Patent ID: 8099727

Claim:
A method for providing uninterrupted operation of a replication system during an upgrade of software components of the replication system, comprising: installing a new version of the software components at the replication system to enable both an old version of the software components and the new version of the software components to run on the replication system simultaneously; configuring a new configuration of the replication system comprising a new version of a bitmap to resemble an old configuration of the replication system comprising an old version of the bitmap; intercepting a first write operation and registering the first intercepted write operation in the old version of the bitmap; intercepting a second write operation and registering the second intercepted write operation in the new version of the bitmap; merging the old version of the bitmap with the new version of the bitmap; removing the old configuration from the replication system; and uninstalling the old version of the software components.