18 May

Upgrading SourceFire module from 5.x to 6.x and recovery procedure

SFR Firmware packages download

Hardware failures happens. If you have active service contract you’ll get new device from Cisco with same hardware parameters. One thing you don’t know is which version of software will be installed. In almost all cases it’s not the one you are using. Installing new firewall firmware on ASA is not a problem but what if you’re running SourceFire Management Center version 6.2 but your device came with 5.x or 6.0 firmware on SFR module? Well, prepare for process that will take few hours – you need to perform recovery procedure which is one of the ways of upgrading SourceFire.

Most common cases when we have to use recovery procedure for SFR are:

  • Problems with booting the SFP module after upgrade performed from Firesight Management Center
  • First software installation on SFR (in example when we just put SSD drives in our ASA to get benefits from Sourcefire NGIPS)
  • Need to upgrade firmware but our module cannot be registered in Firesight Management Center due to firmware mismatch

Last case is the one usually happening when we get new device during RMA process. Each Firesight Management Center have list of compatible firmwares that are supported on modules and unfortunatelly backward compatibility is not full. If you run one of the most common version 6.1 or 6.2 you need to have your modules in at least 6.1 version. Recovery process require that whole memory is erased and new firmware installed.

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