Advanced Services

Advanced Services#

Certain advanced functions/services, such as the interactive CLI, are currently unavailable in FlowPro 20.2.0.

Version upgrades#

Version upgrades may include additional functionality, performance enhancements, and/or other improvements over previous versions. Fixes for certain types of issues will also be included in these updates.

Upgrading to v20.2.0#

FlowPro 20.2.0 moves the appliance from Ubuntu to Oracle Linux 9. Because of this OS change, appliances running v20.1.1 or lower cannot be upgraded in place and must instead be migrated/redeployed using the 20.2.0 appliance package.

Important

While it is possible to install FlowPro update packages without assistance, it is strongly recommended to contact Plixer Technical Support and allow our engineers to guide you through the process.

Migrating from FlowPro 20.1.1 or lower#

To migrate an existing Ubuntu-based FlowPro appliance to a new v20.2.0 deployment, follow these steps:

View instructions

  1. Record the following configuration details of the current appliance (must be entered when setting up the new appliance):

    • MGMT IP address, CIDR, gateway, DNS, and hostname

    • Scrutinizer reporter and collector addresses

    • Rx/Tx monitor interface pairings and any ERSPAN settings

    • Any customizations made to /home/plixer/flowpro/flowpro-settings.yaml

  2. Save external copies of any locally maintained files that are not managed by the system (e.g., /home/plixer/flowpro/rules/custom.rules and custom rule sources configured in /home/plixer/flowpro/rules/suricata-rule-update.yaml).

  3. Deploy a new FlowPro 20.2.0 virtual or hardware appliance and complete the initial configuration.

    Important

    If the new v20.2.0 appliance is assigned the same MGMT IP as the appliance it will be replacing (recommended), it will not need to be re-registered in Scrutinizer.

    If a different IP address needs to be used, the MGMT address associated with the probe must be updated under Admin > Resources > FlowPro Probes in the Scrutinizer web interface before the FlowPro 20.2.0 appliance setup is completed.

  4. Restore the files saved in step 2 on the new appliance, and then restart the FlowPro service:

    sudo systemctl restart flowpro

Once Scrutinizer starts receiving flow data and events from the new FlowPro 20.2.0 appliance, the old appliance can be decommissioned.

Pre-upgrade preparation#

Before attempting to install any type of update package on an appliance that is already running FlowPro 20.2.0 or higher, the following procedures should be observed:

  • Verify that the version currently installed can be upgraded to the target version.

  • Delete any older update files/packages from the home directory for the plixer user.

Upgrade process#

Once all preparation steps have been completed, follow these steps to upgrade the appliance:

View instructions

  1. Ensure that a backup of the current install has been saved to an external location, as part of the recommended preparatory procedures.

  2. SSH to the FlowPro instance as the plixer user and start a new tmux session:

tmux new -s upgrade

  1. Download the update package for FlowPro 20.2.0:

curl -k -o update-flowpro-20-2-0.sh https://files.plixer.com/downloads/flowpro/20/update-flowpro-20-2-0.sh

  1. Set the correct permissions for the update script:

sudo chmod +x update-flowpro-20-2-0.sh

  1. Run the update script:

sudo ./update-flowpro-20-2-0.sh -s release

Once the script completes running, the system must be rebooted to update the kernel and complete the upgrade to FlowPro 20.2.0.

Offline upgrades#

To update a FlowPro instance that cannot access the Internet, follow these steps:

View instructions

  1. Download the update package from a system with Internet access.

  2. Copy the package to the home directory of the plixer user.

  3. Follow the online update procedure above starting from step 4.

Once the script completes running and the system reboots, the FlowPro instance will be on v20.2.0.