Prerequisites

1. Access to all nodes of the cluster through one of the following methods
   - Rancher
   - SSH protocol
   - AWS Session Manager

2. The K3s version tag you wish to upgrade to: https://github.com/k3s-io/k3s/releases

3. The system-upgrade-controller file that will be used to upgrade the K3s cluster:
   https://assets.master.k3s.getvisibility.com/system-upgrade-controller/v0.10.0/system-upgrade-controller.yaml

4. The Bundle file for the K3s upgrade in the Air-Gap Environment

5. Make sure you push all new docker images to the ECR gv-public docker registry that you need to install the new k3s version. See here Secure Mode

Focus/Synergy services

Updates and custom settings are automatically applied to all backend services using Fleet as long as the cluster has access to the public internet and can connect to the management server.

In case there’s no internet connection or the management server is down, the cluster agent will keep trying to reach the management server until a connection can be established.

Upgrading K3s to 1.24

1. Log in to Rancher or one of the master nodes of the cluster to use kubectl CLI

2. List the node name and the K3s version:

   kubectl get nodes

3. Add the label k3s-upgrade=true to the nodes:
   Note: In the case of a multi-node cluster, each node will be updated with the label mentioned above

   kubectl label node --all k3s-upgrade=true

4. Deploy the system-upgrade-controller :

   kubectl apply -f https://assets.master.k3s.getvisibility.com/system-upgrade-controller/v0.10.0/system-upgrade-controller.yaml

5. Create upgrade-plan.yaml file.
   Note: the key version has the version of the K3s that the cluster will be upgraded to.

6. Run the upgrade plan.
   The upgrade controller should watch for this plan and execute the upgrade on the labeled nodes

7. Once the plan is executed, all pods will restart and will take a few minutes to recover.
   Check the status of all the pods:

8. Check if the K3s version has been upgraded:

9. Delete the system-upgrade-controller :

Demo Video

Here is the demo video that showcases the steps that need to be performed to upgrade K3s:

Open

Upgrading K3s - AirGap (Manual Approach)

1. Take a shell session to each of the cluster nodes (VMs)

2. Download and Extract the bundle file: tar -xf gv-platform-$VERSION.tar to all the VMs

3. Perform the following steps in each of the VMs to Upgrade K3s:

4. Restart the k3s service across each of the nodes
   Master nodes:

   Worker nodes:

5. Wait for a few minutes for the pods to recover.

6. Check the k3s version across the nodes

Demo Video

Here is the demo video that showcases the steps that need to be performed to upgrade K3s in the Air Gap environment:

Open

Upgrading K3s to 1.26

• Deploy the system-upgrade-controller :

• Create the upgrade plan
  Note: the key version has the version of the K3s that the cluster will be upgraded to.

   

  If you are also running a worker node then execute this too:

• Run the upgrade plan:

   

  In the case of a Worker node execute this too:

• Once the plan is executed, all pods will restart and take a few minutes to recover
  Check the status of all the pods:

• Check if the K3s version has been upgraded:

• Delete the system-upgrade-controller :

Reference: Apply upgrade: https://docs.k3s.io/upgrades/automated#install-the-system-upgrade-controller

Post Upgrade Patch

• Run this patch to add traefik.io to the apiGroup of the ClusterRole traefik-kube-system

• Add the missing CRDs

• Restart traefik deployment

Reference: K3s v1.27.7+k3s1 and v1.28.3+k3s1 bundle old Traefik CRDs, causing kubernetes api connection issues · Issue #8755 · k3s-io/k3s

Upgrading K3s - AirGap (Manual Approach)

Follow these steps to upgrade k3s: K3s - Upgrade | Upgrading K3s AirGap (Manual Approach)

Post Upgrade Patch

• Run this patch to add traefik.io to the apiGroup of the ClusterRole traefik-kube-system

• Add the missing CRDs

• Restart traefik deployment

Reference: K3s v1.27.7+k3s1 and v1.28.3+k3s1 bundle old Traefik CRDs, causing kubernetes api connection issues · Issue #8755 · k3s-io/k3s

Certificates

By default, certificates in K3s expire in 12 months. If the certificates are expired or have fewer than 90 days remaining before they expire, the certificates are rotated when K3s is restarted.