Upgrade to Cisco Prime 4.2

[Mark Richards]

Hi,

I currently use an upgraded version of LMS 3.2 SP1 for 1.5K devices and I've managed to persuade the finance dept that I need to upgrade to 4.2.

My question is regarding the upgrade process because I currently use a physical Windows server and need to use a VM on a UCS Blade for the new version. In the documentation I've found makes reference to the fact that I need to perform a remote upgrade from one system to the other but I want to start with a clean slate and don't really want to transfer all the discovered devices or current jobs to the new install.

All I want to do is make sure that the version we're purchasing (upgrade from 3.2 SP1 for up to 300 devices) is properly licensed. I was going to download the eval version, install it on the VM and then apply the license but it's the "applying the license" part that I'm concerned with. From what I've read it looks as though I need to perform a normal backup and then migrate all the data across to the new installation. Is there a way to just transfer the license details or do I have to follow the complete process then delete everything I don't want so that I can start again?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Mark.

[Vinod Arya]

Hi Mark,

if you want to start afresh with LMS 42 without migrating the data its completely fine. You dont have to perform remote migration steps and you can start afresh from 0 with new Server.

For details on which OS are supported please check the guide:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/net_mgmt/ciscoworks_lan_management_solution/4.2/install/guide/prereq.html#wp1119955

In short now only win2k8 and Sol 10 and a OVA linux soft appliance is available for VMWare.

Yes you can install the Eval copy of LMS 4.2 and whenevry you apply license before the expiry of Eval it becomes a licensed software with lic device limit.

Point to notice is in Eval mode only 100 devices are supported so more than that will not be managed by LMS 4.2, hence add more devices once you apply license.

Installing license is easy task too, see Installing the License File.

As a suggestion to get devices more faster on your new LMS 4.2 is you can export the DCR devices with credentials from LMS 3.2 and import DCR back on LMS 4.2, which will get all the device list without older data. Else a Standard Device  Discovery in LMS 4.2 should be able to do the job easily as well.

-Thanks

Vinod

[Mark Richards]

Hi Vinod,

Thanks for the information.

One question I still have though is if I am upgrading to LMS 4.2 from 3.2.1 and I've only purchased the upgrade version of LMS 4.2 how does the install verify that I already have a licensed copy of LMS 3.2.1? Do I have to provide both the new PAK and the original PAK or do I copy the original .lic file onto the new LMS 4.2 installation?

Thanks.

[Vinod Arya]

Hi Mark,

You have to freshly install LMS 4.2 and then perform remote data migration from LMS 3.2 SP1, LMS 4.0.1 and LMS 4.1. LMS 4.2 does not support direct upgrade from previous versions other than LMS 4.0.1/4.1.

LMS license mechanism is robust yet very simple and efficient. For LMS no matter how you get a License file it will be .lic file which can be directly applied to LMS 4.2 via GUI and it will apply the license. After that if you want to migrate the data from LMS 3.2.1 back or start all over it shouldn't matter for LMS 4.2.

But if you want to migrate data, be sure to apply license. Unified Device Manager (UDM) will get the count of managed devices from PIDM table of the backup data (only distinct device IDs). Based on the LMS 4.2 license count, the respective number of devices will be moved to Managed state and the remaining devices will be moved to Suspended state. So all the collections will be running only for the Managed devices in UDM. But for the Suspended devices, the history of the data will be maintained. If you want to run the collections for Suspended devices, you can either:

•Upgrade the LMS 4.2 license

•Move some of the unnecessary devices from the Managed state to Unmanaged state and move necessary devices from the Suspended state to the Managed state.

In short don't worry much just apply the .lic file you get from Cisco for LMS 4.2 and forget all the licensing queries.

-Thanks

Vinod