An invention is disclosed for performing online upgrades of applications, including the managed application state, without disrupting the functionality of the application during the upgrade process. A Java module is executed on a server, where the Java module includes at least one original entity bean and at least one original state object in communication with the original entity bean. The original state object stores a state of the original entity bean. Then, an upgraded state object is generated and the state stored in the original state object is transferred to the upgraded state object. In this manner, state management for the original entity bean can be provided using the upgraded state object.