CUCM 8.6.2 upgrade to CUCM 10.5

[Cristian Boboc]

Hi,

I have to upgrade a virtualized CUCM cluster (PUB, SUB1, SUB2, TFTP) version 8.6.2 SU3 to version 10.5.

As per documentation this should be a direct refresh upgrade and no need of PCD to do it.

Based on the documentation the main steps of the upgrade are:

-changing the OS to RHEL 6 (64-bit) and the Network Adapter from "Flexible" to "VMXNET 3” for the VM (shut down the VM and perform the changes)

-run ciscocm.version3-keys.cop.sgn.

-run ciscocm.free_common_space_v1.1.cop.sgn

-run the 10.5 ugrade file in following order: PUB, TFTP, SUB1, SUB2

The existing 8.6.2 OVA, 7500 users is using 2 vCPU and 80GB for each vdisk (total of 160GB).

The 10.5 OVA, 7500 users requires 1 vCPU and 110GB for the vdisk.

Does anybody know if I have to run the ciscocm.free_common_space_v1.1.cop.sgn to increase the space to 110GB on each vdisk  (even if the total size is 160GB on 2 vdisks which is more then 110GB required on 10.5 OVA)?

Cisco engineer said that this is not possible as well that I can not change the OS to RHEL 6 (64-bit) on the existing server/VM (ESXi 4.1 U3.

He recommends to create a new VM using the new OVA and use the DRS and restore process for performing the upgrade.

Any input/advise will be appreciated!

Thanks.

[chandramauliks]

Hello Cristian

Congrats on your successful upgrade. great write, adds value to this post

I had a question like if i have 1 Pub and 4 Sub [pair AB & Pair CD], would you suggest this approach?

Can i do like this

1. Starting with pub, install "ciscocm.bashupgrade.cop.sgn", ciscocm.version3-keys.cop.sgn

2. Shut the Pub, change guest OS to RHEL 6, change Network adaptor [no vdisk change]

3. Power UP

4. Upgrade 10.5 iso from sftp, after upgrade reboot by switching to new 10.5

5. take DRS backup of 10.5 pub 

6. Shut the upgraded 10.5 Pub, build new OVA VM for 10.5 PUB, fresh install with bootable 10.5 iso from datastore of esxi

7. Restore the DRS from backup of previous PUB

8. Now at this time i have 1 New OVA PUB 10.5 and four 8.6 OVA sub [old ova 2 x 80gb]

9. Can I shut a pair CD 8.6 SUb , start building two new VM with 10.5 OVA and fresh install?

10. if yes, so i fresh install new pair of CD sub with 10.5 and check DB rep

11. if all good, now can i work on other AB 8.6 Sub pair now? and do rest of fresh install?

Thanks

Chandramauli

[Cristian Boboc]

Hi,

Yes, the plan seems to be good.

Just a few considerations:

-make sure that all the phones/gateways...are registered to the last SUB you will upgrade.

If you have phones/devices registered to the 2 different versions then no communication between the phones (2 different clusters).

-Cisco recommends first to upgrade PUB, all TFTP servers, then the SUBs.

-Before you go to the next server upgrade make sure that the replication between the 10.5 servers are OK

-When you build the new 10.5 PUB server keep exactly the same info (IP addresses, web-security info...) as the initial PUB

-Also, after the DRS install or any new server don't forget to start the services, check the configuration, enterprise and service parameters...

Hope this will help.

[chandramauliks]

After i reverted my upgrade attempt on customers live network i wanted to test in lab for upgrading 8.6.2 to 10.5.1. Its a CUCM SME version

PCD i did not prefer as i felt no use other than saving few clicks in upgrading file and switching version which i can do manually. PCD is all selling point of cisco with little use. but yes may be if you are doing multiple clusters etc i dont know whats so flashy and glittery about this tool rather you do it manually and monitor the progress. Again you waste time in installing the PCD, setting up things etc.

" I DID CHANGE THE 8.6.2 2nd VDISK FROM 80GB T0 110GB WHILE I LEFT THE 1st VDISK AT 80GB. NO ERRORS , NO PARTITION ALLIGNMENT ERROR"

I DID NOT USE ANY FREEDISKSPACE COP FILE AS ITS 8.6.2 AND HAD ENOUGH COMMON PARTITION SPACE [even in my production cluster]. NO WATERMARK LEVEL CHANGED IN RTMT

current version 8.6.2.20000-2

upgrade to 10.5.1.10000-7

COP files in installed BASHUPGRADE and VERSION3-KEYS

steps

1. Powered down the 8.6.2 virtual machine. Changed the guest OS to RHEL 6 - 64bit

2. Changed the 2nd vdisk from 80gb to 110gb from edit settings of VM, left the 1st vdisk as such in 80gb

3. Changed the network adaptor type to VMXNET3 [took some time to understand the steps from ova template but once done i got what needs to be done]

4. Powered up the VM on with existing 8.6.2

5. Installed bashupgrade and version3-keys [this is important as the upgrade file might show cheksum errors] 

6. Uploaded the 10.5.1 upgrade image from ftp server and chose not to switch version

7. Upgrade file was installed successfully, reboot happened.

8. Logged in and went to settings>version> switch version which rebooted the VM with the 10.5.1 version

Attached screenshots of upgraded version that doesnt show HD partition alignment error 

[Yort Mantup]

I am doing the upgrade in a test environment from 8.5.1 to 10.5..  I am at the point where I need to change the network adaptor type to VMXNET3 which I did using the vSphere Power CLI.  After reloading the VM I lost the IP address of that VM and am unsure what I need to do next..  I used the Power CLI because it seemed much simpler then the other options.

[Martin Newman]

Since 8.6 to 10.5 is still a popular upgrade, I wanted to provide information from the Cisco docwiki about the vdisks and what is supported.

I hope this helps and would like to hear any comments about it.

Notes on 7500 user VM configuration

• Use for publishers, subscribers, standalone TFTP, standalone multicast MOH nodes, ELM or PAWS-M.
• User count based on:
  • 1 device per user
  • 7.5K phones per VM
  • 30K max phones per cluster
  • 45K max BHCC per VM
  • 180K max BHCC per cluster
  • Your design/results may vary
• vdisk configurations
  • New installs of 9.1 and above must use 1x110 GB vdisk. Older versions used 2x80GB or other configurations as shown in tables above.
  • VM configurations with 2 virtual disks use them as follows:
    • vDisk 1 = Operating System + app binaries
    • vDisk 2 = Logs
  • Upgrades from 8.x VMs with 2x80GB vdisks to 9.1 or higher are not required to change the vdisk. 9.1 and higher will support these two-vdisk options: 2x80GB and 1x80GB+1x110GB (where auto-grow COP was used on second vdisk).
  • Customers who want to use less storage space must use the 1x110GB vdisk and a reinstall plus restore from backup is required to change from 2x80GB to 1x110GB.
  • Note that vdisk partition alignment is affected only by not using the Cisco-provided OVA for initial install or reinstall of a VM. Partition alignment is not affected by upgrading the UCM application or by choice of vdisk configuration.

http://docwiki.cisco.com/wiki/Virtualization_for_Cisco_Unified_Communications_Manager_%28CUCM%29#Notes_on_7500_user_VM_configuration

[Ruterford]

Hi Ayodeji,

Thanks for the great plan, can you please let me know if steps 6 to 7 inclusive are still required even if using PCD?

Thanks!