How to handle database connections?

What are the good ways to handle active client connections during code deployment in Node.js?

• I have to build an application which will have many active client connections (TCP) and these connections will remain active for prolonged period. How can I deploy code changes in my production server without breaking any of these connections (critical requirement)? PS: I am right now evaluating Node.js vs Erlang for a chat *like* application I am developing and saw that Erlang provides hot swapping. I have no experience in either of them.

• Answer:

  No matter what scale you're at, be it an IRC server or a massively-multiplayer game, you're going to have maintenance time, so the best thing you can do is schedule it and let your users know.  Deploy to production at a time when the fewest number of users are going to be using your application. On the client-side, set your clients so that they attempt to reconnect as soon as a socket times out.  If your build is efficient, then from the client's perspective, the downtime for them should be very minimal. There are many possible ways that your clients can lose their persistent connection besides this, and you need to take into consideration all of them when developing your application.  100% uptime is the Holy Grail that all developers chase, but it's an impossible dream,