Upgrade Splunk on Linux, Solaris, FreeBSD, AIX, and MacOS

Upgrade Splunk on Linux, Solaris, FreeBSD, AIX, and MacOS

This topic describes the procedure for upgrading your Splunk instance from version 4.x to a later version.

How upgrading works

When you upgrade your configuration files are not actually changed until you start Splunk after performing the installation of the new version. You can run the migration preview utility at that time to see what will be changed before the files are updated. If you choose to view the changes before proceeding, a file containing the changes that the upgrade script proposes to make is written to $SPLUNK_HOME/var/log/splunk/migration.log.<timestamp>

Important: Before you perform the upgrade, we strongly recommend that you back up all of your files, including Splunk configurations, data and binaries. Splunk does not provide a means of downgrading to previous versions; if you need to revert to an older Splunk release, just reinstall it.

Steps for upgrading

1. Execute the $SPLUNK_HOME/bin/splunk stop command.

2. To upgrade and migrate from version 4.0 and later, install the Splunk package over your existing Splunk deployment:

• If you are using a .tar file, expand it into the same directory as your existing Splunk instance. This overwrites and replaces matching files but does not remove unique files.
• If you are using a package manager, such as an RPM, type rpm -U splunk_package_name.rpm
• If you are using a .dmg file (on MacOS), double-click it and follow the instructions. Be sure specify the the same installation directory as your existing installation.

3. Execute the $SPLUNK_HOME/bin/splunk start command.

The following output is displayed:

This appears to be an upgrade of Splunk.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Splunk has detected an older version of Splunk installed on this machine. To
finish upgrading to the new version, Splunk's installer will automatically
update and alter your current configuration files. Deprecated configuration
files will be renamed with a .deprecated extension.
You can choose to preview the changes that will be made to your configuration
files before proceeding with the migration and upgrade:
If you want to migrate and upgrade without previewing the changes that will be
made to your existing configuration files, choose 'y'.
If you want to see what changes will be made before you proceed with the
upgrade, choose 'n'.
Perform migration and upgrade without previewing configuration changes? [y/n]

4. Choose whether you want to run the migration preview script to see what changes will be made to your existing configuration files, or proceed with the migration and upgrade right away.

5. If you choose to view the expected changes, the script provides a list.

6. Once you've reviewed these changes and are ready to proceed with migration and upgrade, run $SPLUNK_HOME/bin/splunk start again.

Note: You can complete Steps 3 to 5 in one line:

To accept the license and view the expected changes (answer 'n') before continuing the upgrade:

$SPLUNK_HOME/bin/splunk start --accept-license --answer-no

To accept the license and begin the upgrade without viewing the changes (answer 'y'):

$SPLUNK_HOME/bin/splunk start --accept-license --answer-yes

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