---
title: Planning the PingGateway upgrade
description: Complete key planning tasks before upgrading PingGateway, including reviewing release notes, checking requirements, planning downtime, backing up, and preparing a rollback strategy
component: pinggateway
version: 2026
page_id: pinggateway:upgrade:upgrade-planning
canonical_url: https://docs.pingidentity.com/pinggateway/2026/upgrade/upgrade-planning.html
revdate: 2025-04-01T17:53:34Z
---

# Planning the PingGateway upgrade

Do these planning tasks **before** you start an upgrade:

| Planning task                              | Description                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |
| ------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Find the upgrade path                      | Refer to [Upgrading PingGateway](migrate.html) to see if you need a drop-in upgrade or a major upgrade.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  |
| Find out what changed                      | Read the [release notes](https://docs.pingidentity.com/pinggateway/release-notes) for all releases between the current version and the new version. Understand the new features and changes in the new version compared to the current version.                                                                                                                                                                                                                          |
| Check the requirements                     | Make sure you meet all the requirements in the release notes for the new version. In particular, make sure you have a recent, supported [Java version](https://docs.pingidentity.com/pinggateway/release-notes/before-you-install.html#prerequisites-java).                                                                                                                                                                                                              |
| Plan for server downtime                   | At least one of your PingGateway servers will be down during upgrade. Plan to route client applications to another server until the upgrade process is complete and you have validated the result. Make sure the owners of client application are aware of the change, and let them know what to expect.If you have a single PingGateway server, make sure the downtime happens in a low-usage window, and make sure you let client application owners plan accordingly. |
| Back up                                    | The PingGateway configuration is a set of files, including `admin.json`, `config.json`, `logback.xml`, routes, and scripts. Back up the PingGateway configuration and store it in version control, so that you can roll back if something goes wrong.Back up any tools scripts you have edited for your deployment and any trust stores used to connect securely.                                                                                                        |
| Plan for [rollback](migrate.html#rollback) | Sometimes even a well-planned upgrade fails to go smoothly. In such cases, you need a plan to roll back smoothly to the pre-upgrade version.For PingGateway servers, roll back by restoring a backed-up configuration.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| Prepare a test environment                 | Before applying the upgrade in your production environment, always try to upgrade PingGateway in a test environment. This will help you gauge the amount of work required, without affecting your production environment, and will help smooth out unforeseen problems.The test environment should resemble your production environment as closely as possible.                                                                                                          |