Patch node groups
Learn how to patch node groups to update their AMI or Kubernetes version
This guide will show you how to update your Kubernetes node groups for a Release cluster.
This function is useful after you upgrade your cluster's Kubernetes version or when you want to update the Amazon Machine Images (AMI) running on your node groups.
Step-by-step guide
Log in to your Release account, then navigate to your cluster settings:
Click on the account settings icon, top-left.
Click on Clusters in the left menu.
Open the relevant cluster by clicking the cluster name.
Click on the Patch Node Groups button.
In the confirmation dialog, click Confirm.
The node group upgrade process should start now and can take up to 30 minutes to complete.
Services should remain online
Release drains each node of its pods, one node at a time, by scheduling pods to run on other nodes. This ensures that your services remain online.
Nevertheless, as with any system update, we recommend running this process during a maintenance window to avoid unforeseen downtime during times of high load.
What could cause an update to fail
Before updating nodes, Release sets ForceUpdateEnabled to false, which prevents forcing the update if the Kubernetes scheduler fails to drain a node's pods.
The scheduler might fail to drain a node if there is a shortage of available nodes. To work around this shortage, temporarily increase the maximum nodes on affected groups by following the steps in our guide on managing your node groups. Readjust your group size after patching.
How to see patching progress
Click on Logs to view the output of the patching process. The process is complete when the cluster log displays nodegroup successfully upgraded.
Last updated
