You should update the system software on your appliances before you begin any deployment. We recommend that all the appliances in your deployment run the most recent version of the system. If you are using them in your deployment, you should also install the latest intrusion rule updates, VDB, and GeoDB.

Caution

Before you update any part of the system, you must read the release notes or advisory text that accompanies the update. The release notes provide important information, including supported platforms, compatibility, prerequisites, warnings, and specific installation and uninstallation instructions.

If your Firewall Management Center is running Versions 6.5+:

As a part of configuration the Firewall Management Center establishes the following activities to keep your system up-to-date and your data backed up:

• Weekly automatic GeoDB updates

• A weekly task to download the latest software for the Firewall Management Center and its managed devices

  This task only downloads software updates to the Firewall Management Center. It is your responsibility to install any updates this task downloads. See the Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center Upgrade Guide for more informaction.

• A weekly task to perform a locally-stored configuration-only the Firewall Management Center backup

If your Firewall Management Center is running Versions 6.6+, as a part of initial configuration the Firewall Management Center downloads and installs the latest vulnerability (VDB) update from the Cisco support site. This is a one-time operation.

You can observe the status of these activities using the web interface Message Center. If the system fails to configure any of these activities and your Firewall Management Center has internet access, we recommend you configure these activities yourself as described in the Secure Firewall Management Center Configuration Guide for your version.