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Version: 3.2

Upgrading FAQ

How can I tell what versions are available?
  1. We send notification emails when a new stable release is shipped.
  2. All releases (stable and pre-release since 1.3.2) are available as:
    • Container images
    • Zip files for Windows (IIS)
    • Zip files for Linux

You can always view available versions at: https://releases.synapsesoftware.com/

Why don't you provide a latest tag?

We do not provide a latest tag for two reasons:

  1. In production environments, referencing a specific version prevents unintended upgrades and breaking changes.
  2. Cortex versions can introduce significant changes. Requiring an explicit version ensures upgrades are intentional and planned.

In the future, we may introduce release channels such as:

  • insider
  • stable
  • oldstable

If implemented, latest would likely point to stable.

Is it safe to upgrade the SQL Server that hosts our archive or Cortex database to a newer version?

Yes. Upgrading the SQL Server instance - including an in-place upgrade to a newer major version - is supported for both the Cortex database and your archive database(s). Moving an archive database to a newer SQL Server version, or restoring its backup onto one, is supported too. Back up first and follow Microsoft's guidance for the upgrade you are doing.

Two things are worth knowing:

  • The Cortex database stores only Cortex's own configuration and settings, and is typically well under 1 GB, so there is very little in it to be affected by a SQL Server upgrade.
  • SQL Server Full-Text Search is the one component that occasionally does not survive an in-place upgrade, or a restore across a large version gap. Cortex uses it for keyword search on the archive database, so when it breaks, keyword searches fail with an error while everything else keeps working.

Nothing about your archived data is at risk either way: Cortex reads the archive database and never writes to it.

If keyword search does start failing after your upgrade, see Full-Text Search Errors After a SQL Server Upgrade or Restore, which walks through the checks and the fix.

We restored our archived database onto a much newer SQL Server version and keyword search now returns an error. Is the data damaged?

No. That error comes from SQL Server's full-text search engine, not from your archived data, and the data itself is intact.

A database restored onto a much newer version of SQL Server can leave the full-text indexes out of step with the engine. SQL Server reports this as a full-text query error (error number 30010) and names the likely causes itself - filter daemon permissions, the service account, or a communication problem between SQL Server and the filter daemon host.

The usual fix is to restart the SQL Full-text Filter Daemon Launcher service on the SQL Server, and to rebuild the full-text catalog if that does not clear it. Until it is fixed, comparison filters in the search builder still work, and Fallback Mode provides a working keyword search that does not need the full-text engine.

The full sequence is in Full-Text Search Errors After a SQL Server Upgrade or Restore.