1. Home
  2. Guides
  3. Next-Gen WAF
  4. Setup and configuration
  5. Agent management

Upgrading the agent

This guide only applies to Next-Gen WAF customers with access to the Next-Gen WAF control panel. If you have access to the Next-Gen WAF product in the Fastly control panel, you can only deploy the Next-Gen WAF with the Edge WAF deployment method.

Our Agent package is distributed in our package repositories. If you haven't already, configure our repository on your system.

Limitations and considerations

When working with the Next-Gen WAF agent, keep the following things in mind:

  • Per our agent end-of-support policy, we support agent versions that are under two years old, and on a quarterly cadence, we deprecate and no longer support agent versions that are older than two years.
  • Check the agent release notes to see what's new in the agent.

Working with the agent auto-update service

The agent auto-update service checks the package downloads site for a new version of the agent and updates the agent when a new version is available.

Limitations and considerations

When setting up the agent auto-update service, keep the following in mind:

  • The agent auto-update service is only compatible with agents on Debian 8 or higher, Red Hat CentOS 7 or higher, and Ubuntu 18.04 or higher.
  • The agent auto-update service updates an agent by uninstalling the old package version and installing the latest version. Due to the agent's brief downtime during upgrade, we recommend scheduling the update when your website or web application receives low traffic.

Enable the agent auto-update service

Once the agent is installed, you can enable the agent auto-update service:

  1. Enable the agent auto update service.

    $ sudo systemctl enable --now sigsci-agent-update.timer

  2. (Optional) Customize the agent auto update timer. By default, the check for new versions is performed on the second Thursday of the month.

    $ sudo systemctl edit sigsci-agent-update.timer
    

    [Timer]
    OnCalendar=
    OnCalendar=Thu *-*-08,09,10,11,12,13,14 03:00:00
    RandomizedDelaySec=8h

Disable the agent auto-update service

To disable the agent auto-update service, run the following command:

$ sudo systemctl disable --now sigsci-agent-update.timer

Other forms of auto-update in Azure

The following are different forms of auto-update you can configure with Azure.

Upgrading the agent on Alpine Linux systems

To manually upgrade agents on Alpine Linux systems, follow these steps:

  1. Upgrade the Agent package.

    $ apk update
    $ apk add sigsci-agent

  2. Restart the agent.

    $ sudo systemctl start sigsci-agent

Upgrading the agent on Red Hat-CentOS systems

To manually upgrade agents on a Red Hat CentOS systems, follow these steps:

  1. Upgrade the Agent package.

    $ yum -q makecache -y --disablerepo=* --enablerepo=sigsci_*
    $ yum install sigsci-agent

  2. Restart the agent.

    $ sudo systemctl restart sigsci-agent

Upgrading the agent on Ubuntu-Debian systems

To manually upgrade agents on Ubuntu or Debian systems, follow these steps:

  1. Ubuntu 15.04 or higher
  2. Ubuntu 14.04 or lower

  1. Upgrade the Agent package.

    $ sudo apt-get update
    $ sudo apt-get install sigsci-agent

  2. Restart the agent.

    $ sudo systemctl start sigsci-agent

Upgrading the agent on Windows systems

To manually upgrade agents on Windows systems, follow these steps:

  1. Windows Installer
  2. CLI
  1. Download and install the latest agent MSI.
  2. Open services.msc.
  3. Select Signal Sciences Agent.
  4. Right click and select restart.

Enabling agent auto-update

The Windows auto-update utility is included with the MSI package and is installed in the same folder as the agent executable itself. When you execute the utility, it checks for a newer version of the agent for Windows, and if it exists, downloads and installs it. The Windows auto-update utility is designed to work in conjunction with the Windows Task Scheduler, which allows you to automate the check for updates.

To enable agent auto-update via the Windows Task Scheduler:

  1. Open Task Scheduler.
  2. In the Task Scheduler window, go to Action > Create Task.
  3. From the General tab, fill out the following:
    • Name: Give the task a name, e.g., "Fastly Agent Update".
    • Security Options: Determine whether the task should run only when the user is logged in. The task must be run as the SYSTEM account.
  4. From the Trigger tab, create a new trigger that defines when the task should start and how frequently it should run. We recommend having the task run on a monthly schedule.
  5. From the Actions tab, click Start a program.
  6. Browse to the folder where the agent auto-update utility is installed and select the Windows auto-update utility, agent-autoupdate.exe.
  7. Click Ok to save the task. You will be prompted to enter the password for the selected user account.
  8. To test if the task is working, right-click on the task in the Task Scheduler Library and click Run, making sure to enable the task history to view detailed logs of when the task ran and any issues that might have occurred.
Subsequent releases of the agent auto-update utility don't require recreating a new task unless explicitly stated in the changelog.

Troubleshooting

If the scheduled task fails or doesn't run as expected, you can use the Windows Event Viewer to look for relevant logs as to what went wrong. Additionally, you can manually run the agent auto-update utility by navigating to the directory where the agent MSI was installed and running the binary from a command prompt with administrator privileges. A log file with error diagnostics will be created which you can use to troubleshoot.

Related content

Fastly
© Fastly 2025