How to upgrade an NSX NDR appliance (formerly Lastline) to the Ubuntu 20.04 Focal distribution
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How to upgrade an NSX NDR appliance (formerly Lastline) to the Ubuntu 20.04 Focal distribution

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Article ID: 370018

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Updated On:

Products

VMware vDefend Network Detection and Response

Issue/Introduction

Starting with releases 2024.1 (hosted) and 10.0 (on-premises) VMware will release the Ubuntu 20.04 (Focal) distribution upgrade for customers. This guide shows you how to upgrade your NSX NDR appliance from Ubuntu 18.04 (Bionic) to Ubuntu 20.04 (Focal). 

Please note that 10.0 is expected to be released by mid year 2025.


Section 1.1: Prepare to Upgrade to Ubuntu Focal 20.04 release 

Section 2.1: Upgrade steps from Bionic to Focal

Distribution upgrades require several steps and can be a complex operation. Please read the document completely before proceeding and follow the steps carefully.   

IMPORTANT: VMware Technical Support will only provide support for this upgrade on a best-effort basis. The underlying OS distributions for Xenial (and prior) releases are no longer supported by Ubuntu and therefore also not supported by VMware's Engineering teams. Best-effort assistance by the VMware Technical Support team for the Bionic to Focal upgrade will continue but if the problem cannot be solved within support, then the only option is to re-image the appliance with the latest version ISO will be offered.

Upgrading from previous Ubuntu distribution versions 
If your Lastline appliances are running on versions older than Bionic 18.04, is no longer supported, you must re-install the latest ISO file. 

Note: Please plan your maintenance windows accordingly based on the size of your environment and how many appliances will need to be upgraded. This process will require the appliances to be rebooted and some interruption is expected. It will take an average of 60 minutes per appliance (not including the preparation steps). All ISO installers from 1380 and later (for Sensor) and Version to be determined or later (for all other appliances) are already on the Ubuntu 20.04 (Focal) release and do not need to follow this process. 

Resolution

  • 1.1 Prepare to Upgrade to Ubuntu Focal 20.04 release 

    The steps required in this article require root privileges. Be sure to run the steps below as root or with the sudo prefix. 

    In order to prepare your Lastline appliance for upgrade, this section will outline the following steps: 

    1. Install Updates 
    2. Understand the upgrade order for On-Premise appliances 
    3. Backup your On-Premise manager appliance (optional, but recommended). 
    4. Other preparation steps  

    Install Updates 

    The upgrade to the Ubuntu Focal release requires that your Lastline appliance is first updated to the appliance versions mentioned in this chart. 

     

    Product Required Version Ready to upgrade to Focal?
    Sensor (Hosted) 1380 Partially - Fresh installs with 1380 or newer are on Focal. 1390 is required to perform upgrade process
    Sensor (Hosted) 1390 Yes
    Analyst (On-Prem)  N/A No - No longer a supported Appliance
    Manager (On-Prem)  TBD Yes
    Standby Manager (On-Prem)  N/A No, a standby appliance must be reinstalled after the primary manager has been upgraded to Bionic. Upgrading a standby manager is not supported. 
    Data Node (On-Prem)  TBD Yes
    Engine (On-Prem)  TBD Yes
    Sensor (On-Prem)  TBD Yes
    Pinbox (On-Prem)  N/A No - No longer a supported Appliance

     

    If your appliances are not on the versions listed in the above table, please upgrade each appliance using the Quick Links->Upgrade button on the Appliance Overview screen as needed.

    You can also use the Batch Upgrade button if more than one appliance needs to be updated to a new Lastline version. 

    Understand the upgrade order for On-Premise appliances 

    The recommended upgrade order for On-Premise appliances is listed below. These appliances should be upgraded one at a time unless otherwise noted. 

    1. Manager 
    2. Engine(s) 
    3. Data Node(s) and Sensor(s) - these can be done simultaneously if needed 

    Backup your On-Premise manager appliance (optional, but recommended) 

    It’s a good idea to backup your appliances before performing a major distribution upgrade. If anything goes wrong during the upgrade process, you have a recovery option should it be needed. Please review the Backup Page from the Lastline Portal Guide in your environment or on our hosted portal for instructions on configuring a backup.  

    Other preparation steps (for each appliance): 

    We recommend following these steps to verify that each appliance is meeting the recommended versions and that all appliances are in a Healthy state prior to beginning the upgrade steps.

    • Verify that your appliance is on the Ubuntu Bionic 18.04 release. This can be done by checking one of the following: 
    • By running the following command on the Command Line Interface (CLI): lsb_release -a

    • Or from the Lastline UI, open the Status of the appliance and look for the “Base Distribution” version 

    • Set the “Auto-Update” toggle to “Disabled” on the appliance (if enabled). Then select the “Save and Deploy” or “Retrigger Configuration” button. Once disabled the system will automatically trigger a configuration update, please wait for this to finish before proceeding. Please see the Portal Guide steps for further information. 

     

    • Check that the appliance is functional and no ERRORS are reported by the test appliance utility. On the CLI run: sudo lastline_test_appliance

    Note: If you are unable to get your appliance to the minimum supported version prior to the update or your appliance is in an "Error" state, please contact VMware by Broadcom Technical Support if you have any questions before proceeding.

     

    2.1 Upgrade steps from Bionic to Focal 

    After completing the preparation steps above, you are now ready to upgrade to the Focal 20.04 version. Perform the following steps on the Command Line Interface (CLI) of each appliance: 

    1. Start the distribution upgrade by running: sudo lastline_distribution_upgrade
      • Note: The script will display the steps required during this upgrade. Please enter ‘y’ when prompted on the "Ok to continue" step, when you are ready.
        • For some appliances, you may be prompted to configure GRUB in some circumstances. Please select the default selection device.
          e.g. /dev/sd[x] where sda or sdb is most commonly seen across our customers. Please contact VMware by Broadcom Technical Support if you need any help with this selection.
        • For some appliances, you may see the upgrade fail due to unapproved packages installed

          • To address the unapproved packages, please uninstall these packages by running sudo dpkg --purge PACKAGE_NAME1 PACKAGE_NAME2 ..... If you feel there is a package incorrectly identified please open a support ticket.
    2. Once the script completes successfully, the system will require a reboot. Reboot the appliance when prompted by the system. Enter ‘y’ to continue and press “Enter”. Once the system reboots continue to step 3.
      • If you do not see the above, review the output an ensure the upgrade process did not run into an error or failed and open a support ticket for assistance.
    3. Log back into the CLI of the appliance and run the distribution upgrade command again: sudo lastline_distribution_upgrade
    4. Once the system has finished step 3 and applied the final configuration you should see a successful completion
    5. Verify the system is running on Focal 20.04 by running: lsb_release -a
    6. Check the NSX Lastline UI to ensure the “Base Distribution” version reports as “Focal”

    7. Once all steps are completed successfully, re-enable the “Auto-Update” setting. Toggle Auto-Update to “Enabled”  

    Your appliance is now running the Focal 20.04 Release.  

    If you encounter issues or errors during the upgrade 

    If you encounter errors during the steps above, please do not reboot the system or make any changes until you engage the VMware Technical Support team at VMware by Broadcom Technical Support. Please provide as much of the details possible below to aid in a quick solution: 

    • Describe the step/command where you encountered an issue 
    • Provide a screenshot of the error on the CLI 
    • Provide the appliance UUID, FQDN
    • Provide the primary account email for your Lastline account 
    • Provide ALL log files in the following directories: 
      • /var/log/lastline/ 
      • /var/log/dist-upgrade/ 
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