// This assembly is included in the following assemblies:
//
// assembly-upgrade.adoc

[id='assembly-upgrading-kafka-versions-{context}']

= Upgrading Kafka

After you have upgraded your Cluster Operator, you can upgrade your brokers to a higher supported version of Kafka.

Kafka upgrades are performed using the Cluster Operator. How the Cluster Operator performs an upgrade depends on the differences between versions of:

* Interbroker protocol
* Log message format
* ZooKeeper

When the versions are the same for the current and target Kafka version, as is typically the case for a patch level upgrade, the Cluster Operator can upgrade through a single rolling update of the Kafka brokers.

When one or more of these versions differ, the Cluster Operator requires two or three rolling updates of the Kafka brokers to perform the upgrade.

.Additional resources

* xref:assembly-upgrade-cluster-operator-str[]

include::modules/con-upgrade-versions-and-images.adoc[leveloffset=+1]

include::modules/con-upgrade-strategies-for-upgrading-clients.adoc[leveloffset=+1]

include::modules/proc-upgrade-brokers-newer-kafka.adoc[leveloffset=+1]

//upgrade clients and kafka streams to incremental cooperative rebalance protocol added in kafka 2.4
include::modules/proc-upgrading-consumers-streams-cooperative-rebalancing.adoc[leveloffset=+1]
