Upgrade a self-installation of APM Server standalone to 9.0

Elastic Stack

This upgrade guide is for the standalone method of running APM Server. Only use this guide if both of the following are true:

You have a self-installation of the Elastic Stack, i.e. you’re not using Elastic Cloud.
You’re running the APM Server binary, i.e. you haven’t switched to the Elastic APM integration.

Prerequisites

Prior to upgrading to version 9.0, Elasticsearch, Kibana, and APM Server must be upgraded to version 8.18.
- To upgrade Elasticsearch and Kibana, refer to the Elastic Stack Installation and Upgrade Guide
- To upgrade APM Server to version 8.18, refer to upgrade to version 8.18.
Review the Elastic APM release notes and Elastic Observability release notes.
Review the Elastic APM breaking changes.

Upgrade the Elastic Stack to version 9.0

The Elastic Stack (Elasticsearch and Kibana) must be upgraded before APM Server. Refer to the Elastic Stack Installation and Upgrade Guide for guidance.
Install the 9.0 APM Server release

Refer to install to find the command that works with your system.
Review your configuration file

Some settings have been removed or changed. You may need to update your apm-server.yml configuration file prior to starting the APM Server. Refer to Installation layout for help in locating this file, and Configure APM Server for a list of all available configuration options.
Start the APM Server

To start the APM Server, run:
```
./apm-server -e
```
Additional details are available in start the APM Server.
When upgrading from 8.18 to 9.0, if you have 7.x indices, you need to either set the indices to readonly, or if reindexing, add ILM privileges for reindexed-v*-apm* indices.
(Optional) Upgrade to the APM integration

Got time for one more upgrade? Refer to Switch to the Elastic APM integration.