11-Server Odoo Fleet Migration: Ubuntu 20.04 → 22.04

The problem

The client operated a production fleet of 11 Odoo 13 servers, all running Ubuntu 20.04 approaching end-of-life. Migration required zero unplanned downtime, with each server handling live production workloads and unique configurations.

• •Every server was live production, each serving a different subsidiary, some with 50+ concurrent users at peak
• •No two servers were configured identically, so a single copy-paste runbook was never going to work
• •Ubuntu 20.04 was approaching end of life, and PostgreSQL 12 with it, so the deadline was external and fixed
• •A failed cutover meant real financial loss for the business, not just an internal inconvenience

How we ran it

1. 01Full pre-migration inventory of all 11 hosts: OS and kernel, Odoo version and custom modules, PostgreSQL version and database size, Nginx config, certificates and expiry, systemd units and cron jobs
2. 02Fresh target server built and validated independently for each host, rather than an in-place OS upgrade on a live box
3. 03Database and filestore transferred with checksums on both sides, so a partial copy would be caught before cutover instead of after
4. 04One server migrated first as the reference run, with the runbook corrected from what that server actually taught us before touching the next
5. 05Cutovers scheduled outside business hours per subsidiary, with the old server kept running and reachable for a holdback period
6. 06Post-migration worker and PostgreSQL tuning on each host, which is where the 35% load-time improvement came from
7. 07Uptime Kuma monitoring rolled out across the whole fleet at the end, so the next problem is found by a monitor and not by a user

Rolling migration, one server at a time

servers migrated

11 / 11servers migrated

minutes of unplanned downtime

0minutes of unplanned downtime

faster page loads after tuning

35%faster page loads after tuning

servers on fleet-wide monitoring

11servers on fleet-wide monitoring