The Microsoft Azure Linux Agent, similar to the Windows Agent, is the connection between the host and Azure Management. This important agent enables monitoring, password reset and more. It is similar to the HyperV Integration Services or VMware Tools.
In the past, I noticed that systems with an outdated version of the Microsoft Azure Linux Agent often had problems:
- incorrect status in the Azure portal
- problems updating Backup Agents
- Incorrect diagnostic data
It also happened that subsequent changes to the SWAP space or the login data were not carried out correctly. Therefore, I recommend you to update the Azure Linux Agent while patching the Linux system. You should do this regularly for security reasons anyway. Normally the updates come with the respective repository. I really recommend using these out-of-the-box versions. But sometimes you should also check the available versions on the GitHub page.
How to update
It depends on the Linux OS you have installed, but mostly commands like this will work:
apt-get update && apt-get upgrade # or yum update
Once updated, the system should not have any problem to communicate to the Azure backend services. If the OS is getting out of support/life, you have to consider an OS Upgrade anyway.
I noticed that in the last months there have been strong improvements in the integration of the agent. There were some improvements in the backend which reduced the problems I mentioned above a bit 🙂
