Upgrade Elasticsearch

Elasticsearch can usually be upgraded using a Rolling upgrade process so upgrading does not interrupt service. Rolling upgrades are supported:

• Between minor versions
• From 5.6 to 6.8
• From 6.8 to 7.9.1
• From any version since 7.9.0 to 7.9.1

For rolling upgrades between major versions (e.g., 5.6 to 6.8), we recommend using the Kibana Upgrade Assistant.

The upgrade assistant identifies deprecated settings in your cluster and guides you through the process of resolving issues, including reindexing.

We also recommend checking your deprecation logs for any other functionality that may have changed.

The following table shows the recommended upgrade paths to 7.9.1.

The upgrade path from 6.8 to 7.0 is not supported (both full cluster restart and rolling upgrade).

To upgrade directly to 7.9.1 from 6.7 or earlier, you must shut down the cluster, install 7.9.1, and restart. For more information, see Full cluster restart upgrade.

In-place downgrades to earlier versions are not supported. To downgrade to an earlier version, restore a snapshot taken prior to the version upgrade.

Elasticsearch can read indices created in the previous major version. If you have indices created in 5.x or before, you must reindex or delete them before upgrading to 7.9.1. Elasticsearch nodes will fail to start if incompatible indices are present. Snapshots of 5.x or earlier indices cannot be restored to a 7.x cluster even if they were created by a 6.x cluster. For information about upgrading old indices, see Reindex to upgrade.

When upgrading to a new version of Elasticsearch, you need to upgrade each of the products in your Elastic Stack. For more information, see the Elastic Stack Installation and Upgrade Guide.