Heroku Fir Pilot FAQ
General Information:
What are the key benefits of using Fir compared to existing Private Spaces?
- Cloud Native Open Source Standards: Future-proof your apps with scalable solutions built on Kubernetes, OCI containers, and OpenTelemetry. Easily integrate with modern cloud ecosystems.
- Operational Excellence: Powered by AWS services like EKS, Graviton, and Global Accelerator, delivering scale, resilience, and performance to keep your business running smoothly.
- Access to new features: The most modern product and feature development will be happening on Fir. Start building on the new generation now to have first access to the new features and platform improvements.
Who is the ideal candidate for the Fir Pilot program?
- Fir is applicable to all of our Heroku users. With new features like increased limits and dyno types, Fir is equipped to deal with both the largest and smallest of workloads. For the pilot program, there are planned continuous improvements, so customers with robust staging environments to be able to test and evaluate the Fir infrastructure and new features are the optimal candidate to join the pilot program.
Can a new Heroku customer join the Fir Pilot Program?
- Yes, as long as the customer has a valid Heroku account, and has agreed to the Salesforce Main Service agreement and all those found on https://www.heroku.com/policy, then they are considered an official Heroku customer able to participate in the pilot. At this time since there is no billing for customers during the pilot, an explicit spend history with Heroku is not required.
Can a regular online customer that does not have an AE/signed an official Salesforce contract join the Fir Pilot Program?
- Yes, for the same reasons above, as long as the customer has a valid Heroku account and as agreed to associated terms, then they are able to be considered for the Pilot Program and can use a Fir Private Space through the Online Private Spaces SKU.
Migration and Upgrading:
Will there be any downtime required for my apps to join the Fir Pilot?
- In order to participate in the pilot, you need to create a new Fir space and a new Fir app within that space. Therefore, you need to also redeploy your application completely. These apps will be separate from any of the applications you run today on your Private Space, so your apps will continue to function normally as they do now even during pilot.
Can I upgrade my existing Private Space to Fir?
- No. Because you will need to create a new Private Space within the dashboard or the CLI command, you cannot use an existing Private Space in Fir during the Pilot. You will need to simply redeploy the application you have running in the traditional Private Space in the new Fir Space.
- Per the UPRA Heroku Pilot terms, we advise against using the pilot runtime for production environments and use-cases.
Will my current Private Space automatically be upgraded to Fir?
- No. Customer action is required to create Fir specific Private Space. During Pilot and preliminary GA timelines, Heroku will not be performing a migration of customer's Spaces. At a future date, an EOL timeline is provided for traditional Private Spaces and migration instructions will be provided to customers in a timeframe in accordance to Salesforce/Heroku EOL policies.
Can I deploy my Fir App back to a legacy Private Space?
- Yes, if you'd like to return to legacy Private Spaces during the pilot, you can always redeploy your application back to an existing legacy Private Space
Features and Functionality:
What are the potential risks or limitations of migrating to Fir during the Pilot?
- There are a few unsupported features that currently exist in today's Private Spaces. Therefore, there are some limitations of running typical Heroku use-cases on Fir.
- Please see the list of unsupported features on Dev Center.
- As with any new platform, there may be unknown edge cases which may cause your apps and dynos to behave differently than they do today. We expect improved performance, but the risk of the pilot program is to uncover any potential performance variances.
- We will likely be making updates and changes based on feedback during the pilot period or during the transition from Pilot GA that could impact any applications created during the pilot. Please make sure your deployments are easily replicable.
- After pilot, all Fir Apps and Spaces will be deleted.
Will all my 1st-Party (like Heroku Data) add-ons work in Fir?
- All 1st-Party Add-Ons, or add-ons managed by Heroku, such as Heroku Postgres and Heroku Redis will work the same as legacy Private Spaces. Follow instructions at this Dev Center article to provision the add-on to your application.
Will all of the 3rd-Party Add-ons I have installed work with Fir?
- At launch, the majority of 3rd Party Add-ons that support Private Spaces are expected to work with Fir. However, if the chosen add-on supports Private Spaces and emits or receives logs, it may not be eligible for use with a Fir Private Space at GA. The ability to work with Fir depends on how critical logging features powered by the 3rd Party add-on are to your application.
- With our new buildpacks, there are also a cohort of add-ons that will not work that are dependent on the legacy buildpacks from Cedar.
- You will be proactively notified if you are using one of the Add-ons dependent on Logging or legacy buildpacks. In that case, you should wait to upgrade any Private Space to Fir.
Will Fir support all of the same programming languages as Private Spaces?
- Yes, Fir customers will be able to utilize all Heroku support programming languages. Users should note that a different buildpack (Cloud Native Buildpacks) than current language buildpacks on Cedar.
Will Fir offer the same compliance and certifications as Private Spaces?
- Yes, Fir provides the same compliance and certifications through network isolation as legacy Private Spaces. Note that Shield Spaces, which include additional features for high-compliance applications, are not currently supported at Pilot.
Will Heroku Connect be supported for Fir during Pilot? - Yes, Heroku Connect and associated features will be available on Fir during the Pilot period.
What observability tools will I have during the Pilot to evaluate performance?
- At pilot, we are launching native Heroku OpenTelemetry. You can follow applicable Dev Center instructions to set up a new telemetry drain paired with any observability tool of your choice to see logs, metrics, and traces from your application and Fir space. The Heroku metrics dashboard will also have primary observability metrics to understand app performance and errors.
Will Fir be available on the Common Runtime?
- Our vision is to support multi-tenant workloads on Fir. Subscribe to Heroku Newsletter for real-time updates.
Pilot program specifics:
What happens to my data after the Fir Pilot program ends?
- After pilot, all Fir Apps and Spaces will be deleted. You may maintain your own local versions of the builds and images you used to deploy your application and any logging/telemetry you have stored with a 3rd Party provider.
- All resources (Spaces, apps, and dynos) and telemetry (including logs, metrics, and traces) collected by Heroku will be deleted at the end of the pilot program.
How will user access and authorization be managed in Fir? / How Will I be granted pilot access?
- Users will be permissioned by Heroku during the Pilot period after being accepted into the Pilot program. Accepted users will receive an email indicating they are now eligible to create a Fir Private Space. Authorization will be granted at two levels - the Heroku Team will be granted the permissions to create Fir Spaces, and the specific user accepted into the Pilot program within that team will be granted permission to create the Fir Space.
What is the cost of creating my Private Spaces in Fir during the Pilot?
- There is no cost to create and use your Private Space to Fir while participating in the Pilot. Once generally available, Fir Private Spaces will be subject to the same pricing guidance as today's Private Spaces.
Is there a cap on the resources I can use as a Pilot Customer?
- There are currently no restrictions on resources such as dynos or add-ons as a pilot customer, but this is subject to change through the duration of the Pilot.
What will my billing and invoicing show if I take part in the Fir pilot?
- Your billing and invoice will show the same line items as legacy Private Spaces but with Fir specific spaces and dynos labeled, and the estimated accrued valued credited to zero on the invoice.
Will Add-Ons be charged for during the Fir Pilot?
- Currently, yes because they are provisioned outside the Fir Space itself. Associated Add-Ons will also appear the same way they do in legacy Private Spaces invoices.
What legal terms should I know since I'm joining the pilot?
- By joining the pilot, you are accepting the basic Heroku/Salesforce MSA terms and conditions. Those terms also cover guidance for the Unified Pilot Research Agreement (UPRA) between the Heroku customer and Heroku/Salesforce.
What happens if I want to keep my Fir space after Pilot?
- Per our pilot terms, all spaces created during the pilot will need to be deleted. You can still retain your repository and all associated app data, and will simply need to redeploy the application in a newly create Fir Space once the runtime has become generally available.
What level of support is offered for Fir during the Pilot program?
- During pilot, you can submit issues and feedback through typical changes through the Heroku Support Console. Open issues will be triaged by Heroku engineering with specific pilot support staff.