Endpoint Protection

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Upgrading To SEP 14 – What You Need To Know 

Nov 04, 2016 12:06 PM

Symantec Endpoint Protection 14 is now available!  Take advantage of it to stop threats regardless of how they attack your endpoint; so you can focus on your business. Uniquely tiered protection combines artificial intelligence powered by advanced machine learning and essential technologies to deliver superior protection across all points of attack.  The SEP console makes management and integration with existing security infrastructure possible, orchestrating response workflows to quickly stop the threat and the spread of infection and enabling complimentary solutions.  The lightweight single agent merges multiple next-gen technologies such as exploit prevention and Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) to reduce endpoint complexity, IT burden, and lower total cost of ownership; without compromising end-user productivity.

Pic1-SEP14.png

The upgrade to SEP 14 is easy and straightforward.  To discuss it I’ll break the process into three stages:

  1. Preparing for a Successful Install
  2. Downloading SEP 14 and
  3. The Upgrade Process

Before we get started let’s look at the possible upgrade paths.

Pic2-SEP14.png

If you are on a Symantec Endpoint Protection Management (SEPM) Console version 12.x or later you can upgrade directly to SEP 14.  In the case of SEPM 11 consoles, best practice is to bring up a new SEPM 14 and upgrade clients to SEP 14 from that console.  However, if desired you can upgrade to SEPM 12.x first then to 14. 

The SEP client, on the other hand, can be upgraded directly from 11.x or 12.x to 14.0.

Ensure the minimum system requirements are met for the platform and that the upgrade can be performed from that version of the client or SEPM before you attempt to upgrade to version 14. For example, for versions of the Mac client earlier than 12.1.4, you must either uninstall those versions or upgrade them first to a client version later than 12.1.4, before attempting the upgrade to 14.  For SEPM 

or clients on Windows XP platforms you cannot upgrade to 14 – they are no longer supported.  In the case of the SEP 12.x client on Windows XP; the SEPM 14 can manage these computers as legacy 12.x clients.

If you have performed upgrades to SEP in the past the process is as simple as 1, 2, 3 (see the SEP 14 Migration page):

  1. Verify the System Requirements
  2. Review Best Practices, the security administrator’s #1 resource for migration
  3. Download Endpoint Protection 14 and start managing 12, 14, Windows, Mac, embedded systems, and virtual machines from a single console.

However, if you are new to the upgrade process or simply wish more details then read on…

Preparing for a Successful Install:

  • Review Release Notes and Systems Requirements
     
  • Be prepared – download the Symantec Help SymDiag diagnostic tool to determine whether the computers meet minimum system requirements. It can also gather data for support assisted troubleshooting and providing links to other customer self-help and support resources.
     
  • If you are migrating to Windows 10 as well as upgrading Symantec Endpoint Protection from version 12.1.6 or earlier, you must migrate Symantec Endpoint Protection first – learn more
     
  • Symantec recommends that you upgrade the entire network to the current version of Symantec Endpoint Protection, rather than manage multiple versions.
     
  • To generate a list of SEP versions in your environment run a report from the SEPM

Downloading SEP 14:

  • Review Best Practices, the Administrators #1 resource for your SEP 14 upgrade
     
    • Ensure the proper exclusions have been made to any peripheral firewall or proxy to ensure successful communication with all Symantec servers
       
    • Even trusted web domains may need to be excluded from scans – review all possible scan exclusions for your environment before you upgrade your clients

The Upgrade Process:

Read the Tech Brief for step-by-step upgrade instructions.  It is not necessary to uninstall your client software before beginning the upgrade.  Be sure to perform your upgrade in the following order: SEPM first, then clients that are Group Update Providers (GUPs), followed by the remaining clients.

  • Step 1: Create an upgrade plan
     
  • Step 2: Back up and prepare for disaster recovery (critical)
     
  • Step 3: Prepare Symantec Endpoint Protection 11.x managers
    • Disable replication
       
    • Disable the "Protect client files and registry keys" Application Control Policy
       
    • Remove client packages assigned to the client groups
  • Step 4: Stop the Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager service
     
  • Step 5: Upgrade the Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager
    • You install the new version over the existing version. The over install process saves your settings and then upgrades to the latest version.
       
  • Step 6: Upgrade the Symantec Endpoint Protection clients
    • You do not need to uninstall previous clients before you install the new version.  The over install process saves the client settings and then upgrades the client to the latest version.  Note: Clients that are Group Update Providers (GUPs) should be upgraded before other Endpoint Production clients.
  • Read the How-To Article if you need to renew or activate new/additional licenses

Getting Help:

  • Don’t have a serial number: visit the Symantec Licensing portal or contact Customer Care at 1-800-721-3934.
     
  • If the .zip file fails to execute or the download doesn’t complete search the Customer Support  database or contact Customer Care at 1-800-721-3934 or via email where available.
     
  • If you need help getting started use the Getting Started Guide.  Under the Manage tab you can get connected by joining Symantec Connect or educate yourself with hundreds of free on-demand training classes.

It’s important to keep maintenance current. Valid maintenance ensures continuous security protection, so that you are eligible to access critical security updates and other benefits, and to remain compliant.   The Manage tab in the Getting Started Guide provides licensing and maintenance information.

 

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Comments

May 27, 2017 05:00 AM

Mea culpa. :-( Other computers I checked do not have this issue, so that points the finger back at my laptop. To be sure, I uninstalled SEP, rebooted, and found that I could not access the start menu at all, until I reinstalled SEP. Looks like waking up SEP is the solution (not elegant, but at least it works!) and not the problem. My apologies for any bad information.

FYI, I tried to edit the above comment to include this update, and it looked like this addition saved OK, but it would not display, so I had to add a new comment.

May 27, 2017 04:57 AM

My apologies if this is the wrong place for this. Please move this as needed, preferably to a new or existing thread for this problem. The Symantec haystack is too big to find a proper place for this needle.

Sometime after upgrading to SEP 14, I noticed that when I tried to open the start menu, I could not because a warning message appeared that said "Critical Error – Start menu and Cortana aren’t working. We’ll try to fix it the next time you sign in" I wasted a LOT of time trying all of the possible solutions I could find and restoring my computer to several earlier times, but I could not make that error go away. By chance, I found that the ONLY solution is to open SEP. Yes, just open SEP. I don't need to do anything with SEP (though I then click the Live Update link anyway). I also found that right click on the SEP icon and select disable makes the problem go away. It seems like I must "wake up" SEP once and then my start menu works fine until I reboot and need to do that over again. I also noticed other symptoms (cannot open the calendar, and some function keys do not work properly), until I wake up SEP. Note that SEP is running and working, but the start memu is broken until I access SEP. That sounds like an SEP14 problem.

My SEP is 14.0 MP1 build 2332, and my laptop runs Windows 10. Thanks!

May 22, 2017 06:52 AM

Oops...i didnt notice that. So let me do that and see. I will update you...Much appreciated. 

May 22, 2017 04:00 AM

Did you put a 'tick' on Upgrade Schedule? It's not ticked by default. And set the Distribute upgrade to whatever days you want depending on your network load. Mine is 2 days.

May 21, 2017 12:46 AM

Yes I done that. As soon as I deployed 'upgrade clients with package' the package appeared there under Intall Packages tab. But nothing happened so far. Please help.

May 18, 2017 02:44 AM

On the SEPM console, click on the Client tab, pick a client group and go to Install Packages tab.

In there, have you added the packages in there? If not, you will need to do this.

May 17, 2017 12:29 PM

Hello Team, Im planning to upgrade symantec from 12.1.6 to 14 on my clients systems. Before deploying to production I tried on my test environment with 'upgrade with clients package' option. But nothing happens, none of the clients upgraded and no error message. But upgrade is working thru 'install a client' option. No idea whats wrong. Appreciate your help.

Jan 03, 2017 08:37 AM

Hello everyone, I tell you my case. I have a Windows server 2008 32 bits with SEPM 12.6 and I want to migrate to a new Windows server 2012 64 bits with SEPM 14. What would be the correct procedure? The database is embedded and the 2012 server has new host name and new ip. Thank you!

Dec 16, 2016 06:57 PM

FYI-- SEPM upgrade from 11.x or 12.0 is not supported. You must be on a version of 12.1 to upgrade to 14. An upgrade attempt from 11.x or 12.0 will be blocked.

Dec 10, 2016 09:16 AM

We are using SEP in my current company and we used it in my previous company as well. I have never been in the team that manages it, however I don't remember any major incident that occured during upgrade of one version to another. Based on that, I think as the article states the process is quite straight forward. Of course, backups are a must have, one should not get to relaxed even when things go smooth :)

Dec 09, 2016 03:45 AM

Great Post by Symantec Team. In symantec Endpoint Protection 14 Symantec release the very good features and protection for the customers.

AML & MEM is new features in Symantec 14.

Dec 08, 2016 03:02 PM

Hey Teresa,

Thanks for the super clear walk through for upgrading SEP to v14.  The pictures and links are all very helpful and easy to follow.  My only wishlist items is I'd love to see some similar documentation for upgrading ITMS/CMS - and then sticky the blog post in the forums.  I don't use SEP, but annually when I upgrade our CMS install, I'm always looking for steps to follow (usually without finding much info).

Thanks for doing this!  

Dec 08, 2016 02:40 AM

Nice article by symantec team to upgrade Symantec Endpoint Protection 14. Uniquelyprotection combines artificial intelligence powered by advanced machine learning and essential technologies to deliver superior protection across all points of attack. AML and MEM is great features.

Dec 05, 2016 10:33 AM

You can purchase 2 server licenses to protect the 2 servers running SEPM. 

Dec 01, 2016 03:36 PM

We have already been discussing the SEP14  upgrade and what we need to get things ready. Extra features such as application behaviors and device controls within SEP 14 along with the various different behaviorial monitoring techinques!


Dec 01, 2016 02:25 PM

Nice! Looking forward to see what 14 has to offer! All software has Pros and Cons so hopefully upgrading will be easy as possible with SEP...

Dec 01, 2016 02:15 PM

Symantec has done it again in making the upgrade process as easy and simplistic as possible.  I have never had any issues updating/upgrading our SEP deployment or the clients that we have in the field.  This falls in line with other products we have of Symantec's such as Data Center Security.

Dec 01, 2016 06:17 AM

We use a competitors product currently but will be keeping an eye on this. It's always good to see simple instructions for an upgrade process, but my experience with Symantec products saya this is usally the case. Symantec seems far more engaged with its users than most.

Nov 24, 2016 02:14 AM

Good Day

 
Please help me on the following:
 
In our environment we have two networks (non-domain), there are about  25 clients on each of these networks
 
network 172.16....... & 172.26........... No routing between these two networks.
 
 
We want to setup one SEPM for each network, and push Symantec endpoint protection to the clients.
 
Now the question is : Do we need to purchase One or two Server Licenses for this?
 
 
Thanks for the feedback!!

Nov 21, 2016 12:21 PM

Es un gusto ver cometarios en español, saber que hay colegas en latinoamerica participando de esta comunidad.

Efectivamente facil de migrar, y el procedimiento claro como el agua.  Symantec como siempre  lo ha hecho bien!!!

 

Nov 21, 2016 03:51 AM

Nice article explaining the upgrade progress, this will come in handy soon.

It's great to have everything in one handy place.

Hope this will be done for other solutions too.

Nov 16, 2016 10:30 PM

We are ready to install SEP 14, this information is very useful.

I printed out the documentation and will use it as a reference guide.

Also building a test server with SEP 12.6 to test the upgrade process and validate functionality.

Upgrading the clients to a 25 user pilot group prior to rolling it out to the entire organization.

Can't wait for this release to be implemented, going to be a major upgrade and a nice addition to the family.

Nov 16, 2016 02:34 PM

Its good to see that there is a single post of all the item s I will need ot go over.

We have already been discussing the SEP14  upgrade and what we need to get things ready.

Still unsure if we will doa  direct from our SEP12 or bring up a new environment.

 

We will have to upgrade our sql instances first though which may put us behind a little bit in our timeline to deployment.

 

Thanks,

Clay

Nov 16, 2016 01:26 PM

Wow, what a nice overview of how to upgrade! It seems straight forward and pretty easy. Thanks for including the Best Practices Guide, too. They're always great starting points for setting up policies :)

Nov 16, 2016 01:12 PM

I am very much looking forward to know the extra features which are gonna be useful for security of servers.
Any pros or cons details of its use with servers will be very much helpful.
As we use SEP explicitly for servers in my organization.

Nov 16, 2016 11:08 AM

Excelente producto. SEP es el mejor del mercado sin duda, una actualizacion sencilla simple de la mano de Symantec. Sin duda Symantec sabe lo que hace. 


Nov 16, 2016 12:10 AM

Very good blog, do not forget to click on the links, those are really nice articles abotu the new product, detailed features, there are tons of new things in this reelase, prepare and plan well before the migration, and very impoatnat not to forget to test, test and test.  

Nov 15, 2016 09:55 AM

Thanks for providing a bunch of information in regards to SEP 14.  I've just installed it in my lab and looking forward to learning more

Nov 15, 2016 09:52 AM

We don't use SEP but it's great to see articles like this. There's clear instructions on how to upgrade from previous versions and lots of detail. Great work Symantec!

Nov 15, 2016 08:23 AM

Thanks @Symantec!!!

I was literally just looking for this because my group and I hope to start our upgrade in the near future!  I really look forward to getting this solution in place!

Nov 15, 2016 06:33 AM

Thank you for posting this, I am currently researching and doing the upgrade test on our dev network.

Due to the fact that we are an Education, we won't see SEP v14 until Summer 2017, so a long wait for me to get this upgraded. But then, it does give me time to play with it, research and collect resources to ensure our SEP v14 setup is 'perfect :)

Nov 15, 2016 05:37 AM

Well done on the simplicity of the upgrade process. Symantec is THE only product that is a game changer out there, so beware cyber criminals.

Lots of good links to articles for beginners and I have already tried SEP 14 and it's going well.

Nov 15, 2016 03:45 AM

Hello,

Amazing Explanation from Teresa.

We all are excited migrating over to Symantec Endpoint Protection 14. And this Article would surely is up to the mark.

I am sure, this would be a great product which would bring back Symantec's Grace.

Regards,

Nov 15, 2016 02:39 AM

Its lanunched and we are all excited to know its pros and cons. I am more excited to know the machine learning and generic mitigation exploit benefits. Its equally to important if there is any change in signature size so that the thin bandwidth locations can stay updated with server. Upgrade methodology and process should be smooth.

Nov 14, 2016 06:14 PM

This sounds pretty straight forward. I'm curious to see how smooth the in place upgrade is with relation to Windows 10 as several other vendors have not had the best experience.

Nov 14, 2016 06:02 PM

Another good article from Symantec. Lots of useful information on upgrading to SEP 14. Worth the read about system requirements as well as the release notes.

Nov 14, 2016 03:08 PM

This is an exciting new release of 14. I'm looking forward to getting this up and running and take advantage of the new protection capabilities. And thanks for the nice cache of information above to get us started.

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