docs/source/operations/install-deploy-manage/upgrade-minio-deployment.rst

Upgrade a MinIO Deployment

minio

Table of Contents

MinIO uses an update-then-restart methodology for upgrading a deployment to a newer release:

1. Update the MinIO binary on all hosts with the newer release.
2. Restart the deployment using mc admin service restart.

This procedure does not require taking downtime and is non-disruptive to ongoing operations.

This page documents methods for upgrading using the update-then-restart method for both systemctl and user-managed MinIO deployments. Deployments using Ansible, Terraform, or other management tools can use the procedures here as guidance for implementation within the existing automation framework.

Test Upgrades In a Lower Environment

Your unique deployment topology, workload patterns, or overall environment requires testing of any MinIO upgrades in a lower environment (Dev/QA/Staging) before applying those upgrades to Production deployments, or any other environment containing critical data. Performing "blind" updates to production environments is done at your own risk.

For MinIO deployments that are significantly behind latest stable (6+ months), consider using for additional support and guidance during the upgrade procedure.

Considerations

Upgrades Are Non-Disruptive

MinIO's upgrade-then-restart procedure does not require taking downtime or scheduling a maintenance period. MinIO restarts are fast, such that restarting all server processes in parallel typically completes in a few seconds. MinIO operations are atomic and strictly consistent, such that applications using MinIO or S3 SDKs can rely on the built-in transparent retry <general/latest/gr/api-retries.html> without further client-side logic. This ensures upgrades are non-disruptive to ongoing operations.

"Rolling" or serial "one-at-a-time" upgrade methods do not provide any advantage over the recommended "parallel" procedure, and can introduce unnecessary complexity to the upgrade procedure. For virtualized environments which require rolling updates, you should amend the recommend procedure as follows:

1. Update the MinIO Binary in the virtual machine or container one at a time.
2. Restart the MinIO deployment using mc admin service restart.
3. Update the virtual machine/container configuration to use the matching newer MinIO image.
4. Perform the rolling restart of each machine/container with the updated image.

Check Release Notes

MinIO publishes Release Notes <minio/releases> for your reference as part of identifying the changes applied in each release. Review the associated release notes between your current MinIO version and the newer release such that you have a complete view of any changes.

Pay particular attention to any releases that are backwards incompatible. You cannot trivially downgrade from any such release.

Update systemctl-Managed MinIO Deployments

Use these steps to upgrade a MinIO deployment where the MinIO server process is managed by systemctl, such as those created using the MinIO DEB/RPM packages <deploy-minio-distributed-baremetal>.

1. Update the MinIO Binary on Each Node

2. Restart the Deployment

   Run the mc admin service restart command to restart all MinIO server processes in the deployment simultaneously.

   The restart process typically completes within a few seconds and is non-disruptive to ongoing operations.

   mc admin service restart ALIAS

   Replace alias <alias> of the MinIO deployment to restart.

3. Validate the Upgrade

   Use the mc admin info command to check that all MinIO servers are online, operational, and reflect the installed MinIO version.

4. Update MinIO Client

   You should upgrade your mc binary to match or closely follow the MinIO server release. You can use the mc update command to update the binary to the latest stable release:

   mc update

Update Non-System Managed MinIO Deployments

Use these steps to upgrade a MinIO deployment where the MinIO server process is managed outside of the system (systemd, systemctl), such as by a user, an automated script, or some other process management tool. This procedure only works for systems where the user running the MinIO process has write permissions for the path to the MinIO binary.

The mc admin update command updates all MinIO server binaries in the target MinIO deployment before restarting all nodes simultaneously. The restart process typically completes within a few seconds and is non-disruptive to ongoing operations.

• For deployments managed using systemctl, see minio-upgrade-systemctl.
• For Kubernetes or other containerized environments, defer to the native mechanisms for updating container images across a deployment.

The following command updates a MinIO deployment with the specified alias <alias> to the latest stable release:

mc admin update ALIAS

You can specify a URL resolving to a specific MinIO server binary version. Airgapped or internet-isolated deployments may utilize this feature for updating from an internally-accessible server:

mc admin update ALIAS https://minio-mirror.example.com/minio

You should upgrade your mc binary to match or closely follow the MinIO server release. You can use the mc update command to update the binary to the latest stable release:

mc update