Upgrading

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Before upgrading Elasticsearch:

  • Consult the breaking changes docs.
  • Test upgrades in a dev environment before upgrading your production cluster.
  • Always back up your data before upgrading. You cannot roll back to an earlier version unless you have a backup of your data.

Elasticsearch can usually be upgraded using a rolling upgrade process, resulting in no interruption of service. This section details how to perform both rolling upgrades and upgrades with full cluster restarts.

To determine whether a rolling upgrade is supported for your release, please consult this table:

Upgrade From Upgrade To Supported Upgrade Type

0.90.x

2.x

Full cluster restart

1.x

2.x

Full cluster restart

2.x

2.y

Rolling upgrade (where `y > x `)

Upgrading Elasticsearch with Plugins

Take plugins into consideration as well when upgrading. Plugins must be upgraded alongside Elasticsearch.

Check with your plugin’s provider to ensure that the plugin is compatible with your targeted version of Elasticsearch. If doing a rolling upgrade, it may be worth checking as well that the plugin works across a mixed-version cluster. Most plugins will have to be upgraded alongside Elasticsearch, although some plugins accessed primarily through the browser (_site plugins) may continue to work given that API changes are compatible.

The process for both Rolling upgrade and Full cluster restart is generally as follows, per node.

  • Shut down Elasticsearch
  • Upgrade Elasticsearch
  • Upgrade Plugins
  • Start up Elasticsearch