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Upgrade NebulaGraph to 3.8.0

This topic describes how to upgrade NebulaGraph from version 2.x and 3.x to 3.8.0, taking upgrading from version 2.6.1 to 3.8.0 as an example.

Applicable source versions

This topic applies to upgrading NebulaGraph from 2.5.0 and later 2.x, and 3.x versions to 3.8.0. It does not apply to historical versions earlier than 2.5.0, including the 1.x versions.

To upgrade NebulaGraph from historical versions to 3.8.0:

  1. Upgrade it to the latest 2.5 version according to the docs of that version.
  2. Follow this topic to upgrade it to 3.8.0.

Caution

To upgrade NebulaGraph from versions earlier than 2.0.0 (including the 1.x versions) to 3.8.0, you need to find the date_time_zonespec.csv in the share/resources directory of 3.8.0 files, and then copy it to the same directory in the NebulaGraph installation path.

Limitations

  • Rolling Upgrade is not supported. You must stop all the NebulaGraph services before the upgrade.
  • There is no upgrade script. You have to manually upgrade each server in the cluster.
  • This topic does not apply to scenarios where NebulaGraph is deployed with Docker, including Docker Swarm, Docker Compose, and K8s.
  • You must upgrade the old NebulaGraph services on the same machines they are deployed. DO NOT change the IP addresses, configuration files of the machines, and DO NOT change the cluster topology.
  • Known issues that could cause data loss are listed on GitHub known issues. The issues are all related to altering schema or default values.
  • DO NOT use soft links to switch the data directories.
  • You must have the sudo privileges to complete the steps in this topic.

Upgrade influences

  • Client compatibility

    After the upgrade, you will not be able to connect to NebulaGraph from old clients. You will need to upgrade all clients to a version compatible with NebulaGraph 3.8.0.

  • Configuration changes

    A few configuration parameters have been changed. For more information, see the release notes and configuration docs.

  • nGQL compatibility

    The nGQL syntax is partially incompatible:

    • Disable the YIELD clause to return custom variables.
    • The YIELD clause is required in the FETCH, GO, LOOKUP, FIND PATH and GET SUBGRAPH statements.
    • It is required to specify a tag to query properties of a vertex in a MATCH statement. For example, from return v.name to return v.player.name.

  • Full-text indexes

    Before upgrading a NebulaGraph cluster with full-text indexes deployed, you must manually delete the full-text indexes in Elasticsearch, and then run the SIGN IN command to log into ES and recreate the indexes after the upgrade is complete. To manually delete the full-text indexes in Elasticsearch, you can use the curl command curl -XDELETE -u <es_username>:<es_password> '<es_access_ip>:<port>/<fullindex_name>', for example, curl -XDELETE -u elastic:elastic 'http://192.168.8.xxx:9200/nebula_index_2534'. If no username and password are set for Elasticsearch, you can omit the -u <es_username>:<es_password> part.

Caution

There may be other undiscovered influences. Before the upgrade, we recommend that you read the release notes and user manual carefully, and keep an eye on the posts on the forum and issues on Github.

Preparations before the upgrade

  • Download the package of NebulaGraph 3.8.0 according to your operating system and system architecture. You need the binary files during the upgrade. Find the package on the download page.

    Note

    You can also get the new binaries from the source code or the RPM/DEB package.

  • Locate the data files based on the value of the data_path parameters in the Storage and Meta configurations, and backup the data files. The default paths are nebula/data/storage and nebula/data/meta.

    Danger

    The old data will not be automatically backed up during the upgrade. You must manually back up the data to avoid data loss.

  • Backup the configuration files.

  • Collect the statistics of all graph spaces before the upgrade. After the upgrade, you can collect again and compare the results to make sure that no data is lost. To collect the statistics:

    1. Run SUBMIT JOB STATS.
    2. Run SHOW JOBS and record the result.

Upgrade steps

  1. Stop all NebulaGraph services.

    <nebula_install_path>/scripts/nebula.service stop all

    nebula_install_path indicates the installation path of NebulaGraph.

    The storaged progress needs around 1 minute to flush data. You can run nebula.service status all to check if all services are stopped. For more information about starting and stopping services, see Manage services.

    Note

    If the services are not fully stopped in 20 minutes, stop upgrading and ask for help on the forum or Github.

    Caution

    Starting from version 3.0.0, it is possible to insert vertices without tags. If you need to keep vertices without tags, add --graph_use_vertex_key=true in the configuration file (nebula-graphd.conf) of all Graph services within the cluster; and add --use_vertex_key=true in the configuration file (nebula-storaged.conf) of all Storage services."

  2. In the target path where you unpacked the package, use the binaries in the bin directory to replace the old binaries in the bin directory in the NebulaGraph installation path.

    Note

    Update the binary of the corresponding service on each NebulaGraph server.

  3. Modify the following parameters in all Graph configuration files to accommodate the value range of the new version. If the parameter values are within the specified range, skip this step.

    • Set a value in [1,604800] for session_idle_timeout_secs. The recommended value is 28800.
    • Set a value in [1,604800] for client_idle_timeout_secs. The recommended value is 28800.

    The default values of these parameters in the 2.x versions are not within the range of the new version. If you do not change the default values, the upgrade will fail. For detailed parameter description, see Graph Service Configuration.

  4. Start all Meta services.

    <nebula_install_path>/scripts/nebula-metad.service start

    Once started, the Meta services take several seconds to elect a leader.

    To verify that Meta services are all started, you can start any Graph server, connect to it through NebulaGraph Console, and run SHOW HOSTS meta and SHOW META LEADER. If the status of Meta services are correctly returned, the services are successfully started.

    Note

    If the operation fails, stop the upgrade and ask for help on the forum or GitHub.

  5. Start all the Graph and Storage services.

    Note

    If the operation fails, stop the upgrade and ask for help on the forum or GitHub.

  6. Connect to the new version of NebulaGraph to verify that services are available and data are complete. For how to connect, see Connect to NebulaGraph.

    Currently, there is no official way to check whether the upgrade is successful. You can run the following reference statements to test the upgrade:

    nebula> SHOW HOSTS;
nebula> SHOW HOSTS storage;
nebula> SHOW SPACES;
nebula> USE <space_name>
nebula> SHOW PARTS;
nebula> SUBMIT JOB STATS;
nebula> SHOW STATS;
nebula> MATCH (v) RETURN v LIMIT 5;

    You can also test against new features in version 3.8.0.

Upgrade failure and rollback

If the upgrade fails, stop all NebulaGraph services of the new version, recover the old configuration files and binaries, and start the services of the old version.

All NebulaGraph clients in use must be switched to the old version.

FAQ

Can I write through the client during the upgrade?

A: No. You must stop all NebulaGraph services during the upgrade.

The Space 0 not found warning message during the upgrade process

When the Space 0 not found warning message appears during the upgrade process, you can ignore it. The space 0 is used to store meta information about the Storage service and does not contain user data, so it will not affect the upgrade.

How to upgrade if a machine has only the Graph Service, but not the Storage Service?

A: You only need to update the configuration files and binaries of the Graph Service.

How to resolve the error Permission denied?

A: Try again with the sudo privileges.

Is there any change in gflags?

A: Yes. For more information, see the release notes and configuration docs.

Is there a tool or solution for verifying data consistency after the upgrade?

A: No. But if you only want to check the number of vertices and edges, run SUBMIT JOB STATS and SHOW STATS after the upgrade, and compare the result with the result that you recorded before the upgrade.

How to solve the issue that Storage is OFFLINE and Leader count is 0?

A: Run the following statement to add the Storage hosts into the cluster manually.

ADD HOSTS <ip>:<port>[, <ip>:<port> ...];

For example:

ADD HOSTS 192.168.10.100:9779, 192.168.10.101:9779, 192.168.10.102:9779;

If the issue persists, ask for help on the forum or GitHub.

Why the job type changed after the upgrade, but job ID remains the same?

A: SHOW JOBS depends on an internal ID to identify job types, but in NebulaGraph 2.5.0 the internal ID changed in this pull request, so this issue happens after upgrading from a version earlier than 2.5.0.

Last update: October 24, 2023