Important Guidelines Before You Upgrade
Check for upgrade guidelines and limitations, and configuration migrations for each operating system.
ASA Upgrade Guidelines
Before you upgrade, check for migrations and any other guidelines.
Version-Specific Guidelines and Migrations
Depending on your current version, you might experience one or more configuration migrations, and have to consider configuration guidelines for all versions between the starting version and the ending version when you upgrade.
9.22 Guidelines
-
Smart licensing default transport changed in 9.22—In 9.22, the smart licensing default transport changed from Smart Call Home to Smart Transport. You can configure the ASA to use Smart Call Home if necessary using the transport type callhome command. When you upgrade to 9.22, the transport is automatically changed Smart Transport. If you downgrade, the transport is set back to Smart Call Home, and if you want to use Smart Transport, you need to specify transport type smart .
9.20 Guidelines
-
OSPF redistribute commands that specify a route-map that matches a prefix-list will be removed in 9.20(2)—When you upgrade to 9.20(2), OSPF redistribute commands where the specified route-map uses a match ip address prefix-list will be removed from the configuration. Although prefix lists have never been supported, the parser still accepted the command. Before upgrading, you should reconfigure OSPF to use route maps that specify an ACL in the match ip address command.
9.19 Guidelines
-
ASDM 7.19(1) requires Oracle Java version 8u261 or later—Before you upgrade to ASDM 7.19, be sure to update Oracle Java (if used) to version 8u261 or later. This version supports TLSv1.3, which is required to upgrade the ASDM Launcher. OpenJRE is not affected.
9.18 Guidelines
-
ASDM signed-image support in 9.18(2)/7.18(1.152) and later—The ASA now validates whether the ASDM image is a Cisco digitally signed image. If you try to run an older ASDM image with an ASA version with this fix, ASDM will be blocked and the message “%ERROR: Signature not valid for file disk0:/<filename>” will be displayed at the ASA CLI. ASDM release 7.18(1.152) and later are backwards compatible with all ASA versions, even those without this fix. (CSCwb05291, CSCwb05264)
-
9.18(1) upgrade issue if you enabled HTTPS/ASDM (with HTTPS authentication) and SSL on the same interface with the same port—If you enable both SSL (webvpn > enable interface) and HTTPS/ASDM (http ) access on the same interface, you can access AnyConnect from https://ip_address and ASDM from https://ip_address/admin, both on port 443. However, if you also enable HTTPS authentication (aaa authentication http console), then you must specify a different port for ASDM access starting in 9.18(1). Make sure you change the port before you upgrade using the http command. (CSCvz92016)
-
ASDM Upgrade Wizard—Due to ASD API migration, you must use ASDM 7.18 or later to upgrade to ASA 9.18 or later. Because ASDM is backwards compatible with earlier ASA versions, you can upgrade ASDM to 7.18 or later for any ASA version.
9.17 Guidelines
-
ASDM signed-image support in 9.17(1.13)/7.18(1.152) and later—The ASA now validates whether the ASDM image is a Cisco digitally signed image. If you try to run an older ASDM image with an ASA version with this fix, ASDM will be blocked and the message “%ERROR: Signature not valid for file disk0:/<filename>” will be displayed at the ASA CLI. ASDM release 7.18(1.152) and later are backwards compatible with all ASA versions, even those without this fix. (CSCwb05291, CSCwb05264)
-
No support for Clientless SSL VPN in 9.17(1) and later—Clientless SSL VPN is no longer supported.
-
webvpn—The following subcommands are removed:
-
apcf
-
java-trustpoint
-
onscreen-keyboard
-
port-forward
-
portal-access-rule
-
rewrite
-
smart-tunnel
-
-
group-policy webvpn—The following subcommands are removed:
-
port-forward
-
smart-tunnel
-
ssl-clientless
-
-
-
ASDM Upgrade Wizard—Due to an internal change, starting in March 2022 the upgrade wizard will no longer work with pre-ASDM 7.17(1.152) versions. You must manually upgrade to 7.17(1.152) to use the wizard.
9.16 Guidelines
-
ASDM signed-image support in 9.16(3.19)/7.18(1.152) and later—The ASA now validates whether the ASDM image is a Cisco digitally signed image. If you try to run an older ASDM image with an ASA version with this fix, ASDM will be blocked and the message “%ERROR: Signature not valid for file disk0:/<filename>” will be displayed at the ASA CLI. ASDM release 7.18(1.152) and later are backwards compatible with all ASA versions, even those without this fix. (CSCwb05291, CSCwb05264)
-
SNMPv3 users using MD5 hashing and DES encryption are no longer supported, and the users will be removed when you upgrade to 9.16(1)—Be sure to change any user configuration to higher security algorithms using the snmp-server user command before you upgrade.
-
SSH host key action required in 9.16(1)—In addition to RSA, we added support for the EDDSA and ECDSA host keys for SSH. The ASA tries to use keys in the following order if they exist: EDDSA, ECDSA, and then RSA. When you upgrade to 9.16(1), the ASA will fall back to using the existing RSA key. However, we recommend that you generate higher-security keys as soon as possible using the crypto key generate {eddsa | ecdsa} command. Moreover, if you explicitly configure the ASA to use the RSA key with the ssh key-exchange hostkey rsa command, you must generate a key that is 2048 bits or higher. For upgrade compatibility, the ASA will use smaller RSA host keys only when the default host key setting is used. RSA support will be removed in a later release.
-
In 9.16 and later, certificates with RSA keys are not compatible with ECDSA ciphers—When you use the ECDHE_ECDSA cipher group, configure the trustpoint with a certificate that contains an ECDSA-capable key.
-
ssh version command removed in 9.16(1)—This command has been removed. Only SSH version 2 is supported.
-
When you upgrade to 9.16 or later, you might see a different certificate serial number—In 9.16, the ASA started using OpenSSL, which causes negative values in certificates to be computed differently, so you may see a different serial number after upgrading. This change does not affect operation. (CSCvv30338)
-
SAMLv1 feature removed in 9.16(1)—Support for SAMLv1 was removed.
-
No support for DH groups 2, 5, and 24 in 9.16(1)—Support has been removed for the DH groups 2, 5, and 24 in SSL DH group configuration. The ssl dh-group command has been updated to remove the command options group2, group5, and group24.
9.15 Guidelines
-
No support in ASA 9.15(1) and later for the ASA 5525-X, ASA 5545-X, and ASA 5555-X—ASA 9.14(x) is the last supported version. For the ASA FirePOWER module, the last supported version is 6.6.
-
Cisco announces the feature deprecation for Clientless SSL VPN effective with ASA version 9.17(1)—Limited support will continue on releases prior to 9.17(1).
-
For the Firepower 1010, invalid VLAN IDs can cause problems—Before you upgrade to 9.15(1), make sure you are not using a VLAN for switch ports in the range 3968 to 4047. These IDs are for internal use only, and 9.15(1) includes a check to make sure you are not using these IDs. For example, if these IDs are in use after upgrading a failover pair, the failover pair will go into a suspended state. See CSCvw33057 for more information.
-
SAMLv1 feature deprecation—Support for SAMLv1 is deprecated.
-
Low-Security Cipher Removal in ASA 9.15(1)—Support for the following less secure ciphers used by IKE and IPsec have been removed:
-
Diffie-Hellman groups: 2 and 24
-
Encryption algorithms: DES, 3DES, AES-GMAC, AES-GMAC-192, AES-GMAC-256, NULL, ESP-3DES, ESP-DES, ESP-MD5-HMAC
-
Hash algorithms: MD5
Note
Low-security SSH and SSL ciphers have not yet been removed.
Before you upgrade from an earlier version of ASA to Version 9.15(1), you must update your VPN configuration to use the ciphers supported in 9.15(1), or else the old configuration will be rejected. When the configuration is rejected, one of the following actions will occur, depending on the command:
-
The command will use the default cipher.
-
The command will be removed.
Fixing your configuration before upgrading is especially important for clustering or failover deployments. For example, if the secondary unit is upgraded to 9.15(1), and the removed ciphers are synced to this unit from the primary, then the secondary unit will reject the configuration. This rejection might cause unexpected behavior, like failure to join the cluster.
IKEv1: The following subcommands are removed:
-
crypto ikev1 policy priority:
-
hash md5
-
encryption 3des
-
encryption des
-
group 2
-
IKEv2: The following subcommands are removed:
-
crypto ikev2 policy priority:
-
prf md5
-
integrity md5
-
group 2
-
group 24
-
encryption 3des
-
encryption des
-
encryption null
-
IPsec: The following subcommands are removed:
-
crypto ipsec ikev1 transform-set name esp-3des esp-des esp-md5-hmac
-
crypto ipsec ikev2 ipsec-proposal name
-
protocol esp integrity md5
-
protocol esp encryption 3des aes-gmac aes-gmac- 192 aes-gmac -256 des
-
-
crypto ipsec profile name
-
set pfs group2 group24
-
Crypto Map: The following subcommands are removed:
-
crypto map name sequence set pfs group2
-
crypto map name sequence set pfs group24
-
crypto map name sequence set ikev1 phase1-mode aggressive group2
-
-
Re-introduction of CRL Distribution Point configuration—The static CDP URL configuration option, that was removed in 9.13(1), was re-introduced in the match-certificate command.
-
Restoration of bypass certificate validity checks option—The option to bypass revocation checking due to connectivity problems with the CRL or OCSP server was restored.
The following subcommands were restored:
-
revocation-check crl none
-
revocation-check ocsp none
-
revocation-check crl ocsp none
-
revocation-check ocsp crl none
-
9.14 Guidelines
-
ASDM signed-image support in 9.14(4.14)/7.18(1.152) and later—The ASA now validates whether the ASDM image is a Cisco digitally signed image. If you try to run an older ASDM image with an ASA version with this fix, ASDM will be blocked and the message “%ERROR: Signature not valid for file disk0:/<filename>” will be displayed at the ASA CLI. ASDM release 7.18(1.152) and later are backwards compatible with all ASA versions, even those without this fix. (CSCwb05291, CSCwb05264)
-
ASDM Cisco.com Upgrade Wizard failure on Firepower 1000 and 2100 in Appliance mode—The ASDM Cisco.com Upgrade Wizard does not work for upgrading to 9.14 (Tools > Check for ASA/ASDM Updates). The wizard can upgrade ASDM from 7.13 to 7.14, but the ASA image upgrade is grayed out. (CSCvt72183) As a workaround, use one of the following methods:
-
Use Tools > Upgrade Software from Local Computer for both ASA and ASDM. Note that the ASDM image (7.14(1)) in the 9.14(1) bundle also has the bug CSCvt72183; you should download the newer 7.14(1.46) image to enable correct functioning of the wizard.
-
Use Tools > Check for ASA/ASDM Updates to upgrade to ASDM 7.14 (the version will be 7.14(1.46); then use the new ASDM to upgrade the ASA image. Note that you may see a Fatal Installation Error; in this case, click OK. You must then set the boot image manually on the screen. Save the configuration and reload the ASA.
-
-
For Failover pairs in 9.14(1)+, the ASA no longer shares SNMP client engine data with its peer.
-
No support in ASA 9.14(1)+ for cnatAddrBindNumberOfEntries and cnatAddrBindSessionCount OIDs (CSCvy22526).
-
Upgrade issue for 9.14(4)24 and RADIUS challenges for AnyConnect mobile users—To restore RADIUS functionality, upgrade to 9.18(4)22 or later.
-
Upgrading the Firepower 2100 in Platform mode—When you upgrade to 9.14 or later, if your EtherChannel (port-channel) was disabled at the time of upgrade, then you will need to manually enable both the EtherChannel and its member interfaces after upgrade.
-
Downgrade issue for the Firepower 2100 in Platform mode from 9.13/9.14 to 9.12 or earlier—For a Firepower 2100 with a fresh installation of 9.13 or 9.14 that you converted to Platform mode: If you downgrade to 9.12 or earlier, you will not be able to configure new interfaces or edit existing interfaces in FXOS (note that 9.12 and earlier only supports Platform mode). You either need to restore your version to 9.13 or later, or you need to clear your configuration using the FXOS erase configuration command. This problem does not occur if you originally upgraded to 9.13 or 9.14 from an earlier release; only fresh installations are affected, such as a new device or a re-imaged device. (CSCvr19755)
-
The tls-proxy keyword, and support for SCCP/Skinny encrypted inspection, was removed from the inspect skinny command.
-
ASDM Upgrade Wizard—Due to an internal change, the wizard is only supported using ASDM 7.10(1) and later; also, due to an image naming change, you must use ASDM 7.12(1) or later to upgrade to ASA 9.10(1) and later. Because ASDM is backwards compatible with earlier ASA releases, you can upgrade ASDM no matter which ASA version you are running. Note that ASDM 7.13 and 7.14 did not support the ASA 5512-X, 5515-X, 5585-X, or ASASM; you must upgrade to ASDM 7.13(1.101) or 7.14(1.48) to restore ASDM support.
9.13 Guidelines
-
ASAv requires 2GB memory in 9.13(1) and later—Beginning with 9.13(1), the minimum memory requirement for the ASAv is 2GB. If your current ASAv runs with less than 2GB of memory, you cannot upgrade to 9.13(1) from an earlier version. You must adjust the memory size before upgrading. See the ASAv Getting Started Guide for information about the resource allocations (vCPU and memory) supported in version 9.13(1).
-
Downgrade issue for the Firepower 2100 in Platform mode from 9.13 to 9.12 or earlier—For a Firepower 2100 with a fresh installation of 9.13 that you converted to Platform mode: If you downgrade to 9.12 or earlier, you will not be able to configure new interfaces or edit existing interfaces in FXOS (note that 9.12 and earlier only supports Platform mode). You either need to restore your version to 9.13, or you need to clear your configuration using the FXOS erase configuration command. This problem does not occur if you originally upgraded to 9.13 from an earlier release; only fresh installations are affected, such as a new device or a re-imaged device. (CSCvr19755)
-
Cluster control link MTU change in 9.13(1)—Starting in 9.13(1), many cluster control packets are larger than they were in previous releases. The recommended MTU for the cluster control link has always been 1600 or greater, and this value is appropriate. However, if you set the MTU to 1600 but then failed to match the MTU on connecting switches (for example, you left the MTU as 1500 on the switch), then you will start seeing the effects of this mismatch with dropped cluster control packets. Be sure to set all devices on the cluster control link to the same MTU, specifically 1600 or higher.
-
Beginning with 9.13(1), the ASA establishes an LDAP/SSL connection only if one of the following certification criteria is satisfied:
-
The LDAP server certificate is trusted (exists in a trustpoint or the ASA trustpool) and is valid.
-
A CA certificate from servers issuing chain is trusted (exists in a trustpoint or the ASA trustpool) and all subordinate CA certificates in the chain are complete and valid.
-
-
Local CA server is removed in 9.13(1)—When the ASA is configured as local CA server, it can issue digital certificates, publish Certificate Revocation Lists (CRLs), and securely revoke issued certificates. This feature has become obsolete and hence the crypto ca server command is removed.
-
Removal of CRL Distribution Point commands—The static CDP URL configuration commands, namely crypto-ca-trustpoint crl and crl url were removed with other related logic. The CDP URL was moved to match certificate command.
Note
The CDP URL configuration was enhanced to allow multiple instances of the CDP override for a single map (refer CSCvu05216).
-
Removal of bypass certificate validity checks option—The option to bypass revocation checking due to connectivity problems with the CRL or OCSP server was removed.
The following subcommands are removed:
-
revocation-check crl none
-
revocation-check ocsp none
-
revocation-check crl ocsp none
-
revocation-check ocsp crl none
Thus, after an upgrade, any revocation-check command that is no longer supported will transition to the new behavior by ignoring the trailing none.
Note
These commands were restored later (refer CSCtb41710).
-
-
Low-Security Cipher Deprecation— Several encryption ciphers used by the ASA IKE, IPsec, and SSH modules are considered insecure and have been deprecated. They will be removed in a later release.
IKEv1: The following subcommands are deprecated:
-
crypto ikev1 policy priority:
-
hash md5
-
encryption 3des
-
encryption des
-
group 2
-
group 5
-
IKEv2: The following subcommands are deprecated:
-
crypto ikev2 policy priority
-
integrity md5
-
prf md5
-
group 2
-
group 5
-
group 24
-
encryption 3des
-
encryption des (this command is still available when you have the DES encryption license only)
-
encryption null
-
IPsec: The following commands are deprecated:
-
crypto ipsec ikev1 transform-set name esp-3des esp-des esp-md5-hmac
-
crypto ipsec ikev2 ipsec-proposal name
-
protocol esp integrity md5
-
protocol esp encryption 3des aes-gmac aes-gmac- 192 aes-gmac -256 des
-
-
crypto ipsec profile name
-
set pfs group2 group5 group24
-
SSH: The following commands are deprecated:
-
ssh cipher integrity custom hmac-sha1-96:hmac-md5: hmac-md5-96
-
ssh key-exchange group dh-group1-sha1
SSL: The following commands are deprecated:
-
ssl dh-group group2
-
ssl dh-group group5
-
ssl dh-group group24
Crypto Map: The following commands are deprecated:
-
crypto map name sequence set pfs group2
-
crypto map name sequence set pfs group5
-
crypto map name sequence set pfs group24
-
crypto map name sequence set ikev1 phase1-mode aggressive group2
-
crypto map name sequence set ikev1 phase1-mode aggressive group5
-
-
In 9.13(1), Diffie-Hellman Group 14 is now the default for the group command under crypto ikev1 policy , ssl dh-group , and crypto ikev2 policy for IPsec PFS using crypto map set pfs , crypto ipsec profile , crypto dynamic-map set pfs , and crypto map set ikev1 phase1-mode . The former default Diffie-Hellman group was Group 2.
When you upgrade from a pre-9.13(1) release, if you need to use the old default (Diffie-Hellman Group 2), then you must manually configure the DH group as group 2 or else your tunnels will default to Group 14. Because group 2 will be removed in a future release, you should move your tunnels to group 14 as soon as possible.
9.12 Guidelines
-
ASDM signed-image support in 9.12(4.50)/7.18(1.152) and later—The ASA now validates whether the ASDM image is a Cisco digitally signed image. If you try to run an older ASDM image with an ASA version with this fix, ASDM will be blocked and the message “%ERROR: Signature not valid for file disk0:/<filename>” will be displayed at the ASA CLI. ASDM release 7.18(1.152) and later are backwards compatible with all ASA versions, even those without this fix. (CSCwb05291, CSCwb05264)
-
ASDM Upgrade Wizard—Due to an internal change, the wizard is only supported using ASDM 7.10(1) and later; also, due to an image naming change, you must use ASDM 7.12(1) or later to upgrade to ASA 9.10(1) and later. Because ASDM is backwards compatible with earlier ASA releases, you can upgrade ASDM no matter which ASA version you are running.
-
SSH security improvements and new defaults in 9.12(1)—See the following SSH security improvements:
-
SSH version 1 is no longer supported; only version 2 is supported. The ssh version 1 command will be migrated to ssh version 2 .
-
Diffie-Hellman Group 14 SHA256 key exchange support. This setting is now the default (ssh key-exchange group dh-group14-sha256 ). The former default was Group 1 SHA1. Make sure that your SSH client supports Diffie-Hellman Group 14 SHA256. If it does not, you may see an error such as "Couldn't agree on a key exchange algorithm." For example, OpenSSH supports Diffie-Hellman Group 14 SHA256.
-
HMAC-SHA256 integrity cipher support. The default is now the high security set of ciphers (hmac-sha1 and hmac-sha2-256 as defined by the ssh cipher integrity high command). The former default was the medium set.
-
-
The NULL-SHA TLSv1 cipher is deprecated and removed in 9.12(1)—Because NULL-SHA doesn't offer encryption and is no longer considered secure against modern threats, it will be removed when listing supported ciphers for TLSv1 in the output of tls-proxy mode commands/options and show ssl ciphers all . The ssl cipher tlsv1 all and ssl cipher tlsv1 custom NULL-SHA commands will also be deprecated and removed.
-
The default trustpool is removed in 9.12(1)—In order to comply with PSB requirement, SEC-AUT-DEFROOT, the "default" trusted CA bundle is removed from the ASA image. As a result, crypto ca trustpool import default and crypto ca trustpool import clean default commands are also removed along with other related logic. However, in existing deployments, certificates that were previously imported using these command will remain in place.
-
The ssl encryption command is removed in 9.12(1)—In 9.3(2) the deprecation was announced and replaced by ssl cipher . In 9.12(1), ssl encryption is removed and no longer supported.
9.10 Guidelines
-
Due to an internal change, the ASDM Upgrade wizard is only supported using ASDM 7.10(1) and later; also, due to an image naming change, you must use ASDM 7.12(1) or later to upgrade to ASA 9.10(1) and later. Because ASDM is backwards compatible with earlier ASA releases, you can upgrade ASDM no matter which ASA version you are running.
9.9 Guidelines
-
ASA 5506-X memory issues with large configurations on 9.9(2) and later—If you upgrade to 9.9(2) or later, parts of a very large configuration might be rejected due to insufficient memory with the following message: "ERROR: Insufficient memory to install the rules". One option is to enter the object-group-search access-control command to improve memory usage for ACLs; your performance might be impacted, however. Alternatively, you can downgrade to 9.9(1).
9.8 Guidelines
-
ASDM signed-image support in 9.8(4.45)/7.18(1.152) and later—The ASA now validates whether the ASDM image is a Cisco digitally signed image. If you try to run an older ASDM image with an ASA version with this fix, ASDM will be blocked and the message “%ERROR: Signature not valid for file disk0:/<filename>” will be displayed at the ASA CLI. ASDM release 7.18(1.152) and later are backwards compatible with all ASA versions, even those without this fix. (CSCwb05291, CSCwb05264)
-
Before upgrading to 9.8(2) or later, FIPS mode requires the failover key to be at least 14 characters—Before you upgrade to to 9.8(2) or later in FIPS mode, you must change the failover key or failover ipsec pre-shared-key to be at least 14 characters long. If your failover key is too short, when you upgrade the first unit, the failover key will be rejected, and both units will become active until you set the failover key to a valid value.
-
Do not upgrade to 9.8(1) for ASAv on Amazon Web Services--Due to CSCve56153, you should not upgrade to 9.8(1). After upgrading, the ASAv becomes unreachable. Upgrade to 9.8(1.5) or later instead.
9.7 Guidelines
-
Upgrade issue with 9.7(1) to 9.7(1.x) and later for VTI and VXLAN VNI—If you configure both Virtual Tunnel Interfaces (VTIs) and VXLAN Virtual Network Identifier (VNI) interfaces, then you cannot perform a zero downtime upgrade for failover; connections on these interface types will not replicate to the standby unit until both units are on the same version. (CSCvc83062)
9.6 Guidelines
-
(ASA 9.6(2) through 9.7(x)) Upgrade impact when using SSH public key authentication—Due to updates to SSH authentication, additional configuration is required to enable SSH public key authentication; as a result, existing SSH configurations using public key authentication no longer work after upgrading. Public key authentication is the default for the ASAv on Amazon Web Services (AWS), so AWS users will see this issue. To avoid loss of SSH connectivity, you can update your configuration before you upgrade. Or you can use ASDM after you upgrade (if you enabled ASDM access) to fix the configuration.
Note
The original behavior was restored in 9.8(1).
Sample original configuration for a username "admin":
username admin nopassword privilege 15 username admin attributes ssh authentication publickey 55:06:47:eb:13:75:fc:5c:a8:c1:2c:bb: 07:80:3a:fc:d9:08:a9:1f:34:76:31:ed:ab:bd:3a:9e:03:14:1e:1b hashed
To use the ssh authentication command, before you upgrade, enter the following commands:
aaa authentication ssh console LOCAL username admin password <password> privilege 15
We recommend setting a password for the username as opposed to keeping the nopassword keyword, if present. The nopassword keyword means that any password can be entered, not that no password can be entered. Prior to 9.6(2), the aaa command was not required for SSH public key authentication, so the nopassword keyword was not triggered. Now that the aaa command is required, it automatically also allows regular password authentication for a username if the password (or nopassword ) keyword is present.
After you upgrade, the username command no longer requires the password or nopassword keyword; you can require that a user cannot enter a password. Therefore, to force public key authentication only, re-enter the username command:
username admin privilege 15
-
Upgrade impact when upgrading the ASA on the Firepower 9300— Due to license entitlement naming changes on the back-end, when you upgrade to ASA 9.6(1)/FXOS 1.1(4), the startup configuration may not parse correctly upon the initial reload; configuration that corresponds to add-on entitlements is rejected.
For a standalone ASA, after the unit reloads with the new version, wait until all the entitlements are processed and are in an "Authorized" state (show license all or Monitoring > Properties > Smart License), and simply reload again (reload or Tools > System Reload) without saving the configuration. After the reload, the startup configuration will be parsed correctly.
For a failover pair if you have any add-on entitlements, follow the upgrade procedure in the FXOS release notes, but reset failover after you reload each unit (failover reset or Monitoring > Properties > Failover > Status, Monitoring > Failover > System, or Monitoring > Failover > Failover Group, and then click Reset Failover).
For a cluster, follow the upgrade procedure in the FXOS release notes; no additional action is required.
9.5 Guidelines and Migration
-
9.5(2) New Carrier License—The new Carrier license replaces the existing GTP/GPRS license, and also includes support for SCTP and Diameter inspection. For the Firepower 9300 ASA security module, the feature mobile-sp command will automatically migrate to the feature carrier command.
-
9.5(2) E-mail proxy commands deprecated—In ASA Version 9.5(2), the e-mail proxy commands (imap4s , pop3s , smtps ) and subcommands are no longer supported.
-
9.5(2) CSD commands deprecated or migrated—In ASA Version 9.5(2), the CSD commands (csd image , show webvpn csd image , show webvpn csd , show webvpn csd hostscan , show webvpn csd hostscan image ) are no longer supported.
The following CSD commands will migrate: csd enable migrates to hostscan enable ; csd hostscan image migrates to hostscan image .
-
9.5(2) Select AAA commands deprecated—In ASA Version 9.5(2), these AAA commands and subcommands (override-account-disable , authentication crack ) are no longer supported.
-
9.5(1) We deprecated the following command: timeout gsn
-
ASA 5508-X and 5516-X upgrade issue when upgrading to 9.5(x) or later—Before you upgrade to ASA Version 9.5(x) or later, if you never enabled jumbo frame reservation then you must check the maximum memory footprint. Due to a manufacturing defect, an incorrect software memory limit might have been applied. If you upgrade to 9.5(x) or later before performing the below fix, then your device will crash on bootup; in this case, you must downgrade to 9.4 using ROMMON (Load an Image for the ASA 5500-X Series Using ROMMON), perform the below procedure, and then upgrade again.
-
Enter the following command to check for the failure condition:
ciscoasa# show memory detail | include Max memory footprint Max memory footprint = 456384512 Max memory footprint = 0 Max memory footprint = 456384512
If a value less than 456,384,512 is returned for “Max memory footprint,” then the failure condition is present, and you must complete the remaining steps before you upgrade. If the memory shown is 456,384,512 or greater, then you can skip the rest of this procedure and upgrade as normal.
-
Enter global configuration mode:
ciscoasa# configure terminal ciscoasa(config)#
-
Temporarily enable jumbo frame reservation:
ciscoasa(config)# jumbo-frame reservation WARNING: This command will take effect after the running-config is saved and the system has been rebooted. Command accepted. INFO: Interface MTU should be increased to avoid fragmenting jumbo frames during transmit
Note
Do not reload the ASA.
-
Save the configuration:
ciscoasa(config)# write memory Building configuration... Cryptochecksum: b511ec95 6c90cadb aaf6b306 41579572 14437 bytes copied in 1.320 secs (14437 bytes/sec) [OK]
-
Disable jumbo frame reservation:
ciscoasa(config)# no jumbo-frame reservation WARNING: This command will take effect after the running-config is saved and the system has been rebooted. Command accepted.
Note
Do not reload the ASA.
-
Save the configuration again:
ciscoasa(config)# write memory Building configuration... Cryptochecksum: b511ec95 6c90cadb aaf6b306 41579572 14437 bytes copied in 1.320 secs (14437 bytes/sec) [OK]
-
You can now upgrade to Version 9.5(x) or later.
-
9.4 Guidelines and Migration
-
9.4(1) Unified Communications Phone Proxy and Intercompany Media Engine Proxy are deprecated—In ASA Version 9.4, the Phone Proxy and IME Proxy are no longer supported.
9.3 Guidelines and Migration
-
9.3(2) Transport Layer Security (TLS) version 1.2 support—We now support TLS version 1.2 for secure message transmission for ASDM, Clientless SSVPN, and AnyConnect VPN. We introduced or modified the following commands: ssl client-version, ssl server-version, ssl cipher, ssl trust-point, ssl dh-group. We deprecated the following command: ssl encryption
-
9.3(1) Removal of AAA Windows NT domain authentication—We removed NTLM support for remote access VPN users. We deprecated the following command: aaa-server protocol nt
9.2 Guidelines and Migration
Auto Update Server certificate verification
9.2(1) Auto Update Server certificate verification enabled by default. The Auto Update Server certificate verification is now enabled by default; for new configurations, you must explicitly disable certificate verification. If you are upgrading from an earlier release, and you did not enable certificate verification, then certificate verification is not enabled, and you see the following warning:
WARNING: The certificate provided by the auto-update servers will not be verified. In order to verify this certificate please
use the verify-certificate option.
The configuration will be migrated to explicitly configure no verification:
auto-update server no-verification
Upgrade impact for ASDM login
Upgrade impact for ASDM login when upgrading from a pre-9.2(2.4) release to 9.2(2.4) or later. If you upgrade from a pre-9.2(2.4) release to ASA Version 9.2(2.4) or later and you use command authorization and ASDM-defined user roles, users with Read Only access will not be able to log in to ASDM. You must change the more command either before or after you upgrade to be at privilege level 5; only Admin level users can make this change. Note that ASDM version 7.3(2) and later includes the more command at level 5 for defined user roles, but preexisting configurations need to be fixed manually.
ASDM:
-
Choose Configuration > Device Management > Users/AAA > AAA Access > Authorization, and click Configure Command Privileges.
-
Select more, and click Edit.
-
Change the Privilege Level to 5, and click OK.
-
Click OK, and then Apply.
CLI:
ciscoasa(config)# privilege cmd level 5 mode exec command more
9.1 Guidelines and Migration
-
Maximum MTU Is Now 9198 Bytes—If your MTU was set to a value higher than 9198, then the MTU is automatically lowered when you upgrade. In some cases, this MTU change can cause an MTU mismatch; be sure to set any connecting equipment to use the new MTU value. The maximum MTU that the ASA can use is 9198 bytes (check for your model’s exact limit at the CLI help). This value does not include the Layer 2 header. Formerly, the ASA let you specify the maximum MTU as 65535 bytes, which was inaccurate and could cause problems.
9.0 Guidelines and Migration
-
IPv6 ACL Migration—IPv6 ACLs (ipv6 access-list ) will be migrated to extended ACLs (access-list extended ); IPv6 ACLs are no longer supported.
If IPv4 and IPv6 ACLs are applied on the same direction of an interface (access-group command), then the ACLs are merged:
-
If both IPv4 and IPv6 ACLs are not used anywhere other than the access-group, then the name of the IPv4 ACL is used for the merged ACL; the IPv6 access-list is removed.
-
If at least one of the ACLs is used in another feature, then a new ACL is created with the name IPv4-ACL-name_IPv6-ACL-name; the in-use ACL(s) continue to be used for other features. ACLs not in use are removed. If the IPv6 ACL is in use for another feature, it is migrated to an extended ACL of the same name.
-
-
ACL Any Keyword Migration—Now that ACLs support both IPv4 and IPv6, the any keyword now represents “all IPv4 and IPv6 traffic.” Any existing ACLs that use the any keyword will be changed to use the any4 keyword, which denotes “all IPv4 traffic.”
In addition, a separate keyword was introduced to designate “all IPv6 traffic”: any6 .
The any4 and any6 keywords are not available for all commands that use the any keyword. For example, the NAT feature uses only the any keyword; any represents IPv4 traffic or IPv6 traffic depending on the context within the specific NAT command.
-
Static NAT-with-port-translation Requirement Before Upgrading—In Version 9.0 and later, static NAT-with-port-translation rules limit access to the destination IP address for the specified port only. If you try to access the destination IP address on a different port not covered by a NAT rule, then the connection is blocked. This behavior is also true for Twice NAT. Moreover, traffic that does not match the source IP address of the Twice NAT rule will be dropped if it matches the destination IP address, regardless of the destination port. Therefore, before you upgrade, you must add additional rules for all other traffic allowed to the destination IP address.
For example, you have the following Object NAT rule to translate HTTP traffic to the inside server between port 80 and port 8080:
object network my-http-server host 10.10.10.1 nat (inside,outside) static 192.168.1.1 80 8080
If you want any other services to reach the server, such as FTP, then you must explicitly allow them:
object network my-ftp-server host 10.10.10.1 nat (inside,outside) static 192.168.1.1 ftp ftp
Or, to allow traffic to other ports of the server, you can add a general static NAT rule that will match all other ports:
object network my-server-1 host 10.10.10.1 nat (inside,outside) static 192.168.1.1
For Twice NAT, you have the following rule to allow HTTP traffic from 192.168.1.0/24 to the inside server and translate between port 80 and port 8080:
object network my-real-server host 10.10.10.1 object network my-mapped-server host 192.168.1.1 object network outside-real-hosts subnet 192.168.1.0 255.255.255.0 object network outside-mapped-hosts subnet 10.10.11.0 255.255.255.0 object service http-real service tcp destination eq 80 object service http-mapped service tcp destination eq 8080 object service ftp-real service tcp destination eq 21 nat (outside,inside) source static outside-real-hosts outside-mapped-hosts destination static my-mapped-server my-real-server service http-mapped http-real
If you want the outside hosts to reach another service on the inside server, add another NAT rule for the service, for example FTP:
nat (outside,inside) source static outside-real-hosts outside-mapped-hosts destination static my-mapped-server my-real-server ftp-real ftp-real
If you want other source addresses to reach the inside server on any other ports, you can add another NAT rule for that specific IP address or for any source IP address. Make sure the general rule is ordered after the specific rule.
nat (outside,inside) source static any any destination static my-mapped-server my-real-server
8.4 Guidelines and Migration
-
Configuration Migration for Transparent Mode—In 8.4, all transparent mode interfaces now belong to a bridge group. When you upgrade to 8.4, the existing two interfaces are placed in bridge group 1, and the management IP address is assigned to the Bridge Group Virtual Interface (BVI). The functionality remains the same when using one bridge group. You can now take advantage of the bridge group feature to configure up to four interfaces per bridge group and to create up to eight bridge groups in single mode or per context.
Note
Note In 8.3 and earlier, as an unsupported configuration, you could configure a management interface without an IP address, and you could access the interface using the device management address. In 8.4, the device management address is assigned to the BVI, and the management interface is no longer accessible using that IP address; the management interface requires its own IP address.
-
When upgrading to 8.4(2) from 8.3(1), 8.3(2), and 8.4(1), all identity NAT configurations will now include the no-proxy-arp and route-lookup keywords, to maintain existing functionality. The unidirectional keyword is removed.
8.3 Guidelines and Migration
See the following guide that describes the configuration migration process when you upgrade from a pre-8.3 version of the Cisco ASA 5500 operating system (OS) to Version 8.3:
Clustering Guidelines
There are no special requirements for Zero Downtime Upgrades for ASA clustering with the following exceptions.
Note |
Zero Downtime Downgrades are not officially supported with clustering. |
-
Firepower 4100/9300 Failover and Clustering hitless upgrade requirements for flow offload—Due to bug fixes in the flow offload feature, some combinations of FXOS and ASA do not support flow offload (see the compatibility table). Flow offload is disabled by default for ASA. To perform a Failover or Clustering hitless upgrade when using flow offload, you need to follow the below upgrade paths to ensure that you are always running a compatible combination when upgrading to FXOS 2.3.1.130 or later:
-
Upgrade ASA to 9.8(3) or later
-
Upgrade FXOS to 2.3.1.130 or later
-
Upgrade ASA to your final version
For example, you are on FXOS 2.2.2.26/ASA 9.8(1), and you want to upgrade to FXOS 2.6.1/ASA 9.12(1), then you can:
-
Upgrade ASA to 9.8(4)
-
Upgrade FXOS to 2.6.1
-
Upgrade ASA to 9.12(1)
-
-
Firepower 4100/9300 Cluster Upgrade to FXOS 2.3/ASA 9.9(2)—Data units on ASA 9.8 and earlier cannot rejoin a cluster where the control unit is on FXOS 2.3/9.9(2) or later; they will join after you upgrade the ASA version to 9.9(2)+ [CSCvi54844].
-
Distributed Site-to-Site VPN—Distributed Site-to-Site VPN sessions on a failed unit require up to 30 minutes to stabilize on other units. During this time, additional unit failures might result in lost sessions. Therefore, during a cluster upgrade, to avoid traffic loss, follow these steps. Refer to the FXOS/ASA cluster upgrade procedure so you can integrate these steps into your upgrade task.
Note
Zero Downtime Upgrade is not supported with Distributed Site-to-Site VPN when upgrading from 9.9(1) to 9.9(2) or later. In 9.9(2), due to Active Session Redistribution enhancements, you cannot run some units on 9.9(2) and other units on 9.9(1).
-
On the chassis without the control unit, disable clustering on one module using the ASA console.
cluster group name
no enable
If you are upgrading FXOS on the chassis as well as ASA, save the configuration so clustering will be disabled after the chassis reboots:
write memory
-
Wait for the cluster to stabilize; verify all backup sessions have been created.
show cluster vpn-sessiondb summary
-
Repeat steps 1 and 2 for each module on this chassis.
-
Upgrade FXOS on the chassis using the FXOS CLI or Firepower Chassis Manager.
-
After the chassis comes online, update the ASA image on each module using the FXOS CLI or Firepower Chassis Manager.
-
After the modules come online, re-enable clustering on each module at the ASA console.
cluster group name
enable
write memory
-
Repeat steps 1 through 6 on the second chassis, being sure to disable clustering on the data units first, and then finally the control unit.
A new control unit will be chosen from the upgraded chassis.
-
After the cluster has stabilized, redistribute active sessions among all modules in the cluster using the ASA console on the control unit.
cluster redistribute vpn-sessiondb
-
-
Upgrade issue for 9.9(1) and later with clustering—9.9(1) and later includes an improvement in the backup distribution. You should perform your upgrade to 9.9(1) or later as follows to take advantage of the new backup distribution method; otherwise upgraded units will continue to use the old method.
-
Remove all secondary units from the cluster (so the cluster consists only of the primary unit).
-
Upgrade 1 secondary unit, and rejoin the cluster.
-
Disable clustering on the primary unit; upgrade it, and rejoin the cluster.
-
Upgrade the remaining secondary units, and join them back to the cluster, one at a time.
-
-
Firepower 4100/9300 Cluster Upgrade to ASA 9.8(1) and earlier—When you disable clustering on a data unit (no enable ), which is part of the upgrade process, traffic directed to that unit can drop for up to three seconds before traffic is redirected to a new owner [CSCvc85008].
-
Zero Downtime Upgrade may not be supported when upgrading to the following releases with the fix for CSCvb24585. This fix moved 3DES from the default (medium) SSL ciphers to the low cipher set. If you set a custom cipher that only includes 3DES, then you may have a mismatch if the other side of the connection uses the default (medium) ciphers that no longer include 3DES.
-
9.1(7.12)
-
9.2(4.18)
-
9.4(3.12)
-
9.4(4)
-
9.5(3.2)
-
9.6(2.4)
-
9.6(3)
-
9.7(1)
-
9.8(1)
-
-
Upgrade issues for fully-qualified domain name (FQDN) ACLs—Due to CSCuv92371, ACLs containing FQDNs might result in incomplete ACL replication to secondary units in a cluster or failover pair. This bug is present in 9.1(7), 9.5(2), 9.6(1), and some interim releases. We suggest that you upgrade to a version that includes the fix for CSCuy34265: 9.1(7.6) or later, 9.5(3) or later, 9.6(2) or later. However, due to the nature of configuration replication, zero downtime upgrade is not available. See CSCuy34265 for more information about different methods of upgrading.
-
Firepower Threat Defense Version 6.1.0 clusters do not support inter-site clustering (you can configure inter-site features using FlexConfig starting in 6.2.0). If you deployed or re-deployed a 6.1.0 cluster in FXOS 2.1.1, and you entered a value for the (unsupported) site ID, then you must remove the site ID (set it to 0) on each unit in FXOS before you upgrade to 6.2.3. Otherwise, the units will not be able to rejoin the cluster after the upgrade. If you already upgraded, change the site ID to 0 on each unit to resolve the issue. See the FXOS configuration guide to view or change the site ID
-
Upgrade to 9.5(2) or later (CSCuv82933)—Before you upgrade the control unit, if you enter show cluster info , the upgraded data units show as “DEPUTY_BULK_SYNC”; other mismatched states are also shown. You can ignore this display; the status will show correctly when you upgrade all units.
-
Upgrade from 9.0(1) or 9.1(1) (CSCue72961)—Zero Downtime Upgrade is not supported.
Failover Guidelines
There are no special requirements for Zero Downtime Upgrades for failover with the following exceptions:
-
For the Firepower 1010, invalid VLAN IDs can cause problems—Before you upgrade to 9.15(1), make sure you are not using a VLAN for switch ports in the range 3968 to 4047. These IDs are for internal use only, and 9.15(1) includes a check to make sure you are not using these IDs. For example, if these IDs are in use after upgrading a failover pair, the failover pair will go into a suspended state. See CSCvw33057 for more information.
-
Firepower 4100/9300 Failover and Clustering hitless upgrade requirements for flow offload—Due to bug fixes in the flow offload feature, some combinations of FXOS and ASA do not support flow offload (see the compatibility table). Flow offload is disabled by default for ASA. To perform a Failover or Clustering hitless upgrade when using flow offload, you need to follow the below upgrade paths to ensure that you are always running a compatible combination when upgrading to FXOS 2.3.1.130 or later:
-
Upgrade ASA to 9.8(3) or later
-
Upgrade FXOS to 2.3.1.130 or later
-
Upgrade ASA to your final version
For example, you are on FXOS 2.2.2.26/ASA 9.8(1), and you want to upgrade to FXOS 2.6.1/ASA 9.12(1), then you can:
-
Upgrade ASA to 9.8(4)
-
Upgrade FXOS to 2.6.1
-
Upgrade ASA to 9.12(1)
-
-
Upgrade issues with 8.4(6), 9.0(2) , and 9.1(2)—Due to CSCug88962, you cannot perform a Zero Downtime Upgrade to 8.4(6), 9.0(2), or 9.1(3). You should instead upgrade to 8.4(5) or 9.0(3). To upgrade 9.1(1), you cannot upgrade directly to the 9.1(3) release due to CSCuh25271, so there is no workaround for a Zero Downtime Upgrade; you must upgrade to 9.1(2) before you upgrade to 9.1(3) or later.
-
Upgrade issues for fully-qualified domain name (FQDN) ACLs—Due to CSCuv92371, ACLs containing FQDNs might result in incomplete ACL replication to secondary units in a cluster or failover pair. This bug is present in 9.1(7), 9.5(2), 9.6(1), and some interim releases. We suggest that you upgrade to a version that includes the fix for CSCuy34265: 9.1(7.6) or later, 9.5(3) or later, 9.6(2) or later. However, due to the nature of configuration replication, zero downtime upgrade is not available. See CSCuy34265 for more information about different methods of upgrading.
-
Upgrade issue with 9.7(1) to 9.7(1.x) and later for VTI and VXLAN VNI—If you configure both Virtual Tunnel Interfaces (VTIs) and VXLAN Virtual Network Identifier (VNI) interfaces, then you cannot perform a zero downtime upgrade for failover; connections on these interface types will not replicate to the standby unit until both units are on the same version. (CSCvc83062)
-
Before upgrading to 9.8(2) or later, FIPS mode requires the failover key to be at least 14 characters—Before you upgrade to to 9.8(2) or later in FIPS mode, you must change the failover key or failover ipsec pre-shared-key to be at least 14 characters long. If your failover key is too short, when you upgrade the first unit, the failover key will be rejected, and both units will become active until you set the failover key to a valid value.
-
Upgrade issue with GTP inspection—There could be some downtime during the upgrade, because the GTP data structures are not replicated to the new node.
Additional Guidelines
-
Cisco ASA Clientless SSL VPN Portal Customization Integrity Vulnerability—Multiple vulnerabilities have been fixed for clientless SSL VPN in ASA software, so you should upgrade your software to a fixed version. See http://tools.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20141008-asa for details about the vulnerability and a list of fixed ASA versions. Also, if you ever ran an earlier ASA version that had a vulnerable configuration, then regardless of the version you are currently running, you should verify that the portal customization was not compromised. If an attacker compromised a customization object in the past, then the compromised object stays persistent after you upgrade the ASA to a fixed version. Upgrading the ASA prevents this vulnerability from being exploited further, but it will not modify any customization objects that were already compromised and are still present on the system.
FXOS Upgrade Guidelines
Before you upgrade, read the release notes for each FXOS version in your chosen upgrade path. Release notes contain important information about each FXOS release, including new features and changed functionality.
Upgrading may require configuration changes that you must address. For example, new hardware supported in an FXOS release might also require that you update the FXOS firmware.
FXOS release notes are available here: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/security/firepower-9000-series/products-release-notes-list.html.