Upgrade Kubernetes Off-The-Shelf (KOTS)

Kubernetes Off-The-Shelf (KOTS) is a deployment and management platform for Kubernetes applications that provides both online and airgap installation options.

This topic explains how to upgrade KOTS in online and airgap environments.

Prerequisites

Ensure you have access to the Kubernetes cluster where KOTS is installed
Configure kubectl with cluster access
For airgap environments:
- Have access to a container registry
- Have registry credentials ready

Upgrade KOTS

You can upgrade KOTS in online and airgap environments. The upgrade process is similar for both environments, but there are some differences in the steps.

Upgrade an online environment

Go to the KOTS GitHub releases page.
Download the latest KOTS binary tar.gz file for your OS.
Extract the downloaded tar.gz file:
```
tar xzf kots_OS_ARCH.tar.gz
```
Replace OS and ARCH with your OS and architecture.
Rename the kots binary to kubectl-kots.
To get the kubectl-kots plugin location, run the following command:
```
which kubectl-kots
```
Move the binary to the location shown by the previous command:
```
mv kots /usr/local/bin/kubectl-kots
```
You must complete the local CLI upgrade steps above before you proceed with the KOTS upgrade.
To upgrade KOTS, run the following command:
```
kubectl kots admin-console upgrade --namespace KOTS_NAMESPACE
```
Replace KOTS_NAMESPACE with your KOTS namespace.
Verify that KOTS is running with the new version:
1. Check the local CLI version:
  kubectl kots version
2. Open the KOTS admin console and check the version in the footer to verify the version running in the cluster.

Upgrade an airgapped environment

Go to the KOTS GitHub releases page.
Download the latest KOTS binary tar.gz file for your OS.
Download the latest kotsadm.tar.gz container images.
Extract the downloaded tar.gz files:
```
tar xzf kots_OS_ARCH.tar.gz
tar xzf kotsadm.tar.gz
```
Replace OS and ARCH with your OS and architecture.
Rename the kots binary to kubectl-kots.
To get the kubectl-kots plugin location, run the following command:
```
which kubectl-kots
```
Move the binary to the location shown by the previous command:
```
mv kots /usr/local/bin/kubectl-kots
```
You must complete the local CLI upgrade steps above before you proceed with the KOTS upgrade.
Upload the kotsadm images to your registry:
```
kubectl kots admin-console push-images ./kotsadm.tar.gz REGISTRY_DOMAIN/REGISTRY_NAMESPACE \
  --registry-username REGISTRY_USERNAME \
  --registry-password REGISTRY_PASSWORD
```
Replace the following:
- REGISTRY_DOMAIN: Your registry domain
- REGISTRY_NAMESPACE: Your registry namespace
- REGISTRY_USERNAME: Your registry username
- REGISTRY_PASSWORD: Your registry password

Upgrade KOTS:

kubectl kots admin-console upgrade --namespace KOTS_NAMESPACE \
  --kotsadm-registry REGISTRY_DOMAIN \
  --kotsadm-namespace REGISTRY_NAMESPACE \
  --registry-username REGISTRY_USERNAME \
  --registry-password REGISTRY_PASSWORD

Replace the following:

KOTS_NAMESPACE: Your KOTS namespace
REGISTRY_DOMAIN: Your registry domain
REGISTRY_NAMESPACE: Your registry namespace
REGISTRY_USERNAME: Your registry username
REGISTRY_PASSWORD: Your registry password

Verify that KOTS is running with the new version:
1. Check the local CLI version:
  kubectl kots version
2. Open the KOTS admin console and check the version in the footer to verify the version running in the cluster.

Upgrade Kubernetes Off-The-Shelf (KOTS)

Prerequisites

Upgrade KOTS

Upgrade an online environment

Upgrade an airgapped environment

See also

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