Upgrade from Camunda 7.14 to 7.24 (Spring Boot 3.5.6, JDK 21) — Safe Deployment & History TTL Cleanup Advice

Hi everyone ,

I’m upgrading my Spring Boot application that uses Camunda BPM from:

  • Camunda: 7.14.0

  • Spring Boot: 2.x

  • JDK: 8

to:

  • Camunda: 7.24.0-alpha2

  • Spring Boot: 3.5.6

  • JDK: 21

The app is already in production with several active process instances that were started on 7.14, and I want to make sure the upgrade doesn’t affect those.

What I’d Like to Clarify

Running Instances Compatibility

  • Will existing process instances (started on 7.14) continue to work after I deploy the 7.24-based version?

  • Is it safe to upgrade the schema and engine directly, or should I run both versions in parallel (old for existing instances, new for new ones)?

Database Schema

  • If I update the schema to 7.24, can I still roll back to 7.14 if needed?

  • Any known migration issues between 7.14 → 7.24 (especially given the jump to Spring Boot 3 and JDK 21)?

History TTL & Cleanup

The newer version enforces or expects History Time To Live (TTL).

My older process definitions had TTL as NULL, so the history tables are quite large.

  • If I now set a TTL (say 180 days) and enable cleanup, will it try to delete everything older right away?

  • Could that cause performance issues or database strain?

  • What’s the best way to introduce TTL in such a case — batch updates, staged cleanup, or only apply to new definitions?

Setup Context

The application runs in Kubernetes, built via Docker.

The new engine starts fine locally, but I want to plan the production rollout carefully.

I’m mainly concerned about the impact on running instances and safe cleanup of old history data.

Would love to hear from the community:

  • What’s your recommended upgrade strategy in this scenario?

  • Any gotchas or lessons learned around the TTL cleanup and migration?

  • Known compatibility concerns with Spring Boot 3.5.6 + JDK 21?

Thanks a lot for any insights or shared experiences!

Mayank