Releasing Capture Client 3.6

In November 2020, Capture Client 3.5 was released to brand new SonicWall customers and any SonicWall Customers that did not have any active Capture Client subscriptions at the time. This article explains how SonicWall plans to release Capture Client 3.6 by upgrading customers running Capture Client 3.5 and migrating customers running Capture Client 3.1.

Capture Client 3.5 introduced significant schematic and design changes and thus it was not trivial to simply "upgrade" tenants from Capture Client 3.1 to Capture Client 3.5, without sufficient testing and validation.

Latest Updates:

• The release was completed on May 18th, 2021
• Added a link to a KB article for guidance on upgrading clients and FAQs (

  https://www.sonicwall.com/support/knowledge-base/upgrading-and-migrating-clients-to-capture-client-3-6/210520061610270/) 

===================================================================

Capture Client 3.6 will extend the new policy management and dashboard features introduced in Capture Client 3.5 to all of our customers. This will involve an upgrade of clients, as well as automatic migration of policies, groups and configurations to the new schema. The release will happen between 12am on a Saturday and 12am on the following Tuesday US Pacific Time hours (henceforth referred to as “release window”). The release window will be communicated to Capture Client customers via email with a reminder 1 week ahead of schedule. This is mandatory upgrade for all Capture Client customers, following which all older version of Capture Client will move to End of Support, per the Product Lifecycle.

Are there any new features in Capture Client 3.6?

• Supporting macOS BigSur on Apple desktops and laptops running Intel chipsets (support for ARM-based processors will follow shortly thereafter)
• Extending the policy management and dashboard features introduced in Capture Client 3.5 to all customers
• Offering global operations capabilities to all eligible MSSP partners 

Will this release interrupt Capture Client operations?

All endpoints protected by Capture Client and the SentinelOne engine before the release window will remain protected, based on the last policy applied to them. Any configured email notifications will continue to be delivered during the release window. However the Capture Client console will remain inaccessible during the release window for any operations. In addition, we highly recommend that administrators avoid any operations on Capture Client products in MySonicWall (including new activations, renewals, upgrades, license sharing, user group updates and deletions) as they may fail to complete successfully or may not be migrated to Capture Client 3.6. If any urgent actions are needed, please contact Support. 

Is any action required by Capture Client administrators prior to the release window?

• Right before the release window, administrators should verify that all protected endpoints are online and communicating to the console. Any obsolete devices should be removed from the inventory for hygiene.
• Certain settings will not be migrated during the release window (see the end of this article). It is recommended to review your policy settings and modify them accordingly. Please reach out to SonicWall Support for any assistance.
• It is highly recommended that all Capture Client policies be configured with SonicWall-Managed (Latest or General Release) versions to minimize post-release actions

What action is required to upgrade clients to Capture Client 3.6?

• Capture Client 3.6 will be released as a SonicWall-Managed Latest Release and a SonicWall-Managed General Release.
• Please review this KB article for actions required and FAQs

How should i troubleshoot issues with my Capture Client 3.6 Upgrade?

1. If the client is showing up as "Unlicensed" and has created duplicate entries in the CC 3.6 Devices list for our tenant.
   1. Login to the CC 3.6 console
   2. Navigate to Protect -> Devices
   3. Filter Devices to show only "Offline" devices
   4. Select all Devices and use the Bulk action menu to "Decommission" these devices
   5. Once this is completed, then Select all Devices and use te Bulk action menu to "Delete" these devices
   6. Monitor your CC 3.6 endpoints and make sure they are coming back online
2. I have used Self-Managed policies to upgrade my endpoints to CC 3.6.24 but they haven't upgraded
   1. Ensure the endpoints are online
   2. Logout and Login to the Endpoint. If that doesn't work, reboot the Endpoint
   3. Alternatively, navigate to the Devices page and apply the Device action "Upgrade Client" to manually upgrade the endpoint
3. My Linux endpoints have not automatically upgraded
   1. Please review this KB article to see how to upgrade Linux endpoints. 

Will I be able to use the Capture Client 3.1 or 3.5 management consoles?

• Administrators will be able to log back ito the Capture Client 3.1 and Capture Client 3.5 consoles - however some features (e.g. Dashboards, Statistics and Reporting) may not work as expected. 
• It is recommended that you log into Capture Client 3.1 or Capture Client 3.5 only for the purpose of using policies or device actions to upgrade all our clients. 
• Important: The Capture Client 3.1 management console (https://captureclient.sonicwall.com) will remain be decommissioned and will no longer be available after June 20th 2021.

How do I get access to the management console for Capture Client 3.6?

• The Capture Client 3.6 management console will be available at https://captureclient-36.sonicwall.com. 
• Admins who accessed the Capture Client management console for 3.1 or 3.5 directly, you will now need to navigate to this new URL
• Admins who login to the console via Capture Security Center (https://cloud.sonicwall.com) will be redirected automatically when the click on the Capture Client tile

How is this release different if I am running Capture Client 3.1 or Capture Client 3.5?

• For customers running Capture Client 3.5, this is a standard upgrade with the introduction of the new features mentioned above.
• For customers running Capture Client 3.1, policies, groups and configurations will be migrated to the new schema and design. However there will no changes to the effective policies applied to your endpoints.

How will Capture Client 3.1 policies, groups and policy assignment rules be migrated?

How will Capture Client 3.1 Threat Protection, Trusted Certificate and Web Content Filtering Policies be migrated?

How will Capture Client 3.1 Global Exclusions, Blacklists, Device Control Rules and Allowed Websites be migrated?

Will any configurations not be migrated to Capture Client 3.6?

Due to the nature of the change in design and schema, certain configurations will not be migrated over to Capture Client 3.6. Please review your environments carefully and take the recommended actions ahead of the release window.