Upgrade the virtual appliance

You can upgrade your SEM appliance to the latest SEM version. During this procedure, the upgrade script disconnects the SEM virtual appliance from all SEM agents and consoles.

1. Download the virtual appliance ISO package from the SolarWinds Customer Portal.

   The download requires about 400 MB of disk space.

   1. Determine the upgrade path from your current release to the latest release. Record all installers that must be downloaded for your upgrade path.

      See Determine the upgrade path for instructions.

   2. Log in to the SolarWinds Customer Portal using your SolarWinds ID (SWI).

   3. Click Downloads > Download Product.

   4. Click the Products drop-down menu and select:

      Security Event Manager (SEM), formerly Log & Event Manager (LEM)

   5. Click the Licenses drop-down menu and select your license tier.

   6. Download the Security Event Manager - Recovery Boot CD located under All Release Downloads. Otherwise, go to the next step.

   7. Download the SEM Upgrade ISO installer for your upgrade version.

      For example, if you need to upgrade to version 2024.4 in the upgrade path, click the drop-down menu, select 2024.4, and download the installer.

   8. Using your list from step 1a, repeat step g for each additional installer required in the upgrade path, including the installer for the latest release.

   9. Copy the upgrade files to a shared network folder.

      This step applies to any SMB share functionality in CMC.

2. Connect to the SEM virtual appliance using the virtual console (vSphere or Hyper-V Manager) or an SSH client (such as PuTTY).

   If you are using an SSH client, use port 22 or 32022, and then log in with your CMC user credentials.

3. Access the CMC prompt.

   In vSphere, arrow down to Advanced Configuration, and then press Enter.

   In PuTTY, log in using your CMC credentials.

4. Locate the first installer in your upgrade path.

5. At the cmc> prompt, enter upgrade.

6. Follow the on-screen instructions to run the installer on the SEM appliance.

   During the upgrade, SEM may require a reboot.

7. Repeat step 4 through 5 to install all remaining installers in your upgrade path.

Troubleshoot errors during the upgrade

If you encounter errors during the upgrade, review the error message information below before you contact Customer Support.

Error Message	Resolution
An error occurred during the upgrade.	Attempt to upgrade again. If the second attempt fails, pull the debugging information and open a Customer Support ticket.

Prepare and share information with Customer Support

Use the debug command on your SEM virtual appliance to pull log files from the appliance to share with Customer Support. These files contain debugging information used by Customer Support to troubleshoot your issue.

Pull debugging information from your SEM virtual appliance

1. Connect to your SEM virtual appliance using the vSphere console view or an SSH client (such as PuTTY).

   If you are using an SSH client, log in to your SEM virtual appliance using your CMC credentials.

2. At the cmc> prompt, enter manager, and then press Enter.
3. At the cmc::manager prompt, enter debug, and then press Enter.
   
4. Follow the prompts on your screen to generate the files.
5. Verify that the script generated the .tgz file.

6. Use Samba to share the .tgz file with Customer Support.

   This file does not contain alert data or other data from your SEM database.

7. Enter exit to return to the cmc> prompt.
8. Enter exit to log out of your SEM virtual appliance.