NextGen Healthcare announced general availability of Mirth Connect 4.8 on November 5, 2026. Among its listed changes, H2 replaces Apache Derby as the default database. For an integration team, that makes the current installation’s database an important starting point: a release’s default does not identify the database your existing server uses.
Start with the installed environment
Before scheduling work, record the current Mirth version, database engine and version, deployment arrangement, and person responsible for the database. Verify these against the actual configuration with the authorized operator. Keep connection secrets out of the planning worksheet.
The announcement identifies a changed default; it does not provide a deployment-specific migration procedure. Ask which supported upgrade path applies to your current configuration, whether any database work is required, and which release notes cover it. Do not infer an automatic conversion or a required move for every installation from the default-database bullet alone.
Put an owner beside each step
NextGen’s product FAQ distinguishes Mirth Connect, which the customer maintains and operates, from its separate Mirth Fully Managed service. Hosting and full management are therefore questions to resolve explicitly. Confirm who handles the application, database, interfaces, backups and restoration in your arrangement rather than assigning every task to whoever supplies the server.
- Current state: record the installed versions and database, with the date checked.
- Target state: obtain the supported path and applicable documentation.
- Rehearsal: assign an isolated environment and approved test messages.
- Recovery: identify who can restore the saved configuration and data, and how the restored result will be checked.
Test the message path as well as the connection
A proposed rehearsal can use a wholly synthetic message labelled TEST-001. Record its input fields, the transformation you expect and the destination where it should arrive. After the upgrade rehearsal, check those fields at the destination and reconcile them with the processing record. A database connection succeeding answers a narrower question than an interface producing the intended result.
Use another synthetic input to exercise a failure path that your team has defined safely. Record the expected error handling and recovery action before running it. Decide acceptance criteria in advance, so an unexplained result is investigated rather than accepted simply because the server starts. These are planning examples, not commands for a live healthcare system.
Get the applicable documentation
NextGen’s knowledge-center page directs Mirth Connect clients to its Success Community for documents. Obtain the current release notes and upgrade instructions for your licensed environment through that route or your support contact. Preserve the document version beside the environment record and the person approving the change.
The useful upgrade decision combines the vendor’s supported path with evidence from your own rehearsal. A changed default belongs in that decision, alongside the actual installed database and a named operating team.
Check the upgrade brief
Primary sources
NextGen’s November 5, 2026 Mirth Connect 4.8 announcement