---
layout: docs
page_title: Vault Enterprise Automated Upgrades
description: |-
  Vault Enterprise can upgrade itself automatically.
---

# Automated upgrades

~> **Note**: Automated Upgrades requires [Vault Enterprise](https://www.hashicorp.com/products/vault/) to be
configured to use Integrated Storage.

Vault Enterprise Automated Upgrades allows operators to upgrade the Vault version currently running in a cluster automatically.
 There are a few different ways to make this upgrade happen,
and control which versions are being upgraded to. With no additional configuration,
Vault will check the version of Vault that each node in the cluster is running. If a blue/green
style deployment is desired, Vault uses the version of your choosing, regardless of
which version of Vault is currently running.

## Configuration
A new key can be added to Vault's `storage` configuration stanza: `autopilot_upgrade_version`.
The value for this key is a [SemVer](https://semver.org/) compatible version string of your choosing.
When a version string is present, it will override the current version of Vault that is running to upgrade automatically.

## Mechanics
Whether you choose to use Vault's built-in version or a version of your own, the mechanics for performing
automatic upgrades remain the same.

When a Vault cluster is running and new nodes containing an updated Vault version join the cluster, the
Autopilot subsystem within Vault will promote the new version nodes to voters when the number of nodes
running the latest Vault version equals or exceeds the number of pre-existing nodes. Vault then demotes
the previous version's nodes to non-voters. Finally, leadership transfers from the prior leader to a
randomly selected node running the newest Vault version and waits for the user to remove the previous
nodes from the cluster.

Below is a flowchart depicting Autopilot's automated upgrade state machine.

![Automated Upgrade State Machine](/img/autopilot-automated-upgrade.png)

The status of the automated upgrade can be monitored by consulting the [Autopilot state API endpoint](/vault/api-docs/system/storage/raftautopilot#get-cluster-state).

## Examples
### Using vault's built-in version
This is the easiest method to perform an automated upgrade; no configuration is needed, and automated upgrades
are enabled by default.

### Using a blue/green style deploy
Specify something like: `1.11.0-release.1` for the `autopilot_upgrade_version` configuration key in your
existing cluster. When you're ready to deploy a new set of nodes, specify `1.11.0-release.2` for the new
nodes. Any time you need to deploy an updated set of nodes to the cluster, increment the final number.

It's important to note that Autopilot uses strict [semantic versioning](https://semver.org) when parsing
upgrade versions. This means that in the above example, `-release.1` is considered the _pre-release version_
in semantic versioning terminology. The pre-release version is denoted by a hyphen `-` after the patch version.
This is semantically different from the _build metadata_, which is denoted by a plus sign `+` after either the
patch version or the pre-release version. Build metadata is ignored when parsing versions, while the pre-release
version is not. A table with some examples will help illustrate this.

| Current upgrade version | New node upgrade version | Equal? | Will the upgrade happen? | Why?                                                                               |
|:------------------------|:-------------------------|:-------|:-------------------------|:-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 1.11.0                  | 1.11.0                   | Yes    | No                       | Versions are equal                                                                 |
| 1.11.0-release.1        | 1.11.0-release.2         | No     | Yes                      | New node version is greater than current version                                   |
| 1.11.0-release.1        | 1.11.1                   | No     | Yes                      | New node version is greater than current version                                   |
| 1.11.0                  | 1.11.0-release.1         | No     | No                       | New node version is less than current version                                      |
| 1.11.0+release.1        | 1.11.0+release.2         | Yes    | No                       | `release.1` and `release.2` are build metadata and ignored when comparing versions |
| 1.11.0-release.1+123    | 1.11.0-release.1+456     | Yes    | No                       | Versions are equal, build metadata is ignored. |
