SEM 2020.4 release notes
Release date: November 18, 2020
This document summarizes new features, improvements, and fixed issues in Security Event Manager (SEM) 2020.4, additional features, and upgrade notes and workarounds for known issues.
If you are looking for previous release notes for SEM, see Previous Version documentation.
New in SEM 2020.4
SEM continues the transition from Flash-based software to HTML5. Adobe will be removing Flash Player download pages from its site and Flash-based content will be blocked from running in Adobe Flash Player after this date. For further information see the Adobe Flash End-of-Life page (© 2020 Adobe, available at adobe.com, retrieved September 30, 2020).
The Flash-based SEM interface will remain available by clicking Admin > Legacy Console.
Navigation
The SEM navigation bar has been updated, enabling narrower browser widths, separating Live Events and Historical Events, adding Admin, and renaming Groups as Configure as shown below:
Saved and Scheduled Searches
Searches can be saved, loaded, browsed and scheduled in Historical events. Unlike in the Flash version, where scheduled searches were public, they are private in the HTML5 version. Searches created in nDepth are migrated, although scheduling information will need to be migrated manually.
The search menu is accessed from the Historical Events page, by clicking the vertical ellipsis icon on the right of the Search button.
. For more information, see Create a search query in the SEM 2020.4 Administrator Guide.
LDAP Settings
With this release, LDAP connections are now used for authentication and Directory Service groups. Users no longer need to configure a "Directory Service Tool connector" to synchronizing Directory Service Groups with SEM. All existing Directory Service Tool connectors will be migrated if possible (see How to Upgrade for information on making the migration run as smoothly as possible).
LDAP configurations are created in Settings > Authentication > LDAP Configuration. For more information, see Configure LDAP for SEM in the SEM 2020.4 Administrator Guide.
LDAP and Email recipients
When setting Send Email actions for Rules or configuring scheduled searches, email addresses can now be added from configured LDAP connections or input directly, in addition to SEM users.
Directory Service groups
Directory service groups can be imported from your configured LDAP connections.
The Directory service groups dialog can be accessed from the Configure page by selecting Directory service groups from the dropdown menu. For more information, see Configure Directory Service Groups in SEM in the SEM 2020.4 Administrator Guide.
Learn more:
- For information about requirements, see the SEM 2020.4 system requirements.
- For detailed information about using SEM, see the SEM 2020.4 SEM Administrator Guide.
End of life, end of support, and deprecation notices
End of life
| Version |
EOL Announcements |
EOE Effective dates |
EOL Effective dates |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6.6 | June 6, 2020: End-of-Life (EoL) announcement – Customers on SEM version 6.6 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 6.6 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 6.6. |
End of support
| Type | Details |
|---|---|
| Windows Server 2008 |
Beyond 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 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. For system requirements see the SEM 2020.4 System Requirements.
Before you upgrade
Migrate LDAP connectors
It is recommended that users remove any ambiguity in their Directory Service Tool connector configurations to allow migration to run as smoothly as possible. This can be by ensuring only one Directory Service Tool connector configuration is set up per domain.
All Directory Service Tool connectors are removed in process of the migration.
How to upgrade
If you are upgrading from a previous version, use the following resources to plan and implement your upgrade.
The SEM Appliance must be upgraded to 2020.2 or 2020.2.1 before upgrading to 2020.4. See the SEM Upgrade Path to help you plan and execute your upgrade.
Download the upgrade package from the SolarWinds Customer Portal.
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.
CMC
With SEM 2020.4, a password is now required to access the CMC command-line interface. The default CMC password is password. See Change the SEM CMC password for instructions on changing it.
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
Directory Service Query connectors
The upgrade to 2020.4 automatically replaces Directory Service Query connectors with LDAP configurations. Not connection testing is performed, and therefore it is not guaranteed that resulting LDAP configuration will work. You should check all LDAP configuration after the upgrade.
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 2020.4 fixes the following issues:
| Case Number | Description |
|---|---|
| 00550984 | Email template parameter containing a dot no longer breaks the rule builder. |
|
00552120, 00553173, 00553721 |
Windows agent boots up correctly after upgrade. |
| n/a | AIX, HPUX, Solaris, Linux (no systemd) - SEM agent service restarts correctly when agent is updated locally. |
| n/a | When creating User Defined Group Elements, validation of required fields works when single space entered. |
| n/a | Old JAR and JVM folders removed during auto-upgrade. |
| n/a | Linux failure "Error: apt-get install failed", when upgrading from 2020.2, resolved. |
| Manager process not restarted after tzconfig command |
|---|
| Issue: The manager process is not automatically restarted after the tzconfig command is applied, and the new timezone is not reflected. |
| Workaround: Manager process must be manually restarted to reflect new timezone. |
| Remote Installer fails too early when Remote Registry is disabled |
| Issue: If the Remote installer is unable to register Agent to Add/Remove Programs in Windows on the first attempt, the whole installation process fails. This is an issue with version 6.7.0 and later. |
| Workaround: If you cannot enable remote registry in your environment, use Remote installer in the 6.6.0 version and let all agents auto-upgrade. |
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