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Upgrading a Cluster

  • Capella Columnar
  • how-to
April 13, 2025
+ 12
Upgrades are scheduled as needed on Columnar clusters to provide a reliable service with the latest features.

This page walks you through maintenance jobs for Capella Columnar cluster upgrades in Couchbase Capella. Use the procedures on this page to view and reschedule upgrade maintenance jobs for your clusters.

Cluster Upgrade Timeframes

When planning for cluster upgrades, it’s important to understand the upgrade timeframes:

  • Notice period: the interval of time between when the upgrade maintenance job is created (and maintenance notifications are sent) and the scheduled upgrade date (target start time). You receive notification emails when Capella Columnar schedules an upgrade maintenance job. For more information, see Manage Maintenance Email Notifications.

  • Upgrade window: the interval of time during which the upgrade can begin. This time is dependent on the upgrade type and begins after the notice periods ends, allowing customers to adjust the upgrade schedule as needed. For more information, see Reschedule an Individual Maintenance Job.

You can click the upgrade maintenance job name in the Columnar UI to see the full details of the upgrade and set a preferred time and day of the week for these maintenance jobs. You can also see options that allow you to change when the upgrade maintenance job runs.

For more details about the different types of upgrade maintenance jobs and the timeframes to complete the upgrade, see the following table:

Upgrade or Maintenance Type Description Timeframe

Critical Upgrade

Capella Columnar schedules critical upgrades in response to an urgent bug, vulnerability, or other issue that impacts cluster health or performance.

Capella Columnar can schedule these upgrades on the same date as the maintenance job creation and the upgrade maintenance notification. You might have a 0-day notice of a pending upgrade maintenance job before Capella automatically upgrades your cluster.

Maintenance Release

A new Capella Columnar maintenance release.

Upgrade timeframes vary based on the actual features and improvements included in the Capella Columnar release version and how these features and improvements might impact Columnar users.

A typical upgrade maintenance job has a 1-2 week notice period.

It can include an upgrade window of 2 to 4 weeks after the notice period ends, allowing customers to adjust the upgrade schedule as needed.

Maintenance Jobs

All maintenance jobs have a target start time. Capella Columnar aims to start the maintenance of your cluster at this time.

maintenance jobs are sometimes delayed when a cluster cannot be upgraded. For example, when a cluster is reconfiguring.

For each individual maintenance job, you can:

  • View its type, status, and scheduled time to upgrade.

  • Review its overview and what’s new.

  • Set a preferred time to upgrade.

  • Reschedule it to upgrade at a different time.

  • Create a support ticket.

You can review all scheduled maintenance jobs that have run on the cluster. For more information, see Activity Log.

When a maintenance job runs, the cluster is moved to a redeploying state while nodes are rebalanced to apply the maintenance changes. Maintenance redeployments are not time-bound, and the time taken varies depending on the size of the cluster, volume of data, and load. Clusters remain available throughout the upgrade. Cluster reconfiguration options are not available during an upgrade, though data tools remain accessible in the Capella UI.

Maintenance and Cluster On/Off

Keep the following in mind while using scheduled or on-demand on/off operations on your cluster:

  • If you have scheduled your cluster to turn off and the cluster is running or due to run maintenance within the next hour, Capella does not turn off the cluster. The cluster will not turn off until the next scheduled off event in your schedule.

  • If you try to turn your cluster off on-demand and the cluster is running or due to run maintenance within the next hour, Capella returns an error and the cluster does not turn off.

  • If your cluster is already turned off when a maintenance job is set to run, Capella automatically reschedules the maintenance job for an hour later. The maintenance can be repeatedly rescheduled until the cluster is on.

View Individual Maintenance Jobs

You can view scheduled maintenance upgrade jobs for your clusters:

  1. On the Columnar Clusters page, find and click the name of the cluster you’re working with.

  2. Click the Settings tab.

  3. In the navigation pane, click Maintenance.

Maintenance job statuses are pending, running, and completed.

Set a Preferred Time for all Maintenance Jobs

You can set a preferred time and day of the week for future maintenance jobs to be scheduled. This does not reschedule maintenance jobs that are already scheduled on the Maintenance tab.

When an upgrade or maintenance becomes available, Capella Columnar attempts to schedule the maintenance at your preferred time and day of the week. The preferred time is not a guarantee. If it’s not possible to schedule the maintenance at your preferred time, the cluster is scheduled at any time within the maintenance window.

To set a preferred maintenance day and time for all upcoming jobs:

  1. Click Set Time.

  2. Select Enable a preferred start time for cluster maintenance.

  3. In the Day of the Week list, select the day you want scheduled maintenance to occur.

  4. In the Time field, enter the time you want scheduled maintenance to occur.

    This time is local to you, and you enter it using the HH:mm format. For example: 14:30.

  5. Click on Save.

Reschedule an Individual Maintenance Job

When an upgrade maintenance job is scheduled, you can choose to reschedule your upgrade for any time before the scheduled date or within the upgrade window. Rescheduling is possible up to the end date, which is the latest possible upgrade schedule date specified in the upgrade maintenance job window. However, maintenance jobs cannot be deferred indefinitely because each maintenance job has a latest possible upgrade date.

Depending on the type of upgrade and the target start time, you can schedule a new date. This is a new target start time. When the scheduled time is reached, the cluster is automatically upgraded.

You can create a support ticket to ask for an extension if there are exceptional circumstances. Extensions are not guaranteed.

To reschedule your maintenance job:

  1. On your Columnar cluster’s Maintenance page, click on the job name in the Maintenance Jobs list.

  2. Select one of the following:

    • Keep current schedule.

    • Change time.

      Click the date picker and set the preferred date and start time.

    • Run now.

  3. Click Save.

Manage Maintenance Email Notifications

When a maintenance job is scheduled, email notifications are sent to:

  • Organization Owners where one or more clusters in their organization is scheduled for maintenance.

  • Project Owners and Project managers where at least one cluster in a project they have access to is scheduled for maintenance.

Capella sends these emails when the maintenance job is scheduled and, when applicable, 1 week, 24 hours, and 1 hour prior to the target start time. These notifications include details about the cluster, the upgrade, and the upgrade schedule.

Those with notifications turned OFF will not receive these emails. For more information about how to turn your email notifications on or off, see Get Alerts through Email.