An invention is disclosed for performing online upgrades using a control
module, executed as part of an application, that includes
application-specific strategies for the application, yet can be coded
using the JAVA programming language. An application is executed that
includes an original service module and an original control module. The
original control module includes application-specific policies for the
application. To upgrade the application, an upgraded control module is
generated. Then, the upgraded control module is used to create an
upgraded service module. Both the upgraded control module and the
upgraded service module can be generated using class files for the
original modules, which are loaded from a system repository. In this
manner, the original control module and the original service module are
upgraded.