Migration from SonarQube 10.6 Community Edition to the Latest Stable Version

SonarQube Server / Community Build
1

Hello everyone,

I currently have SonarQube 10.6 Community Edition running on a VM with PostgreSQL 14.24 as its database.

I would like to upgrade to the latest stable SonarQube version. My plan is to create a new VM with the latest SonarQube version and migrate my existing data from the current PostgreSQL database.

I have a few questions:

  1. Is it possible to migrate directly from SonarQube 10.6 to the latest stable version, or do I need to upgrade through intermediate versions?
  2. What PostgreSQL versions are supported by the latest SonarQube version?
  3. What is the recommended migration procedure when moving to a new VM? Should I restore a backup of the existing PostgreSQL database to the new PostgreSQL instance, then start SonarQube?
  4. Are there any important prerequisites or compatibility requirements I should check before starting the migration?
  5. What is the recommended rollback strategy if the migration fails?

My goal is to preserve all existing projects, analysis history, quality profiles, quality gates, and user accounts.

2

Hi @Zikou,

  1. Is it possible to migrate directly from SonarQube 10.6 to the latest stable version, or do I need to upgrade through intermediate versions?

No. Your upgrade path is 10.6 > 24.12.0.100206 > 25.12.0.x > 26.9.

Note: Due to known issues in the December 2025 release (25.12.0.117093), the January 2026 release (26.1.0.118079) may also be used as a required intermediate version when updating to later versions.

FYI: A new version of SonarQube Community Build is released every month. There is no active version or Long-Term Active (LTA) version concepts for SonarQube Community Build.

What PostgreSQL versions are supported by the latest SonarQube version

Version: 15 to 18 (starting in SonarQube Community Build 26.8).

What is the recommended migration procedure when moving to a new VM? Should I restore a backup of the existing PostgreSQL database to the new PostgreSQL instance, then start SonarQube?

For the database migration, follow the best practices and steps recommended by your database vendor (i.e. follow recommendations in PostgreSQL docs) and VM host. Always backup your database and verify the backup before proceeding with the migration.

Backup and restore is a common method of migrating PostgreSQL databases.

After the database migration, follow these steps to update your SonarQube Community Build instance to a newer version:

  1. Read Release cycle model.
  2. Determine the update path (mentioned above).
  3. Perform pre-update steps.
  4. Back up the SonarQube Community Build database (if you haven’t already).
  5. Performing the update.
  6. Perform post-update steps.

Are there any important prerequisites or compatibility requirements I should check before starting the migration?

Yes. Read over the release notes and pay particular attention to deprecation and removals.

Hope that helps.