upgrading CUCM, CUC and IMP 11.5(x) to 11.5(y) : PCD or Manual method? which one is good?

[jaheshkhan]

One of the client wants to upgrade CUCM, CUC and IMP 11.5(x) to 11.5(y) .

Which UPGRADE method better? PCD or manual method ? what are the merits and demerits one over the other ?

Which 11.5 version is currently stable? is 11.5SUP8 stable? i dont want to get into trouble after upgrading it.. 

Pleas help me in this regard...

Also expressway 8.8.1 to 8.11.4. do we need to upgrade to any version prior to 8.11.4 before upgrading to 8.11.4?

[Nithin Eluvathingal · Accepted solution]

Using PCD  you can automate the upgrade. schedule it.  I would prefer PCD. 

you need read  below and you  have all the answers. 

• Upgrade and Migration Guide  for your applications.
• Release notes

Go through the below filed notice too.

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/field-notices/705/fn70555.html

[Roger Kallberg · Accepted solution]

I would vote for PCD any day of the week. The automation part makes the upgrade sequencing quite easy and hands off.

[jaheshkhan]

Thanks for the reply.
what will happen if the upgrade fail for some reason in PCD. will it make any issue?
is it ok for expressway to upgrade from 8.8.1 to 8.11.4 ? I hope there is no requirement for  any intermediate version. I only see that 8.6 or earlier version only needed to upgrade to intermediate version 8.8.2 version prior to upgrade to 8.11.4.

so is it ok from 8.8.1 ---> 8.11.4? 

or 8.8.1 ---> 8.8.2 ----> 8.11.4? which path do i need to follow?

from release note of 8.11.4 i can see its 8.8.1 ---> 8.11.4.

if any body have above mentioned expressway upgrade experience please share it..

[Nithin Eluvathingal · Accepted solution]

if you have planed your upgrade with all prerequisites as per the upgrade guide, I don't think there is a chance of failure. 

Release Guide recommend to upgrade to 8.8.2 and then to 8.11.4. please follow the same. 

https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/expressway/release_note/Cisco-Expressway-Release-Note-X8-11-4.pdf

[jaheshkhan]

ok. ill then upgrade to 8.8.2 first as intermediate version since it says its recommended. but first sentence mentions if running version is 8.6 or earlier then you upgrade to 8.8.2. but my version is 8.8.1. 

still as safe side ill first upgrade to 8.8.2 first.

thanks...

[Roger Kallberg]

There is no difference in what happens when a upgrade fails independent of what option you use for the upgrade. If it fails in PCD it would do the same in CLI or webUI. You can setup PCD to send a email if something goes wrong, that option would not be present for the other two. The beauty of PCD is that you can start the upgrade on a schedule so that it runs during the dark hours of your operation window, so that you can wake up and check how it went and do your post upgrade verifications.

[jaheshkhan]

I was able to successfully upgrade the system using PCD. but it got failed in between because i was not aware the client has did vm snapshot for all collaboration applications.
then in the middle i have to delete all snapshots for cucm cuc and im presence. then proceeded. 
at teh end it was all successful. thanx for advice

[Roger Kallberg]

I hope you do know that using snapshots on UC systems is not a supported solution by Cisco. I strongly suggest that you bring this up with your client so that they can take the needed steps to stop the snapshots of the UC VMs.

Otherwise thanks for the update on your use of PCD and that it worked out for you.

[jaheshkhan]

Yes i know its not supported. but i didnt notice there was snapshots  created by them for all UC VMs. I deleted all the snapshots in the middle of upgrade process and then proceed further upgrade process and ended up successfully .

[Roger Kallberg]

What I mean is that you should make sure that there is not even the possibility to take any snapshots on the UC VMs. You can do that by setting this parameter in the advanced VM configuration.

If you want to know more about this have a look at this link for a KB at VMware.