Update the Java agent

To take full advantage of New Relic's latest features, enhancements, and important security patches, we recommend you update your Java agent to the latest version. For additional information about specific agent updates, refer to the Java agent release notes and the Java compatibility and requirements doc.

These update procedures describe how to replace some of the current contents of your agent root directory, which contains the New Relic Java agent (newrelic.jar), with newly downloaded contents from the New Relic UI.

Update to latest version

To identify which version of the Java agent you're currently using, run java -jar newrelic.jar -v. Your Java agent version will be printed to your console.

Then, to update to the latest Java agent version:

1. Back up the entire Java agent root directory to another location. Rename that directory to NewRelic_Agent#.#.#, where #.#.# is the agent version number.

2. Download the agent.

3. Unzip the new agent download file, then copy newrelic-api.jar and newrelic.jar into the original Java agent root directory.

4. (Optional) If you are using the any of the agent APIs like our Java agent API or a Scala API, we recommend you upgrade your API dependencies to the latest version. The newer agent version will still support the APIs, but you may be missing new features. If you're using a build tool like maven, upgrade the API versions to latest. For example, if you're using the Java Agent API with gradle, replace ${agent.version} with the latest version:

   implementation 'com.newrelic.agent.java:newrelic-api:${agent.version}'

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5. Restart your Java process.

If you experience issues after the Java agent update, restore from the backed-up New Relic agent directory.