Database vendors regularly issue critical patch updates to address software bugs or known vulnerabilities, but for a variety of reasons, organizations are often unable to install them in a timely manner, if at all. Evidence suggests that companies are actually getting worse at patching databases, with an increased number violating compliance standards and governance policies1.
Patching that require database downtime would be of extreme concern in a 24*7 environment, however most cluster upgrades can be performed online. ClusterControl performs a rolling upgrade of the cluster, upgrading and restarting one node at a time. The logical upgrade steps might slightly differ between the different cluster types.
Upgrading your Database
In this post, we are going to show you how to upgrade your database cluster. Some things to be aware of:
- Backup your database before performing any upgrade,
- Upgrade requires a restart of the DB service on each node,
- Verify the installation package is compatible with your machine’s architecture and does not conflict with other packages,
- Note your current database version, available under General Settings page in the ClusterControl UI,
- Make sure you understand the new features in the version you plan to upgrade to.