UPGRADATION WITHOUT DOWNTIME

[Siva chinap]

:

Cisco Unified Communications Upgrade & Virtualization

:

we are looking forward to upgrade its existing Unified communications infrastructure based on Cisco on a virtualized environment. The current system is based on the following: i) Call Manager v8.5 ii) Cisco Presence v 8.5 iii) Cisco Contact Center Express v8.5 iv) Unity Connections v9. we are required to migrate systems i, ii & iii currently running on MCS hardware without downtime to the Virtual environment and upgrade it to the latest stable release of v10 and integrate i, ii, iii & iv.  Is it possible to upgrade without downtime? what are the diffculties i will face while migrating? which is the best & suitable way to migrate? Help on this taks!!

[Aman Soi]

Hi Siva,

You need to build the new system in offline /non-production mode since IP addresses would remain same.

Further, firmware of IP phones on latest CUCM 10 also needs to be looked.

I suggest upgrading phone firmwares in existing CUCM 8.x to latest available versions so as to have minimal downtime.

regds,

aman

[Siva chinap]

Aman,

How abt migration steps?

[Siva chinap]

Dear Aman,

As u gone through Ayodeji steps,he told to give diffrent ip address

[Aman Soi]

Hi Siva,

I am also in SYNC ith AOK provided if u can do that since PCD is an excellent tool to do this.

Also, if u do that your donwtime would be almost negligble since Old MCS would keep on working and new VM should power ON when u are ready to put in production.

If u keep different IPs for CUCM 10, u just need to change in TFTP option 150  [point to new TFTP CUCM server] in DHCP pool.

regds,

aman

[Siva chinap]

Aman,

Installing cucm 8.6 into vm environment,while upgrading to version 10..should i required any

upgrade licenses

[Aman Soi]

Yes.

U need licenses for CUCM 10 which is PLM[Prime License Manager].

Prior to migration, upload any un-used PAKs, run LCU [license count utility] which is downloadable from Cisco.this would be csv file consisting of details of Basic/ UCL enhanced/ enhnced plus , CUWL standard, IP address of Publisher etc

After successful migration to CUCM 10, generate the file from PLM . Send this and LCU report to licensing@cisco.com to get the desired licenses.You have a grace period of 60 days after u do successful migration to CUCM 10.

Upload the recived file from licensing team.

https://supportforums.cisco.com/document/12229791/understanding-cisco-prime-license-managerplm

refer the link for PLM

https://supportforums.cisco.com/document/12229461/licensing-cucm-10x-using-cisco-prime-license-manager

regds,

aman

[Siva chinap]

Aman

This procdedure is clear,my doubt installing cucm 8 in UCS should required any temprorary licenses for upgrade to 10

[Ayodeji Okanlawon]

No, you don't need any licenses. You license the cluster after upgrading to 10.5. Ensure that you use the cucm10.5 ova for the 8.5 install on UCS because you will be later migrating to 10.5 This will save you the need to change the vm settings later on

[Aman Soi]

[+5] to AOK.

regds,

aman

[Siva chinap]

Ayodeji,

Wow really good information,sure i will deploy with CUCM 10.5 ova ...

[Siva chinap]

After upgrading  Call Manager in ucs platform remaining servers should i upgrade randomly or i should follow any procedure for   Cisco Presence ,Cisco Contact Center Expres, Unity Connections 

[Aman Soi]

Hi Siva,

Unity connection should be done at last.

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/connection/compatibility/matrix/cucsccpmtx.html

Supported Version Combinations for Cisco Unity Connection 7.x and Later with Cisco Unified Communications Manager

Cisco Unity Connection	Cisco Unified Communications Manager
7.x and Later	10.5, 10.0(1), 9.1(2), 9.1(1), 9.0(1),8.6(2),8.6(1),8.5(1),8.0(x), 7.1(x), 7.0(x), 6.1(x), 6.0(x), 5.1(x), 5.0(x)

For CCX, refer the link but do check your exact existing CCX version .Should be 8.5(1)SU4

http://docwiki.cisco.com/wiki/Unified_CCX_Software_Compatibility_Matrix_for_10.5(1)

for presence,refer the link but do check your existing version.

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/cucm/compat/matrix/10_x/CUCM_BK_CD1DB914_00_compat_matrix.pdf

regds,

aman

[Aman Soi]

If u install CUCM 8 in UCS, then u can request   temp/permanent licenses.the same u can get from licensing team.This would be License MAC.

Now, since u are upgrading finally to CUCM 10, then,u can request permanent CUCM 10 licenses after successful migration.This procedure is if u do not follow PCD.

In case , if u go with PCD then, u would get grace period of 60 days.

regds,

aman 

[Ayodeji Okanlawon]

There are two ways this upgrade will be achieve without down time.

1. You will need to use different IP address for all your servers. This has its own headaches. For this to happen you need to do the ff:

a. Install cucm, cups 8.5 on a stand alone network. Make sure its stand alone.

b. Restore your production DRS backup to the new install

c. change the ip address of your servers to new ip and put it on your production network. NB: when you change you ip there are other things to consider. You will need to change the ip on the other applications too..eg unity connection, CUPs etc

2. Upgrade all your servers on VM to 10.5. Please refer to the link below on best practices to upgrade to 10.5

https://supportforums.cisco.com/discussion/12313756/cucm-862-upgrade-cucm-105

3. After your upgrade is complete, you will need to go and change the default firmware load on your server to the old firmware load running on your cucm 8.5. If you don't do this when your phone registers to the new 10.5 cucm cluster, they will upgrade their firmware and this will lead to downtime.

4. finally change the tftp address on your dhcp to point to the new 10.5 cluster

5. Go to your old cluster and reset all the phones, they should register to the new cluster with minimal down time..

My suggestion is to advise your customer that this is a major upgrade and that there will be down time even if it is small.