Upgrade Path

You can check the upgrade path on the following site: https://gitlab-com.gitlab.io/support/toolbox/upgrade-path/. This website is made by Gitlab, and will give a good overview about changes and new features for the upgrades you selected.

Checks

https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/update/index.html#checking-for-background-migrations-before-upgrading Check pending and failed DB migrations.

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gitlab-rails runner -e production 'puts Gitlab::Database::BackgroundMigration::BatchedMigration.queued.count'
gitlab-rails runner -e production 'puts Gitlab::Database::BackgroundMigration::BatchedMigration.with_status(:failed).count'

OPTIONAL: Check pending elasticsearch migrations

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gitlab-rake gitlab:elastic:list_pending_migrations

Update check

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gitlab-rake gitlab:check SANITIZE=true

Pre-upgrade

Create a snapshot on the environment you are hosting your gitlab environment.
Set instance in maintenance mode:

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gitlab-rails runner '::Gitlab::CurrentSettings.update!(maintenance_mode: true)'

Create a gitlab backup of latest version! https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/administration/backup_restore/ Make sure gitlab has the rights to read and write with the backup.

Disable advanced search before upgrading to a new major version. This is because of the index changes that are possible coming with new version. Checkout my reindex guide on gitlab advanced search to re-enable it.

Before the upgrade is started we need to stop subprocess puma and sidekiq on the gitlab server

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gitlab-ctl stop sidekiq && gitlab-ctl stop puma

We can check with following command if the services are really stopped.

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gitlab-ctl status

The Upgrade

https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/update/package/index.html Upgrading to a specific version:

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gitlab-ee-<gitlab_version>-ee.0.el<distribution_version>

Upgrade to latest version:

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yum install gitlab-ee

Reconfigure and restart gitlab instance:

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gitlab-ctl reconfigure
gitlab-ctl restart

Turn maintenance mode off:

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gitlab-rails runner '::Gitlab::CurrentSettings.update!(maintenance_mode: false)'

Enjoy newer version

Login on UI, to checkout the UI and the new features.