Job versions
Nomad creates a new version for your job each time you run your job. A job can have an unlimited number of versions, and version history is stored in state. Over time, Nomad garbage collects dead versions that do not have a version tag. Saving a tag to a version prevents Nomad from garbage collecting that version.
This guide demonstrates how to save, modify, and delete job version tags. Additionally, you will learn how to use version tags to compare versions or revert a running job to an older version, no matter how much time has passed.
Prerequisites
- This feature requires Nomad v1.9.0 and later.
- You are familiar with job versions and tags.
Create a version tag
When you create a version tag, you must provide Nomad with:
- A tag name
- A job name
Optionally, you can also supply a tag description and a version number. If you do not supply a version number, Nomad tags the latest version.
The following example creates a tag named golden-version for version zero of job named hello-world. It includes a description of the tag.
Use the nomad job tag apply [options] <job_id> command to create a tag.
$ nomad job tag apply -version 0 -name "golden-version" \ -description "The version we can roll back to." \ hello-world Job version 0 tagged with name "golden-version"Refer to the job tag apply command reference for details on
including general options such as namespace.
Using the CLI, you can run a new version of your job and create a tag for that new version. The follwoing example runs a new version of the hello-world job and immediately tags that version.
$ nomad job run hello-world.nomad.hcl && \ nomad job tag apply -name "high-traffic-version" hello-world ==> 2024-10-08T14:42:30-05:00: Monitoring evaluation "90714134" 2024-10-08T14:42:30-05:00: Evaluation triggered by job "hello-world" 2024-10-08T14:42:31-05:00: Evaluation within deployment: "192ecea1" 2024-10-08T14:42:31-05:00: Allocation "ec85c1bd" created: node "d6ee954e", group "servers" 2024-10-08T14:42:31-05:00: Evaluation status changed: "pending" -> "complete"==> 2024-10-08T14:42:31-05:00: Evaluation "90714134" finished with status "complete"==> 2024-10-08T14:42:31-05:00: Monitoring deployment "192ecea1" ✓ Deployment "192ecea1" successful 2024-10-08T14:42:48-05:00 ID = 192ecea1 Job ID = hello-world Job Version = 4 Status = successful Description = Deployment completed successfully Deployed Task Group Desired Placed Healthy Unhealthy Progress Deadline servers 1 1 1 0 2024-10-08T14:52:46-05:00Job version 1 tagged with name "high-traffic-version"Modify a version tag
The following example updates both the name and description of the golden-version tag for a hello-world job.
Use the nomad job tag apply [options] <job_id> command to modify a tag's attributes.
$ nomad job tag apply -version 0 -name "golden-version-0" \ -description "Low traffic version." \ hello-world Job version 0 tagged with name "golden-version-0"Refer to the job tag apply command reference for details on
including general options such as namespace.
Delete a version tag
The following example deletes the golden-version tag attached to the hello-world job.
Use nomad job tag unset -name "<tag_name>" <job_id> to delete a tag from a version. This command requires a tag name and job ID.
$ nomad job tag unset -name "golden-version" hello-world removed from job "hello-world"Refer to the job tag unset command reference for details on
including general options such as namespace.
Compare versions
Use the nomad job history -p command to compare
different job versions. The -p option displays the differences between each
version and the most recent version. You also have these options:
-diff-version: Specifies the version number of the job to compare against. Mutually exclusive with the-diff-tagflag.-diff-tag: Specifies the version of the job to compare against, referenced by tag name. Defaults to the latest version. Mutually exclusive with-diff-version.
Show diff based on a version
The nomad job history -p -diff-version <job_id> command compares all
versions against the specified diff-version.
The following example compares all job versions to version 4.
$ nomad job history -p -diff-version=4 hello-worldYou can also perform a diff between two specific versions. This example compares version 4 of the hello-world job with version 1 of the job.
$ nomad job history -p -version=4 -diff-version=1 hello-worldShow diff based on a tag
The nomad job history -p -diff-tag <job_id> command compares all
versions against the specified diff-tag.
The following example compares all job versions to the version tagged with the name golden-version.
$ nomad job history -p -diff-tag="golden-version" hello-worldYou can also perform a diff between a tag and a version number. The following example compares
the current version, -version=4, with the version tagged golden-version.
$ nomad job history -p -version=4 -diff-tag="golden-version" hello-world Version = 4Stable = trueSubmit Date = 2024-10-08T14:42:30-05:00Tag Name = high-traffic-versionDiff =+/- Job: "hello-world"+/- Task Group: "servers" + Network { Hostname: "" Mode: "" + Dynamic Port { + HostNetwork: "default" + Label: "www" + To: "8002" } } - Network { Hostname: "" Mode: "" - Dynamic Port { - HostNetwork: "default" - Label: "www" - To: "8001" } }
Revert to a version
You can use job tags to revert the current running job to a prior version.
The following examples revert versions of the hello-world job to specific version number or tag names.
Use the nomad job revert [options] <job_id> <version|tag> command to revert
the current job to a prior version.
This example reverts the job to version three.
$ nomad job revert hello-world 3This example reverts the job to the version with the golden-version tag.
$ nomad job revert hello-world "golden-version"Refer to the job revert command reference for more examples as
well as details on including general options such as namespace.
