MeetingPlace 8.6 migration to VM

[Pamela White]

Can anyone tell me the best path to take on moving from MCS 7835 l2 to VM?  This is an audio only installation, no webex integration or web server.  The only thing we use is the Outlook plug-in. CUCM integration is SIP trunk.

We currently have MP 8.5.3.4.  We are upgrading CUCM to 10.5 and need to upgrade MP to 8.6.  Everything else is on VM except for MP and would like to move it too.  I know that it needs to be upgraded to 8.5.5 before going to 8.6.  At what stage would it be best to migrate to VM?

[dpetrovi]

Hi Pamela,

This is a complex move but as long as you follow the process, you should be good. 

Here is what you should do as a rough overview:

1. Deploy a dedicated UCS server and ESXi host for each MP Application server (do you have only one server or you have active/standby failover?) Make sure you deploy the correct ESXi version which will be supported by MP you plan to deploy (8.5.5 support ESXi 5.0 and earlier, 8.6 support ESXI 5.1 and earlier , and 8.6 MR1 support ESXi 5.5 and earlier)

2.Once you have host(s) ready, you need to decide if you will be updating your existing system first all the way to 8.6, or you will first move it to VM and then update. Keep in mind you must decide this before installing ESXi hosts on the UCS server so you have the compatible version.

3. If you decide to first move the system and then update,  you will have to back the original system up to an RSYNC server first

4. Gracefully Power OFF the original system, you will pretty much deploy MP (8.5.3 and the hotfixes if any installed on the original system) on VM from scratch to the same version level of the original system. And then you will restore from the backup. Original and new system must be on the same version level in order to successfully restore from the backup.

5. Once you restored from backup, you can perform updates (8.5.3 > 8.5.5 > 8.6.1 > 8.6.2)

6. Once you are on 8.6.2 (8.6 MR1) you can update your ESXi hosts to 5.5 if preferred and distribute the new outlook plug-in

If more details are needed, we can elaborate over the next few days.

-Dejan

[Pamela White]

Thank you, Dejan

What is the path if we upgrade the MCS to 8.6 first?  I am just starting to look into this and I believe we need to do a firmware upgrade first.

Pamela

[dpetrovi]

Hi Pamela,

If you will perform the updates on the MCS first, you will need to update the MCS firmware first as per requirements.

Then you will need to update 8.5.3 to 8.5.5.

Then you will need to update 8.5.5 to 8.6.1.

And finally, 8.6.1 to 8.6.2 (8.6 MR1).

Once you have MCS on 8.6.2, back it up. After that deploy 8.6.1 on a VM, then update to 8.6.2, and then restore from the backup.

I hope this clarifies it.

-Dejan

[Pamela White]

Very much so!  Thank you for the info that would probably take me hours of searching and reading to figure out.

[Pamela White]

Can you clarify something?  You said, "Once you have MCS on 8.6.2, back it up. After that deploy 8.6.1 on a VM, then update to 8.6.2, and then restore from the backup."

Does that mean we would have to install 8.6 on EXSi 5.1 and earlier and then update that to 8.6.2?  We currently have EXSi 5.5 so it seems like there would be an issue with installing 8.6 at first.

[dpetrovi]

Hi Pamela,

We haven't seen issues with installation of 8.6.1 to ESXi 5.5, but if after the install you have any operational issues on 8.6.1 version, then BU help wouldn't be possible to get.

However, since you will be using 8.6.2 system on ESXi 5.5, that should be support and you shouldn't have any issues.

If your ESXi host is on 5.5 version level, you should be fine installing 8.6.1 on it and then updating to 8.6.2.

-Dejan

[Pamela White]

Thank you for all your help.  :-)

[Pamela White]

Well, VM is out.  It is only compatible with UCS VM, we have IBM hardware for VM.

We do have spare MCS servers since everything else has been moved to VM.  Now need to find out how to move it to another server.  We could upgrade in place but, my experience tells me to not mess with production if at all possible.  Would rather replace it and leave the current server intact.

[dpetrovi · Accepted solution]

No matter what you decide to do, make sure to have the backup of the original server, and to note down 'swstatus' and 'gwstatus' outputs from MP App server CLI as well as the version from the Admin Web interface of the system when the backup is taken.

With that information, we can recover your system no matter what happens. 

If you want to use another server, you can do it. Build it to the same exact version level as your original one, restore from backup, perform the upgrades, and then you will need to rehost the license file due to MAC address change.

I hope this helps.

-Dejan

[Pamela White]

It does help, thanks.  I only have one 7845-l2 available according to my records, have to find out where it is over two data centers.  I have been through the wringer with Cisco about getting 8.5.2.8 so I'm not even going to go there.  I will start with the 8.0 and upgrade from there.

[dpetrovi]

Private message me your Cisco.com account ID.

-Dejan

[Pamela White]

Sorry for so many questions!  After thinking about I believe the best thing to do is to install 8.5.3.4 on VM, backup and restore the server, then upgrade from there.  At least that will leave the production system intact for fallback.

The server team is creating the VM for me and I'm getting together what I need to install.  I have downloaded 8.5.3.4 bin file but at this point I'm not sure where to start.  I don't have it on DVD to boot to (is a bin file bootable??)  The only thing I have is an old 8.5.2 on DVD but it is Cisco Unified MeetingPlace MPWinOS for UCS.  It's been years since I created the Linux MCS and don't even remember how that was done.

[dpetrovi]

Hi Pamela,

In order to deploy MP 8.5.2.8 (which is the only 8.5 version available as an ISO image), you will need to obtain the ISO/DVD for MP8.5.2.8 for UCS. If you don't have it, you can call into Cisco Customer Service to ask for a software media RMA. 

Once you get a media and deploy MP8.5.2.8, then you can use the 8.5.3.4 bin file available on cisco.com to upgrade to 8.5.3.4.  Bin files are only upgrade files, and you can't do a new install with them. 

So your migration path in this case would be:

1. Note down the exact version of your original MP system (note down the version displayed on MP Administration page, as well as the version displayed when you run 'swstatus' command in the MP App server CLI (you can SSH with mpxadmin account))

2. Perform a full system backup and archive it to an RSYNC server.

3. Deploy a dedicated UCS server for MP that fits requirements specified in documentation

4. Install the appropriate ESXi version

5. Create a Virtual Machine per MP requirements listed in the documentation

6. Mount MP8.5.2.8 Application server ISO to the VM and install MP Application Server version 8.5.2.8. Make sure to install VMware Tools after the installation (as per documentation)

7. Upgrade it to MP8.5.3.4 (and any hotfix if Admin Web version and swstatus versions are different from 8.5.3.4; e.g. 8.5.3.10 etc.)

8. Once on the exactly the same version as the original system, perform a restore from backup useing remote RSYNC server where the backups are stored.

9. Once the system is restored, proceed with upgrading to MP8.5.5.2

10. After this is completed successfully, run another backup to have it on this version level (just in case).

11. Upgrade to MP8.6.1.2 version.

12. If upgrade to MP8.6.1.2 is scucessful, back the system up again to have a backup on that version level (you know if the next update fails, you can deploy 8.6.1.2 version and restore and avoid doing all from 8.5.2.8 version level).

13. Finally, upgrade to MP8.6.2.10 version.

14. Test the system and ensure all is working as expected.

Keep in mind that MP doesn't support any advanced VM functions (cloning, vMotion, etc.)

I hope this will help. This process is demanding and if you haven't done this before, it may be overwhelming. Feel free to reach out to TAC for preparation assistance as well if you find this communication insufficient.

-Dejan

[Pamela White]

Thank you!  :)

I guess it's not too bad, just a lot of steps.  Just got done virtualizing CER, 3 CUCM servers, and 2 CCX servers so I'm familiar with it.  I'll do a test system, upgrading through all 5 versions, to see what we run into first.