Elasticsearch:Upgrade versions

Version limitations

Restart modes

Prerequisites

1. Be aware of potential breaking changes, minor changes, and deprecations between your current and target versions. For more information, see the Migration guide.

   Note

   Versions 8.9 and 8.15 include breaking changes. Other 8.x versions involve only minor changes. For more information, see Migrating to 8.15 and Migrating to 8.9.

2. If you use Elasticsearch plugins, ensure that each custom plugin version is compatible with the target version. Otherwise, the plugins might not work correctly. System plugins, such as aliyun-optimization and kmonitor, are maintained by Alibaba Cloud. You cannot uninstall or upgrade them.

3. If you also use other Elastic Stack components such as Logstash, APM, Beats, Fleet/Elastic Agent, Elastic Security, or Enterprise Search, ensure that they are compatible with the target version.

4. Before you start the upgrade, take a snapshot of the latest data. If the upgrade fails, you must restore the data from the snapshot.

5. Before you upgrade a production cluster, validate the upgrade process in a test environment or on a test instance.

6. Do not create new indexes during the upgrade process. Perform upgrades on production clusters during off-peak hours.

7. The version upgrade also upgrades the Kibana version. During the upgrade, Kibana is unavailable.

Upgrade earlier versions and kernel patches

1. Log on to the Alibaba Cloud Elasticsearch console.

2. In the left navigation menu, choose Elasticsearch Clusters.

3. Navigate to the target cluster.

   1. In the top navigation bar, select the resource group to which the cluster belongs and the region where the cluster resides.

   2. On the Elasticsearch Clusters page, find the cluster and click its ID.

4. On the Basic Information page, click Update and Upgrade in the upper-right corner.

5. In the Update and Upgrade dialog box, select an operation type and a target version.

   Two operation types are supported:

   • Kernel patch update: This operation upgrades the kernel version without changing the version of the ES instance. Only kernel-enhanced instances support kernel version upgrades. For more information about the features of each kernel version, see Kernel Version Release Notes.

     Note

     When the system detects that a new kernel patch is available, the A new kernel patch is available. message appears next to the Version field on the Basic Information page. You can click this message to upgrade the kernel patch.

   • Elasticsearch version upgrade: Upgrades only the version of the ES instance and does not simultaneously upgrade the kernel patch.

6. Click Upgrade Check. The system checks for configuration compatibility, cluster health, snapshot backups, and underlying resources.

   After the checks are complete, resolve any reported issues and click Re-check. For more information, see Upgrade check.

   The following items are checked:

   • Configuration compatibility check

     Checks for incompatible configurations between the current and target versions. This is primarily for upgrades across major versions, such as an upgrade from 5.x to 6.x. If this check fails, the upgrade stops. View the check results and recommended solutions to resolve the issues and then restart the upgrade process. For more information, see Configuration compatibility check and Adjust incompatible configurations.

   • Cluster health check

     Checks whether the cluster health is Green and whether the cluster load meets the requirements. If this check fails, refer to Cluster health check to verify that the cluster load is at a normal level.

   • Cluster snapshot backup

     Checks whether a snapshot has been successfully created within the last hour. If the upgrade fails, you can restore data from the snapshot.

     Note

     • If a snapshot has not been created in the last hour, you can click Manual Snapshot in the Update and Upgrade dialog box to manually trigger a snapshot. For more information about snapshot backups, see Data backup.

     • The time required to create a snapshot depends on the data volume of the cluster. If automatic snapshot backup is not enabled and the data volume is large, creating the first snapshot might take a long time.

7. After all checks pass, click Upgrade.

   During the upgrade, you can view the progress on the Tasks page. After the upgrade is complete, you can view the new instance version or kernel patch on the instance's Basic Information page.

Upgrade an 8.x instance

1. Log on to the Alibaba Cloud Elasticsearch console.

2. In the left navigation menu, choose Elasticsearch Clusters.

3. Navigate to the target cluster.

   1. In the top navigation bar, select the resource group to which the cluster belongs and the region where the cluster resides.

   2. On the Elasticsearch Clusters page, find the cluster and click its ID.

4. In the upper-right corner of the Basic Information section, click Update and Upgrade.

5. On the Version Selection wizard page of the Update and Upgrade control panel, select the target version.

   1. For Elasticsearch Version Upgrade, select Elasticsearch Version Upgrade.

   2. You can only select the latest version of Alibaba Cloud Elasticsearch.

   3. Read the risk warnings and select the checkbox to acknowledge the risks.

   4. Click Next step.

6. In the Upgrade Check step, resolve any reported issues.

   1. If a cluster snapshot has not been created in the last hour, click Manual Backup to back up the cluster.

   2. If the cluster health or basic resource checks fail, see Upgrade check to perform a manual check.

   3. Click Check Again until all check items pass, and then click Next step.

7. In the Plug-in Configuration step, configure plugins based on the on-screen instructions.

   The plugin configuration is complete when Check Passed is displayed in the Plug-in Configuration section.

8. Click Upgrade, and then click OK in the dialog box that appears.

   During the upgrade, service jitters may occur due to node changes. Perform this operation during off-peak hours. The version upgrade consists of two stages:

   1. Phased change: After the phased change is complete, check the cluster stability and monitor your services. If any exceptions occur, submit a ticket to Alibaba Cloud technical support for a rollback.

   2. Full change: After the phased change is complete and you have confirmed that your services are stable, click Full Change in the console to initiate the full change.

      After the full change is initiated, rollbacks are not supported.

FAQ

• How long does it take to upgrade an Elasticsearch version?

• Does Alibaba Cloud Elasticsearch support version upgrades or downgrades?

• Will upgrading the Elasticsearch version affect my cluster services?

• How do I handle the "UpgradeVersionMustFromConsole" error when I scale up a cluster?