Removing Older Elasticsearch Plugins Needed for Successful Upgrade to ES 6.1

Issue

It was discovered that older versions of the Elasticsearch plugin can interfere whenever administrators are deploying the latest version. The use case: Administrators are deploying the latest Elasticsearch 6.1 connector to replace the existing 2.x connector that ships with Liferay DXP 7.0.

Environment

• Elasticsearch 6.1
• DXP 7.0

Resolution

1. Stop all Elasticsearch 2.x servers.
2. Before shutting down Liferay DXP, navigate to Control Panel → Apps → App Manager.
3. Search for Elasticsearch.
4. Click Edit → Deactivate. This leaves the bundle installed but stops the OSGi runtime. Alternately, administrators can blacklist Elasticsearch 2.x in a config file just in case it is necessary to revert to the older version. As best practices, delete the older version once the upgrade is complete.
5. Shut down all Liferay Instances.
6. Install the Elastic 6.1 connector from Liferay Marketplace. Also note that DXP 7.0 Fix Pack 42 or higher is required.
7. Start Liferay DXP again then place the .LPKG in the /deploy folder.
8. Once the DXP instance has started, execute a re-index

Additional Information

• Upgrading to Elasticsearch 6