Agent updates
From time to time, to provide access to new Data Productivity Cloud features, Matillion will issue an updated version of the Data Productivity Cloud agent software. New versions may also include bug fixes and security hotfixes. The Matillion-hosted Full SaaS agent will always use the latest available agent version. If you deploy a Hybrid SaaS agent in your own infrastructure, however, you have control over how and when you update the agent.
Warning
Matillion will not be able to guarantee support for older agent versions, therefore we recommend that you always run the most recent agent version which has been released on your version track. Version tracks are discussed below. Read Software updates and patch management for details of our support policy.
Version tracks
The agent update cadence depends on whether you chose the Current or Stable version track when you created the agent. Read Agent version tracks for a full discussion of version tracks.
If you have auto update enabled, your agent will be automatically updated to the latest version on your chosen version track as soon as it's available. Without this option enabled, you will have to manually update to the new version.
Critical security patches are only applied to the supported agent releases on both tracks.
Auto update
By default, agents are created to automatically update. However, you can opt out of this process.
Note
If you opt out of automatic updates, ensure you have a manual update procedure in place. Read our agent support policy. If you are using the Current track and wish to opt out then it may be prudent to use the Stable track instead due to the faster update cadence of the Current track.
The standard agent installation uses a tagged container image on the container respository. This tag is always kept on the most recent released image for a given version track. If the agent installation in your cloud infrastructure is set to always pull the latest version, then whenever an agent instance is started, it will always pull this latest version. This means that whenever you restart an agent, it will be automatically updated to the latest release on its version track, regardless of whether auto update is enabled or not.
If your agent has multiple instances, and one instance happens to be on a later version than another due to the timing of restarts, then the reported version of the agent will always be the lowest version of any instance, and the availability of Data Productivity Cloud features will be linked to that lowest version.
If an agent has auto update enabled, then whenever a new version is released on its version track (Current or Stable), the agent will be automatically updated to that version. You can change an agent's auto update status at any time from the agent details screen.
The auto update process will issue a graceful shutdown command to the agent when a new version becomes available. This allows the agent to finish the task it's working on before shutting itself down. The agent will then restart, and as part of the restart process will automatically update to the latest available version of the agent.
If auto update is not enabled, you will be notified when a new version is released, and must manually update the agent.
If an agent falls behind the latest release on the version track because you have disabled auto update, and you then enable auto update, it will not immediately update itself to the latest available version. The agent update will only be triggered when the next version is released on its version track, or if the agent is restarted for any reason, in which case it will always update to the latest available version.
Manual update
If you haven't enabled auto update, you will need to check whether a new agent version is available on your version track. In the list of agents, the text Update Available is displayed below the agent version number if a new version is available. Additionally, the latest available version number, version release date, and an update notification will be shown on the agent details screen.
To update the agent manually, follow the process given in Restart an agent. Restarting the agent automatically updates it to the latest release on its version track, as long as the installed agent is always pulling the latest image. If your agent service isn't configured to pull a new image on restart, you should use the pause agent command to put your agent into a safe state where it can be restarted manually from your cloud provider.
You can also update the agent from the agents API endpoint. The endpoint can also be used to determine whether a new agent version is available. For further details on using the Data Productivity Cloud API, read API overview.