Below are instructions on upgrading an existing Crowd installation to the latest version of Crowd, using the automatic database upgrade.

Before you begin

• Decided on a recommended upgrade procedure for your database server and Crowd version.
• The Release Notes for the version you are upgrading to, and
• The Upgrade Notes for any versions you are skipping as well as the version you are upgrading to.

Step 1. Shut Down Crowd and All Integrated Applications

Shut down Crowd and all Crowd-connected applications.

Step 2. Back Up your Crowd Files

1. Use your database backup tools to back up your Crowd database. We highly recommend this step, in case something goes wrong during the upgrade process and you need to restore your data from backup.
2. Make backup copies of the following files:
   • Back up your Crowd Home directory, in the location specified in the crowd-init.properties file — recommended in case something goes wrong during the upgrade process.
   • If your existing Crowd installation is version 1.3.x or 1.4.x: Back up the crowd.properties file for the Crowd Administration Console application, located at
     {CROWD_INSTALL}\crowd-webapp\WEB-INF\classes\crowd.properties — you will need to copy this file to your new Crowd installation.
     This step is not required if your current Crowd installation is 1.5 or later.
   • Back up your Crowd JDBC Driver if you have configured Crowd with a database.
3. We recommend that you rename your existing {CROWD_INSTALL} directory, because legacy files may cause problems if you unzip the new Crowd installation into an existing directory.

Step 3. Re-Install Crowd

1. Download Crowd.
2. Unzip the download archive into a directory of your choice, taking note of the following:
   • Please make sure that your new {CROWD_INSTALL} directory has a different name from your old {CROWD_INSTALL} directory.
   • Please check your unzip program before extracting the downloaded archive – see the note on the Crowd installation front page.
   • Do not specify directory names that contain spaces.
   • We will refer to this installation directory, where you unzipped the archive, as {CROWD_INSTALL}.

3. Point the new Crowd installation at your existing Crowd Home directory by editing the configuration file at {CROWD_INSTALL}\crowd-webapp\WEB-INF\classes\crowd-init.properties.
   The Crowd Home directory is where Crowd will store its configuration information. If you are using the embedded HSQL database, supplied for evaluation purposes, Crowd will also store its database in this directory. To specify the Crowd Home directory:

   • Open the crowd-init.properties file. This is found at <crowd_install_directory>/crowd-webapp/WEB-INF/classes/crowd-init.properties
   • Choose the appropriate line in the file, depending upon your operating system (see below).
   • Remove the # at the beginning of the line.
   • Enter the name of the directory you want Crowd to use as its Home directory. For example,

     • On Windows:

       crowd.home=c:/data/crowd-home
       

       Note: On Windows, make sure you use forward slashes as shown above, not backward slashes.

     • On Mac and UNIX-based systems:

       crowd.home=/var/crowd-home
       

       Important

       Please, ensure that the Crowd Home directory will not match the Crowd installation directory AND it is writable by the user executing the initialization script.

   • Save the crowd-init.properties file.

   Use the same Crowd Home directory as used in your previous Crowd installation

   Make sure you point the new Crowd installation at your existing Crowd Home directory so that the new Crowd can use your existing configuration.

4. Copy the following files, saved in Step 2 above, to your new Crowd installation:
   • If your existing Crowd installation is version 1.3.x or 1.4.x: Copy the crowd.properties file for the Crowd Administration Console to the root of your Crowd Home directory.
     As from Crowd 1.5, the crowd.properties file is located in the Home directory and not the Installation directory. This step is not required if your current Crowd installation is 1.5 or later.
   • Copy your Crowd JDBC Driver if you have configured Crowd with a database.

Step 4. Update your Integrated Applications

If you have installed Crowd on a new server, or changed Crowd's URL or port number, you will need to update Crowd's Base URL in the General settings section of the admin menu.

Step 5. (Optional) Prepare the HSQL database

If you're using crowd with the embedded HSQL database and want to upgrade your instance to Crowd 5.2 or later, complete these steps before starting Crowd:

1. Prepare the HSQL 1.8.x database file for automatic upgrade. 

2. Set the following environment variable to true: 

   crowd.database.hsql2.upgrade.condition.skip

Step 6. (Optional) Adopt JDK 17

If you're upgrading your instance from an older version to Crowd 6.0 or later, make sure to update your JAVA_HOME to point to the JDK 17 location.

(Optional) If you run Crowd as a service, updating JAVA_HOME may not be enough. In that case, follow the instructions below.

On UNIX-based systems:

1. Edit Crowd service configuration in an editor:

sudo vim /etc/init.d/${crowd.service.name}

1. Edit JAVA_HOME variables to point to your new JDK path.

2. Save the file.

3. Refresh daemon configuration:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

4. Proceed to the next step.

On Windows:

Follow How to point to a different JAVA installation in Crowd Windows Service.

Step 7. Start Crowd

1. Run the start-up script, found in your {CROWD_INSTALL} directory:
   • start_crowd.bat for Windows.
   • start_crowd.sh for Mac and Unix-based systems.
2. Point a web browser at http://localhost:8095/crowd. You should now be able to use the Crowd Administration Console.

Troubleshooting

If you have any problems during upgrade, please raise a support request at https://support.atlassian.com/ and attach your atlassian-crowd.log file so that we can help you find out what's gone wrong.