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Azure Arc Agent

Handian Sudianto 6,886 Reputation points
2026-03-31T02:46:35.2566667+00:00

Can we enable the auto upgrade the azure arc agent if we use version 1.51 ?

If the agent already set to auto update then how often the schedule will run to check if there any new version or not.

Azure Arc
Azure Arc

A Microsoft cloud service that enables deployment of Azure services across hybrid and multicloud environments.

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  1. Siva shunmugam Nadessin 7,645 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-03-31T09:49:43.1633333+00:00

    Hello Handian Sudianto,

    Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Q&A forum. 

    As of agent version 1.51 there isn’t a built-in “auto-upgrade” feature in the Azure Connected Machine agent itself. The agent will continue running the version you installed until you manually upgrade it or use an external process (for example, your OS package manager on Linux or an Azure Update Manager deployment) to push a newer agent.

    If you want an “automatic” update cadence, the recommended approach is to onboard your Arc-enabled servers to Azure Update Manager:

    • When you enable the Azure Update Manager extension on your Arc machines, it installs a VM extension whose job is to periodically assess and apply updates (including newer Arc agent MSI or package versions if you publish them via a script or package repo). • By default, Update Manager runs its periodic assessment once per day, but you can customize the schedule in the Update Manager “Assessment & remediation” blade.

    So in practice:

    1. Enable Update Manager on your Arc-enabled servers.
    2. Confirm the periodic assessment schedule (default is daily).
    3. Publish the newer agent version (for Windows, you’d point a script at the new MSI; for Linux, you’d publish a repo/package update) so that Update Manager can automatically install it during its next run.

    If you don’t want to use Update Manager, you’ll need to roll out agent upgrades via your own automation (PowerShell DSC, Chef, Ansible, custom scripts, etc.) and schedule it however often makes sense for you.

    Hope this helps!

    Reference docs

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  1. Q&A Assist
    2026-03-31T02:46:59.5366667+00:00
    AI generated content. This question contains an answer created with AI from Q&A Assist. Learn more

    Automatic upgrade of the Azure Arc agents depends on the specific Arc scenario.

    For Azure Arc‑enabled Kubernetes agents:

    1. Automatic upgrade is supported and is enabled by default when connecting a cluster, regardless of the current agent version, as long as automatic upgrade has not been explicitly disabled.
    2. When automatic upgrade is enabled, the Arc agents poll Azure hourly to check for a newer version. When a newer version is available, a Helm chart upgrade is triggered for the agents.

    Key commands (Azure Arc‑enabled Kubernetes):

    • Connect with auto‑upgrade enabled (default): 
        az connectedk8s connect --name <cluster-name> --resource-group <resource-group>
    • Connect with auto‑upgrade disabled: 
        az connectedk8s connect --name <cluster-name> --resource-group <resource-group> --disable-auto-upgrade
    • Change auto‑upgrade after connection: 
        az connectedk8s update --name <cluster-name> --resource-group <resource-group> --auto-upgrade true   # or false

    For Azure Arc‑enabled servers (Connected Machine agent):

    • The Connected Machine agent historically does not update itself and must be updated via standard OS update mechanisms or tools such as Azure Update Manager.
    • A newer capability introduces automatic agent upgrade starting with version 1.57 of the Azure Connected Machine agent. Automatic upgrade can be enabled when connecting the machine with: 
        azcmagent connect --subscription-id "<subscription>" --resource-group "<rg>" --location "<region>" --enable-automatic-upgrade
    • Since automatic upgrade is only available starting with version 1.57, it cannot be enabled on an agent that remains at version 1.51. The agent must first be upgraded (for example via Microsoft Update/WSUS on Windows or the Linux package manager) to at least 1.57, after which the automatic upgrade feature can be used.

    Regarding how often the schedule runs:

    • For Arc‑enabled Kubernetes agents, when automatic upgrade is enabled, the agents poll Azure every hour to check for a newer version.
    • For the Connected Machine agent automatic upgrade (from 1.57+), the documentation states that when automatic upgrades are enabled, the agent is scheduled to be upgraded within one version of the latest release and upgrades are rolled out in batches during off‑peak hours; it does not specify an hourly polling interval, only that failed upgrades are retried periodically.

    References:

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