Upgrading Meilisearch

Meilisearch, the search engine used by Open Archiver, requires a manual data migration process when upgrading to a new version. This is because Meilisearch databases are only compatible with the specific version that created them.

If an Open Archiver upgrade includes a major Meilisearch version change, you will need to migrate your search index by following the process below.

Migration Process Overview

For self-hosted instances using Docker Compose (as recommended), the migration process involves creating a data dump from your current Meilisearch instance, upgrading the Docker image, and then importing that dump into the new version.

Step 1: Create a Dump

Before upgrading, you must create a dump of your existing Meilisearch data. You can do this by sending a POST request to the /dumps endpoint of the Meilisearch API.

Find your Meilisearch container name:
bash
```
docker compose ps
```
Look for the service name that corresponds to Meilisearch, usually meilisearch.
Execute the dump command: You will need your Meilisearch Admin API key, which can be found in your .env file as MEILI_MASTER_KEY.
bash
```
curl -X POST 'http://localhost:7700/dumps' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_MEILI_MASTER_KEY"
```
This will start the dump creation process. The dump file will be created inside the meili_data volume used by the Meilisearch container.
Monitor the dump status: The dump creation request returns a taskUid. You can use this to check the status of the dump.
For more details on dump and import, see the official Meilisearch documentation.

Step 2: Upgrade Your Open Archiver Instance

Once the dump is successfully created, you can proceed with the standard Open Archiver upgrade process.

Pull the latest changes and Docker images:
bash
```
git pull
docker compose pull
```
Stop the running services:
bash
```
docker compose down
```

Step 3: Import the Dump

Now, you need to restart the services while telling Meilisearch to import from your dump file.

Modify docker-compose.yml: You need to temporarily add the --import-dump flag to the Meilisearch service command. Find the meilisearch service in your docker-compose.yml and modify the command section.

You will need the name of your dump file. It will be a .dump file located in the directory mapped to /meili_data inside the container.

yaml

services:
    meilisearch:
        # ... other service config
        command:
            [
                '--master-key=${MEILI_MASTER_KEY}',
                '--env=production',
                '--import-dump=/meili_data/dumps/YOUR_DUMP_FILE.dump',
            ]

Restart the services:
bash
```
docker compose up -d
```
Meilisearch will now start and import the data from the dump file. This may take some time depending on the size of your index.

Step 4: Clean Up

Once the import is complete and you have verified that your search is working correctly, you should remove the --import-dump flag from your docker-compose.yml to prevent it from running on every startup.

Remove the --import-dump line from the command section of the meilisearch service in docker-compose.yml.
Restart the services one last time:
bash
```
docker compose up -d
```

Your Meilisearch instance is now upgraded and running with your migrated data.

For more advanced scenarios or troubleshooting, please refer to the official Meilisearch migration guide.

Upgrading Meilisearch ​

Migration Process Overview ​

Step 1: Create a Dump ​

Step 2: Upgrade Your Open Archiver Instance ​