Taking cluster out of rolling upgrade mode when nodes offline to avoid startup error

[Steve Letch]

On my dev instance today, I'd left my cluster set in rolling upgrade mode when I went to upgrade from 8.5 to 9.2 and set all my boxes to upgrade at the same time, the upgraded boxes wouldn't start, citing they don't support a rolling upgrade between major versions, which is fine, however I couldn't find a way to get the system out of thinking it was in rolling upgrade mode so I could just finish upgrading one box with the other two down. Since I couldn't get to the GUI.

I restored from a backup and ran my upgrade again on a single box and it went through fine.

My question is, is there a db command or config file line change to stop the system thinking its in rolling upgrade mode without the browser GUI, so on the offchance this happens again, we dont have to roll all the way back to a backup and upgrade again.

For clarity, running on Linux as a service 

[Humashankar VJ · Accepted solution]

Hi @Steve Letch 

While the Confluence cluster is typically managed through the browser GUI, it is possible to exit rolling upgrade mode without using the graphical interface.

This can be achieved by directly modifying the database, but it's essential to exercise caution and only resort to this method as a last option.

• To do so, start by connecting to your Confluence database using a database client. Then, execute the below SQL query to check the current status of the rolling upgrade mode.
• SELECT * FROM BANDANA WHERE BANDANAKEY = 'atlassian.confluence.upgrade.active';
• If the query returns a result, you can disable the rolling upgrade mode by executing a specific SQL command.
• DELETE FROM BANDANA WHERE BANDANAKEY = 'atlassian.confluence.upgrade.active';
• After making this change, be sure to restart your Confluence service.

It's crucial to note that modifying the database directly should only be done with caution and after ensuring you have a recent backup.

This method can be useful in situations where accessing the GUI is not possible or when nodes are offline. For future upgrades, especially when moving between major versions, it's recommended to disable rolling upgrade mode before starting the upgrade process and perform a full cluster upgrade rather than a rolling upgrade.

If a rollback is necessary, be sure to follow the official rollback procedures provided by Atlassian. Remember that rolling upgrades are primarily designed for minor version updates and patches, not for major version upgrades.

Hope this helps - Happy to help further!!
Thank you very much and have a great one!
Warm regards