Is there a proper way of upgrading HA (core) to the latest version. I am currently running 2021.12.7
Do I update to the last 2021.12 and then the last 22.12 and then to 2023 or do I step up through each update ?
You’ve got two main options:
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Read all the release notes, make a note of the breaking changes, upgrade HA to the current release and fix all the problems. You’ll almost certainly have a broken install, but HA should start regardless.
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This splits into two
a. Read the release notes for the first release of 2022, make a note of the breaking changes and upgrade to that version. Apply the required changes, and then repeat for the next release. Continue until you’re up to date.b. Read the release notes for each major release after 2021.12. If there are no breaking changes that apply to you continue to the next version. Upgrade once you have a version with breaking changes that apply to you. Repeat until you’re up to date.
Neither is meaningfully better, or worse, than the other. The third option (2b) is the way I do it when jumping multiple versions. It involves the least restarts and the least problems caused by breaking changes.
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Reading your comment, what’s the best practice? Always upgrade whenever there’s a new version? This is to avoid becoming too old, which could be complicated to upgrade.
I’m asking because I am still very new, just started some days ago. So, still learning and reading everything, especially this community forum. @Tinkerer
I suggest you upgrade when there is a new major version released and it has been out for 2-3 weeks.
This way you keep up-to-date and the 2-3 weeks delay makes nearly all the new bugs being fixed.
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And have a good backup and recovery plan, that you have tested, incase you need to drop back or if something breaks (hardware or software).
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True and make sure the backup is off-device, like on a google drive or a samba share or on an extra USB drive connected to the HA installation, but not setup as the main drive.
I’d recommend upgrading at least once a month. You either want to upgrade at the start of the beta cycle, to what’s likely to be the last point release of the stable version, or to upgrade as point releases come out.
Which approach you take, or whether you do a little of both, depends on whether you prefer to get fixes as they come out, or wait.
Either way, backups, backups, backups. Take them automatically at regular intervals, I’d suggest at least daily, and more often is good for minimising data loss (I back it up hourly, which is a little excessive, but I back up all my data hourly and it would be more work to exclude HA from that interval).
They’re not backups if you leave them on the computer you’re backing up.
Oh, and test your restores, as others have said. I know too many people who’ve found out the hard way that they don’t know how to recover, or that their plans don’t work…