ScyllaDB Docs ScyllaDB Open Source ScyllaDB for Administrators Upgrade ScyllaDB Upgrade ScyllaDB ScyllaDB 6.2 to 2025.1 Upgrade Guide Upgrade ScyllaDB from 6.2 to 2025.1

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Upgrade ScyllaDB from 6.2 to 2025.1¶

This document describes a step-by-step procedure for upgrading from ScyllaDB 6.2 to ScyllaDB 2025.1 and rollback to version 6.2 if necessary.

This guide covers upgrading ScyllaDB on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), CentOS, Debian, and Ubuntu. See OS Support by Platform and Version for information about supported versions.

It also applies when using ScyllaDB official image on EC2, GCP, or Azure.

Before You Upgrade ScyllaDB¶

Upgrade Your Driver

If you’re using a ScyllaDB driver, upgrade the driver before you upgrade ScyllaDB. The latest two versions of each driver are supported.

Upgrade ScyllaDB Monitoring Stack

If you’re using the ScyllaDB Monitoring Stack, verify that your Monitoring Stack version supports the ScyllaDB version to which you want to upgrade. See ScyllaDB Monitoring Stack Support Matrix.

We recommend upgrading the Monitoring Stack to the latest version.

Check Feature Updates

See the ScyllaDB Release Notes for the latest updates. The Release Notes are published at the ScyllaDB Community Forum.

Upgrade Procedure¶

A ScyllaDB upgrade is a rolling procedure that does not require full cluster shutdown. For each of the nodes in the cluster, serially (i.e., one node at a time), you will:

Check that the cluster’s schema is synchronized
Drain the node and backup the data
Backup the configuration file
Stop ScyllaDB
Download and install new ScyllaDB packages
Start ScyllaDB
Validate that the upgrade was successful

Caution

Apply the procedure serially on each node. Do not move to the next node before validating that the node you upgraded is up and running the new version.

During the rolling upgrade, it is highly recommended:

Not to use the new 2025.1 features.
Not to run administration functions, such as repairs, refresh, rebuild, or add or remove nodes. See sctool for suspending ScyllaDB Manager’s scheduled or running repairs.
Not to apply schema changes.

Upgrade Steps¶

Check the cluster schema¶

Make sure that all nodes have the schema synchronized before the upgrade. The upgrade procedure will fail if there is a schema disagreement between nodes.

nodetool describecluster

Backup the data¶

Before any major procedure, like an upgrade, it is recommended to backup all the data to an external device. We recommend using ScyllaDB Manager to create backups.

Alternatively, you can use the nodetool snapshot command. For each node in the cluster, run the following:

nodetool drain
nodetool snapshot

Take note of the directory name that nodetool gives you, and copy all the directories having that name under /var/lib/scylla to an external backup device.

When the upgrade is completed on all nodes, remove the snapshot with the nodetool clearsnapshot -t <snapshot> command to prevent running out of space.

Backup the configuration file¶

Back up the scylla.yaml configuration file and the ScyllaDB packages in case you need to rollback the upgrade.

sudo cp -a /etc/scylla/scylla.yaml /etc/scylla/scylla.yaml.backup
sudo cp /etc/apt/sources.list.d/scylla.list ~/scylla.list-backup

sudo cp -a /etc/scylla/scylla.yaml /etc/scylla/scylla.yaml.backup
sudo cp /etc/yum.repos.d/scylla.repo ~/scylla.repo-backup

Gracefully stop the node¶

sudo service scylla-server stop

Download and install the new release¶

Before upgrading, check what version you are running now using scylla --version. You should take note of the current version in case you want to rollback the upgrade.

Update the ScyllaDB deb repo to 2025.1.

sudo wget -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/scylla.list https://downloads.scylladb.com/deb/debian/scylla-2025.1.list

Install the new ScyllaDB version:

sudo apt-get clean all
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade scylla

Answer ‘y’ to the first two questions.

Update the ScyllaDB rpm repo to 2025.1.

sudo curl -o /etc/yum.repos.d/scylla.repo -L https://downloads.scylladb.com/rpm/centos/scylla-2025.1.repo

Install the new ScyllaDB version:

sudo yum clean all
sudo yum update scylla\* -y

If you’re using the ScyllaDB official image (recommended), see the Debian/Ubuntu tab for upgrade instructions.

If you’re using your own image and installed ScyllaDB packages for Ubuntu or Debian, you need to apply an extended upgrade procedure:

Update the ScyllaDB deb repo (see the Debian/Ubuntu tab).

Install the new ScyllaDB version with the additional scylla-machine-image package:

sudo apt-get clean all
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade scylla
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade scylla-machine-image

Run scylla_setup without running io_setup.
Run sudo /opt/scylladb/scylla-machine-image/scylla_cloud_io_setup.

If you need JMX server, see Install scylla-jmx Package and get new version.

Start the node¶

sudo service scylla-server start

Validate¶

Check cluster status with nodetool status and make sure all nodes, including the one you just upgraded, are in UN status.
Use curl -X GET "http://localhost:10000/storage_service/scylla_release_version" to check the ScyllaDB version. Validate that the version matches the one you upgraded to.
Check scylla-server log (by journalctl _COMM=scylla) and /var/log/syslog to validate there are no new errors in the log.
Check again after two minutes to validate no new issues are introduced.

Once you are sure the node upgrade was successful, move to the next node in the cluster.

Rollback Procedure¶

Warning

The rollback procedure can be applied only if some nodes have not been upgraded to 2025.1 yet. As soon as the last node in the rolling upgrade procedure is started with 2025.1, rollback becomes impossible. At that point, the only way to restore a cluster to 6.2 is by restoring it from backup.

The following procedure describes a rollback from ScyllaDB 2025.1.x to 6.2.y. Apply this procedure if an upgrade from 6.2 to 2025.1 fails before completing on all nodes.

Use this procedure only on the nodes you upgraded to 2025.1.
Execute the following commands one node at a time, moving to the next node only after the rollback procedure is completed successfully.

ScyllaDB rollback is a rolling procedure that does not require full cluster shutdown. For each of the nodes you rollback to 6.2, serially (i.e., one node at a time), you will:

Drain the node and stop ScyllaDB
Retrieve the old ScyllaDB packages
Restore the configuration file
Reload systemd configuration
Restart ScyllaDB
Validate the rollback success

Apply the procedure serially on each node. Do not move to the next node before validating that the rollback was successful and the node is up and running the old version.

Rollback Steps¶

Drain and gracefully stop the node¶

nodetool drain
sudo service scylla-server stop

Restore and install the old release¶

Remove the old repo file.

sudo rm -rf /etc/apt/sources.list.d/scylla.list

Restore the 6.2 packages backed up during the upgrade.

sudo cp ~/scylla.list-backup /etc/apt/sources.list.d/scylla.list
sudo chown root.root /etc/apt/sources.list.d/scylla.list
sudo chmod 644 /etc/apt/sources.list.d/scylla.list

Install:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get remove scylla\* -y
sudo apt-get install scylla

Answer ‘y’ to the first two questions.

Remove the old repo file.

sudo rm -rf /etc/yum.repos.d/scylla.repo

Restore the 6.2 packages backed up during the upgrade procedure.

sudo cp ~/scylla.repo-backup /etc/yum.repos.d/scylla.repo
sudo chown root.root /etc/yum.repos.d/scylla.repo
sudo chmod 644 /etc/yum.repos.d/scylla.repo

Install:

sudo yum clean all
sudo yum remove scylla\*
sudo yum install scylla

If you’re using the ScyllaDB official image (recommended), see the Debian/Ubuntu tab for upgrade instructions.

If you’re using your own image and installed ScyllaDB packages for Ubuntu or Debian, you need to additionally restore the scylla-machine-image package.

Restore the 6.2 packages backed up during the upgrade (see the Debian/Ubuntu tab).

Install:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get remove scylla\* -y
sudo apt-get install scylla
sudo apt-get install scylla-machine-image

Answer ‘y’ to the first two questions.

Restore the configuration file¶

sudo rm -rf /etc/scylla/scylla.yaml
sudo cp /etc/scylla/scylla.yaml-backup /etc/scylla/scylla.yaml

Reload systemd configuration¶

You must reload the unit file if the systemd unit file is changed.

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

Start the node¶

sudo service scylla-server start

Validate¶

Check the upgrade instructions above for validation. Once you are sure the node rollback is successful, move to the next node in the cluster.

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