Dear list, I'm in the process of upgrading three rather old version of OTRS (2.0.x) to a newer one (3.0.x). The current setup has been initially setup in 2006 and took some custom modifications. The extend of modifications if (of course) today unknown. # Introduction In an initial attempt to see how far we can upgrade the current OTRS/database (2.0.x), I've duplicated the setup of one database and OTRS installation on a virtual machine and applied the update steps: Version 2.0 -> 2.1 -> 2.2 -> 2.3 -> 2.4 -> 3.0 -> 3.1 -> 3.2 I managed to get to version 3.1, but any upgrade higher failed during the database upgrade procedure. So we decided that 3.1 would suffice. The test scenario on a virtual machine has been done with the medium size database (30G) and took it's time. Another installation with a smaller database got a higher priority, so that's where I had to start. I've automated most of the steps that adjust to our environment and implement the code directly from the GIT repository. The version tags in the repository are used as version reference for the source files. Contrary to the test upgrade on the virtual machine, the upgrade fails at Version 2.3. During the upgrade procedure I see a lot of steps especially during the Database conversion, all referring to certain columns not being found. This got me thinking where the differences would be and I started digging. # Problem 1. Issue It seems that previous update script belonging to previous versions are being updated in later versions. Though the changes seem to marginal in this example, I must assume that this could affect the update scripts running. For example: Comparing the MySQL upgrade script to OTRS version 2.1 in version 2.1 and 2.1.3 shows differences: $ git diff rel-2_1_1..rel-2_1_3 scripts/DBUpdate-to-2.1.mysql.sql If this changed, I must assume other changes as well which could prevent me from upgrading. This requires more testing on my side in order to figure out which version of the script I actually should apply in order to get the update working. 2. Issue The database of the OTRS installation supposedly being upgraded first (v2.0.4), differs from the one created by a "fresh" installation of 2.0.4. I didn't have the time to go through all 2000 lines of the `git diff`-output, but most changes seem to be rather minor. Anyway: there are changes, which means the version we're running isn't the one that current default installation of 2.0.4 brings in. In the light of the customization changes of earlier days it is likely that there are changes in the database structure as well. # Question Is there a simple explanation why the upgrade fails other than possible database changes and an explanation I do not see? Is there anybody who has done a full upgrade from version 2.0.x to at least v3.x.x? Am I missing something important? # Alternatives I have some alternatives on how I can go on (for now): 1. Leaving the old installation behind and start filling a recent one from the beginng. 2. Testing if different DB upgrade scripts give different results. 3. Upgrading to one version, dropping the database structure, re-importing the standard structure of that version and importing the data again. 4. Hiring the OTRS support company to do the upgrades. # Technical Summary * OS: CentOS 6.5 (Web and DB Server) * MySQL: 5.1.69 * Databases: 20GB, 30GB, 500GB * OTRS, v2.0.4(2x), v2.0.5(1x) Please bother me with questions if there are any. Any pointing into any other direction where I might find a working upgrade at the end: appreciated. cheers, Daniel