Hi Ross,

UTM and XG are based on completely different OS platform and a configuration migrating tool will be a wild guess. I will update this post if there is any such possibility in near future. Alongside, renewing license policy to support more than 50 IP addresses is difficult.

Thanks for your patience.

Sachin, have plans changed for tools to support migration from UTM to XG? This is from the FAQ page here (https://blogs.sophos.com/2015/11/09/xg-firewall-faq/). Are you saying there will NOT be any tools made available for customers to migrate from UTM 9 to XG?

What are the various migration phases and tools available?

In order to make migration as smooth as possible, we are developing a series of migration tools that will be rolled out in phases. Watch the Sophos Blog for migration news, tools, and help, or contact your Sophos Partner.

Here are the migration phases:

Migration at Launch: While we strongly encourage existing customers to wait until Phase 1 or 2, early adopters who wish to migrate to XG Firewall following launch can do a manual migration. There will be no migration tools available during this phase so you will be setting up and configuring your XG Firewall from a fresh install.

Phase 1 Migration: This phase is in planning and we anticipate being able to offer beta migration tools by mid-2016. The process will involve manually taking a backup of your UTM 9 device and uploading it to the Cloud Migration Service for conversion, making necessary adjustments, and then exporting it as a configuration for XG Firewall.

Phase 2 Migration: This phase is planned to coincide with an update to XG Firewall in mid-2016. UTM 9.4 customers will be able to use an option in Webadmin to initiate a migration using some automation and a less manual process, with options to retain some quarantine items.

Phase 3 Migration: Later in 2016 we plan to simplify the migration process further with support for multiple device migration and more automation.

Thanks for posting this Nash...I havn't had time to look it up again, but this is exactly what I had seen myself. And since UTM has reached version 9.4 now I assumed the tools would be close to their beta release as stated for Phase 2, Mid-2016.

I'll be the first to admit that I don't believe Sophos can deliver on the timelines they've stated in their FAQ. But I do think that failure to provide migration tools would mean a huge blow to client confidence and the scope of effort required to manually migrate would be pretty considerable. Eventually, UTM 9 is going to go away and sooner or later everyone will need to migrate to XG OS. Failing to facilitate the process would not be a good idea.

Hi Nash,

I was not sure about the migration tools as mentioned in my previous post. Thanks for posting the information on the community.

Cheers

ok.... so now that we've confirmed (I think?) that Sophos plans to create some sort of migration tool, is there any update on the original question?  Namely--

How will we find out when/if such tools become available?

thanks

Not sure who marked something as a solution on my thread here, but it was not me as there has been no solution given. No method of notification, nor any more solid timeline for the tools.

So I will ask Sophos Staff again: 

Is there somewhere to subscribe to be notified when UTM to XG migration tools are available?

Hi,

Yes, we are in the process of developing the migration tool for XG. Nash has also referred a discussion in his post on this thread. 

Thanks

I don't feel that either link there is what we are asking for.

One is a direct link to the blog post about it, so that is useless unless Sophos staff edits that post with information as it becomes available.

The other link in his post is to the main Sophos Blog, meaning we would have to read every article that gets posted and see if there is any mention of the tools.

Sophos should create something like an Upgrade email list we can subscribe to that delivers news and updates about the UTM to XG migration tools. Us having to keep checking feeds or posts hoping for information is not a notification, nor is it user-friendly.

Please reach out to your co-workers at Sophos and discuss this possibility...so we can know about the status as soon as the info is posted versus us having to keep looking daily.

I've been watching this thread in the hope of getting an availability date for the migration tools... but today, I found this: https://blogs.sophos.com/2015/11/09/xg-firewall-faq/ - where Sophos is now saying "early 2017"!

Enough, already, the 50-IP limit and the way it's enforced (dumbly - a port scan on a subnet generates 255 in-use addresses and blows the licence!) is driving me nuts to often.  I guess it's a manual migration to XG for me and a day out of my life, then.