network traffic flow from the client device to the alternative server to thereby avoid a communication blip.

A system for altering network connections during maintenance periods, the system comprising;

• At least one processor configured to:
• monitor via a cloud service, a network of distributed servers and client devices, wherein the monitoring includes maintaining records of software upgrade schedules for the distributed servers and existing tunnels between the client devices and the distributed servers;
• receive at the cloud service a request to upgrade software on a particular server among the distributed servers;
• in response to the request, schedule the software upgrade;
• access the records to identify an existing tunnel between a client device and the particular server;
• prior to the scheduled software upgrade, access the records to identify an alternative server to which existing tunnel traffic can be directed during the software upgrade;
• and
• following identification of the alternative server and prior to the scheduled software upgrade, reroute network traffic flow from the client device to the alternative server to thereby avoid a communication blip.

A method for altering network connections during maintenance periods, the method comprising:

• monitoring via a cloud service, a network of distributed servers and client devices, wherein the monitoring includes maintaining records of software upgrade schedules for the distributed servers and existing tunnels between the client devices and the distributed servers;
• receiving at the cloud service a request to upgrade software on a particular server among the distributed servers;
• in response to the request, scheduling the software upgrade;
• accessing the records to identify an existing tunnel between a client device and the particular server;
• prior to the scheduled software upgrade, accessing the records to identify an alternative server to which existing tunnel traffic can be directed during the software upgrade;
• and
• following identification of the alternative server and prior to the scheduled software upgrade, rerouting network traffic flow from the client device to the alternative server to thereby avoid a communication blip.