update from pan-os 4.1?

[DamonMyers]

is it possible to update an old box for lab purposes that is currenlty running 4.1.6 pan-os? It can't be updated to 6.x without being at 5.0, but 5.0 is not available for download. Is a fresh install (skipping upgrade paths) of 8.1 not possible? Is their a way to download old EOL software version?

[BPry]

@DamonMyers,

I would kind of doubt that anything with that old of an os still running on it would be under any type of current support allowing it access to even legally download the updates. That being said, if it is, reach out to support and simply state that you require access to a software build that is no longer being published to safetly perform an upgrade to a current version, and they can get you 5.0.

As to your question if there is a way to simply bypass major versions and load directly to yoru target OS, the answer is yes. You can do this safetly but I would again ask that you reach out to TAC to actually get the process; I haven't needed to do so very often and it was kind of a weird process to do so in a "recommended" fasion. 

As a side-note anything that was able to run 4.1 is really old gear at this point and you should probably find another option for a lab device. If this is a company lab device I'd really push for a PA-220 lab bundle, which is very minimal from a cost perspective. If this is a personal lab I would highly recommend spinning up a VM series in Azure or AWS with PAYG pricing, which is really the cheapest way to work with any lab gear. 

Unless this is a PA-200 I would really say it isn't worth considering. 

[DamonMyers]

The device does not have an active support contract. So, reaching out to support for any help upgrading it is not appropriate. However, I understand in this situation it is perfectly "legal" to manually update it as a lab device. Although the pa-500 is really old, it can still run 8.1 pan-os. I will pursue getting a VM version to run and test newer code, however it is sometimes nice to have a phycical box for testing. I will look into the pa-220 as suggested. In the mean time I am not throwing in the towel on upgrading this device.

If anyone can reply with a link to a "fresh install" procedure, that would be great. In the meantime I will search for it again on the support site.

Thanks for the reply.

[Remo]

Hi @DamonMyers 

Actually @BPry already wrote about all options you have. Without a valid support contract there is no "legal" option to update a device even if you would have the PAN-OS images. Trust me, using a PA-500 as a Lab device (where you probably try a lot of things which result in many commits) is no fun. You will have to wait a lot ...

Without the software there is no "fresh install" procedure and you probably won't find someone here that provides you the images and going up to a current release directly requires help from support.

Probably not what you'd like to hear but you waited a little too long with updating this PA-500.

[DamonMyers · Accepted solution]

thanks.