Upgrading from earlier versions

Report your software version to UK federation

When you upgrade your IdP software to v4 from a pre-v4 release, afterwards please contact the UK federation and tell us your new software version. Having accurate software version statistics helps us make decisions about UK federation infrastructure developments.

Upgrading from Shibboleth IdP v3 releases

We have more detailed guidance about upgrading from v3 Shibboleth IdP releases on the UK federation website, including information about upgrading the supporting software. We recommend you read that guidance, and the guidance on the Shibboleth IdP website, and other linked guidance before preparing your upgrade plan and starting work:

Upgrading from Shibboleth IdP v3 releases to the latest v4 release can be summarised as follows:

  1. First check your Shibboleth IdP software version. If you are already running the latest Shibboleth IdP v3 release and you have no deprecation warnings in your IdP log files then go to step 3 in this list; otherwise go to step 2.
  2. If you are running an earlier Shibboleth IdP v3 release you must upgrade to the latest v3 release, and remove all deprecation warnings by making appropriate changes to configuration. When testing verifies that the deprecation warnings have been removed then go to step 3.
  3. Next you need to ensure that your versions of Java and servlet container meet the system requirements for v4. If they do not, you should generally upgrade those before attempting to upgrade the IdP software.
  4. Check your customisations in edit-webapp. There is a high chance that they are not compatible with v4 without changes. The Shibboleth IdP website advises that you may need to port them to or re-validate them on the new version.
  5. Having verified all of the above steps, install the new version on top of your previous installation following the instructions for Windows or for Linux as appropriate.

Upgrading from older Shibboleth IdP releases to v4

If you are running a Shibboleth IdP version earlier than v3 you may be best advised to deploy Shibboleth IdP v4 from scratch on a newly-provisioned platform. See our advice in the document you are currently reading about deploying Shibboleth IdP v4 on Linux or Windows. Special considerations apply with respect to metadata and attribute values when migrating from a functioning in-use older deployment to a new one, so please email the UK federation helpdesk and let us know about your migration plans, and ask for advice as necessary.

Upgrading from earlier v4 releases

Review the Shibboleth IdP v4 upgrade information and install the new version on top of your previous installation following the instructions for Windows or the instructions for Linux as appropriate.