Upgrading Kubernetes

Upgrading Kubernetes is easy with kops. The cluster spec contains a kubernetesVersion, so you can simply edit it with kops edit, and apply the updated configuration to your cluster.

The kops upgrade command also automates checking for and applying updates.

It is recommended to run the latest version of Kops to ensure compatibility with the target kubernetesVersion. When applying a Kubernetes minor version upgrade (e.g. v1.5.3 to v1.6.0), you should confirm that the target kubernetesVersion is compatible with the current Kops release.

Note: if you want to upgrade from a kube-up installation, please see the instructions for how to upgrade kubernetes installed with kube-up.

Manual update

  • kops edit cluster $NAME
  • set the kubernetesVersion to the target version (e.g. v1.3.5)
  • kops update cluster $NAME to preview, then kops update cluster $NAME --yes
  • kops rolling-update cluster $NAME to preview, then kops rolling-update cluster $NAME --yes

Automated update

  • kops upgrade cluster $NAME to preview, then kops upgrade cluster $NAME --yes

In future the upgrade step will likely perform the update immediately (and possibly even without anode restart), but currently you must:

  • kops update cluster $NAME to preview, then kops update cluster $NAME --yes
  • kops rolling-update cluster $NAME to preview, then kops rolling-update cluster $NAME --yes

Upgrade uses the latest Kubernetes version considered stable by kops, defined in https://github.com/kubernetes/kops/blob/master/channels/stable.

Terraform Users

  • kops edit cluster $NAME
  • set the kubernetesVersion to the target version (e.g. v1.3.5)
  • NOTE: The next 3 steps must all be ran in the same directory
  • kops update cluster $NAME --target=terraform
  • terraform plan
  • terraform apply
  • kops rolling-update cluster $NAME to preview, then kops rolling-update cluster $NAME --yes

Other Notes:

  • In general, we recommend that you upgrade your cluster one minor release at a time (1.7 —> 1.8 —> 1.9). Although jumping minor versions may work if you have not enabled alpha features, you run a greater risk of running into problems due to version deprecation.