Ignition 8.3 is the current long-term support release, and most 7.9 and 8.1 systems will move to it in the next year or two. The upgrade itself is routine. The surprises come from licenses, modules and clients that change underneath it. These are the checks we run first.
Inductive Automation supports each long-term support line (7.9, 8.1, 8.3) for five years from its release or two years past the next long-term release, whichever is longer. 7.9 is already past that point and 8.1 is in its last stretch. Inductive Automation has said 8.3 will be supported through 2030.
Ignition also moves to year-named releases, starting with Ignition 2027 in February 2027. Inductive Automation has said an 8.1 gateway will go to 8.3 before it can go to 2027, so the 8.3 upgrade is on the path either way.
Ignition 8.3 cannot restore a 7.9 backup. A 7.9 system goes to 8.1 first: restore the backup into a new 8.1 gateway, check it, take a fresh backup from that gateway, and restore that one into 8.3. We have run that exact chain, 7.9 to 8.1 and then 8.1 to 8.3. An upgrade within one line, such as 8.3.4 to 8.3.8, needs no restore step.
In 8.3 the Tag Historian module is replaced by two modules, Historian Core and SQL Historian, and they are separate license items. If the new gateway is not licensed for both, history stops recording as soon as the upgrade completes, while the historian configuration still looks correct. Confirm the license with your Inductive Automation account representative before the cutover date.
A gateway backup carries projects and configuration, not modules. What runs after the upgrade is whatever is installed on the new gateway, so every third-party module needs an 8.3 build. Some have none: Sepasoft’s Barcode Scanner and Instrument Interface modules were released for Ignition 8.1 only, and a Vision window that uses one of their components will not open on 8.3 at all. Windows like that have to be reworked while the old gateway still has the module.
Vision still runs on 8.3, so Vision windows keep working. The old Mobile module was removed after 7.9, so a 7.9 system that serves phones or tablets through it needs Perspective for those users, whatever version it moves to.
Restore the backup onto a test gateway at the new version, fix what breaks there, and write the cutover plan before production is touched: the order of work, the downtime window, how to roll back, and who signs off. The production gateway keeps running the whole time.
A free Ignition MRI of your current gateway gives you the inventory for steps 3 and 4: every project, module, database connection and script, and what depends on what.
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