This page describes how to install the Mender client on an existing Linux system. Installing Mender this way does not offer a full Mender board integration, so you can not carry out full system updates, however, it is possible to use Update Modules to update applications and other parts of the system.
If you need the full board integration, follow the device documentation in System Updates: Yocto Project or System Updates: Debian family.
Mender provides a Debian package (.deb
) for convenience to install on e.g
Debian, Ubuntu or Raspberry Pi OS. The package supports the following
architectures:
See the downloads page for links to download all package architectures. We will assume armhf in the following instructions as this is the most common for users getting starting with Mender.
wget https://downloads.mender.io/2.5.0/dist-packages/debian/armhf/mender-client_2.5.0-1_armhf.deb
The above link is for armhf devices, which is the most common device architecture. See the downloads page for other architectures, and also make sure to modify the references to the package in commands below.
The Mender package comes with an install wizard that will let you configure and customize your installation. This is the recommended option for new users.
To install and configure Mender run the following command:
sudo dpkg -i mender-client_2.5.0-1_armhf.deb
After completing the installation wizard, Mender is correctly set up on your device and automatically starts in managed mode. Your device is now ready to authenticate with the server and start receiving updates.
Alternatively, install the package non-interactively. This is suitable for scripts or other situations where no user input is desired.
The setup is different depending on your server configuration and the most
common cases are shown below. Use mender setup --help
to learn about all
configuration options.
DEVICE_TYPE="<INSERT YOUR DEVICE TYPE>"
TENANT_TOKEN="<INSERT YOUR TOKEN FROM https://hosted.mender.io/ui/#/settings/my-organization>"
sudo DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive dpkg -i mender-client_2.5.0-1_armhf.deb
sudo mender setup \
--device-type $DEVICE_TYPE \
--hosted-mender \
--tenant-token $TENANT_TOKEN \
--retry-poll 30 \
--update-poll 5 \
--inventory-poll 5
sudo systemctl restart mender-client
DEVICE_TYPE="<INSERT YOUR DEVICE TYPE>"
SERVER_IP_ADDR="<INSERT THE IP ADDRESS OF YOUR DEMO SERVER>"
sudo DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive dpkg -i mender-client_2.5.0-1_armhf.deb
sudo mender setup \
--device-type $DEVICE_TYPE \
--demo \
--server-ip $SERVER_IP_ADDR
sudo systemctl restart mender-client
DEVICE_TYPE="<INSERT YOUR DEVICE TYPE>"
SERVER_URL="<INSERT YOUR ENTERPRISE SERVER URL>"
TENANT_TOKEN="<INSERT YOUR TOKEN FROM YOUR ENTERPRISE SERVER>"
sudo DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive dpkg -i mender-client_2.5.0-1_armhf.deb
sudo mender setup \
--device-type $DEVICE_TYPE \
--server-url $SERVER_URL \
--server-cert="" \
--tenant-token $TENANT_TOKEN \
--retry-poll 30 \
--update-poll 5 \
--inventory-poll 5
sudo systemctl restart mender-client
As an alternative to using a Debian package, it is possible to install the Mender client from source by following the guidelines outlined in the README.md of the Mender client source repository.
Found errors? Think you can improve this documentation? Simply click the Edit link at the top of the page, and then the icon on Github to submit changes.
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