RKE2, Rancher & Longhorn Upgrades

In Kubernetes clusters running RKE2, Rancher & Longhorn it is important to take note of compatibility between all components.

Assumptions

For the initial version of this document, we're assuming:

• Cluster deployed on self-provisioned infrastructure
• Using Helm charts for deployment of Rancher & Longhorn
• TODO: note helm version used in tests
  • https://github.com/helm/helm/releases/tag/v3.17.1

Kubernetes Versions

The Kubernetes project maintains release branches for the most recent three minor releases (1.32, 1.31, 1.30 as of 2025-02-07) - see https://kubernetes.io/releases/

RKE2 Versions

Notes:

• Latest available release as of 2025-02-06: v1.32.1+rke2r1
• Latest per Rancher support matrix: v1.32.1+rke2r1
• Upgrading RKE2 Clusters
  • Upgrade rke2 Using the Installation Script
    • Server: curl -sfL https://get.rke2.io | INSTALL_RKE2_VERSION=vX.Y.Z+rke2rN sh -
    • Agent: curl -sfL https://get.rke2.io | INSTALL_RKE2_TYPE=agent INSTALL_RKE2_VERSION=vX.Y.Z+rke2rN sh -
• When attempting to upgrade to a new version of RKE2, the Kubernetes version skew policy applies. Ensure that your plan does not skip intermediate minor versions when upgrading.

curl -sfL https://get.rke2.io | INSTALL_RKE2_VERSION=v1.31.5+rke2r1 sh -

Rancher Versions

See Choosing a Rancher Version.

Latest stable release as of 2025-02-06: v2.10.2

Helm charts are available for the following versions (only latest patch for each minor version listed) in the rancher-stable repo as of 2025-02-16:

• v2.10.2
  • 2.10.2 - supports RKE2 v1.28 - v1.31
• v2.9.3
  • 2.9.3 - supports RKE2 v1.27 - v1.30
• v2.8.5
  • 2.8.5 - supports RKE2 v1.25 - v1.28
• v2.7.10
  • 2.7.10 - supports RKE2 v1.23 - v1.26
    • v2.7.18 supports RKE2 v1.23 - v1.27 - no helm chart
• v2.6.14
• v2.5.17
• v2.4.18
• v2.3.11
• v2.2.13
• v2.1.14
• v2.0.16

Resources:

• Rancher Support Matrix
• Upgrade Process

Upgrade steps:

Bash

helm repo update
helm repo add rancher-stable https://releases.rancher.com/server-charts/stable
helm get values rancher -n cattle-system
helm upgrade rancher rancher-stable/rancher --namespace cattle-system --reuse-values --version=2.10.2

Longhorn Versions

Latest as of 2025-02-06: v1.8.0

Support:

• Longhorn v1.4.0 - v1.4.4: Rancher v2.7, Ubuntu 22.04
• Longhorn v1.5.0 - v1.5.2: Rancher v2.7, Ubuntu 22.04
• Longhorn v1.5.3 - v.1.5.5: Rancher v2.7 - v2.8, Ubuntu 22.04
• Longhorn 1.6.x: Ubuntu 22.04, actively supported versions of RKE2 and K3s
• Longhorn 1.7.x: Ubuntu 22.04, actively supported versions of RKE2 and K3s