Documentation forSecurity Event Manager

SEM 2020.2.1 release notes

Release date: July 9, 2020

This document summarizes new features, improvements, and fixed issues in Security Event Manager (SEM) 2020.2.1 (formerly Log and Event Manager), additional features, and upgrade notes and workarounds for known issues.

New in SEM 2020.2.1

SEM 2020.2.1 is a service release that addresses the issues listed below.

Additional features and improvements

HTML5 features

SEM continues the transition from Flash-based software to HTML5 by adding the following features to the SEM Console:

Analyze historical data

The Analyze historical data (formerly nDepth) feature presents an updated user experience to simplify searches for key historical data involving your network events. The intuitive query builder presents tips and suggestions as you enter your query parameters, and then the event histogram and custom time picker allow you to zero in on specific results during a designated time span.

Create connector profiles

Use connector profiles to group agents that share the same connector configuration. You can use the profile to configure a set of standardized connector settings, and then apply those settings to all agents assigned to that profile. Once applied, every agent in the profile will have the same connector settings. You can create connector profiles using an existing template with preconfigured connectors, from an agent with preconfigured connectors from the selected agent, or from a fresh profile with no preconfigured connectors or agents.

Create local SEM user accounts

Use the SEM HTML5 console to grant access to SEM data through local user accounts. You can assign roles to manage access to sensitive data and functions, and establish authentication requirements for each user account.

View the oldest stored event

SEM introduces a new data indicator to the KPI widget that displays the age of the oldest stored event in your database. This can be especially helpful when managing database storage and adjusting your data retention settings.

Create a login banner

In the SEM HTML5 console, you can create a customized plain-text notification banner to provide information to users before they gain access to SEM.

Additional features and improvements

Debian OS upgrade

Beginning with version 2020.2, SEM includes Debian operating system version 10 (Buster).

Debian DNSSEC is disabled by defalt.

End of life, end of support, and deprecation notices

End of life

Version

EOL

Announcements

EOE Effective

dates

EOL Effective dates
6.4 June 6, 2020: End-of-Life (EoL) announcement – Customers on SEM version 6.4 should begin transitioning to the latest version of SEM. September 6, 2020: End-of-Engineering (EoE) – Service releases, bug fixes, workarounds, and service packs for SEM version 6.4 will no longer be actively supported by SolarWinds. September 6, 2021: End-of-Life (EoL) – SolarWinds will no longer provide technical support for SEM version 6.4.

End of support

Type Details
Windows Server 2008

As of SEM 2019.4, Windows Server 2008 is no longer supported. SEM still supports Windows Server 2008 R2.

Deprecation notice

Type details
Directory Service Query tool As of SEM version 2020.4, the Directory Service Query tool will no longer be usable for configuration of LDAP authentication. Users will need to use LDAP configuration in the HTML5 Console Settings page.
VMware vSphere 5.5 Beyond SEM 6.7, releases will no longer support vSphere 5.5. Find more information here.

New customer installation

For information about installing SEM, see the SEM Installation Guide and the SEM Getting Started Guide.

How to upgrade

If you are upgrading from a previous version, use the following resources to plan and implement your upgrade:

If you are upgrading from version 6.4 and newer, you can upgrade directly to 2020.2.1.

Use the SEM Upgrade Guide to help you plan and execute your upgrade.

Download the upgrade package from the SolarWinds Customer Portal.

SEM agent versions 6.7 and newer no longer include Oracle Java Runtime Environment (JRE) or Oracle Java Virtual Machine (JVM). If needed, install Oracle JRE when installing agents in your network environment. SEM still includes OpenJDK JRE.

In SEM 2023.4.1, FIM is not fully compatible with previous SEM agent versions (6.6 and older). SolarWinds recommends that you upgrade agents to version 2023.4.1.

In new installations of SEM (6.7 and newer), corresponding agent versions communicate by default using a secure certificate, which no longer supports TLS 1.0, 3DES, or anonymous cipher. If you need to connect to earlier agent versions, navigate to the SEM Console security tab (Settings > Security), and switch the toggle button to enable lower security settings. Versions older than 6.3 are not supported.

File system consistency check (fsck)

During your upgrade, the system may run a fsck check during reboot. This can last 30 or more minutes depending on the quantity of data in the data partition. With the Debian version upgrade, the file system is configured to initiate the check when certain conditions are met:

  • 21 mounts since the last check (during the 22nd reboot)

    -or-

  • Six months since the last check

SEM Agent installers

Oracle intends to discontinue support for their 32-bit Java Runtime Environment (JRE). Therefore, SolarWinds will no longer provide 32-bit SEM Agent installers for future SEM releases. Since IBM and HP provide their own customized Java implementations, this may impact their JRE support as well.

Raw log files

Raw log file processing is facilitated in the flash-based SEM console only.

Supported connectors

Find SEM connector information on Thwack.

Fixed issues

SEM 2020.2.1 fixes the following issues:

Case Number Description
00550984 An email template parameter containing a period breaks the rule builder.
00553173
00552120
00553721
Agents are not functioning properly after upgrading to 2020.2.
00542547 LDAP users are missing from SMTP rule email actions.
N/A Debian security update.

SEM 2020.2 fixes the following issues:

Case Number Description
00431444 SSH keys with algorithm ecdsa-sha2-nistp256 were removed in version 2020.2.
00480674 00469855 Attempts to deconfigure the archiveconfig schedule do not work.
00441316 HTML5 console password length limitation does not accommodate longer passwords created in the flash console.
00421297 00435487 00466194 00479264 AWS based SEM console showing incorrect size.
00386757 00445371 00370047 Users cannot connect to the SEM console.
00430141 SEM passwords with + character do not work.
00370047 00431559 SEM runs out of memory after upgrade.
00230651 00484277 00484700 Update to OpenSSH >= 7.8 to correct possible security issue.
00486987 Profiles disappear from nodes when adding FIM.
00190663 VMware hardware updated to version 11 to ensure compatibility.
00141675 00168845 00174307 00204944 Samba smbclient connection is failing.
00414810 00327258 00147146 Old Java and JARs folders from the install location are not removed during upgrades.
00405714 00475250 Possible security issue with crossdomain.xml in the SEM flash console.
00431559 UserDefinedGroup causes out-of-memory issues (caching query results).
N/A Connectors in a connector profile can get overridden when adding an agent.

Additional known issues

Issue: When monitoring a netflow database, SEM will consume space faster than normal and run the appliance out of storage.

Workaround: Please contact support immediately if you are monitoring netflow.

 

Version History

SEM Release Notes Version 2020.2

SEM Release Notes Version 2019.4

SEM Release Notes Version 6.7.2

SEM Release Notes Version 6.7.1

SEM Release Notes Version 6.7

SEM Release Notes Version 6.6

SEM Release Notes Version 6.5

SEM Release Notes Version 6.4

SEM Release Notes Version 6.3.1

SEM Release Notes Version 6.3.0

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