Upgrading with the Persistent Queue Enablededit

The following applies only if you are upgrading from Logstash version 6.2.x or earlier with the persistent queue enabled.

We regret to say that due to several serialization issues in Logstash 6.2.x and earlier, users will have to take some extra steps when upgrading Logstash with the persistent queue enabled. While we strive to maintain backward compatibility within a given major release, these bugs require us to break that compatibility in version 6.3.0 to ensure correctness of operation. For more technical details on this issue, please check our tracking github issue for this matter, #9494.

Drain the Persistent Queueedit

If you use the persistent queue, we strongly recommend that you drain or delete it before you upgrade.

To drain the queue:

  1. In the logstash.yml file, set queue.drain:true.
  2. Restart Logstash for this setting to take effect.
  3. Shutdown Logstash (using CTRL+C or SIGTERM), and wait for the queue to empty.

When the queue is empty:

  1. Complete the upgrade.
  2. Restart Logstash.

We are working to resolve issues with data incompatibilities so that these steps won’t be required for future upgrades.