Upgrading from v2.x.x to v3.x.x

openBalena
10

Just an update for other openBalena users, I’m testing out different scenario’s.
I’ll try to test out every scenario I can think of, but don’t pin me on that :).

Some information about all scenario’s:

  • I’ll only test with Raspberry Pi 4 devices, because these are the only devices we’re using at the moment.
  • I’ll not test every Balena function, only the functions that I’m using with Balena, which are the VPN, basic device functions (like balena devices, balena env add, balena env rm etc.), local deployment (balena push), local SSH and over VPN, balena app commands, updates and provisioning of devices.
  • I’m using a VPS/Kubernetes at DigitalOcean. I’ve heard about some problems with non-KVM VPS’s.

Scenario’s I could think of:

  1. Will the VPN still work on balenaOS devices >= 2.58.0 when connected to openBalena v2.x.x
    I can confirm that this is the case. I’ve updated one of my devices to v2.58.6+rev1 (dev) with supervisor version 11.14.0, and I can still connect via the VPN tunnel to the device. I updated the Host OS first and then the supervisor.

  2. Will the VPN still work on balenaOS devices < 2.58.0 when connected to openBalena v3.x.x
    I’ve created a clean install of openBalena v2.x.x and checked the VPN with balenaOS 2.48.0 (supervisor 10.8.0), and it worked, as expected. Next, I’ve updated openBalena to v3.0.1 and the device stayed on balenaOS 2.48.0 (supervisor 10.8.0). It showed as ‘online’ on openBalena and used the VPN to SSH into the device, and it still worked :partying_face:. Next, I’ve updated the Host OS to 2.58.6+rev1 and supervisor to v11.14.0. Everything worked as expected!

  3. Does provisioning a balenaOS device >= 2.58.0 work when using openBalena v3.x.x.?
    In version 3.1.1 the upgrade bug from v2.x.x to v3.x.x is fixed. So provisioning a device requires v3.1.1. But to confirm, this works!

  4. What to expect when upgrading from openBalena v2.x.x to v3.x.x?
    First thing I noticed is I had to update the Balena CLI, as mentioned in the README. The balena devices command didn’t work. So it’s something to keep in mind when upgrading, because v2.x.x only works till v12.5.0.

Some of the scenario’s above will probably be already tested by the Balena team, but better safe than sorry, right?

If some of you have tested another scenario or can think of another scenario, please reply!

As a side note, I’ve heard people complain about openBalena v2.x.x not being compatible with balenaOS > 2.49.0 and needing minimum 2.58.0 for openBalena v3.x.x. It’s very unfortunate, because there’s no official support for Host OS updates. But I’d still like to express that, in our case, Balena made our fleet management much better. And creating an open-source version of Balena is just awesome. So everything we get is a nice bonus. Keep in mind that this is just goodwill from the Balena team.

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