Introduction

About this guide

Keeping your Neo4j deployment always up-to-date ensures that you are provided with the latest improvements in performance, security, and bug fixes.

Who should read this?

This upgrade and migration guide is written for experienced system administrators and operations engineers who want to upgrade or migrate Neo4j.

This page introduces some important Neo4j concepts before referring to the version-specific pages.

Preparation

Preparation is key to any successful upgrade or migration. Before making changes to a production DBMS, it is highly recommended to use a test environment to check:

  • The upgrade/migration process.

  • Compatibility with other systems.

Version numbers

Neo4j version numbers are in the pattern MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH.

  • MAJOR versions introduce significant architectural improvements and features. They are not compatible with previous MAJOR versions. Systems that interact with the database may require updating.

  • MINOR versions introduce improvements and new features. They are backward compatible with other MINOR versions of the MAJOR version.

  • PATCH versions fix critical bugs and security issues. They are backward compatible and replace previous releases of the same MAJOR.MINOR version.

Neo4j’s fully managed cloud service Neo4j Aura uses only MAJOR versioning and is always on the latest MINOR version.

Downtime, Store formats, and downgrades

Downtime

  • MAJOR version migrations require downtime.

  • MINOR and PATCH upgrades can be applied to a cluster without downtime.

  • Standalone servers require downtime to upgrade.

When you move to a new major version of Neo4j, you must migrate the databases from the old server to the new server. Servers are upgraded by updating their binaries and restarting.

Store format

  • Store format updates are optional unless you are moving to a new MAJOR version that removes support for your old store format. For more information on the available store formats per Neo4j version, see Operations Manual → Display store information.

Downgrades

Neo4j does not support downgrades. If the upgrade or migration is not successful, you have to do a full rollback, including restoring a pre-upgrade or a pre-migration backup.

Continue reading

If you are already on Neo4j v5, or want to migrate your databases from v4.4 you can proceed to the Neo4j v5 section.

If you are upgrading to a version of Neo4j v4, read the Neo4j v4 section.

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