Call Manager 11.0 RIS Db LoadID/ActiveLoadID Discrepancies regarding IP phone firmware

Richard McLoughlin · ‎03-15-2017

I'm trying to ensure that all of our Cisco IP phone models have the same version of firmware and struggling as I seem to be getting conflicting information from various sources. I'll deal just with Cisco 7941/7961 handsets as they seem to be the most affected.

We recently upgraded our Call Manager from version 7.13 to version 11.0. Prior to the upgrade, we upgraded IP phone firmware from SCCP41.8-5-2SR1S to SCCP41.9-4-2SR1-1S. We upgraded around 200 at a time a waited a few minutes so as not to overwhelm the TFTP server. We expected some sticky ones, there always are but we still seem to be mopping up several months on.

With reference to https://supportforums.cisco.com/discussion/11765751/how-show-all-phones-firmware-report and http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/unified-communications/unified-communications-manager-callmanager/118307-probsol-cucm-00.pdf, I checked Unified CM Administration - device - device Settings - Firmware Load Information which reported only one device not using the default load.

Given the number of support calls were getting, I ran a "show risdb query list phone file filename" on each of our subscribers.

In one instance, the LoadID is different from the ActiveLoadID which supports the Firmware Load Information. However on a further sixty six instances, the LoadID field correctly shows SCCP41.9-4-2SR1-1S but the ActiveLoadID is blank. Interestingly enough, the IPV4Attr field is set to zero but in instances where the two fields match, the IPV4Attr field is set to three. All phones are registered with Call Manager.

If I browse to to the device web page on one or more of the phones, the Device Information page shows a version other than SCCP41.9-4-2SR1-1S and the debug page shows SCCP41.8-2-1S File Auth Fail: SCCP41.9-4-2SR1-1S which would indicate the firmware is too many steps removed to upgrade in one step (If memory serves, the earliest release to was SCCP41.8-5-2SR1-1S to upgrade to SCCP41.9-4-2SR1-1S in one step)

So my questions are:-

1. What is the difference between the LoadID and ActiveLoadID?

2. Why would the ActiveLoadID be blank in some instances and do I have a RIS database issue/corruption?

3. What does the IPV4Attr field contain and is it related or co-incidental?

I am aware that to resolve the issues with the phones running SCCP41.8-2-1S, I need to install SCCP41.8-3-3SR2S and possibly SCCP41.8-5-2SR1S on the cluster and upgrade each phone to that by updating its Phone Load Name before attempting to upgrade to SCCP41.9-4-2SR1-1S.

Any help/ guidance would be very much appreciated with regard to the RIS Db LoadID/ActiveLoadID discrepancies.

Rich

Richard McLoughlin · ‎03-15-2017

Hi

After further reading, I may be able to answer some my own questions. If someone would be kind enough to sanity check please

The LoadID is that as specified in the Device - Device Settings - Device Defaults page.

The ActiveLoadID might be different if a different firmware image has been specified in the IP phones Phone Load Name dialogue box

Phones stuck on very early versions of firmware like SCCP41.8-2-1S don't have the ability to update the ActiveLoadID.

If early versions of firmware don't support updating the ActiveLoadID, that would explain the blank ActiveLoadID in the RIS DB Output?

If the ActiveLoad ID isn't updated (blank), would that explain the false report from device - device Settings - Firmware Load Information which incorrectly indicates only one phone has deviated from the default load?

What does the IPV4Attr field refer to?

Best

Rich

Richard McLoughlin · ‎03-24-2017

After some pointers from our Cisco Gold partners - it is clear that the issue I am seeing is version related.

These two links refer:-

https://supportforums.cisco.com/discussion/11716036/active-load-id-unknown

https://supportforums.cisco.com/discussion/11430991/active-load-id

I had already come to the come to the conclusion that 7940's and 7960's weren't capable of generating the alerts as the Load ID/Active Load ID fields are consistently populated/not populated in the RIS database. It was the inconsistencies relating to the 7941/7961's that I had questioned but in the back of my mind, I wondered if it was version related. It would be useful if there was a document/list somewhere that details which versions of SCCP for which phones will generate the alert.

Not sure how I mark this question as answered?