Today I will share the steps to upgrade from the SonarQube version 5.X to SonarQube version 6.X. We have upgrade guide which can be found http://docs.sonarqube.org/display/SONAR/Upgrading but its not complete guide thus I am sharing the steps as follows which can be followed for the production server as well.  As practice shared on the oficial guide that before upgrading to the next major release, you must upgrade to know LTS e.g

Example 1 : 4.2 -> 6.1, migration path is 4.2 -> 4.5.7 LTS -> 5.6 LTS -> 6.1

Example 2 : 5.1 -> 5.6, migration path is 5.1 -> 5.6

Upgrading across multiple versions is handled automatically. However, if in your migration path you have an LTS version, you must first migrate to this LTS and then migrate to your target version.

Remember that SonarQube upgrade procedure does not have a rollback procedure, so it is mandatory that you take a full backup of the system before performing the upgrade.

Windows

%SONARQUBE_HOME%/bin/windows-x86-32/StopNTService.bat

Linux

$SONAR_HOME/bin/linux-x86-64/sonar.sh stop

> mysqldump –opt -Q -h localhost -u username–password=’password’ databasename | gzip -9 > databasename.gz

Also, there is one tool which has been available to take the backup of database.

> zip -r Sonar_home.zip $SONAR_HOME

Be mindful that $SONAR_HOME/extensions/plugins directory where you can get the list of plugins installed.

Be mindful that $SONAR_HOME/extensions/rules directory where you can get the list of custom coding rules.

Be mindful that $SONAR_HOME/config directory where you can get sonar.properties and wrapper.conf file which has all the current configurations and setup.

Windows

%SONARQUBE_HOME%/bin/windows-x86-32/StartSonar.bat

Linux

$SONAR_HOME/bin/linux-x86-64/sonar.sh start

Following are the steps to be followed to upgrade the SonarQube server.

Step 2: Install/Configure a most latest version of SonarQube 
Install/Configure a most latest version of SonarQube Server in another location. The instructions is shared here (https://docs.sonarqube.org/display/SONAR/Installing+the+Server)

Step 3: Install the your required plugins/extensions compatible with your version of SonarQube. The Instructions is shared here.(https://docs.sonarqube.org/display/SONAR/Installing+a+Plugin)

Step 4: Update the contents of sonar.properties and wrapper.conf files (in NEW_SONARQUBE_HOME/conf) with the settings of the related files in the OLD_SONARQUBE_HOME/conf directory (web server URL, database, ldap settings, etc.). Do not copy-paste the old files.

If you are using the Oracle DB, copy its JDBC driver into NEW_SONARQUBE_HOME/extensions/jdbc-driver/oracle

Windows

%SONARQUBE_HOME%/bin/windows-x86-32/StartSonar.bat

Linux

$SONAR_HOME/bin/linux-x86-64/sonar.sh start

If you use external configuration, such as a script or Windows Service to control your server, you’ll need to update it to point to NEW_SONARQUBE_HOME.

In case you used the InstallNTService.bat to install SonarQube as a Windows Service, run the OLD_SONARQUBE_HOME/bin/…/UninstallNTService.bat before running the InstallNTService.bat of the NEW_SONARQUBE_HOME.

If you install SonarQube with Sql Server, it is better to chose Latin1_General_CS_AS as collation to avoid problems.

Issues – Sonarqube upgrade 5.6 to 6.1, test coverage measue is missing

Solution – You might be missing the sonar.java.binaries. Sonar-5.6 did not need those.

Issues – Some unknown issues

Solution – Whenever you have problem with SonarQube do not forget to read the log, because only in the log you can understand the real cause of errors.

SonarQube Tutorial & OWASP SonarQube Tutorial Securing Code (SAST) Crash Course:- https://bit.ly/3x5ZOmA