[[rolling-upgrades]]
=== Rolling upgrades

A rolling upgrade allows the Elasticsearch cluster to be upgraded one node at
a time, with no downtime for end users.  Running multiple versions of
Elasticsearch in the same cluster for any length of time beyond that required
for an upgrade is not supported, as shards will not be replicated from the
more recent version to the older version.

Consult this <<setup-upgrade,table>> to verify that rolling upgrades are
supported for your version of Elasticsearch.

To perform a rolling upgrade:

. *Disable shard allocation*
+
--

When you shut down a node, the allocation process will wait for one minute
before starting to replicate the shards that were on that node to other nodes
in the cluster, causing a lot of wasted I/O.  This can be avoided by disabling
allocation before shutting down a node:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
PUT _cluster/settings
{
  "transient": {
    "cluster.routing.allocation.enable": "none"
  }
}
--------------------------------------------------
// CONSOLE
// TEST[skip:indexes don't assign]
--

. *Stop non-essential indexing and perform a synced flush (Optional)*
+
--

You may happily continue indexing during the upgrade.  However, shard recovery
will be much faster if you temporarily stop non-essential indexing and issue a
<<indices-synced-flush, synced-flush>> request:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
POST _flush/synced
--------------------------------------------------
// CONSOLE

A synced flush request is a ``best effort'' operation. It will fail if there
are any pending indexing operations, but it is safe to reissue the request
multiple times if necessary.
--

. [[upgrade-node]] *Stop and upgrade a single node*
+
--

Shut down one of the nodes in the cluster *before* starting the upgrade.

[TIP]
================================================

When using the zip or tarball packages, the `config`, `data`, `logs` and
`plugins` directories are placed within the Elasticsearch home directory by
default.

It is a good idea to place these directories in a different location so that
there is no chance of deleting them when upgrading Elasticsearch.  These custom
paths can be <<path-settings,configured>> with the `CONF_DIR` environment
variable, and the `path.logs`, and `path.data` settings.

The <<deb,Debian>> and <<rpm,RPM>> packages place these directories in the
appropriate place for each operating system.

================================================

To upgrade using a <<deb,Debian>> or <<rpm,RPM>> package:

*   Use `rpm` or `dpkg` to install the new package.  All files should be
    placed in their proper locations, and config files should not be
    overwritten.

To upgrade using a zip or compressed tarball:

*   Extract the zip or tarball to a new directory, to be sure that you don't
    overwrite the `config` or `data` directories.

*   Either copy the files in the `config` directory from your old installation
    to your new installation, or set the environment variable
    <<config-files-location,`CONF_DIR`>> to point to a custom config directory.

*   Either copy the files in the `data` directory from your old installation
    to your new installation, or configure the location of the data directory
    in the `config/elasticsearch.yml` file, with the `path.data` setting.
--

. *Upgrade any plugins*
+
--

Elasticsearch plugins must be upgraded when upgrading a node.  Use the
`elasticsearch-plugin` script to install the correct version of any plugins
that you need.
--

. *Start the upgraded node*
+
--

Start the now upgraded node and confirm that it joins the cluster by checking
the log file or by checking the output of this request:

[source,sh]
--------------------------------------------------
GET _cat/nodes
--------------------------------------------------
// CONSOLE
--

. *Reenable shard allocation*
+
--

Once the node has joined the cluster, reenable shard allocation to start using
the node:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
PUT _cluster/settings
{
  "transient": {
    "cluster.routing.allocation.enable": "all"
  }
}
--------------------------------------------------
// CONSOLE
--

. *Wait for the node to recover*
+
--

You should wait for the cluster to finish shard allocation before upgrading
the next node.  You can check on progress with the <<cat-health,`_cat/health`>>
request:

[source,sh]
--------------------------------------------------
GET _cat/health
--------------------------------------------------
// CONSOLE

Wait for the `status` column to move from `yellow` to `green`.  Status `green`
means that all primary and replica shards have been allocated.

[IMPORTANT]
====================================================
During a rolling upgrade, primary shards assigned to a node with the higher
version will never have their replicas assigned to a node with the lower
version, because the newer version may have a different data format which is
not understood by the older version.

If it is not possible to assign the replica shards to another node with the
higher version -- e.g. if there is only one node with the higher version in
the cluster -- then the replica shards will remain unassigned and the
cluster health will remain status `yellow`.

In this case, check that there are no initializing or relocating shards (the
`init` and `relo` columns) before proceding.

As soon as another node is upgraded, the replicas should be assigned and the
cluster health will reach status `green`.

====================================================

Shards that have not been <<indices-synced-flush,sync-flushed>> may take some time to
recover.  The recovery status of individual shards can be monitored with the
<<cat-recovery,`_cat/recovery`>> request:

[source,sh]
--------------------------------------------------
GET _cat/recovery
--------------------------------------------------
// CONSOLE

If you stopped indexing, then it is safe to resume indexing as soon as
recovery has completed.
--

. *Repeat*
+
--

When the cluster is stable and the node has recovered, repeat the above steps
for all remaining nodes.
--

[IMPORTANT]
====================================================

During a rolling upgrade the cluster will continue to operate as normal. Any
new functionality will be disabled or work in a backward compatible manner
until all nodes of the cluster have been upgraded. Once the upgrade is
completed and all nodes are on the new version, the new functionality will
become operational. Once that has happened, it is practically impossible to
go back to operating in a backward compatible mode. To protect against such a
scenario, nodes from the previous major version (e.g. 5.x) will not be allowed
to join a cluster where all nodes are of a higher major version (e.g. 6.x).

In the unlikely case of a network malfunction during upgrades, where all
remaining old nodes are isolated from the cluster, you will have to take all
old nodes offline and upgrade them before they can rejoin the cluster.

====================================================