Upgrade ERPNext-Production v7.1.22

We operate ERPNext at a very simple level within our organisation.

We installed the ERPNext VM (built on December 08, 2016) on a system running Windows 10.

UBuntu 14.04
Frappe Framework v7.1.24
ERPNext v7.1.22

This system is run as a vanilla production install (no customising / subroutines)

I recently set up a test / clone environment and attempted to upgrade. This failed with NPM errors. It also failed to upgrade an installation with an empty database (in as-delivered state). It also failed after upgrading UBuntu to 16. I was able to install the latest production version

As this is a vanilla install, I am sure that this issue can be replicated on similar operating environments.

Is there an upgrade path that needs to be followed for this simple installation of ERPNext to ensure system and version integrity? I understand that this is a major upgrade, but in other software environments the user can follow an upgrade path using stable production environments (v7.xx to v8.yy to v9.zz, etc) to achieve a full upgrade with data integrity. Is this possible for ERPNext?

Thanks

I have some guidance here that might help

https://jwrober.github.io/erpnext_admin_guide/i-u-b/upgrade#Major

We just performed this same upgrade, and had some major issues post-update.

We had to bypass some patches during the update, and once it was done had some major crash issues. Our forum post during the crash: Database crash __global_search’ needs repair - #14 by cpurbaugh

bench update–rebuild fixed our issues. for further guidance, the plan that we used during the update process is listed below.

I’m going to PM you my email address, if you come up against any roadblocks, please email me, I may be able to help.

Thanks for the swift reply. I did come across this link last week and followed the steps outlined in the guide. The fact that the upgrade fails even if the database is not filled seems to point towards a npm version issue as I get a “CommandFailedError: npm install” message at the end of the upgrade reporting.

cpurbaugh, thanks for the detailed plan. I will do some background work and get back to you.