Upgrade TiDB Operator

This document describes how to upgrade TiDB Operator to a specific version. You can choose either online upgrade or offline upgrade.

Online upgrade

If your server has access to the internet, you can perform online upgrade by taking the following steps:

1. Before upgrading TiDB Operator, make sure that the Helm repo contains the TiDB Operator version you want to upgrade to. To check the TiDB Operator versions in the Helm repo, run the following command:

   helm search repo -l tidb-operator
   

   If the command output does not include the version you need, update the repo using the helm repo update command. For details, refer to Configure the Help repo.

2. Update CustomResourceDefinition (CRD) for Kubernetes:

   1. If you upgrade TiDB Operator from v1.3.x to v1.4.0 or later versions, you need to execute the following command to create the new TidbDashboard CRD. If you upgrade TiDB Operator from v1.4.0 or later versions, you can skip this step.

      kubectl create -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pingcap/tidb-operator/${operator_version}/manifests/crd/v1/pingcap.com_tidbdashboards.yaml
      

   2. Update CRD.

      kubectl replace -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pingcap/tidb-operator/${operator_version}/manifests/crd.yaml && \
      kubectl get crd tidbclusters.pingcap.com
      

   This document takes TiDB v1.6.0 as an example. You can replace ${operator_version} with the specific version you want to upgrade to.

3. Get the values.yaml file of the tidb-operator chart:

   mkdir -p ${HOME}/tidb-operator/v1.6.0 && \
   helm inspect values pingcap/tidb-operator --version=v1.6.0 > ${HOME}/tidb-operator/v1.6.0/values-tidb-operator.yaml
   

4. In the ${HOME}/tidb-operator/v1.6.0/values-tidb-operator.yaml file, modify the operatorImage version to the new TiDB Operator version.

5. If you have added customized configuration in the old values.yaml file, merge your customized configuration to the ${HOME}/tidb-operator/v1.6.0/values-tidb-operator.yaml file.

6. Perform upgrade:

   helm upgrade tidb-operator pingcap/tidb-operator --version=v1.6.0 -f ${HOME}/tidb-operator/v1.6.0/values-tidb-operator.yaml -n tidb-admin
   

7. After all the Pods start normally, check the image of TiDB Operator:

   kubectl get po -n tidb-admin -l app.kubernetes.io/instance=tidb-operator -o yaml | grep 'image:.*operator:'
   

   If you see a similar output as follows, TiDB Operator is successfully upgraded. v1.6.0 represents the TiDB Operator version you have upgraded to.

   image: pingcap/tidb-operator:v1.6.0
   image: docker.io/pingcap/tidb-operator:v1.6.0
   image: pingcap/tidb-operator:v1.6.0
   image: docker.io/pingcap/tidb-operator:v1.6.0
   

Offline upgrade

If your server cannot access the Internet, you can offline upgrade by taking the following steps:

1. Download the files and images required for the upgrade using a machine with Internet access:

   1. Download the crd.yaml file for the new TiDB Operator version. For more information about CRD, see CustomResourceDefinition.

      wget -O crd.yaml https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pingcap/tidb-operator/${operator_version}/manifests/crd.yaml
      

      This document takes TiDB v1.6.0 as an example. You can replace ${operator_version} with the specific version you want to upgrade to.

   2. Download the tidb-operator chart package file.

      wget http://charts.pingcap.org/tidb-operator-v1.6.0.tgz
      

   3. Download the Docker images required for the new TiDB Operator version:

      docker pull pingcap/tidb-operator:v1.6.0
      docker pull pingcap/tidb-backup-manager:v1.6.0
      
      docker save -o tidb-operator-v1.6.0.tar pingcap/tidb-operator:v1.6.0
      docker save -o tidb-backup-manager-v1.6.0.tar pingcap/tidb-backup-manager:v1.6.0
      

2. Upload the downloaded files and images to the server where TiDB Operator is deployed, and install the new TiDB Operator version:

   1. If you upgrade TiDB Operator from v1.2.x or earlier versions to v1.3.x or later versions, you need to execute the following command to create the new TidbNGMonitoring CRD. If you upgrade TiDB Operator from v1.3.x or later versions, you can skip this step.

      kubectl create -f ./crd.yaml
      

      After executing this command, you can expect to see an "AlreadyExists" error for other CRDs. You can ignore this error.

   2. Install the crd.yaml file for TiDB Operator:

      kubectl replace -f ./crd.yaml
      

   3. Unpack the tidb-operator chart package file, and copy the values.yaml file to the directory of the new TiDB Operator:

      tar zxvf tidb-operator-v1.6.0.tgz && \
      mkdir -p ${HOME}/tidb-operator/v1.6.0 && \
      cp tidb-operator/values.yaml ${HOME}/tidb-operator/v1.6.0/values-tidb-operator.yaml
      

   4. Install the Docker images on the server:

      docker load -i tidb-operator-v1.6.0.tar && \
      docker load -i tidb-backup-manager-v1.6.0.tar
      

3. In the ${HOME}/tidb-operator/v1.6.0/values-tidb-operator.yaml file, modify the operatorImage version to the new TiDB Operator version.

4. If you have added customized configuration in the old values.yaml file, merge your customized configuration to the ${HOME}/tidb-operator/v1.6.0/values-tidb-operator.yaml file.

5. Perform upgrade:

   helm upgrade tidb-operator ./tidb-operator --version=v1.6.0 -f ${HOME}/tidb-operator/v1.6.0/values-tidb-operator.yaml
   

6. After all the Pods start normally, check the image version of TiDB Operator:

   kubectl get po -n tidb-admin -l app.kubernetes.io/instance=tidb-operator -o yaml | grep 'image:.*operator:'
   

   If you see a similar output as follows, TiDB Operator is successfully upgraded. v1.6.0 represents the TiDB Operator version you have upgraded to.

   image: pingcap/tidb-operator:v1.6.0
   image: docker.io/pingcap/tidb-operator:v1.6.0
   image: pingcap/tidb-operator:v1.6.0
   image: docker.io/pingcap/tidb-operator:v1.6.0
   

   Note

   After TiDB Operator is upgraded, the discovery Deployment in all TiDB clusters is automatically upgraded to the corresponding version of TiDB Operator.