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Upgrade the firmware on your ExtraHop system

The following procedure shows you how to upgrade your ExtraHop system to the latest firmware release. While the firmware upgrade process is similar across all ExtraHop appliances, some appliances have additional considerations or steps that you must address before you install the firmware in your environment. If you need assistance with your upgrade, contact ExtraHop Support.

Pre-upgrade checklist

Here are some important considerations and requirements about upgrading ExtraHop appliances.

  • A system notice appears on Command and Discover appliances connected to ExtraHop Cloud Services when a new firmware version is available.
  • Verify that your Reveal(x) 360 system has been upgraded to version 8.7 before upgrading your self-managed sensors.
  • If you have multiple types of ExtraHop appliances, you must upgrade them in the following order:
    1. Command appliance
    2. Discover appliances
    3. Explore appliances
    4. Trace appliances
  • If you have a Command appliance, apply the following guidance:
    • For large Command appliance deployments (managing 50,000 devices or more), reserve a minimum of one hour to perform the upgrade.
    • The Command appliance firmware version must be greater than or equal to the firmware version of all connected appliances.
  • If you have Explore appliances, apply the following guidance:
    • Do not upgrade Explore appliances to a firmware version that is newer than the version installed on connected Command and Discover appliances.
    • After upgrading the Command and Discover appliances, halt the ingest of records from the Command and Discover appliances before upgrading the Explore appliance. If you are upgrading from a firmware version prior to 7.4, temporarily remove any connected Explore appliances, or alternatively, disable triggers that commit records and disable the automatic flow records setting. If you are upgrading from firmware version 7.4 or later, after upgrading the Command Discover appliances disable record ingest on the Explore cluster before upgrading the Explore appliance.

      You must re-enable these settings after all nodes in the Explore cluster are upgraded.

    • You must upgrade all Explore nodes in an Explore cluster. The cluster will not function correctly if nodes are on dissimilar firmware versions.
      Important:The message Could not determine ingest status on some nodes and Error appear on the Cluster Data Management page in the Administration settings of the upgraded nodes until all nodes in the cluster are upgraded. These errors are expected and can be ignored.
    • You must enable shard reallocation from the Cluster Data Management page the Administration settings after all nodes in the Explore cluster are upgraded.
  • If you have Trace appliances, apply the following guidance:
    • Do not upgrade Trace appliances to a firmware version that is newer than the version installed on connected Command and Discover appliances.
Note:Your browser might time out after 5 minutes of inactivity. Refresh the browser page if the update appears incomplete.

If the browser session times out before the ExtraHop system is able to complete the update process, you can try the following connectivity tests to confirm the status up the upgrade process:

  • Ping the appliance from the command line of another appliance or client workstation.
  • From the Administration settings on a Command appliance, view the appliance status on the Manage Connected Appliances page.
  • Connect to the appliance through the iDRAC interface.

Upgrade the firmware on Command and Discover appliances

  1. Log in to the Administration settings on the ExtraHop system through https://<extrahop-hostname-or-IP-address>/admin.
  2. In the Appliance Settings section, click Firmware.
  3. From the Available Firmware drop-down list, select the version of firmware that you want to install. The recommended version is selected by default.
  4. Click Download and Install.
After the firmware upgrade installs successfully, the ExtraHop appliance restarts.

Upgrade the firmware on Explore appliances

  1. Download the firmware for the appliance from the ExtraHop Customer Portal to your computer.
  2. Log in to the Administration settings on the ExtraHop system through https://<extrahop-hostname-or-IP-address>/admin.
  3. Click Cluster Data Management.
  4. Click Disable Record Ingest.
  5. Click Admin to return to the main Administration page.
  6. Click Firmware.
  7. Click Upgrade.
  8. On the Upgrade Firmware page, select one of the following options:
    • To upload firmware from a file, click Choose File, navigate to the .tar file you want to upload, and click Open.
    • To upload firmware from a URL, click retrieve from URL instead and then type the URL in the Firmware URL field.
  9. Click Upgrade.
    The ExtraHop system initiates the firmware upgrade. You can monitor the progress of the upgrade with the Updating progress bar. The appliance restarts after the firmware is installed.
  10. Repeat steps 6-9 on all remaining Explore cluster nodes.

Next steps

After all nodes in the Explore cluster are upgraded, re-enable record ingest and shard reallocation on the cluster. You only need to perform these steps on one Explore node.
  1. In the Explore Cluster Settings section, click Cluster Data Management.
  2. Click Enable Record Ingest.
  3. Click Enable Shard Reallocation.

Upgrade the firmware on Trace appliances

  1. Download the firmware for the appliance from the ExtraHop Customer Portal to your computer.
  2. Log in to the Administration settings on the ExtraHop system through https://<extrahop-hostname-or-IP-address>/admin.
  3. Click Upgrade.
  4. On the Upgrade Firmware page, select one of the following options:
    • To upload firmware from a file, click Choose File, navigate to the .tar file you want to upload, and click Open.
    • To upload firmware from a URL, click retrieve from URL instead and then type the URL in the Firmware URL field.
  5. (Optional): If you do not want to automatically restart the appliance after the firmware is installed, clear the Automatically restart appliance after installation checkbox.
  6. Click Upgrade.
    The ExtraHop system initiates the firmware upgrade. You can monitor the progress of the upgrade with the Updating progress bar. The appliance restarts after the firmware is installed.
  7. If you did not choose to automatically restart the appliance, click Reboot to restart the system.
    After the firmware update is installed successfully, the ExtraHop appliance displays the version number of the new firmware on the Administration settings.

Upgrade connected sensors in Reveal(x) 360

Administrators can upgrade sensors that are connected to Reveal(x) 360.

Before you begin

  • Your user account must have privileges on Reveal(x) 360 for System and Access Administration or System Administration.
Here are some considerations about upgrading sensors:
  • Sensors must be connected to ExtraHop Cloud Services
  • Notifications appear when a new firmware version is available
  • You can upgrade multiple sensors at the same time
  1. Log in to Reveal(x) 360.
  2. Click the System Settings icon and then click Sensors.
    Sensors that are eligible for upgrade display an up arrow in the Sensor Version field.
  3. Select the checkbox next to each sensor that you want to upgrade.
  4. In the Sensor Details pane, select the firmware version from the Available Firmware drop-down list.

    The drop-down list only displays versions that are compatible with the selected sensors.

    Only the selected sensors that have a firmware upgrade available appear in the Sensor Details pane.

  5. Click Install Firmware.

    When the upgrade completes, the Sensor Version field is updated with the new firmware version.

Last modified 2023-11-07