GitLab 18 to 19 upgrade
Moving self-managed GitLab from 18 to 19: the 18.11 stop, PostgreSQL 17 and Redis 7 prerequisites, removed bundled components and operating systems, and API and registry changes to test.
GitLab upgrades
Upgrading self-managed GitLab through required stops, major releases and multi-node zero-downtime procedures.
GitLab upgrade path and required upgrade stops
Working out the upgrade path for an instance several versions behind: required stops at x.2, x.5, x.8 and x.11, background migrations between stops, and how long each hop takes.
GitLab zero-downtime upgrades
Upgrading multi-node GitLab without an outage: load balancer and HA prerequisites, one minor release at a time, component order and post-deployment migrations.
PostgreSQL 17 upgrade for GitLab 19
Upgrading the GitLab database to PostgreSQL 17 before GitLab 19.0, for the bundled database or an external cluster, and why major PostgreSQL upgrades fall outside the zero-downtime procedure.
GitLab 17 to 18 upgrade
Planning the move to GitLab 18: PostgreSQL 16.5 as the floor, the removal of git_data_dirs for Gitaly storage, the 18.x required stops and the patch releases to avoid along the way.
GitLab batched background migrations before upgrading
Why every batched background migration must show Finished before the next GitLab upgrade, where to check status in the Admin area or database, and how failed migrations are retried or finalized.
Upgrading GitLab installed with the Helm chart
Upgrading cloud native GitLab: chart-to-GitLab version mapping, upgrading runners first, minimal values files, and the two-pass zero-downtime helm upgrade versus a single downtime upgrade.
Upgrading GitLab Geo primary and secondary sites
Upgrade order for Geo deployments, when to pause replication to keep a clean disaster recovery checkpoint, matching secrets across sites and the extra downtime a PostgreSQL major upgrade brings.
GitLab Runner upgrades and version alignment
Keeping GitLab Runner in step with GitLab: the major.minor alignment rule, upgrading runners before the server in chart upgrades, and the Docker Machine and registration token changes that affect older fleets.
Preparing self-managed GitLab for the 20.0 release
What to clear before GitLab 20.0 in May 2027: Docker Machine runners, Gemnasium-based dependency scanning and Elasticsearch 7 for advanced search, plus the required stops of the 19.x line.
