Host agent versioning

Different versions of the Instana agent appear in the Instana UI and in the IBM Documentation. To collect the various versions, see the following information:

Note:
Starting with Instana release 321, Instana updated the agent version terminology to improve clarity. The term "boot version" is now called "agent version," and the term "agent version" is now called "sensors version." For more information, see Deprecated and removed features.

Agent version

The agent version (called "agent boot version" before release 321) is released as part of the assemblies, packages, and containerized agents. It tracks the consistent part of the agent runtime that does not change often. The agent version is crucial for the agent support lifecycle. For more information, see Support policy for Instana agent.

Note:
You need to reinstall the agent to upgrade the agent version on both the Static and Dynamic agents.

Sensors version

The sensors version (called "agent version" before release 321) works with all agent versions and describes Instana tracers and the sensors for the agent. The sensors version serves as a BOM for the running agent. The Instana UI shows the current sensors version in the format YYYY.MM.DD-HHMM (Year.Month.Day-HourMinute).

Agent Dashboard version

The overview of Agents also shows this version.

Agents View version

You can find all the other versions (SHA checksums) in the agent-updates Git repository. In addition to the commit sha, the version is also released as a tag. The tags can be found in Agent Updates - tags.

To see the version of the agent, you can locally access the API of the agent: curl localhost:42699/.

With the static agent, both the agent version and the sensors version are updated at the same time (agent version is updated, if needed).

Individual sensor versions

Minor components are added to the agent to monitor specific technology stack and are enabled if the technology is present in the same location where the agent is installed. For example, the Go sensor.

Each sensor itself decides what and how to monitor a technology.

Version pinning

To use a specific sensor version with a dynamic agent, follow the steps that are mentioned in Version pinning.