Management: a flag to turn off the version check, alongside --disable-anonymous-metrics

[chad-loder]

Before posting

• I searched existing discussions and issues for similar requests.
• I checked the documentation to confirm this is not already supported.
• This is a product idea or enhancement request, not a support question.
• I removed or anonymized sensitive details from examples and screenshots.

Product area

Management service / API

Problem or use case

Management already lets operators turn off its other outbound calls: --disable-anonymous-metrics stops the usage metrics push and --disable-geolite-update stops the GeoLite downloads from pkgs.netbird.io. The version check has no such switch. It has two parts: a background checker (version.NewUpdateAndStart in management/internals/server/server.go) that fetches https://pkgs.netbird.io/releases/latest/version every 30 minutes and whose only output is a log line (error level when the fetch fails), and GET /api/instance/version, which fetches the same URL and the dashboard's latest GitHub release for the version box in the dashboard navigation. Where egress is restricted, both turn into recurring fetch-failure logs and the dashboard's version box disappears. Some operators also prefer, for privacy, that a self-hosted server not contact outside services on its own.

Proposed solution

A --disable-version-check flag (and the matching combined-server config key) that skips the background checker and makes /api/instance/version return the installed version without fetching, so the dashboard still shows what is installed, just without update hints. Off by default, so nothing changes for existing deployments.

Community impact and priority

Self-hosted deployments with restricted egress or a deliberate release process; not blocking.

Are you willing to help?

Yes, I can submit a PR if the approach is accepted.