diff --git a/CHANGELOG.asciidoc b/CHANGELOG.asciidoc
index a7001f84fe..1d2a344d5c 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.asciidoc
+++ b/CHANGELOG.asciidoc
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ Notes:
 [[release-notes-3.x]]
 === Node.js Agent version 3.x
 
+
 ==== Unreleased
 
 [float]
@@ -45,6 +46,10 @@ Notes:
 [float]
 ===== Bug fixes
 
+* Ensure `metadata.service.agent.activation_method` is only sent for APM
+  server version 8.7.1 or later. APM server 8.7.0 included a bug where
+  receiving `activation_method` is harmful. ({issues}3230[#3230])
+
 [float]
 ===== Chores
 
@@ -52,9 +57,6 @@ Notes:
 [[release-notes-3.43.0]]
 ==== 3.43.0 2023/03/02
 
-[float]
-===== Breaking changes
-
 [float]
 ===== Features
 
@@ -72,7 +74,7 @@ Notes:
 
 * Make `Agent.flush()` return a `Promise` if no callback is passed as param.
   This means that flush is now `await`able: `await apm.flush()`.
-  ({issues}2857(#2857))
+  ({issues}2857[#2857])
 
 [float]
 ===== Bug fixes
diff --git a/lib/instrumentation/azure-functions.js b/lib/instrumentation/azure-functions.js
index 61cd681de5..39cd53ef99 100644
--- a/lib/instrumentation/azure-functions.js
+++ b/lib/instrumentation/azure-functions.js
@@ -252,7 +252,7 @@ function getAzureFunctionsExtraMetadata () {
         // Passing this service.framework.name to Client#setExtraMetadata()
         // ensures that it "wins" over a framework name from
         // `agent.setFramework()`, because in the client `_extraMetadata`
-        // wins over `_conf.metadata`.
+        // wins over `_conf.frameworkName`.
         name: 'Azure Functions',
         version: process.env.FUNCTIONS_EXTENSION_VERSION
       },
diff --git a/lib/lambda.js b/lib/lambda.js
index eb399edc4b..698dcca5b2 100644
--- a/lib/lambda.js
+++ b/lib/lambda.js
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ function getMetadata (agent, cloudAccountId) {
         // Passing this service.framework.name to Client#setExtraMetadata()
         // ensures that it "wins" over a framework name from
         // `agent.setFramework()`, because in the client `_extraMetadata`
-        // wins over `_conf.metadata`.
+        // wins over `_conf.frameworkName`.
         name: 'AWS Lambda'
       },
       runtime: {
diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index a607ea3c44..cffd2983a8 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
         "cookie": "^0.5.0",
         "core-util-is": "^1.0.2",
         "debug": "^4.1.1",
-        "elastic-apm-http-client": "11.2.0",
+        "elastic-apm-http-client": "11.3.1",
         "end-of-stream": "^1.4.4",
         "error-callsites": "^2.0.4",
         "error-stack-parser": "^2.0.6",
@@ -6189,9 +6189,9 @@
       "dev": true
     },
     "node_modules/elastic-apm-http-client": {
-      "version": "11.2.0",
-      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/elastic-apm-http-client/-/elastic-apm-http-client-11.2.0.tgz",
-      "integrity": "sha512-XHXK+gQmd34eRN/ffrml7AN4h1VwujB79WEO2C/J59ufvEk+mT1OGBhl6pntHPUWn4Um52C5m84O6jIXzaQwfw==",
+      "version": "11.3.1",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/elastic-apm-http-client/-/elastic-apm-http-client-11.3.1.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-AicMDPJYmO4tGTRcZQZFS7nhyGAQ6f4hUTKQVxiM/6mHo6F895JsJoPVwOE2yCathKDnD9LVS9zWdT2wvG8gxA==",
       "dependencies": {
         "agentkeepalive": "^4.2.1",
         "breadth-filter": "^2.0.0",
@@ -20251,9 +20251,9 @@
       "dev": true
     },
     "elastic-apm-http-client": {
-      "version": "11.2.0",
-      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/elastic-apm-http-client/-/elastic-apm-http-client-11.2.0.tgz",
-      "integrity": "sha512-XHXK+gQmd34eRN/ffrml7AN4h1VwujB79WEO2C/J59ufvEk+mT1OGBhl6pntHPUWn4Um52C5m84O6jIXzaQwfw==",
+      "version": "11.3.1",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/elastic-apm-http-client/-/elastic-apm-http-client-11.3.1.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-AicMDPJYmO4tGTRcZQZFS7nhyGAQ6f4hUTKQVxiM/6mHo6F895JsJoPVwOE2yCathKDnD9LVS9zWdT2wvG8gxA==",
       "requires": {
         "agentkeepalive": "^4.2.1",
         "breadth-filter": "^2.0.0",
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 6f35013df9..8fa475f098 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
     "lint:yaml-files": "./dev-utils/lint-yaml-files.sh  # requires node >=10",
     "coverage": "COVERAGE=true ./test/script/run_tests.sh",
     "test": "./test/script/run_tests.sh",
-    "test:deps": "dependency-check index.js start.js start-next.js 'lib/**/*.js' 'test/**/*.js' '!test/activation-method/fixtures' '!test/instrumentation/modules/next/a-nextjs-app' --no-dev -i async_hooks -i perf_hooks -i node:http -i @azure/functions-core",
+    "test:deps": "dependency-check index.js start.js start-next.js 'lib/**/*.js' 'test/**/*.js' '!test/activation-method/fixtures' '!test/instrumentation/azure-functions/fixtures' '!test/instrumentation/modules/next/a-nextjs-app' --no-dev -i async_hooks -i perf_hooks -i node:http -i @azure/functions-core",
     "test:tav": "tav --quiet && (cd test/instrumentation/modules/next/a-nextjs-app && tav --quiet)",
     "test:docs": "./test/script/docker/run_docs.sh",
     "test:types": "tsc --project test/types/tsconfig.json && tsc --project test/types/transpile/tsconfig.json && node test/types/transpile/index.js && tsc --project test/types/transpile-default/tsconfig.json && node test/types/transpile-default/index.js  # requires node >=12.20",
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@
     "cookie": "^0.5.0",
     "core-util-is": "^1.0.2",
     "debug": "^4.1.1",
-    "elastic-apm-http-client": "11.2.0",
+    "elastic-apm-http-client": "11.3.1",
     "end-of-stream": "^1.4.4",
     "error-callsites": "^2.0.4",
     "error-stack-parser": "^2.0.6",
diff --git a/test/_capturing_transport.js b/test/_capturing_transport.js
index 1625a23eef..a731152cf2 100644
--- a/test/_capturing_transport.js
+++ b/test/_capturing_transport.js
@@ -98,6 +98,10 @@ class CapturingTransport {
     return true
   }
 
+  supportsActivationMethodField () {
+    return true
+  }
+
   // Inherited from Writable, called in agent.js.
   destroy () {}
 }
diff --git a/test/_mock_http_client.js b/test/_mock_http_client.js
index 4ad07d3c22..74ccea3a1d 100644
--- a/test/_mock_http_client.js
+++ b/test/_mock_http_client.js
@@ -69,6 +69,9 @@ module.exports = function (expected, done) {
     },
     supportsKeepingUnsampledTransaction () {
       return true
+    },
+    supportsActivationMethodField () {
+      return true
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/test/_mock_http_client_states.js b/test/_mock_http_client_states.js
index df781b7e6e..952ccef894 100644
--- a/test/_mock_http_client_states.js
+++ b/test/_mock_http_client_states.js
@@ -50,6 +50,9 @@ module.exports = function (expectations = [], done) {
     },
     supportsKeepingUnsampledTransaction () {
       return true
+    },
+    supportsActivationMethodField () {
+      return true
     }
   }
 }
diff --git a/test/activation-method/activation-method.test.js b/test/activation-method/activation-method.test.js
index 9175020280..675cbf627a 100644
--- a/test/activation-method/activation-method.test.js
+++ b/test/activation-method/activation-method.test.js
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ tape.test('metadata.system.agent.activation_method fixtures', function (suite) {
 
     const envStr = c.env ? Object.keys(c.env).map(k => `${k}="${c.env[k]}"`).join(' ') : ''
     suite.test(`${envStr} node ${(c.nodeOpts || []).join(' ')} ${c.script}`, t => {
-      const server = new MockAPMServer()
+      const server = new MockAPMServer({ apmServerVersion: '8.7.1' })
       const args = c.nodeOpts || []
       args.push(c.script)
       server.start(function (serverUrl) {
diff --git a/test/agent.test.js b/test/agent.test.js
index 148f5760f0..95f3d6560a 100644
--- a/test/agent.test.js
+++ b/test/agent.test.js
@@ -34,7 +34,10 @@ const agentOpts = {
   metricsInterval: '0s',
   cloudProvider: 'none',
   spanStackTraceMinDuration: 0, // Always have span stacktraces.
-  logLevel: 'warn'
+  logLevel: 'warn',
+  // Ensure the APM client's `GET /` requests do not get in the way of test
+  // asserts. Also ensure it is new enough to include 'activation_method'.
+  apmServerVersion: '8.7.1'
 }
 const agentOptsNoopTransport = Object.assign(
   {},
@@ -574,12 +577,7 @@ test('filters', function (t) {
       filterAgentOpts = Object.assign(
         {},
         agentOpts,
-        {
-          serverUrl,
-          // Ensure the APM client's `GET /` requests do not get in the way of
-          // the test asserts below.
-          apmServerVersion: '8.0.0'
-        }
+        { serverUrl }
       )
       t.end()
     })
diff --git a/test/config.test.js b/test/config.test.js
index cc46049bdc..3e47bbecc2 100644
--- a/test/config.test.js
+++ b/test/config.test.js
@@ -1129,6 +1129,10 @@ test('custom transport', function (t) {
     supportsKeepingUnsampledTransaction () {
       return true
     }
+
+    supportsActivationMethodField () {
+      return true
+    }
   }
   const myTransport = new MyTransport()
 
diff --git a/test/outcome.test.js b/test/outcome.test.js
index 9e448ea032..b3a84fb768 100644
--- a/test/outcome.test.js
+++ b/test/outcome.test.js
@@ -20,7 +20,8 @@ const noOpClient = {
   sendError () {},
   sendMetricSet () {},
   flush () {},
-  supportsKeepingUnsampledTransaction () { return true }
+  supportsKeepingUnsampledTransaction () { return true },
+  supportsActivationMethodField () { return true }
 }
 agent._transport = noOpClient
 
diff --git a/test/test.js b/test/test.js
index 2eece3f5ac..c97c31574b 100644
--- a/test/test.js
+++ b/test/test.js
@@ -179,7 +179,13 @@ if (opts.help) {
 // './test/start/env', './test/start/file' which are special
 // cases
 var directories = getDirectoriesWithTests(
-  './test', [], ['./test/start/env', './test/start/file']
+  './test',
+  [],
+  [
+    './test/start/env',
+    './test/start/file',
+    './test/activation-method/fixtures'
+  ]
 )
 
 mapSeries(directories, readdir, function (err, directoryFiles) {