Kibana Fleet Agent Auto-Upgrade Issue Lower Bound Limit For Percentage Of Agents

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Hey guys, let's dive into a quirky issue we've found in Kibana's Fleet management, specifically concerning the auto-upgrade feature for agents. This article will walk you through the problem, the steps to reproduce it, and what the expected behavior should be. We'll also touch on the underlying feature this issue relates to. So, buckle up and let's get started!

Introduction to Fleet Agent Auto-Upgrades

Fleet agent auto-upgrades are a crucial part of maintaining a healthy and secure Elastic Stack environment. This feature ensures that your agents are running the latest versions, benefiting from the newest features, bug fixes, and security patches. The ability to control the percentage of agents being upgraded at any given time is vital for minimizing potential disruptions and ensuring a smooth transition. This control allows administrators to stage upgrades, monitor their impact on a subset of agents, and then roll out the update to the entire fleet with confidence. The percentage of agents to upgrade setting is a key component of this control, allowing for gradual rollouts and minimizing the risk of widespread issues. Properly configuring this setting is essential for maintaining system stability and ensuring that updates are applied in a controlled and manageable manner. However, a small glitch in the lower bound limit for this setting can lead to unexpected behavior, which we'll explore in detail in this article. We're going to break down exactly what's happening with this feature in Kibana 9.1.0 BC1, so you can avoid any potential headaches.

The Issue: Lower Bound Limit for Percentage of Agents to Upgrade

Alright, so here's the scoop. We've discovered an issue in Kibana where the lower limit for the % of agents to upgrade setting can be set to 0, which isn't really the intended behavior. Think about it – if you set it to 0, no agents would ever auto-upgrade, defeating the purpose of the feature! This setting is designed to allow administrators to control the percentage of agents that are automatically upgraded to a newer version. The problem arises when the user interface allows setting this value to 0, even though the minimum practical value should be 1. This discrepancy can lead to confusion and potentially prevent agents from being upgraded as expected. The core of the issue lies in the inconsistency between the user interface's ability to set the value to 0 and the underlying logic that requires a minimum percentage for upgrades to occur. This can result in a situation where the administrator believes they have configured auto-upgrades, but in reality, no agents are being upgraded due to the 0% setting. So, what's the big deal? Well, it means that users might think their agents are being kept up-to-date automatically, but in reality, they're stuck on older versions. This can lead to security vulnerabilities, compatibility issues, and missed opportunities for new features and improvements. Let's dig into the specifics.

Kibana Build Details

For those of you who like to get into the nitty-gritty, here are the specifics of the Kibana build where this issue was observed:

  • VERSION: 9.1.0 BC1
  • BUILD: 88126
  • COMMIT: 7f1cd025e139e0f76e4d67cadfa6c5cf9826d65f

This information is crucial for pinpointing the exact version where the bug exists, helping developers track down and fix the issue effectively. Knowing the specific build and commit hash allows for precise replication of the environment where the issue was first identified. This is super important for the Elastic team to accurately reproduce and resolve the problem. This will help you identify if you might be running the version affected by this bug.

Preconditions

Before you can reproduce this issue, you'll need to make sure you have the following set up:

  1. Kibana 9.1.0 or above should be available: You need to be running a version of Kibana that's affected by this bug. In this case, it's 9.1.0 BC1.
  2. At least one Agent Policy should be created: You need an agent policy in place to manage the agents.
  3. At least one Agent should be installed: You need at least one agent enrolled under a policy to test the auto-upgrade functionality.

These preconditions are essential to ensure that you have the necessary infrastructure and configuration in place to observe the issue. Without an agent policy and enrolled agents, the auto-upgrade settings cannot be accessed or tested. These preconditions ensure a consistent environment for reproducing the bug, allowing users and developers to verify the issue and its resolution effectively. Make sure you've got these basics covered before trying to reproduce the steps. It's like making sure you have all the ingredients before you start baking a cake!

Steps to Reproduce

Okay, now let's get to the fun part – reproducing the issue! Follow these steps:

  1. Log in to Kibana: Obviously, you need to get into your Kibana instance.
  2. Navigate to Fleet > Agent Policies: This is where you manage your agent policies.
  3. Click on 'Manage' under Auto-upgrade agents for any policy: This will take you to the auto-upgrade settings for the selected policy.
  4. In the 'Manage Auto Upgrade' flyout, locate the % of agents to upgrade input field: This is the field we're interested in.
  5. Use the down arrow to decrease the value to 0: Click the down arrow until the value reaches 0.
  6. Observe that the value can be set to 0, but an error message is displayed: You'll see that the UI allows you to set the value to 0, but it throws an error because 0 isn't a valid percentage for this setting.

By following these steps, you can reliably reproduce the issue and confirm that the lower bound limit is not being enforced correctly. This process allows you to see the bug in action and understand its impact on the user experience. These steps provide a clear and repeatable method for demonstrating the issue, which is crucial for communicating the problem to developers and ensuring that it is properly addressed. It’s like a recipe for bug-finding!

Expected Result

So, what should happen? Well, the minimum allowed value for the % of agents to upgrade should be 1. You shouldn't be able to set it to 0, either by using the arrows or by manually typing it in. The UI should enforce this minimum value to prevent misconfiguration and ensure that auto-upgrades function as intended. The expected behavior ensures that at least a small percentage of agents are always considered for auto-upgrades, maintaining the functionality and purpose of the feature. This prevents the situation where an administrator inadvertently disables auto-upgrades by setting the value to 0. Basically, the system should be smart enough to not let you shoot yourself in the foot!

Screen Recording

To make things even clearer, there's a screen recording available that shows the issue in action:

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/d8a0a786-abc8-40ed-a3e1-fe6bd818b437

This visual demonstration can be extremely helpful in understanding the problem and its impact. Seeing the issue unfold in a recording provides context and clarity that written descriptions might lack. A screen recording acts as concrete evidence of the bug, making it easier for developers to diagnose and fix the problem. It's like having a video tutorial for a bug!

Feature Context

This issue is related to the Fleet agent auto-upgrade feature, which is being tracked under this issue in the ingest-dev repository:

https://github.com/elastic/ingest-dev/issues/2878

This link provides additional context and discussion surrounding the feature and its implementation. Following the issue on GitHub allows you to stay updated on the progress of the bug fix and any related changes. The GitHub issue serves as a central point of communication for developers and users, facilitating collaboration and transparency in the bug resolution process. It’s the official bug report headquarters!

Impact and Importance of the Fix

The impact of this seemingly small issue is significant. If administrators can set the % of agents to upgrade to 0, they might inadvertently disable auto-upgrades for their entire fleet. This can lead to agents running outdated versions, missing crucial security patches, and not benefiting from the latest features and improvements. The importance of fixing this issue lies in ensuring the reliability and effectiveness of the auto-upgrade feature. By enforcing a minimum value of 1%, we guarantee that at least some agents will be upgraded, maintaining the core functionality of the feature. This fix prevents potential misconfigurations and ensures that agents are kept up-to-date, contributing to a more secure and efficient Elastic Stack environment. This directly contributes to the overall security and stability of the system. Keeping agents up-to-date is a fundamental aspect of maintaining a healthy infrastructure, and this fix ensures that the auto-upgrade mechanism functions as intended.

Conclusion

So, there you have it! We've uncovered a minor but important issue with the Fleet agent auto-upgrade feature in Kibana. While being able to set the upgrade percentage to zero might seem like a small oversight, it can have big implications for maintaining up-to-date agents. By understanding the issue, the steps to reproduce it, and the expected behavior, you're better equipped to manage your Elastic Stack environment and ensure your agents are always running smoothly. The fix for this issue will help ensure that auto-upgrades work as expected, keeping your agents secure and up-to-date. Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for more updates and insights into the world of Elastic and Kibana! By addressing these seemingly small issues, we collectively contribute to a more robust and user-friendly experience for everyone. Keep an eye on the GitHub issue for updates on the fix, and happy upgrading!