git:20260725.c667518 to git:20260725.da801a6

---

name: rancher-upgrade

description: >-

Plan and sequence COMMUNITY-edition Rancher upgrades across air-gapped multi-cluster fleets — a

management/"hosting" Rancher cluster plus the downstream RKE2/K3s clusters it provisions. Covers the community

release model (2.11→2.14, community-vs-Prime cadence, EOL), the Kontainer Driver Metadata (KDM) matrix

deciding which downstream k8s minors each Rancher version can manage (and the stranding risk when a

host-Rancher bump outruns its sub-clusters), cross-cluster upgrade ordering, the

embedded-CAPI→Rancher-Turtles migration, Fleet coupling, cert-manager/Helm/backup prerequisites, backup-

restore-operator + etcd rollback, and the air-gapped upgrade procedure (which images/charts/KDM to mirror).

Assumes the Helm-on-Kubernetes install. Community editions only; Prime content excluded. Companion to k8s-components-checker,

which owns the management-cluster k8s compatibility verdict; this skill owns the upgrade methodology and

downstream coordination.

when_to_use: >-

Use whenever the user mentions "rancher upgrade", "upgrade Rancher", "Rancher 2.X to 2.Y", "KDM", "which k8s

can my Rancher manage", "downstream cluster stranded", "Rancher Turtles migration", "embedded cluster-api

removed", "Fleet Helm v4", "Rancher air-gap upgrade", or "rancher-backup / cert-manager prerequisite" — or

plans an upgrade of a Rancher management cluster and the downstream clusters under it, even without naming KDM

or Turtles. NOT for Harvester, single-node Docker installs, or the single-cluster component-compat verdict

(use k8s-components-checker).

---

# rancher-upgrade

Plan, sequence, and de-risk a **community-edition Rancher** upgrade across a real fleet: a

management ("hosting") cluster and the downstream RKE2/K3s clusters it provisions. The hard part

of a Rancher upgrade is almost never the `helm upgrade` itself — it's the **cross-cluster

coordination**: a management-cluster Rancher bump silently changes which downstream Kubernetes

versions the fleet can run, and getting the order wrong strands sub-clusters or forces a rebuild.

**Community editions only.** SUSE Rancher Prime backports, Prime-only patches, and Prime support

matrices are out of scope — flag them when they appear, never build a plan on them. House Rule #1.

## Companion to k8s-components-checker — who owns what

This skill is the upgrade-methodology companion to `k8s-components-checker` (same repo), mirroring

the `argo-cd-apps ↔ compat/argo-cd.md` split. The boundary is load-bearing — respect it to avoid

drift:

| Question | Skill |

|----------|-------|

| "Is Rancher version X compatible with the **management cluster's** k8s minor?" | **k8s-components-checker** — `references/compat/rancher.md` is the single source of truth for the mgmt-cluster k8s window per Rancher minor. **Cite it; never restate those numbers here.** |

| "Is component Y (Cilium, Rook, …) OK on k8s 1.NN on one cluster?" | **k8s-components-checker** (per-cluster verdict) |

| "How do I plan/sequence a Rancher version upgrade, and what happens to my **downstream** clusters?" | **this skill** |

| "Which downstream RKE2/K3s k8s minors can Rancher 2.X manage?" (KDM) | **this skill** |

| Harvester host→guest upgrade coordination | **`harvester-upgrade`** (same repo) — it owns the Harvester ladder. Load it *alongside* this skill when Harvester sits under the fleet: each Harvester hop is gated on upgrading the **external Rancher first**, so a Rancher plan here is the leading half of that pairing. Get the Harvester↔Rancher pairing from `harvester-upgrade`; never restate it here. |

## The mental model — two coupled axes

A Rancher fleet upgrade moves on two axes that are **decoupled but ordered**:

1. **Management-cluster axis** — the k8s minor the Rancher server itself runs on, and the Rancher

version. (k8s window → cite `compat/rancher.md`.)

2. **Downstream axis** — which RKE2/K3s k8s minors Rancher can *provision and manage*, governed by

**Kontainer Driver Metadata (KDM)**, NOT by the management cluster's own k8s version.

The rule that ties them: **introducing a downstream k8s *minor* requires upgrading Rancher first;

downstream *patch* upgrades do not.** So the management Rancher always moves before any downstream

minor bump — and a trailing downstream cluster can fall out of support when the host Rancher rolls

forward. This is the single most common way a fleet upgrade goes wrong. See

`references/kdm-downstream-matrix.md`.

## Workflow

### 1. Establish the change set and the fleet shape

- **Install type first — this skill assumes the Helm-on-Kubernetes install.** The same command that

gets the version answers this: an empty result means there is no Helm-managed `rancher` release,

and the likeliest reason is a **single-node Docker install** (`docker run rancher/rancher`, still

a documented method). That upgrades by stopping the container, backing up its data volume, and

starting a new container from the newer image against the same volume — **no `helm upgrade`, no

cert-manager chart, no BRO, no etcd snapshot, no KDM coordination.** Effectively nothing below

applies. **Say so and stop** rather than emitting a Helm plan; point at the Rancher docs'

single-node-with-Docker upgrade page.

- **Versions:** current Rancher minor+patch, target Rancher minor. Get this from the cluster

(`helm list -A -n cattle-system | grep rancher`), not from memory.

- **Fleet shape:** does this Rancher actually provision downstream clusters?

`kubectl get clusters.cluster.x-k8s.io -A` (populated = real fleet; empty = standalone mgmt

cluster — the CAPI/Turtles migration is then a near-non-event). `kubectl get

clusters.provisioning.cattle.io -A` — any row whose name ≠ `local` is a downstream cluster.

- **Air-gap?** If the registry is internal-mirror-only, the air-gap procedure (what to mirror)

applies — `references/air-gap-procedure.md`. (Direct-pull clusters skip mirroring entirely.)

- **Kubeconfig path:** if the operator's kubeconfig is Rancher-proxied (`server` contains `/k8s/clusters/`),

switch to a Rancher-independent admin kubeconfig BEFORE upgrading — `helm upgrade` of the rancher

release restarts the proxy pods and severs the API mid-apply. `references/prereqs-and-ordering.md`

§ Pre-flight.

### 2. Compute the upgrade path (no minor skipping)

### 3. For each minor step, run the pre-flight → upgrade → post-flight runbook

The per-minor breaking changes and the ordered runbook live in `references/per-minor-runbook.md`.

Prerequisites common to every step (cert-manager window, Helm floor, mandatory backup, RKE1 sweep,

API aggregation layer) and the cross-cluster ordering + rollback floor are in

`references/prereqs-and-ordering.md`.

### 4. Coordinate the downstream clusters

Before bumping the host Rancher, check every downstream cluster's k8s minor against the **target**

Rancher's KDM window (`references/kdm-downstream-matrix.md`). Lift any *trailing* downstream into

the new window **first**, or it loses manageability after the host upgrade. After the host upgrade

(which ships a new KDM branch), the newly-unlocked downstream minors become selectable — bump

downstreams then.

### 5. Produce the plan

Emit an ordered plan: per-minor-step pre-flight gates, the upgrade command (air-gap variant if

applicable), post-flight verification, and the downstream-coordination steps interleaved at the

right points. Cite the reference + grounded version for every specific claim. Recognizable shape:

```

<cluster/fleet> — Rancher <current> → <target> (path: <minor steps, no skips>)

prerequisites - cert-manager <window> · Helm <floor> · RKE1 sweep · BRO backup + etcd snapshot

downstream - <cluster>: k8s <ver> — <in target's KDM window | lift to ≥X BEFORE host upgrade>

source: references/kdm-downstream-matrix.md

per step (×N) 1. pre-flight gates 2. upgrade mgmt Rancher 3. post-flight 4. bump downstream

blockers - <one-way rollback / known regression / Prime-gated path> source: references/<file>.md

```

Every cited version is cluster-reported or freshly `gh`-grounded (House Rule #3), never from memory;

target versions follow look-ahead (House Rule #4).

## House rules (encode into every plan)

1. **Community editions only.** Flag Prime-gated versions/patches/features; never plan on them.

The reliable community-vs-Prime signal is the GitHub release-notes first line — see

`references/lifecycle.md`.

2. **Cite, don't restate, the mgmt-cluster k8s window.** That lives in

`k8s-components-checker/references/compat/rancher.md`. Pointing at it keeps the two skills from

drifting.

3. **Never invent versions; ground or abstain (House Rule #8 in k8s-components-checker).** k8s *windows* and KDM

*mechanics* are methodology the skill states. Specific release/patch *numbers* — "latest 2.13

patch", "Turtles version on 2.14", "BRO chart for 2.12" — are volatile and the #1 fabrication

risk. State a specific version only if it is cluster-reported, freshly grounded via `gh`, or

explicitly marked `UNVERIFIED`. Grounding method (anti-confirmation): anchor on

`gh api repos/rancher/rancher/releases/latest`, enumerate-and-derive the real latest patch,

**never** ask "does vX.Y.Z exist?" (existence/list queries get rubber-stamped). `gh` must be run

with **valid auth** from the operator's workstation — anonymous is 60 requests/hour and exhausts

almost immediately on an enumeration sweep (`gh auth status` first). Repo map + protocol:

`references/lifecycle.md` § Grounding.

4. **Look-ahead version targeting.** When recommending any target version, pick the one that covers

the operator's *next* planned hop too, not the bare immediate minimum — a version sitting at its

own support ceiling forces an avoidable second upgrade. (Same rule as k8s-components-checker

House Rule #9.)

5. **Management Rancher upgrades BEFORE downstream k8s minor bumps**, always. And **no minor

skipping** on the Rancher axis. Violating either is the classic fleet-stranding / rebuild path.

6. **Back up before every step.** An RKE2 etcd snapshot of the management cluster is the real

rollback floor — the 2.14 CAPI-v1beta2 boundary is one-way without it. Add a backup-restore-operator

backup *if BRO is installed*; many community installs have none, so don't block on it (substitute

targeted resource exports — Rancher/Fleet objects + the auth AuthConfig & secrets). See

`references/prereqs-and-ordering.md` § Backup & rollback.

## Decision guide

| Task | Read |

|------|------|

| Community vs Prime, cadence, EOL, latest-patch grounding, `gh` repo map | `references/lifecycle.md` |

| Which downstream k8s a Rancher minor can manage; stranding; air-gap KDM mirror | `references/kdm-downstream-matrix.md` |

| cert-manager / Helm / backup prereqs, cross-cluster ordering, etcd rollback | `references/prereqs-and-ordering.md` |

| embedded-CAPI→Turtles migration, CAPRKE2/CAAPF, Fleet per-minor + Helm v4 | `references/capi-turtles-fleet.md` |

| Air-gapped upgrade: what to mirror, `helm upgrade` flags, downstream RKE2 SUC | `references/air-gap-procedure.md` |

| Per-minor (2.11→2.14) breaking changes + ordered pre/upgrade/post runbook | `references/per-minor-runbook.md` |

Each reference carries a header stating **what was grounded and when — and what was NOT re-derived

on the latest pass**. Read that header before citing anything from the file: a claim under a

"not re-derived" disclaimer must be re-grounded at use time regardless of the file's headline date.

Otherwise re-ground per House Rule #3 **only if the stamp is stale** (≳1–2 weeks) — same-day

re-grounding is wasted churn the operator will (rightly) push back on; don't present it as an

unconditional step.