---
component: ROOT
version: "2026.1"
slug: ROOT/operations/kubernetes-airgap
canonical_url: "https://docs.gradle.com/develocity/2026.1/operations/upgrade/kubernetes-airgap/"
title: "Kubernetes Airgap Upgrade"
description: "Airgap upgrade instructions for a Develocity environment installed on a Kubernetes cluster."
keywords: []
status: current
---

<!-- llms-index: https://docs.gradle.com/develocity/llms.txt -->

# Kubernetes Airgap Upgrade

<a id="preamble"></a>

This section provides step-by-step instructions for upgrading a Kubernetes Develocity environment without internet access.

<a id="download-required-files"></a>

## Download Required Files

<a id="download-helm"></a>

### Download Helm

Download the Helm binary:

```shell
curl -L -o helm-linux-amd64.tar.gz https://get.helm.sh/helm-v4.1.4-linux-amd64.tar.gz
```

<a id="kubernetes-airgap-bundle-download"></a>

### Download Airgap Bundle

Save your Develocity license to the transfer directory as `develocity.license`.

Download and verify the airgap bundle:

```shell
curl -LOJd @develocity.license \
  https://registry.gradle.com/airgap/gradle-enterprise-2026.1.1-bundle.tar.gz
```

```shell
curl -LOJd @develocity.license \
  https://registry.gradle.com/airgap/gradle-enterprise-2026.1.1-bundle.tar.gz.sha256
```

```shell
sha256sum -c gradle-enterprise-2026.1.1-bundle.tar.gz.sha256
```

If the checksum verification fails, check the contents of the downloaded files for error messages.  
If the error message indicates that your license is invalid/expired/not airgap enabled, you will need to request an updated license file by contacting your customer success representative.

> [!TIP]
> Instead of running the above `curl` commands, you can download the airgap bundle by navigating to [https://registry.gradle.com/airgap](https://registry.gradle.com/airgap) in your browser and following the instructions on the page.

<a id="transfer-files"></a>

## Transfer Files

Check that the transfer directory has the following files (additional files are fine):

*   `helm-linux-amd64.tar.gz`
    
*   `gradle-enterprise-2026.1.1-bundle.tar.gz`
    

Once you’ve verified that you have the required files, transfer them to the host where you are installing Develocity.

<a id="upload-images"></a>

## Upload Images

Follow these instructions on the host with connectivity to the internal container registry with your transferred files present in the current directory.

> [!NOTE]
> You must be logged in to the registry before running these commands.

Run the following commands to unpack the bundle and upload the images to the internal container registry:

```shell
tar zxvf gradle-enterprise-2026.1.1-bundle.tar.gz
```

```shell
./upload-images.sh --registry=registry.example.com/gradle-enterprise
```

<a id="kubernetes-airgap-upgrade-helm"></a>

## Upgrade Helm

Follow these instructions on the host with connectivity to the Kubernetes cluster with your transferred files present in the current directory.

Run the following commands to unpack and install Helm:

```shell
tar -zxvf helm-linux-amd64.tar.gz && sudo mv linux-amd64/helm /usr/local/bin/helm
```

Verify that `helm` is installed and working:

```shell
helm version
```

<a id="database"></a>

## Database

> [!WARNING]
> It’s strongly recommended to make a database backup before upgrading. Upgrading Develocity irreversibly changes the database schema. You will need to restore the database from a backup if you need to roll back the upgrade.

<a id="user-managed-database"></a>

### User-Managed Database

For major version upgrades (for example, _2025.4_ to _2026.1_), if data is stored in a user-managed database and superuser credentials aren’t supplied, the database setup script must be run **before** the upgrade.

The corresponding scripts can be downloaded via the following links:

*   [Database Setup Scripts 2026.1.0](https://docs.gradle.com/downloads/gradle-enterprise-database-setup-zip/gradle-enterprise-database-setup-zip-2026.1.0.zip)
    
*   [Database Setup Scripts 2026.1.0 SHA256 Checksum](https://docs.gradle.com/downloads/gradle-enterprise-database-setup-zip/gradle-enterprise-database-setup-zip-2026.1.0.zip.sha256)
    

Depending on the size of your database, it may take from a few minutes to up to hours.

<a id="scale-down-the-application-to-one-replica"></a>

## Scale Down the Application to One Replica

If you have configured more than one replica, you must scale the replicas down to one before upgrading to avoid having mixed versions running simultaneously.

> [!WARNING]
> Before applying the upgrade, run the following command to scale the application down to one replica.

```shell
helm upgrade \
  --namespace develocity \
  --reuse-values \
  --set=global.scaling.replicas=1 \
  ge \
  gradle-enterprise-«PREVIOUSLY_DEPLOYED_VERSION».tgz (1)
```

1. The chart archive for the previously deployed version. «PREVIOUSLY_DEPLOYED_VERSION» is the running version of Develocity (e.g. 2025.4.5), not the version you are upgrading to.

<a id="kubernetes-airgap-upgrade-develocity"></a>

## Upgrade Develocity

<a id="adjust-values-yaml-configuration"></a>

### Adjust values.yaml Configuration

Adjust your `values.yaml` configuration file. You can find a detailed list of required changes in the [Changes](https://docs.gradle.com/develocity/2026.1/operations/upgrade/changes/) section.

You can discover your current configuration by running the following command:

```shell
helm get values \
  --namespace develocity \(1)
  ge \(2)
  > values.yaml (3)
```

1. The namespace used to install Develocity.
2. Release name.
3. Output file.

<a id="adjust-unattended-configuration"></a>

### Adjust Unattended Configuration

If you are using [unattended configuration](https://docs.gradle.com/develocity/2026.1/administration/unattended-configuration/), export the current configuration using the Admin UI. Then adjust the exported configuration according to the [Changes](https://docs.gradle.com/develocity/2026.1/operations/upgrade/changes/) section.

You can validate your unattended configuration against the schema by using the [Develocity command line tool](https://docs.gradle.com/develocity/develocityctl/1.22/) (develocityctl):

```shell
develocityctl config-file validate unattended-configuration.yaml
```

If your unattended configuration is embedded in the `values.yaml` file, you can validate it with the following command:

```shell
cat values.yaml | yq '.global.unattended.configuration' | develocityctl config-file validate -
```

> [!NOTE]
> Unattended configuration is versioned. If an older version is provided, the application migrates the config to the latest version automatically. If you use version control, it’s recommended that you export your unattended configuration after the upgrade and store the latest version in your repository. See Migrating Unattended Configuration for details.

<a id="decide-on-the-upgrade-command"></a>

### Decide on the Upgrade Command

You may need to run different upgrade commands depending on your configuration changes.

The `helm upgrade` command is used to upgrade an existing release. It has several flags that control how the values are used for the upgrade. Specifically, the `--reuse-values` and `--reset-values` flags modify the behavior around the values passed to the upgrade.

*   `--reuse-values`: Keeps existing values and allows the setting of additional values.
    
*   `--reset-values`: Discards any previously set values and requires all values to be set.
    

Both flags give you fine-grained control over how values are managed during an upgrade, depending on whether you want to preserve or reset your previous configurations.

For more information about the `helm upgrade` command, refer to the official [Helm documentation](https://helm.sh/docs/helm/helm_upgrade/).

<a id="no-changes"></a>

#### No Changes

**Use case:** You want to upgrade but keep all the values from the current deployment without any modifications.

This is useful to ensure that existing values remain unchanged during an upgrade.  
This is the most straightforward option if no configuration needs to be modified.

```console
helm upgrade \
  --namespace develocity \(1)
  --reuse-values \(2)
  ge \(3)
  gradle-enterprise-2026.1.1.tgz (4)
```

1. The namespace used to install Develocity
2. Reuse the configuration from the current deployment without any modifications
3. The release name
4. The chart archive

<a id="simple-changes"></a>

#### Simple Changes

**Use case:** You have an existing configuration and want to update the license value and disable ingress SSL, but keep the rest of the configuration.

```console
helm upgrade \
  --namespace develocity \(1)
  --reuse-values \(2)
  --set-file global.license.file=./develocity.license \(3)
  --set ingress.ssl.enabled=false \(4)
  ge \(5)
  gradle-enterprise-2026.1.1.tgz (6)
```

1. The namespace used to install Develocity
2. Reuse the configuration from the current deployment without any modifications
3. The path to the new license file
4. Disable the Ingress SSL
5. The release name
6. The chart archive

> [!WARNING]
> This method works correctly only if you add new values or override existing values.  
> It won’t remove any previously set values, so that you may have a corrupted configuration.

Example:

**previously-applied-config.yaml:**

```
objectStorage:
  type: s3
  s3:
    bucket: example-bucket
    region: example-aws-region-1
    credentials:
      source: environment
```

**new-config.yaml:**

```
objectStorage:
  type: s3
  s3:
    bucket: example-bucket
    region: example-aws-region-1
    credentials:
      type: instanceProfile
```

Upgrade command:

```console
helm upgrade \
  --namespace develocity \
  --reuse-values \(1)
  --values new-config.yaml \(2)
  ge \
  gradle-enterprise-2026.1.1.tgz
```

1. Reuse the configuration from the current deployment without any modifications
2. Additionally, apply the partial configuration from the new-config.yaml file

You might expect the `source: environment` to be removed and the `type: instanceProfile` to be added, but the result is different:

```yaml
objectStorage:
  type: s3
  s3:
    bucket: example-bucket
    region: example-aws-region-1
    credentials:
      source: environment
      type: instanceProfile
```

The application throws an error since the old configuration block is no longer supported, but it’s still present.

```
UPGRADE FAILED: execution error at (gradle-enterprise/templates/enterprise-app/deployment.yaml:3:3):
The `objectStorage.s3.credentials.source` attribute was removed.
Please use `objectStorage.s3.credentials.type instead.
```

> [!NOTE]
> The old attribute isn’t ignored during the upgrade process to quickly detect misconfigurations.

<a id="complex-changes"></a>

#### Complex Changes

> [!WARNING]
> The --reset-values flag will discard all the values from the previous configuration. Helm will use the default values defined in the chart during the upgrade, and any custom values previously set (whether through --set, --set-file, --values, or from the original release) will be ignored unless explicitly provided during the upgrade.

**Use case:** You want to upgrade to Develocity 2026.1 and adjust the Object Storage configuration (see the example above).

```console
helm upgrade \
  --namespace develocity \(1)
  --reset-values \(2)
  --values values.yaml \(3)
  --set-file global.license.file=./develocity.license \(4)
  ge \(5)
  gradle-enterprise-2026.1.1.tgz (6)
```

1. The namespace used to install Develocity
2. Discard old configuration settings
3. The path to the entire configuration file. No settings are preserved from the previous configuration
4. The path to the Develocity license file (if not included in values.yaml)
5. The release name
6. The chart archive

<a id="use-dry-run-to-verify-the-upgrade"></a>

### Use `dry-run` to Verify the Upgrade

Before upgrading, you can use the `--dry-run` flag to verify the upgrade process.  
This will show you the changes that would be made without actually applying them.

For example (if no changes were required):

```shell
helm upgrade \
  --namespace develocity \
  --reuse-values \
  ge \
  gradle-enterprise-2026.1.1.tgz \
  --dry-run
```

> [!NOTE]
> The actual command may differ depending on the outcome from the previous step.

> [!WARNING]
> If the --dry-run command completes successfully, you can proceed with the upgrade. Otherwise, review the output and make any necessary changes to your configuration. --dry-run validates syntax, verifies the chart structure, validates your configuration with schema, and checks the generated Kubernetes manifests for errors. However, it won’t detect issues like typos in optional fields or guarantee the application configuration will function correctly.

<a id="execute-the-upgrade"></a>

### Execute the Upgrade

Remove `--dry-run` from the command above and execute the upgrade.

For example (if no changes were required):

```shell
helm upgrade \
  --namespace develocity \
  --reuse-values \
  ge \
  gradle-enterprise-2026.1.1.tgz
```

<a id="verify-the-upgrade"></a>

### Verify the Upgrade

After executing the upgrade, verify that the Helm release has been updated:

```shell
helm --namespace develocity list
```

**Output:**

```
NAME      NAMESPACE     REVISION    UPDATED            STATUS      CHART      APP VERSION
ge        develocity    2           2026-04-17         deployed    2026.1.1   2026.1.1
```

You can inspect the status of the Develocity Pods:

```shell
kubectl --namespace develocity get pods
```

Wait until all Pods have a status of `Running`.

Develocity has a `/ping` endpoint, which can be used to verify that the application is up and running:

```shell
curl -sw \\n --fail-with-body --show-error https://«develocity-host»/ping
```

It should return `{"status":"UP"}` as response message.

<a id="scale-up-the-application-to-n-replicas"></a>

## Scale Up the Application to N Replicas

> [!NOTE]
> Before you scale up the application, ensure the upgrade went well and the application is working.

```shell
helm upgrade \
  --namespace develocity \
  --reuse-values \
  --set=global.scaling.replicas=N \(1)
  ge \(2)
  gradle-enterprise-2026.1.1.tgz (3)
```

1. N is the number of replicas you want to scale up to.
2. The release name.
3. The chart archive for the version you just upgraded to.