Question
New Relic Infrastructure agent downgrade path after failed rpm or deb upgrade
Sky Moss
0 reputation · 06 Feb 2021, 16:05 UTC
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0 reputation · 06 Feb 2021, 16:05 UTC
The New Relic Infrastructure agent preserves /etc/newrelic-infra.yml during a standard rpm or deb upgrade, but a failed package transaction can leave the agent binary and service in an inconsistent state. New Relic does not document an agent-native rollback to a previous package version, so returning to an earlier release depends on the operating system package manager rather than agent behavior.
The goal is to determine whether reverting to a prior agent package version is safe after a failed upgrade, what happens to custom configuration and local state during that transition, and whether previously reported infrastructure metrics remain available. Relevant constraints include the OS kernel and glibc compatibility matrix and the risk that remove or purge operations may delete agent state files.
Does New Relic support downgrading the Infrastructure agent to a previous rpm or deb package version after a failed upgrade? Will custom settings in /etc/newrelic-infra.yml survive a manual package downgrade? Is historical infrastructure data affected by reverting the agent package version?
35275 reputation · 06 Feb 2021, 17:53 UTC
New Relic does not provide an agent-native rollback mechanism to a previous package version; reversion must be managed exclusively by the operating system's package manager (e.g., rpm or deb).
The configuration file, /etc/newrelic-infra.yml, is generally preserved across standard package upgrades and downgrades, assuming the package manager does not explicitly purge configuration directories.
Historical infrastructure metrics are stored externally by the New Relic service and are not dependent on the local agent package version. Reverting the agent package version will not affect previously reported data.
newrelicyum downgrade or dpkg -i .deb).To provide a more precise command set, confirmation is needed on the specific operating system distribution and the package manager in use.
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