Security Onion: Security Onion Elastic Stack Release Candidate 1 and Security Onion 14.04.5.7 ISO Image!

UPDATED 2018/04/09! We've released a newer version!
https://blog.securityonion.net/2018/04/security-onion-elastic-stack-general.html

We're excited to announce that our Elastic stack integration has now reached Release Candidate 1 (RC1)! RC1 includes a new 14.04.5.7 ISO image that contains these RC1 components and all the latest Ubuntu and Security Onion updates as of January 26, 2018!

Previous Releases
To see our progress over the last few months, please see the previous announcements:
http://blog.securityonion.net/2017/03/towards-elk-on-security-onion.html
http://blog.securityonion.net/2017/06/towards-elastic-on-security-onion.html
http://blog.securityonion.net/2017/07/towards-elastic-on-security-onion.html
http://blog.securityonion.net/2017/09/elastic-stack-alpha-release-and.html
http://blog.securityonion.net/2017/11/elastic-stack-beta-release-and-security.html
http://blog.securityonion.net/2017/11/elastic-stack-beta-2-release-and.html
http://blog.securityonion.net/2017/12/security-onion-elastic-stack-beta-3.html

RC1 Highlights

Upgraded from Elastic 5.6.5 to 6.1.2
Setup now includes an option for a forward-only sensor that doesn't run any Elastic components locally. Instead, syslog-ng forwards all logs to the master server via ssh tunnel. To try this option, run Setup, choose Experimental Setup, Production Mode, Sensor, Custom, enable Elastic Stack, forward to master server.
lots of cleanup and fixes

Elastic Stack 6.1.2

Issues Resolved
Issue 1179: Elastic Stack Release Candidate 1
https://github.com/Security-Onion-Solutions/security-onion/issues/1179

Issue 1184: 14.04.5.7 ISO image
https://github.com/Security-Onion-Solutions/security-onion/issues/1184

This new ISO image has been tested by Wes Lambert. Thanks, Wes!

Known Issues
For known issues, please see the todo list for our next release:
https://github.com/Security-Onion-Solutions/security-onion/issues/1198

Thanks
Special thanks to the following for their contributions to our Elastic Stack integration!

Elastic.co
Justin Henderson
Mark Baggett

New Installations
We've updated the Verify_ISO page for the new ISO image:
https://github.com/Security-Onion-Solutions/security-onion/blob/master/Verify_ISO.md

Please remember to verify the signature of the downloaded ISO image using the instructions on that page.

Please note! This ISO image includes the EXPERIMENTAL Elastic stack!

The Elastic components are included in the ISO image and Setup gives you an option of Stable Setup (ELSA) or Experimental Setup (Elastic). If you do not want to try the new Elastic stack, you can choose Stable Setup. If you choose Experimental Setup, the usual disclaimers and warnings apply!

Experimental Setup is BLEEDING EDGE and TOTALLY UNSUPPORTED!
If this breaks your system, you get to keep both pieces!
This is a work in progress and is in constant flux.
This is intended to build a quick prototype proof of concept so you can see what our ultimate Elastic configuration might look like. This configuration will change drastically over time leading up to the final release.
Do NOT run this on a system that you care about!
Do NOT run this on a system that has data that you care about!
This should only be run on a TEST box with TEST data!
Experimental Setup may result in nausea, vomiting, or a burning sensation.

For more about Elastic Release Candidate 1, please see https://securityonion.net/wiki/elastic and the Screenshot tour at the bottom of this blog post.

Please note the following minimum hardware requirements for the Elastic stack:

2 CPU cores
8GB RAM

If you would prefer an ISO image with no Elastic components at all, you have a few options:

Install the older Security Onion 14.04.5.2 ISO image and then run "sudo soup"

Install your preferred flavor of Ubuntu 14.04 and then add our PPA and your desired packages:
https://github.com/Security-Onion-Solutions/security-onion/wiki/InstallingOnUbuntu

Feedback
We want to hear from you! What works well? What could be improved? Please send feedback to our mailing list and include "Elastic RC1" in the Subject:
https://github.com/Security-Onion-Solutions/security-onion/wiki/MailingLists

Existing Deployments
If you have existing ELSA installations based on a previous 14.04 ISO image, there is no need to download this new ISO image. You can simply continue using our standard update process to install updated packages as they are made available:
https://github.com/Security-Onion-Solutions/security-onion/wiki/Upgrade

If you have existing Elastic installations (Technology Previews, Alpha, or Beta), we don't officially support upgrading to newer releases, but you can try the steps listed here:
https://securityonion.net/wiki/elastic-rc1

Release Notes
For more information about this release, please see:
https://github.com/Security-Onion-Solutions/security-onion/wiki/Security-Onion-14.04-Release-Notes

Want to show your support for Security Onion?
Security Onion t-shirts are available in our CafePress store!
http://www.cafepress.com/securityonion/11820053

Training
We offer onsite and online training! For more information, please see:
https://securityonionsolutions.com

Support
Need support? Please see:
https://securityonion.net/wiki/Support

Screenshot Tour