Manually Upgrading a Socket

Cato manages the Socket firmware upgrades and version control for Socket sites to make sure that they are running up-to-date versions. Major Socket versions are usually released quarterly. For more information, see Understanding Cato's Managed Socket Upgrade Service.

There are some scenarios where a Socket skipped an upgrade, for example, the Socket was not connected to the Cato Cloud during the maintenance window. When this happens, you will see a notification in the Cato Management Application, and you'll receive an email that the upgrade was skipped.

If that happens, you have the option to upgrade the Socket manually.

This section explains how to perform manual Socket upgrades. These are the upgrade options:

Upgrading a Single Socket

This section explains how to perform a manual upgrade of a single Socket.

• Cato recommends as a best practice to upgrade to the latest Socket version

The upgrade process takes approximately 20 minutes, and downtime is approximately 2 minutes. If you have any issues when upgrading, refer to this Socket upgrade troubleshooting article.

To manually upgrade the Socket:

1. From the navigation menu, select Network > Sites, and select the site.

2. From the navigation menu, select Site Configuration > Socket.

3. Click Actions > Upgrade.

   If there is already an upgrade in progress for this Socket, the Upgrade menu option is greyed out.

   • Select the version to which to upgrade.

4. Click Upgrade.

Bulk Upgrading Sockets

You can bulk upgrade Socket sites with the same connection type. For example, upgrade all the vSocket Azure sites. By default, all the selected sites are upgraded to the latest Socket version. However, you can also choose to upgrade to a different version. Up to 100 Sockets can be upgraded at the same time.

You can perform bulk upgrades immediately, or schedule them to automatically run in a planned maintenance window up to 30 days in advance. When you perform an immediate upgrade, all selected sites upgrade at the same time. When you schedule an upgrade, each Socket site upgrades according to its configured time zone.

Note

Note: A scheduled upgrade can only be canceled by entering each Socket's management page (Site Configuration > Socket) and canceling the upgrade for each individual scheduled Socket. See below, Canceling a Scheduled Upgrade.

Note

Notes:

• If you select sites with different connection types, the Upgrade option is greyed out.

• Bulk upgrades do not support downgrading to a lower version. For example, if you select to bulk upgrade a site with v21 and another with v22, you can only upgrade to v23 or higher.

• When an HA site is selected, the upgrade will start with the primary Socket, to allow a failover to occur. Then, after it successfully upgrades, the service automatically initiates the upgrade for the secondary Sockets.

To bulk upgrade multiple Socket sites:

1. From the navigation menu, select Network > Sites.

2. Filter the page for the sites to be upgraded, and select the sites.

3. Click Actions > Upgrade Sockets.

   1. Select the version to which to upgrade.

   2. Under Upgrade time, select Immediate or Custom.

      • If you select Custom, use the Custom time section to schedule a time.

        Each site is upgraded according to its configured time zone.

4. Click Upgrade Sockets.

• Note: The Upgrade Sockets option is greyed out if one of the following is true:

  • None of the selected sites are connected

  • All the selected sites already run the latest version

  • There is already an upgrade in progress for these sites Socket, the Upgrade menu option is greyed out

Canceling a Scheduled Upgrade

A scheduled upgrade can only be canceled by entering each Socket's management page and canceling the upgrade for each individual scheduled Socket.

To cancel a scheduled upgrade:

1. From the navigation menu, click Network > Sites, and select the site with the Socket scheduled for upgrade.

2. From the navigation menu, click Site Configuration > Socket.

3. From the Actions menu for the relevant Socket, select Cancel Manual Upgrade.

   

4. In the confirmation dialog, click Cancel Upgrades. The scheduled upgrade is canceled for this Socket.

5. Repeat steps 1-4 for each relevant Socket.

Best Practices for Bulk Upgrading

• If you're upgrading many Sockets, begin with a few Sockets to verify the process works as expected, and then continue with larger groups.

• Use the filters on the Sites page to make it easier to select relevant sites for the bulk upgrade. For example, filter for sites with the same connection type and version, and select them all with the checkbox at the top of the sites table.

• Use the site Description field to add relevant tags that are displayed on the Sites page. This can make it easier to find relevant sites for upgrading.

For HA deployments, Cato recommends that you first upgrade the primary Socket, which triggers a failover to the secondary Socket. The primary Socket completes the upgrade, including the downtime, and after approximately 20 minutes, you will receive an email notification that the upgrade was successful and the primary Socket is upgraded and stable. As soon as the Primary Socket comes back online, it takes back the Primary Socket status.

At that point, you can upgrade the secondary Socket. After approximately 20 minutes, you will receive an email notification that the upgrade was successful and the HA status should be Up.

If you have any issues when upgrading, refer to this Socket upgrade troubleshooting article.

Cato automatically upgrades Sockets as part of the Managed Socket Upgrade Service. However, in some scenarios, you might want to skip an upgrade to avoid any potential downtime. For example, if you have a business-critical site around the holiday season, to avoid taking the site down for any period of time, you want to opt out of the automatic upgrades.