is there a way to change the server version once 1.17 releases?

[spite_of_artemis]

Me and my friends have been playing on this world for a couple months and one of them cant play 1.17 until they get a new computer in a couple weeks? is there a way to keep the servers from updating once the new release is playable on the servers? also will the new update affect old servers?

[_Tarna_]

You can now pick weather or not your server is on 1.16.5 or 1.17 so the servers aren't forced the update. The default version is 1.16.5 unless you opt in to update. Note that if you do update to 1.17, you can't downgrade it back to 1.16.5 cause the server won't start.