Why must I upgrade to 7.2 first before 8.1

[Jarohnimo]

Say I'm on UF version 6.2 and I want to upgrade to 8.1. splunk documentation clearly states you must go from 6.6 ---> 7.2 ----> 8.1

I have no issue understand the process, I want to understand why? Where's the documentation published by splunk that dives into the need/ reason the intermediate jump to 7.2 is there?

Why is it impossible to go from 6.6 ---> 8.1 (once again I'm not fighting the process! ) I just want to know the explanation behind as to why?

Thanks

[gcusello]

Hi @Jarohnimo,

I don't know why is espressly required to not perform a direct upgrade of an UF from versions before 7 to 8, but this is clearly expressed at https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.0.1/Installation/AboutupgradingREADTHISFIRST#Key_poin...probably it equally runs, you could perform a test.

Why don't you open a case to Splunk Support?

Even if I'm sure that they will answer that this is and stop!

Ciao.

Giuseppe

[96nick · Accepted solution]

Looks like this was answered on the Slack. Reposting duckfez's reply for future Googlers:

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The new suite and MAC are not compatible with the old suite. Splunk instances that run version 7.2 and higher of Splunk software have been configured by default to allow inter-Splunk communication using both the new and old suites. However, if you later configure a 7.2 or higher instance to run only the new suite and MAC, inter-Splunk communication between versions that run only the old suite is not possible. You cannot configure lower versions of Splunk software to use the new suite.

Source:

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/7.2.0/Security/ConfigureS2Sonnewcipher