Steps I used: 0. Backup everything /etc/krb5.conf /etc/krb5kdc Anything else... 1. Stop KDC and any related servers /etc/init.d/mit-krb5kdc stop 2. Make sure KDC and related (like kadmind) stopped 3. Dump Kerberos database to text kdb5_util dump krb-backup.txt 4. Upgrade to new version emerge --oneshot -av mit-krb5 5. Update /etc/krb5.conf by removing kdc.conf definition New default location is /var/lib/krb5kdc/kdc.conf 6. Move /etc/krb5kdc to /var/lib mv /etc/krb5kdc /var/lib 7. Edit /var/lib/krb5kdc/kdc.conf to change /etc/krb5kdc paths to /var/lib/krb5kdc 8. Delete old kerberos database (in my case called "principal") rm /var/lib/krb5kdc/principal* 9. Build a new empty database (give the command the same database password you previously used) kdb5_util create -s 10. Load database text file into new database kdb5_util load krb-backup.txt 11. Start Kerberos /etc/init.d/mit-krb5kdc start /etc/init.d/mit-krb5kadmind start 12. Test kinit dude@KERBEROS.REALM klist -fan