This guide helps you plan and perform a safe upgrade of your AppGate SDP appliances. It supplements the AppGate SDP Admin Guide — refer to it for detailed instructions on each step.
🛑This guide is for upgrades from version 6.0 or later. If you're on version 5.5 or earlier, use the historical upgrade script guide
Quick Things to Know
✅ Only upgrade within 2 versions (e.g., 6.0 → 6.2 is fine; 5.2 → 5.5 is not).
✅ Clients should also stay within 2 versions of the appliances.
⚠️Deprecated features may impact upgrades — always test first.
📜Scripts now check for deprecations before you upgrade.
📖 Always read the Release Notes and Known Issues before upgrading.
🧪Test in a dev environment first, especially if you use 3rd-party tools.
Pre-Upgrade Checklist
1. Review & Prep
☐ Read the Release Notes for your upgrade version.
☐ Set a maintenance window (schedule at least 1 week in advance).
☐ Impose a config freeze during the upgrade.
☐ Download the upgrade file from AppGate's Secure Download Center.
☐ Get the password to open the file.
☐ Do not unzip the file!
☐ Download the latest version of sdpctl.
☐ Confirm SSH access to appliances (Not needed for actual upgrade, but for recovery).
☐ Get the Local Admin credentials.
☐ Ensure all appliances are in a Healthy state on the Dashboard.
☐ Perform a backup of your Controller(s)
Backup using using sdpctl.
(Cloud only) Also take a cloud snapshot (e.g., AWS, GCP).
(On prem vm only) Create local vm snapshots).
2. Prepare
☐ Run the Prepare script (sdpctl initial setup):
Distributes & verifies files, checks for deprecations, and doesn’t touch the live system
Reboots remove distributed files. Re-run the script to redistribute files to affected machines.
☐ Fix any issues flagged by the script.
☐ Rerun as needed to confirm everything is good.
Upgrade Time!
➡️ Freeze config changes (again), make backups/snapshots if needed.
➡️ Check the Dashboard – appliances must be Healthy.
➡️ Re-run Prepare mode for any appliances that have been rebooted or missed.
➡️ Run the Complete script to finish the upgrade.
In Case of Trouble
🛠️If the upgrade fails, gather logs as outlined in the support guide and contact support.
🛠️If needed, follow the instructions to revert to a previous version.
Helpful Links
AppGate Secure Download Center