Migrating application subscribers to new Product versions

When new versions of Products are created in IBM® API Connect, there are a number of ways that subscribers can be moved to the Plans of the new Product.

To automatically migrate all existing subscribers to a new Product, for example, when you are applying fixes to a Product:

• You should Replace the original version of the Product with a new version of the Product.
  • The replacement Product is Published.
  • The original Product is Retired.
  • The subscribers to the original Product are automatically migrated to the replacement Product.
    Note: Customers cannot be migrated automatically from a free Plan to a paid Plan. To move your customers from a free Plan to a paid Plan, you can supersede the product with a new product and set a migration target to the paid Plan. The customers then select a button to migrate and must enter their credit card information before the process is complete. For more information, see Considerations when changing a Product lifecycle with billing integration.

  For more information about replacing Products, see Replacing a Product with another Product.

To encourage subscribers to move to a new Product, and stop new users from subscribing to the original Product, for example, if an enhancement or new feature is added:

• You should Supersede the original version of the Product with a new version of the Product.
  • The superseding Product is Published.
  • The original Product is Deprecated.
  • The application developers that are already subscribed to the now deprecated Product can continue to use it, but no new developers can subscribe to the Product. In the Developer Portal the subscribers will see a Migrate this subscription message, which they can click to upgrade their subscription to the migration target.
  • If the migration target is a paid Plan, subscribers must enter a payment method before they can upgrade. Upgrades by subscribers from a free Plan to a paid Plan are supported.

  For more information about superseding Products, see Superseding a Product with another Product.

To prepare a Product to be removed from production, but leave the existing subscriptions as they are:

• You should Deprecate the original Product.
  • The Product is Deprecated.
  • The application developers that are already subscribed to the now deprecated Product can continue to use it, but no new developers can subscribe to the Product.
  • You can define a replacement Product by using the Set Migration Target option in the Catalog. Application developers will then see a Migrate this subscription message in the Developer Portal that they can click to upgrade their subscription to the migration target. If the upgrade target is a paid Plan, they must enter a payment method before upgrading. Upgrades by API consumers from a free Plan to a paid Plan are supported.

  For more information about deprecating Products, see Deprecating a Product.

To give subscribers the option to move to a different Product, but without affecting the original Product:

• You can use the Set Migration Target option in the Catalog on a Product that isn't being deprecated or superseded. For more information, see Managing your Products.