Use Qdrant collection aliases for zero-downtime reindexing when switching to a new embedding model

Documented steps

1. Create an alias: POST /collections/aliases with {"actions":[{"create_alias":{"collection_name":"example_collection","alias_name":"production_collection"}}]}.
2. Use the alias name anywhere a collection name is accepted — search, upsert, scroll. Clients treat it identically.
3. List all aliases: GET /aliases. List aliases for one collection: GET /collections/{collection_name}/aliases.
4. Build the replacement collection (e.g. example_collection_v2) with the new embedding model and config while the old one keeps serving traffic through the alias.
5. Backfill and verify the new collection: check point count via GET /collections/example_collection_v2 and spot-check a few queries against it directly by real name.
6. Switch atomically in ONE request: POST /collections/aliases with {"actions":[{"delete_alias":{"alias_name":"production_collection"}},{"create_alias":{"collection_name":"example_collection_v2","alias_name":"production_collection"}}]}.
7. Confirm traffic is hitting the new collection, then reclaim resources: DELETE /collections/{old_collection_name}.
8. Reference: https://qdrant.tech/documentation/manage-data/collections/