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Upgrading Java Agent

Automatic Upgrade

Starting from version 17.07.11, Plumbr Java Agents are capable of automatically upgrading their version. You can enable/disable this functionality under Settings menu, in case the default enabled option is not suitable for you.

Whenever new Plumbr Java Agent  version is released, existing agents connected to the Plumbr Server will download updated version. The switch to newly downloaded version happens after next JVM restart.

More detailed flow of the auto-update for those who want to take a peek under the hood:

  1. When connection is established between the Java Agent and Server, Agent checks for whether or not the auto-update is enabled. If the auto-update is disabled, the process is aborted.
  2. After connection establishment, a message is sent to the Java Agent if its build number is lower than the build number of the highest known Agent version. The message contains the version to update to, the checksum and download URLs for that specific version
    1. The very same message is broadcasted to all connected Java Agents each time you change the setting from enabled to disabled or vice versa in settings menu.
  3. When the Java Agent receives the message, it makes a request to the checksum URL to download the new Agent and performs the checksum verification.
  4. The downloaded ZIP is unzipped in a separate directory in installation dir which has a name starting with version.
  5. On next JVM restart where the particular Agent got attached to, the wrapper will automatically select the new version because it has a higher build number than the previous one.

Notice that auto-updating is only possible for our On Demand customers. On Premises users must use the manual agent update process.

Manual Upgrade

If you need to manually upgrade Plumbr Java Agent (either from pre 17.08.05 version or because of your company policies) you need to go through the following steps:

  1. Download the new Java Agent from here.
  2. Backup the current Agent installation.
  3. Unzip the newly downloaded agent .zip file to the folder you wish to install the Plumbr Java Agent to.
  4. Copy plumbr.properties from the backup to new Agent installation.
  5. Update startup parameters of the JVM you are monitoring to point to new Agent JAR file: 
    -javaagent:path-to-new-agent/plumbr.jar
  6. Restart the JVM you want to monitor.