OceanBase 4.x centers operations on log streams rather than classic partition leaders alone. Operators should plan upgrades around OCP compatibility, retest failover drills, and validate EXPLAIN and monitoring queries against the target minor version.

OceanBase 4.x changes how operators think about replication: log streams and Paxos groups are the primary failover unit.

Operator focus areas

  • Log streams: Update runbooks that referenced legacy partition leader terminology.
  • EXPLAIN ANALYZE: Validate plan tooling after upgrade; compare plans on critical SQL in staging.
  • OCP alignment: Confirm OCP version supports target OceanBase server build before production upgrade.

Upgrade checklist

  1. Read release notes for your exact 4.x minor version.
  2. Upgrade OCP or operator tooling first if documentation requires it.
  3. Re-run leader failover and backup restore drills in staging.
  4. Watch memstore and replication metrics for one week post-upgrade.

Limitations

Release note details vary by edition (community, enterprise, cloud). Verify features against your license and deployment path.

Sources and further reading