# What to be aware of when updating an old Discourse version to the latest?
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-to-be-aware-of-when-updating-an-old-discourse-version-to-the-latest/313086
**Category:** Self-hosting
**Created:** [June 21, 2024, 4:37pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-to-be-aware-of-when-updating-an-old-discourse-version-to-the-latest/313086 "2024-06-21T16:37:50Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@bayardo.rivas](https://meta.discourse.org/u/bayardo.rivas)
#### Post date: [June 21, 2024, 4:37pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-to-be-aware-of-when-updating-an-old-discourse-version-to-the-latest/313086/1 "2024-06-21T16:37:50Z")
I have the task to update the Discourse forum, I don’t know the current version yet, but what I suppose is that have 1 year old without updating. Some of my doubts are:
Is there any special steps to update this server to don’t break it?
Do I have to update step-by-step, one version at the time to finally get the latest version.
I am worry about any database change (version or structure).
I will appreciate any advice and comments.
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### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [June 21, 2024, 4:45pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-to-be-aware-of-when-updating-an-old-discourse-version-to-the-latest/313086/2 "2024-06-21T16:45:43Z")
I’ve done upgrades that were multiple years behind without incident.
Some big changes came with the upgrade to Ember, so if you have custom themes they could be an issue.
If your OS is old then it could be a good time to move to a new server, which will make it easy to test before you switch over.
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### Author:  [@bayardo.rivas](https://meta.discourse.org/u/bayardo.rivas)
#### Post date: [June 21, 2024, 6:29pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-to-be-aware-of-when-updating-an-old-discourse-version-to-the-latest/313086/3 "2024-06-21T18:29:01Z")
Thanks, I will upgrade the server. Now it is running Ubuntu 20.04.
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### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [June 21, 2024, 7:16pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-to-be-aware-of-when-updating-an-old-discourse-version-to-the-latest/313086/4 "2024-06-21T19:16:49Z")
It’s not required to upgrade 20.04, but if you’re really concerned about the upgrade, moving to a new server lets you test before you switch over to it. You can use a reserved ip to make zero-time switch to the new server.
See [Move a Discourse site to another VPS with rsync](https://meta.discourse.org/t/move-a-discourse-site-to-another-vps-with-rsync/43812).
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### Author:  [@Ed\_S](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Ed_S)
#### Post date: [June 21, 2024, 8:06pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-to-be-aware-of-when-updating-an-old-discourse-version-to-the-latest/313086/5 "2024-06-21T20:06:31Z")
Be sure to take a backup before you start, and download it somewhere safe. Preferably make a second copy too.
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### Author:  [@eisammy](https://meta.discourse.org/u/eisammy)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2024, 2:04am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-to-be-aware-of-when-updating-an-old-discourse-version-to-the-latest/313086/6 "2024-06-22T02:04:55Z")
Enable and create snapshots aside backups from dash!