Introduction
This guide provides a step-by-step procedure for performing a rolling upgrade of a High Availability (HA) Vault cluster to the latest version. Upgrading Vault to the latest version is essential to ensure you benefit from bug fixes, security patches, and new features, making your production environment more stable and manageable. This guide also offers essential documentation for upgrading multiple Vault replication clusters.
Use Case
The primary use case for this guide is to upgrade your Vault cluster to the latest version. Upgrading to the latest version is recommended as it includes bug fixes, security enhancements, and new features.
Procedure
Follow these steps to perform a rolling upgrade of your HA Vault cluster:
Step 1: Download Vault Binaries
First, download the latest Vault binaries from HashiCorp's official repository. You can find both the Open Source and Enterprise versions at https://releases.hashicorp.com/vault/. Enterprise binaries are labeled with '+ent' in both the directory and binary file names. These directories contain binaries compiled for common platforms, except for the Hardware Security Module version, which is distributed for linux/amd64 platforms only.
Step 2: Follow HashiCorp's Upgrade Recommendations
Refer to HashiCorp's official documentation for upgrading Vault. Follow their recommendations and guidelines to ensure a smooth upgrade process. You can find this information at Upgrading Vault.
Step 3: Stay Informed About Version Changes
It's important to stay informed about the features and changes introduced in each Vault version. You can refer to the vault/CHANGELOG.md file to get a detailed list of changes, bug fixes, and new features in each release.
Step 4: Consider Version-Specific Upgrades
If you are upgrading from an older version to the latest one, there might be substantial differences between the versions. It's essential to review the upgrade guides to understand any specific steps or considerations necessary for this major version upgrade.
Backup Your Data Before Upgrading
Before proceeding with the upgrade, it is highly recommended to take a snapshot (backup) of your Vault cluster. The specific steps for creating a backup will depend on whether you are using the Consul Storage Backend or Raft Integrated Storage.
For guidance on creating a backup, please follow these steps:
- Performing a rolling upgrade of a HA Vault cluster
- Performing an upgrade of multiple Vault replication clusters and a primary cluster
- Combining multiple operations requiring downtime
Performing a Rolling Upgrade of a Vault HA Cluster
Before upgrading your Vault High Availability (HA) cluster, it's important to back up your data to ensure data integrity. The steps for creating a backup differ based on whether you're using Consul Storage Backend or Raft Integrated Storage.
To perform a rolling upgrade and create a backup, follow these steps:
- For Raft Integrated Storage, please follow the Rolling Upgrade Procedure with Raft Integrated Storage.
- For Consul Storage Backend, please follow the Rolling Upgrade Procedure with Consul Storage Backend.
These specific procedures will guide you through the process of creating a backup and conducting a rolling upgrade for your Vault HA cluster.
Note: It's important to carefully follow the relevant procedure that corresponds to your storage backend type. Data backup is a crucial step to ensure the safety and integrity of your Vault cluster during the upgrade process.