Upgrade LabKey

2024-03-28

These topics provide step by step instructions for upgrading an existing LabKey Server installation to a newer version.

This documentation section has been updated for upgrading to use embedded Tomcat for the first time. Versions 23.11 and earlier used a standalone installation (of Tomcat 9) and different configuration method.

If you need to do any intermediate upgrades to bring your current server to a version that supports upgrade to 24.3, please review the documentation archives for the previous upgrade process to bring your server to version 23.11 prior to following these steps.

Supported Versions for Upgrade

Please see the LabKey Releases and Upgrade Support Policy page. In some cases, you may need to perform an intermediate upgrade to reach the latest version.

Best Practice: Use a Staging Server

We recommend first upgrading a Staging server, as it will help you confirm that the production upgrade will be successful. Bring up a temporary staging server using your current version and a copy of the production database, then upgrade that. Once testing is complete, you can repeat the upgrade process on your production server.

Learn more in this topic: Use a Staging Server

Upgrade Instructions

Upgrade on Linux or OSX

Upgrade on Windows

Considerations and Notes

Reset Browser Cache

If menus, tabs, or other UI features appear to display incorrectly after upgrade, particularly if different browsers show different layouts, you may need to clear your browser cache to clear old stylesheets.

Pipeline Jobs

It is a known issue that pipeline jobs that are in progress prior to an upgrade may not resume successfully after an upgrade. The same is true for jobs that may have hit an error condition if they are retried after an upgrade. In general, hotfix releases should not have incompatibilities when resuming jobs, but major version upgrades will sometimes exhibit this problem. When possible, it is recommended to let jobs complete prior to performing an upgrade.

To check the status of jobs, use the Pipeline link from the Admin Console.

Upgrade Performance

From time to time, one time migrations may result in longer upgrade times than expected for certain modules. Check the logs and do not simply "cancel" an upgrade midstream as it will likely leave your server in an unstable state.

Related Topics


LabKey Cloud Solutions Available

LabKey can take care of the upgrade process for you, so that you can focus on your research. Learn more on our website: