Rancher upgrade to 2.9.x Warning for airgap setups

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Environment

Rancher 2.8.x to be upgraded to 2.9.x

Managed RKE2 downstream clusters

Situation

If the rke-metadata-config URL for the Rancher deployment was set to something else then the default and Rancher manages RKE2 downstream clusters [1]. The upgrade to Rancher 2.9.x will break the RKE2 downstream clusters.

Resolution

The rke-metadata-config URL needs to be updated to 2.9 release before the Rancher upgrade. Please open a case with SUSE Rancher Support if the upgrade already happened and your RKE2 downstream clusters are broken for immediate assistance

Cause

The rke-metadata-config URL is where the Rancher deployment will download the Kubernetes specifics for downstream Clusters deployments [1]. If the URL is set to another release than the 2.9 version you are upgrading to, your downstream clusters can be broken [2].

Additional Information

References:

[1] https://ranchermanager.docs.rancher.com/getting-started/installation-and-upgrade/upgrade-kubernetes-without-upgrading-rancher#refresh-kubernetes-metadata

[2] https://github.com/rancher/rancher/issues/46855

Disclaimer

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