Installing

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.

Install Mender using the Debian package

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:

• armhf (ARM-v6): ARM 32bit distributions, for example Raspberry Pi OS for Raspberry Pi or Debian for BeagleBone.
• arm64: (ARM-v8): ARM 64bit processors, for example Debian for Asus Tinker Board
• amd64: Generic 64-bit x86 processors, the most popular among workstations

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.

Download the package

wget https://downloads.mender.io/3.1.0/dist-packages/debian/armhf/mender-client_3.1.0-1_armhf.deb

Option 1: Attended installation with a wizard

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_3.1.0-1_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.

Option 2: Unattended installation

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.

• Connecting to hosted Mender using demo settings

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_3.1.0-1_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

• Connecting to a demo server using demo settings

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_3.1.0-1_armhf.deb
sudo mender setup \
            --device-type $DEVICE_TYPE \
            --demo \
            --server-ip $SERVER_IP_ADDR
sudo systemctl restart mender-client

• Connecting to an Enterprise server

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_3.1.0-1_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

Install from source

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.