The Cisco Firepower security appliance is a next-generation platform for network and content security solutions. The Firepower security appliance is part of the Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) Security Solution and provides an agile, open, secure platform that is built for scalability, consistent control, and simplified management.

The Firepower security appliance provides the following features:

• Modular chassis-based security system—Provides high performance, flexible input/output configurations, and scalability.

• Firepower Chassis Manager—Graphical user interface provides a streamlined, visual representation of the current chassis status and allows for simplified configuration of chassis features.

• FXOS CLI—Provides command-based interface for configuring features, monitoring chassis status, and accessing advanced troubleshooting features.

• FXOS REST API—Allows users to programmatically configure and manage their chassis.

New Features in FXOS 2.4.1.268

Cisco FXOS 2.4.1.268 introduces the following new features in addition to the features included in earlier releases:

• Fixes for various problems (see Resolved Bugs in FXOS 2.4.1.268).

New Features in FXOS 2.4.1.266

Cisco FXOS 2.4.1.266 introduces the following new features in addition to the features included in earlier releases:

• Fixes for various problems (see Resolved Bugs in FXOS 2.4.1.266).

New Features in FXOS 2.4.1.252

Cisco FXOS 2.4.1.252 introduces the following new features in addition to the features included in earlier releases:

• Fixes for various problems (see Resolved Bugs in FXOS 2.4.1.252).

New Features in FXOS 2.4.1.249

Cisco FXOS 2.4.1.249 introduces the following new features in addition to the features included in earlier releases:

• Fixes for various problems (see Resolved Bugs in FXOS 2.4.1.249).

New Features in FXOS 2.4.1.244

Cisco FXOS 2.4.1.244 introduces the following new features in addition to the features included in earlier releases:

• Fixes for various problems (see Resolved Bugs in FXOS 2.4.1.244).

New Features in FXOS 2.4.1.238

Cisco FXOS 2.4.1.238 introduces the following new features in addition to the features included in earlier releases:

• Fixes for various problems (see Resolved Bugs in FXOS 2.4.1.238).

New Features in FXOS 2.4.1.234

Cisco FXOS 2.4.1.234 introduces the following new features in addition to the features included in earlier releases:

• Fixes for various problems (see Resolved Bugs in FXOS 2.4.1.234).

New Features in FXOS 2.4.1.222

Cisco FXOS 2.4.1.222 introduces the following new features in addition to the features included in earlier releases:

• Fixes for various problems (see Resolved Bugs in FXOS 2.4.1.222).

New Features in FXOS 2.4.1.214

Cisco FXOS 2.4.1.214 introduces the following new features in addition to the features included in earlier releases:

• Support for Firepower Threat Defense version 6.3.

• Multi-instance capability for Firepower Threat Defense (see Multi-instance capability for Firepower Threat Defense).

  Note	Requires Firepower Threat Defense Version 6.3 or later.

• Fixes for various problems (see Resolved Bugs in FXOS 2.4.1.214).

New Features in FXOS 2.4.1.101

Cisco FXOS 2.4.1.101 introduces the following new features:

• Support for ASA 9.10(1).

• Support for transparent mode deployment for an ASA logical device.

  You can now specify transparent or routed mode when you deploy the ASA.

  New/Modified FXOS commands: enter bootstrap-key FIREWALL_MODE, set value routed, set value transparent

  New/modified Firepower Chassis Manager screens:

  Logical Devices > Add Device > Settings

  New/Modified options: Firewall Mode drop-down list

• Cluster control link customizable IP Address.

  By default, the cluster control link uses the 127.2.0.0/16 network. You can now set the network when you deploy the cluster in FXOS. The chassis auto-generates the cluster control link interface IP address for each unit based on the chassis ID and slot ID: 127.2.chassis_id.slot_id. However, some networking deployments do not allow 127.2.0.0/16 traffic to pass. Therefore, you can now set a custom /16 subnet for the cluster control link in FXOS except for loopback (127.0.0.0/8) and multicast (224.0.0.0/4) addresses.

  New/Modified commands: set cluster-control-link network

  New/modified screens:

  Logical Devices > Add Device > Cluster Information

  New/Modified options: CCL Subnet IP field

  Note	The CCL Subnet IP field option is supported with ASA 9.9.2 and later and Firepower Threat Defense 6.3.0 and later

• Support for data EtherChannels in On mode.

  You can now set data and data-sharing EtherChannels to either Active LACP mode or to On mode. Other types of EtherChannels only support Active mode.

  New/Modified screens:

  Interfaces > All Interfaces > Edit Port Channel > Mode

  New/Modified commands: set port-channel-mode

• You can now enable Radware DefensePro (vDP) with ASA on Firepower 4110 devices.

• The Radware DefensePro (vDP) application can be deployed in a standalone configuration in an inter-chassis cluster scenario.

• You now have the option to not send hostname data to Cisco Smart Licensing on Firepower 4100 series devices.

• You can now acknowledge multiple faults at one time.

• Firepower Chassis Manager now shows the upload percentage uploading images.

• Fixes for various problems (see Resolved Bugs in FXOS 2.4.1.101).

Note	Requires FTD Version 6.3 or later.

You can now deploy multiple logical devices, each with a Firepower Threat Defense container instance, on a single security engine/module. Formerly, you could only deploy a single native application instance. Native instances are still also supported. For the Firepower 9300, you can use a native instance on some modules, and container instances on the other modules.

To provide flexible physical interface use, you can create VLAN subinterfaces in FXOS and also share interfaces between multiple instances. When you deploy a container instance, you must specify the number of CPU cores assigned; RAM and disk space are dynamically allocated according to the number of cores. This resource management lets you customize performance capabilities for each instance.

You can use High Availability using a container instance on two separate chassis; for example, if you have two chassis, each with ten instances, you can create ten High Availability pairs. Clustering is not supported.

Note

Multi-instance capability is similar to ASA multiple context mode, although the implementation is different. Multiple context mode partitions a single application instance, while multi-instance capability allows independent container instances. Container instances allow hard resource separation, separate configuration management, separate reloads, separate software updates, and full Firepower Threat Defense feature support. Multiple context mode, due to shared resources, supports more contexts on a given platform. Multiple context mode is not available on the Firepower Threat Defense.

See the following maximum container instances per model:

• Firepower 4110—3

• Firepower 4120—3

• Firepower 4140—7

• Firepower 4150—7

• Firepower 9300 SM-24 security module—7

• Firepower 9300 SM-36 security module—11

• Firepower 9300 SM-44 security module—14

New/Modified Firepower Chassis Manager screens:

Overview > Devices

Interfaces > All Interfaces > Add New drop-down menu > Subinterface

Interfaces > All Interfaces > Type

Logical Devices > Add Device

Platform Settings > Mac Pool

Platform Settings > Resource Profiles

New/Modified FXOS commands:

connect ftd name, connect module telnet, create bootstrap-key PERMIT_EXPERT_MODE, create resource-profile, create subinterface, scope auto-macpool, set cpu-core-count, set deploy-type, set port-type data-sharing, set prefix, set resource-profile-name, set vlan, scope app-instance ftd name, show cgroups container, show interface, show mac-address, show subinterface, show tech-support module app-instance, show version

New/Modified Firepower Management Center screens:

Devices > Device Management > Edit icon > Interfaces tab

FXOS CLI commands used when working with ASA logical devices have been modified.

New/Modified FXOS commands:

connect asa name, create app-instance asa name, scope app-instance asa name, show app-instance asa name

You can download software images for FXOS and supported applications from one of the following URLs:

• Firepower 9300 — https://software.cisco.com/download/type.html?mdfid=286287252

• Firepower 4100 — https://software.cisco.com/download/navigator.html?mdfid=286305164

For information about the applications that are supported on a specific version of FXOS, see the Cisco FXOS Compatibility guide at this URL:

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/security/firepower/fxos/compatibility/fxos-compatibility.html

• If you are utilizing the hardware bypass feature, you must upgrade to FXOS 2.4.1.238. In FXOS releases prior to 2.4.1.238, ports may go to bypass state without a failure event. If this happens, you must use Firepower Management Center to bring the ports back to standby mode.

• In FXOS 2.4(1), if you are using an IPSec secure channel in FIPS mode, the IPSec peer entity must support RFC 7427.

• If you reinitialize a security module after upgrading to FXOS 2.4(1), you might receive an error message about disk partitions on that security module being incompatible if you later downgrade to an earlier FXOS release. To resolve this issue, you need to reinitialize the security module again after downgrading.

• When you configure Radware DefensePro (vDP) in a service chain on a currently running Firepower Threat Defense application on a Firepower 4110 or 4120 device, the installation fails with a fault alarm. As a workaround, stop the Firepower Threat Defense application instance before installing the Radware DefensePro application. Note that this issue and workaround apply to all supported releases of Radware DefensePro service chaining with Firepower Threat Defense on Firepower 4110 and 4120 devices.

• Firmware Upgrade—We recommend upgrading your Firepower 4100/9300 security appliance with the latest firmware. For information about how to install a firmware update and the fixes included in each update, see https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/security/firepower/fxos/firmware-upgrade/fxos-firmware-upgrade.html.

• When upgrading a network or security module, certain faults are generated and then cleared automatically. These include a “hot swap not supported” fault or a “module removed when in online state” fault. If you have followed the appropriate procedures, as described in the Cisco Firepower 9300 Hardware Installation Guide or Cisco Firepower 4100 Series Hardware Installation Guide, the fault(s) are cleared automatically and no additional action is required.

FXOS 2.4(1) contains additional testing to verify the security module adapters on your security appliance. After installing FXOS 2.4.1.101 or later, you might receive a critical fault similar to the following indicating that you should update the firmware for your security module adapter:

Critical F1715 2017-05-11T11:43:33.121 339561 Adapter 1 on Security Module 1 requires a critical firmware upgrade. Please see Adapter Bootloader Upgrade instructions in the FXOS Release Notes posted with this release.

If you receive the above message, use the following procedure to update the boot image for your adapter:

1. Connect to the FXOS CLI on your Firepower security appliance. For instructions, see the “Accessing the FXOS CLI” topic in the Cisco Firepower 4100/9300 FXOS CLI Configuration Guide, 2.4(1) or Cisco Firepower 4100/9300 FXOS Firepower Chassis Manager Configuration Guide, 2.4(1).

2. Enter the adapter mode for the adapter whose boot image you are updating:

   fxos-chassis# scope adapter 1/security_module_number/adapter_number

3. Enter show image to view the available adapter images and to verify that fxos-m83-8p40-cruzboot.4.0.1.62.bin is available to be installed:

   fxos-chassis /chassis/server/adapter # show image
   Name Type Version
   
   --------------------------------------------- -------------------- -------
   
   fxos-m83-8p40-cruzboot.4.0.1.62.bin Adapter Boot 4.0(1.62)
   
   fxos-m83-8p40-vic.4.0.1.51.gbin Adapter 4.0(1.51)

4. Enter update boot-loader to update the adapter boot image to version 4.0.1.62:

   fxos-chassis /chassis/server/adapter # update boot-loader 4.0(1.62)
   Warning: Please DO NOT reboot blade or chassis during upgrade, otherwise, it may cause adapter to become UNUSABLE!
   After upgrade has completed, blade will be power cycled automatically
   fxos-chassis /chassis/server/adapter* # commit-buffer

5. Enter show boot-update status to monitor the update status:

   fxos-chassis /chassis/server/adapter # show boot-update status
   State: Updating
   fxos-chassis /chassis/server/adapter # show boot-update status
   State: Ready

6. Enter show version detail to verify that the update was successful:

   Note	Your show version detail output might differ from the following example. However, verify that Bootloader-Update-Status is “Ready” and that Bootloader-Vers is 4.0(1.62).

   fxos-chassis /chassis/server/adapter # show version detail
   Adapter 1:
   Running-Vers: 5.2(1.2)
   Package-Vers: 2.2(2.17)
   Update-Status: Ready
   Activate-Status: Ready
   Bootloader-Update-Status: Ready
   Startup-Vers: 5.2(1.2)
   Backup-Vers: 5.0(1.2)
   Bootloader-Vers: 4.0(1.62)

You can access the Firepower Chassis Manager using the following browsers:

• Mozilla Firefox—Version 42 and later

• Google Chrome—Version 47 and later

• Microsoft Internet Explorer—Version 11 and later

We tested FXOS 2.4(1) using Mozilla Firefox version 42, Google Chrome version 47, and Internet Explorer version 11. Other versions of these browsers are expected to work. However, if you experience any browser-related issues, we suggest you revert to one of the tested versions.

You can upgrade your Firepower 9300 or Firepower 4100 series security appliance to FXOS 2.4(1.214) if it is currently running any FXOS 2.0(1) or later build.

For upgrade instructions, see the Cisco Firepower 4100/9300 Upgrade Guide.

Installation Notes

• Upgrade to FXOS 2.4(1) can take up to 45 minutes. Please plan your upgrade activity accordingly.

• If you are upgrading a Firepower 9300 or Firepower 4100 series security appliance that is running a standalone logical device or if you are upgrading a Firepower 9300 security appliance that is running an intra-chassis cluster, traffic does not traverse through the device while it is upgrading.

• If you are upgrading a Firepower 9300 or a Firepower 4100 series security appliance that is part of an inter-chassis cluster, traffic does not traverse through the device being upgraded while it is upgrading. However, the other devices in the cluster continue to pass traffic.

• Downgrade of FXOS images is not officially supported. The only Cisco-supported method of downgrading an image version of FXOS is to perform a complete re-image of the device.

The open and resolved bugs for this release are accessible through the Cisco Bug Search Tool. This web-based tool provides you with access to the Cisco bug tracking system, which maintains information about bugs and vulnerabilities in this product and other Cisco hardware and software products.

Note	You must have a Cisco.com account to log in and access the Cisco Bug Search Tool. If you do not have one, you can register for an account.

For more information about the Cisco Bug Search Tool, see the Bug Search Tool Help & FAQ.

For additional information on the Firepower 9300 or 4100 series security appliance and FXOS, see Navigating the Cisco FXOS Documentation.

Cisco provides online resources to download documentation, software, and tools, to query bugs, and to open service requests. Use these resources to install and configure Firepower software and to troubleshoot and resolve technical issues.

• Cisco Support & Download site: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/index.html

• Cisco Bug Search Tool: https://tools.cisco.com/bugsearch/

• Cisco Notification Service: https://www.cisco.com/cisco/support/notifications.html

Access to most tools on the Cisco Support & Download site requires a Cisco.com user ID and password.

If you cannot resolve an issue using the online resources listed above, contact Cisco TAC:

• Email Cisco TAC: tac@cisco.com

• Call Cisco TAC (North America): 1.408.526.7209 or 1.800.553.2447

• Call Cisco TAC (worldwide): Cisco Worldwide Support Contacts

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• To submit a service request, visit Cisco Support.

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• To find warranty information for a specific product or product family, access Cisco Warranty Finder.