Upgrade from 8.0 to 8.4 overview¶

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Why upgrade to Percona Server for MySQL 8.4 LTS¶

Long‑Term Support (LTS) releases focus on stability, predictable security patches, and a clearly defined maintenance horizon—essential qualities for production databases. Moving from 8.0 to 8.4 isn’t just a simple version bump: new defaults, deprecated options, and behavior changes can affect performance and break existing scripts. Treat the upgrade as a small project: plan the steps, pick the method that matches your downtime window, and verify the result.

Benefits of upgrading to Percona Server for MySQL 8.4¶

Benefit	What it means for you
Security fixes	Patches close known vulnerabilities, keeping your data safe from attacks.
New or enhanced features	Access to functionality that improves performance, reliability, and overall capability.
Less manual effort	Automation tools let you handle routine tasks without hands-on intervention.
Stay relevant	The latest version helps you meet evolving customer expectations and deliver solutions more quickly.
Lower operational cost	Improved efficiency, and scalability translate into cheaper day-to-day operations.

Risks of staying on an older version¶

Risk	Potential impact
Security exposure	Without the latest patches, attackers can breach, corrupt, or destroy data, harming reputation and causing financial loss.
Feature stagnation	Missing new capabilities can lead to slower performance, lower productivity, and more frequent outages.
Reduced support	Older versions receive less vendor assistance, resulting in longer troubleshooting times and higher support expenses.
Compatibility problems	New hardware, operating system releases, or third-party applications may not work with an outdated Percona Server version, eventually leaving the server unsupported.
Unplanned upgrade pressure	Unexpected hardware or OS failures can force a rushed upgrade, increasing the chance of errors.

Concerned about these risks? Percona Support can help assess and mitigate them.

Upgrade workflow¶

Follow this step-by-step workflow to plan and execute your upgrade from 8.0 to 8.4:

Step 1: Understand what’s changing¶

Review these documents to understand breaking changes, removed features, and compatibility issues:

Breaking and incompatible changes in 8.4 - Review behavioral changes, removed features, and removed variables that may affect your applications
Compatibility and removed items in 8.4 - Verify third-party tool compatibility
Defaults and tuning guidance for 8.4 - Understand configuration changes that may impact performance
Percona Toolkit updates for 8.4 - Review toolkit changes if you use Percona Toolkit

Step 2: Complete pre-upgrade preparation¶

Work through the pre-upgrade checks in the upgrade checklist. This includes:

Verifying authentication methods and client compatibility
Updating replication scripts (MASTER/SLAVE → SOURCE/REPLICA syntax)
Identifying and addressing removed features or variables
Reviewing configuration defaults
Testing backups and restore procedures
Planning plugin-to-component transitions (if applicable)

Step 3: Choose your upgrade strategy¶

Select the upgrade method that best fits your environment:

Upgrade strategies - Overview of in-place, logical dump/restore, and side-by-side methods
MySQL upgrade paths and supported methods - Verify your upgrade path is supported

Step 4: Execute the upgrade¶

Follow the step-by-step procedures for your chosen method:

Upgrade procedures for 8.4 - Detailed procedures for repository-based or standalone package upgrades

Step 5: Validate the upgrade¶

After completing the upgrade, complete the post-upgrade validation steps in the upgrade checklist. These steps include:

Verifying connectivity and authentication
Checking replication health (if applicable)
Re-creating spatial indexes
Validating performance baselines
Reviewing logs and metrics
Testing backup and recovery

Additional reference materials¶

Upgrade from plugins to components - Guide for migrating from plugins to components
Downgrade options - Information about downgrading if needed

Tooling to de-risk your upgrade¶

pt-upgrade – compares query plans and execution behavior between Percona Server 8.0 and 8.4
Percona XtraBackup – creates hot backups and lets you test restores without downtime.
A full dry-run workflow - backup → restore on 8.4 → run smoke/load tests → validate → practice rollback.

These purpose‑built tools let you spot regressions early and ensure a reliable fallback plan.

Test environment is mandatory¶

Set up a sandbox and run the upgrade there first. This isolated environment is essential for a successful migration. If you ever need to revert to the previous version, note that there is no fully supported in-place downgrade procedure from Percona Server for MySQL 8.4 to an earlier major version. The most reliable rollback method is to restore a backup taken before the upgrade, or to use a logical dump/load or replication into the older version. Because binary compatibility may not be preserved when new features or data-format changes have been applied, the safest approach is to provision a fresh instance of the older version and reload your data, rather than expecting a simple “undo” of the upgrade.

We strongly advise upgrading to the latest LTS release (Percona Server for MySQL 8.4) to stay secure, performant, and fully supported.

Need personalized support during your upgrade? Contact Percona Support for a detailed migration plan.