# 8.3 Upgrade Strategy at Large Org **URL:** \ **Category:** Ignition\ **Created:** [January 16, 2026, 12:41pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/8-3-upgrade-strategy-at-large-org/113346 "2026-01-16T12:41:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jacob\_geers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/4da419/32.png) [@jacob\_geers](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/jacob_geers)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2026, 12:41pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/8-3-upgrade-strategy-at-large-org/113346/1 "2026-01-16T12:41:55Z")
Looking for a gut check / general advice on our 8.3 strategy. We have DEV, TEST, 8x PROD gateways. We also have a “hub” gateway for each environment. Each PROD gateway represents a manufacturing facility with their own set of applications (not identical). 10 developers all work on DEV (no Docker) and write commits. All gateways are currently on 8.1.48 and we are considering upgrading DEV to 8.3, and then waiting a week or two before doing TEST, PROD. My concern is, we can’t exactly stop migrating commits during this time frame (supporting production). Will it be a problem to move commits from 8.3 to 8.1? Gateway event scripts concern me the most but other than that I think its fine? Anything to watch out for? Thanks, ---
**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2026, 1:35pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/8-3-upgrade-strategy-at-large-org/113346/2 "2026-01-16T13:35:42Z")
The folder structures are different in many places, and a v8.1 to v8.3 leaves some orphan files in the old folders (no longer used). You will likely have to inspect every commit you pull from 8.1 to 8.3. ---
**Author:** ![jacob\_geers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/4da419/32.png) [@jacob\_geers](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/jacob_geers)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2026, 2:29pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/8-3-upgrade-strategy-at-large-org/113346/3 "2026-01-16T14:29:22Z")
In this case, the commit would be written on 8.3 (DEV) and pulled into 8.1 (TEST/PROD). If you were in my shoes, would you upgrade all servers at once? ---
**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2026, 2:32pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/8-3-upgrade-strategy-at-large-org/113346/4 "2026-01-16T14:32:41Z")
I would run separate dev/test machines purely to shake out any v8.1 to v8.3 upgrade issues, before touching the regular dev/test/prod. Once you have a plan for issues identified, if any, upgrade the regular dev, test, and prod together. ---
**Author:** ![paul-griffith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/paul-griffith/32/37249_2.png) [@paul-griffith](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/paul-griffith)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2026, 4:27pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/8-3-upgrade-strategy-at-large-org/113346/5 "2026-01-16T16:27:51Z")
> [@jacob\_geers](#): > > commit would be written on 8.3 (DEV) and pulled into 8.1 (TEST/PROD) As a blanket rule, Ignition is backwards compatible, not forwards compatible. So 8.1 resources can be opened by 8.3 gateways, but **not** the inverse. In particular, besides the complete overhaul of the configuration storage mechanism (from a SQLite IDB to flat files) there's some "minor" project resource changes in 8.3 (mostly the 'exploding' of event scripts from a single resource to many resources) that are fully incompatible with 8.1. Plus completely new elements, like drawings and forms in Perspective, or event streams. You _might_ be able to carefully select certain commits back to 8.1 gateways and they **might** work, but you're definitely going to have a better time if you make sure your dev, test, and prod are all running the same version.