istio.io/content/en/docs/setup/upgrade/helm/index.md

title	linktitle	description	weight	keywords	owner	test
Upgrade with Helm	Upgrade with Helm	Upgrade and configure Istio for in-depth evaluation.	27	kubernetes helm	istio/wg-environments-maintainers	yes

Follow this guide to upgrade and configure an Istio mesh using Helm. This guide assumes you have already performed an installation with Helm for a previous minor or patch version of Istio.

{{< boilerplate helm-preamble >}}

{{< boilerplate helm-prereqs >}}

Upgrade steps

Before upgrading Istio, it is recommended to run the istioctl x precheck command to make sure the upgrade is compatible with your environment.

{{< text bash >}} $ istioctl x precheck ✔ No issues found when checking the cluster. Istio is safe to install or upgrade! To get started, check out https://istio.io/latest/docs/setup/getting-started/ {{< /text >}}

{{< warning >}} Helm does not upgrade or delete CRDs when performing an upgrade. Because of this restriction, an additional step is required when upgrading Istio with Helm. {{< /warning >}}

Canary upgrade (recommended)

You can install a canary version of Istio control plane to validate that the new version is compatible with your existing configuration and data plane using the steps below:

{{< warning >}} Note that when you install a canary version of the istiod service, the underlying cluster-wide resources from the base chart are shared across your primary and canary installations. {{< /warning >}}

1. Upgrade the Kubernetes custom resource definitions ({{< gloss >}}CRDs{{</ gloss >}}):

   {{< text bash >}} $ kubectl apply -f manifests/charts/base/crds {{< /text >}}

2. Install a canary version of the Istio discovery chart by setting the revision value:

   {{< text bash >}} $ helm install istiod-canary istio/istiod
   --set revision=canary
   -n istio-system {{< /text >}}

3. Verify that you have two versions of istiod installed in your cluster:

   {{< text bash >}} $ kubectl get pods -l app=istiod -L istio.io/rev -n istio-system NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE REV istiod-5649c48ddc-dlkh8 1/1 Running 0 71m default istiod-canary-9cc9fd96f-jpc7n 1/1 Running 0 34m canary {{< /text >}}

4. If you are using Istio gateways, install a canary revision of the Gateway chart by setting the revision value:

   {{< text bash >}} $ helm install istio-ingress-canary istio/gateway
   --set revision=canary
   -n istio-ingress {{< /text >}}

5. Verify that you have two versions of istio-ingress gateway installed in your cluster:

   {{< text bash >}} $ kubectl get pods -L istio.io/rev -n istio-ingress NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE REV istio-ingress-754f55f7f6-6zg8n 1/1 Running 0 5m22s default istio-ingress-canary-5d649bd644-4m8lp 1/1 Running 0 3m24s canary {{< /text >}}

   See Upgarding Gateways for in-depth documentation on gateway canary upgrade.

6. Follow the steps here to test or migrate existing workloads to use the canary control plane.

7. Once you have verified and migrated your workloads to use the canary control plane, you can uninstall your old control plane:

   {{< text bash >}} $ helm delete istiod -n istio-system {{< /text >}}

8. Upgrade the Istio base chart, making the new revision the default.

   {{< text bash >}} $ helm upgrade istio-base istio/base --set defaultRevision=canary -n istio-system --skip-crds {{< /text >}}

Stable revision labels

{{< boilerplate revision-tags-preamble >}}

Usage

{{< boilerplate revision-tags-usage >}}

{{< text bash >}} $ helm template istiod istio/istiod -s templates/revision-tags.yaml --set revisionTags="{prod-stable}" --set revision=1-9-5 -n istio-system | kubectl apply -f - $ helm template istiod istio/istiod -s templates/revision-tags.yaml --set revisionTags="{prod-canary}" --set revision=1-10-0 -n istio-system | kubectl apply -f - {{< /text >}}

{{< warning >}} These commands create new MutatingWebhookConfiguration resources in your cluster, however, they are not owned by any Helm chart due to kubectl manually applying the templates. See the instructions below to uninstall revision tags. {{< /warning >}}

{{< boilerplate revision-tags-middle >}}

{{< text bash >}} $ helm template istiod istio/istiod -s templates/revision-tags.yaml --set revisionTags="{prod-stable}" --set revision=1-10-0 -n istio-system | kubectl apply -f - {{< /text >}}

{{< boilerplate revision-tags-prologue >}}

Default tag

{{< boilerplate revision-tags-default-intro >}}

{{< text bash >}} $ helm template istiod istio/istiod -s templates/revision-tags.yaml --set revisionTags="{default}" --set revision=1-10-0 -n istio-system | kubectl apply -f - {{< /text >}}

{{< boilerplate revision-tags-default-outro >}}

In place upgrade

You can perform an in place upgrade of Istio in your cluster using the Helm upgrade workflow.

{{< warning >}} Add your override values file or custom options to the commands below to preserve your custom configuration during Helm upgrades. {{< /warning >}}

1. Upgrade the Kubernetes custom resource definitions ({{< gloss >}}CRDs{{</ gloss >}}):

   {{< text bash >}} $ kubectl apply -f manifests/charts/base/crds {{< /text >}}

2. Upgrade the Istio base chart:

   {{< text bash >}} $ helm upgrade istio-base manifests/charts/base -n istio-system --skip-crds {{< /text >}}

3. Upgrade the Istio discovery chart:

   {{< text bash >}} $ helm upgrade istiod istio/istiod -n istio-system {{< /text >}}

4. (Optional) Upgrade and gateway charts installed in your cluster:

   {{< text bash >}} $ helm upgrade istio-ingress istio/gateway -n istio-ingress {{< /text >}}

Uninstall

Please refer to the uninstall section in our Helm install guide.