Upgrade Air-Gapped using Docker Compose

A routine v6.x upgrade in an air-gapped Docker Compose deployment just needs the new image tags mirrored to your registry (or moved as a tarball) before you restart the stack. Unlike the major-version migration, there’s no new compose file, no new Dockerfile.anchore-db, and no rebuild required — you’re bumping versions on a running deployment, not standing up a new one. Your docker-compose.yaml stays as-is, provided you don’t touch the project name or database volume name.

Throughout this guide, the low side is the internet-facing system and the high side is the air-gapped system.

Prepare the Images (low side)

Review the Release Notes for the target version to confirm which image tags actually changed. enterprise/enterprise-ui always move together; redis (and, less often, the PostgreSQL/pg_cron combination baked into anchore:db) can change independently, so don’t assume they’re unchanged from your last upgrade — diff the new reference docker-compose.yaml and Dockerfile.anchore-db against what you last mirrored if you’re unsure.

Pull the images that changed:

docker pull docker.io/anchore/enterprise:v6.1.1
docker pull docker.io/anchore/enterprise-ui:v6.1.0
docker pull docker.io/redis:7.4.6

Only if Dockerfile.anchore-db changed for this release, rebuild the database image:
```
docker build -f Dockerfile.anchore-db -t anchore:db .
```
This is uncommon for a routine upgrade — most releases don’t touch the database image at all. If it didn’t change, skip this step; there’s nothing new to move for anchore-db.

Move the Images to the High Side

Choose one of the following, matching the equivalent step in the Air-Gapped Docker Compose deployment guide, for only the images that actually changed in step 2 (and step 3, if it applied):

Private container registry (recommended) — re-tag, then push directly, or save/transfer/load/push, exactly as described in Option 1.
Local image tarball — for hosts with no registry available, as described in Option 2.

Update Your Compose File

If this deployment was already deployed air-gapped, your docker-compose.yaml already points every image: line at your private registry or local image names — you only need to bump the tag on the lines that changed. The enterprise image is referenced by many services (api, catalog, component-catalog, queue, policy-engine, analyzer, reports, reports_worker, notifications, data-syncer, db-preflight), so update every occurrence:

  api:
    image: <registry>/anchore/enterprise:v6.1.1

Leave everything else in the file untouched — in particular, do not touch name: at the top of the file or the database volume name. Changing either causes Compose to stand up a new, empty deployment instead of upgrading this one.

Restart the Stack

Continue with the main Upgrade using Docker Compose procedure starting at Step 6: Restart the Anchore Enterprise Containers — monitoring the catalog logs and verifying the new version with anchorectl system status need no changes for an air-gapped host.

Last modified August 19, 2026