[[upgrade]]
== Upgrade {kib}

To upgrade from 7.16.0 or earlier to {version}, 
**you must first upgrade to {prev-major-last}**, which enables you to use the *Upgrade Assistant* to
{stack-ref}/upgrading-elastic-stack.html#prepare-to-upgrade[prepare for the upgrade].
Before you upgrade, you must resolve all critical issues identified by the *Upgrade Assistant*. 

Rolling upgrades are unsupported in {kib}. To upgrade,  
you must shut down all {kib} instances, install the new software, and restart {kib}.
Upgrading while older {kib} instances are running can cause data loss or upgrade failures.

[WARNING]
====
When required, {kib} automatically migrates <<saved-object-migrations, saved objects>>. 
In case of an upgrade failure, you can roll back to an
earlier version of {kib}. To roll back, you **must** have a
{ref}/snapshot-restore.html[backup snapshot] that includes the `kibana` feature
state. By default, snapshots include the `kibana` feature state.
====

For more information about upgrading, 
refer to {stack-ref}/upgrading-elastic-stack.html[Upgrading to Elastic {version}.]

IMPORTANT: You can upgrade to pre-release versions for testing, 
but upgrading from a pre-release to the General Available version is unsupported.
You should use pre-release versions only for testing in a temporary environment.

include::upgrade/upgrade-migrations.asciidoc[leveloffset=-1]

include::upgrade/logging-configuration-changes.asciidoc[]