Upgrade agents

You can upgrade agents and their Java Runtime Environment (JRE) from the Deployment Automation user interface.

Agent upgrade guidelines

Each Deployment Automation release includes a newer JRE version that contains improvements and security fixes. We strongly recommend that you upgrade JREs together with agents so that JREs are always up to date.

Guidelines:

Upgrade methods You upgrade agents in the Deployment Automation user interface. The agent installer does not upgrade agents.
Windows 32-bit agents

Upgrade for Windows 32-bit agents is not supported.
z/OS agent To upgrade a z/OS agent, uninstall your current agent and then install the latest version of z/OS agent. For details, see Install and configure z/OS agent.
JRE for Solaris, HP-UX, AIX, and zOS agents The option of upgrading agent JRE from the user interface is not available (displayed as inactive). Update the JRE files manually.
Java 6 and 7 agents

Agents on JRE 6 or 7 cannot connect to a JRE 11 server because of the disabled TLSv1 and TLSv1.1 protocols.

To enable the protocols and connect the agents, see Upgrade server configuration.
JDK

Deployment Automation doesn't support full Java Development Kit (JDK) upgrade for agents.

Because JRE and JDK use different artifacts, JDK artifacts might not be deleted when you attempt to remove the old JDK (by selecting the Remove Current Agent JRE option) and upgrade to the latest JRE from the user interface.

Java version upgrades:

Supported Java versions

Agents require JRE 8 or 11, except Solaris agents which work with JRE 8 only.

For details, see the Support Matrix.
Java 6 and 7 agents

Upgrade agents incrementally:

  1. Upgrade your server to 6.3.2.

  2. From the Deployment Automation 6.3.2 user interface, upgrade agents to 6.3.2 and agent JREs to Java 8.

  3. Upgrade the server, agents and, optionally, agent JREs to the latest version.

For assistance with the upgrade, contact Support.
Java 5 agents Most of the new functionality does not work with agents on Java 5. Uninstall your Java 5 agents and install agents that use the supported Java version.

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Upgrade process

When you upgrade an agent and its JRE from the user interface, Deployment Automation runs the following upgrade sequence:

Upgrading JVM > Removing old JVM (if selected) > Upgrading agent

This sequence ensures that Deployment Automation removes the old JRE only after installing the new version and restarting the agent to make sure that the new JRE works.

By default, the server waits 180 seconds for each upgrade step to complete. To change the default timeout period, modify the runningUpgradeTimeoutInSec setting in the server's da_config.xml file. For details, see Configure an agent-initiated agent status check.

Tip: The agent's JRE upgrade is managed by the built-in DA Agent Upgrade plugin. To view the plugin's steps and usage, navigate to Administration > Automation > Plugins and select DA Agent Upgrade from the plugin list.

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Upgrade agents and their JREs

Upgrade agents after you upgrade the server or as soon as agent updates are available. To upgrade agents, ensure that they are online.

Before you can use an upgraded agent, verify that it is assigned to an active license. For details, see Manage licenses.

To upgrade agents and JREs:

  1. In Deployment Automation, navigate to Management > Resources and select the Agents tab. A list of active agents is displayed.

  2. (Optional) If an agent is eligible for upgrade in the Upgrade Status column, review any important messages indicated by the messages icon image.

  3. To upgrade an agent, click Upgrade next to the agent.

    To upgrade multiple agents, select the agents and click Upgrade Selected Agents.

    If an agent is not eligible for upgrade from the user interface, the upgrade options and the selection checkbox are not displayed.

  4. In the dialog box that opens, ensure that the Upgrade Agent option is selected.

  5. Windows and Linux: To upgrade the JRE used by each agent, select Upgrade JRE and specify these options:

    Option Description
    Supported JREs

    From the supported JREs list, select the JRE version to which you want to upgrade.

    By default, the only available options are the versions distributed with the server release. But you can add other supported JRE versions. For details, see Configure custom JREs for agents.
    Remove Current Agent JRE (Optional) Select this option to remove the JRE currently installed on each agent.

    Note: If you are using an unsupported JRE version, Deployment Automation requires you to upgrade it. In this case, the Upgrade JRE checkbox is displayed as preselected and inactive.

  6. Click Upgrade. You can monitor the upgrade progress in the Status column.

    To review the log for the upgrade steps, open the agent's Upgrade Log tab.

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Update the JRE for the agent Windows service

If you manually installed the Windows service for the Deployment Automation agents, you can optionally update the service's JRE after upgrading the agents.

To update the JRE for the agent Windows service:

  1. Open the installed.properties file in the agent location, for example:

    <agent_install_directory>\conf\agent\installed.properties

  2. Add the following property specifying the name of the Windows service:

    locked/agent.service.name=<service-name>

    This property enables the agent to use the new JRE after the JRE upgrade.

Note: If an agent is started using a script, the agent's JRE for the Windows service is not updated.

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See also: