ICM5.0sr4 - OS (W2K) upgrade - should I stop Cisco services?

[Gergely Szabo]

My question is quite simple: is it absolutely necessary to stop Cisco ICM services when installing Windows 2000 hotfixes/security patches?

In my humble opinion: no. My manager argues yes, we should, since installing any Windows hotfix requires shutting down all running programs. However, Cisco ICM is not based on >>programs<<, but services/daemons, so obviously, if I must stop them before installing a Windows hotfix I am supposed to stop all running daemons, including the critical Windows ones which would shut the whole server down!

I was desperately seeking a document on CCO which could give me a clear yes or no answer to the question above. All I found was this: http://www.cisco.com/application/pdf/en/us/guest/products/ps1001/c1225/ccmigration_09186a008031dcac.pdf

(navigate to Microsoft Security Updates)

Which only RECOMMENDS to keep the Automatic Updates off, by the way.

Thanks!

[amascari]

I'm a bit confused about the latter part of your question. You will only need to stop the ICM related services (ie. if you are working on your PG, you will stop PG services). I would recommend stopping ICM Services if you intend to do any sort of maintenance. Due to the fault tolerant nature of the ICM, you should be able to bring down one side of your various pairs gracefully and do your OS security upgrade with minimal impact. Of course, you should also do this maintenance during an acceptable window. Good luck.

[Gergely Szabo]

In the meantime I opened a TAC service request and the engineer I was communicating with confirmed

Yes, it is safe to leave ICM services running.

while installing OS security updates/hotfixes. This sounds absolutely logical to me as well, since there is not supposed to be any impact on the running Cisco ICM services due to the fact I am performing update on the operating system files.

The enginer warned me, however, it's best to shut down all running applications, which is quite OK, since they are run by the OS shell (explorer.exe this case).

Thanks for Your attention, I hope this helped...

[amascari]

Actually, I think it's a moot point since the server has to be rebooted after a security update.

Regarding the Third-Party Software and Security Updates policy for Customer Contact software. More information is available here:

http://www.cisco.com/application/pdf/en/us/guest/products/ps3651/c1037/ccmigration_09186a0080207fb9.pdf