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Sean Merrow
Level 4
Level 4

Hello Everyone,

 

The Cisco VSM Software Assistant version 6.3.2 is here!  In addition to assisting partners, customers, and Cisco personnel with installations and upgrades to the new 6.3.2 VSM software, it also supports installing and/or upgrading CIVS-ENC for the new 8 and 16 port encoding cards (CIVS-ENC-8P and CIVS-ENC-16P).

 

The Challenge

 

Not all VSM users and installers are proficient with Linux and I’ve always felt that it would be great if they could perform an installation or upgrade and not have to be concerned with what an RPM file is, or how to uninstall and/or install one.  Not worry about Java, JRE, or symbolic links, and not forget to update the MySQL database, or worse, accidentally run the database_create script instead of database_update.  An upgrade process  that would verify that they have the necessary files on the server prior to launching the upgrade would be invaluable.

 

I'd even say that those proficient with Linux and the VSM environment would likely appreciate an easier upgrade process.

 

The Solution

 

With the attached script, you can simply download the necessary VSM software .zip files from Cisco.com and put them and the script in any directory on the server.  You can then run the script and answer only a few simple YES or NO questions and feel comfortable that the installation or upgrade will be a success.  The entire process is scrolled to the screen as well as logged to a file for analysis, if necessary, after the upgrade/install.

 

How to use the script to perform and install or upgrade

 

  1. Download the necessary .zip files from Cisco.com
  2. Copy them to the VSM server in any directory
  3. Copy this script to the same directory as the .zip files
  4. Make this script executable   (chmod +x vsmSoftware632.sh)
  5. Run the script (./vsmSoftware632.sh)
  6. Answer simple questions when prompted.

 

Tips

 

  • If the script errors out when you try to run it, then it may have been converted to DOS format during the transfer.  The typical error if this happens is /bin/bash^M unrecognized interpreter.   Try running the following command first, then run the script again

 

    • dos2unix –k vsmSoftware632.sh

 

  • If you need to e-mail the script to someone and it gets blocked by e-mail, then you can remove the .sh extension.  The script file can have any file extension you want, or none at all.  It will work.

 

Explanation

 

The script can do a clean install or an upgrade.  The clean install will allow you to choose which VSM components you want to install, then verify that the necessary .zip files are present.  Any existing components will be removed.  If VSOM is being installed, then the database_create.sh script is called.  When this is called, it will first check for an existing database (from a prior installation), and if one exists, it will ask you if you want to create a new one or not.  If you choose no to this prompt, then you’ll need to manually update the database when finished.

 

If you choose the upgrade option when launching the script, then it will only upgrade VSM components that are currently installed on the system.  If VSOM is installed, it will backup, then update the MySQL database as part of the upgrade.

 

Please use the script and I'd love to get your feedback here.  Let me know what you like about it, what you don't like about it, and what suggestions you have for it.  Of course, I also want to know if you run into any problems caused by the script.  I can't fix it if I don't know it's brokien ;- ) This script is not officially supported by our developement team, but I will try to get updates out as soon as possible when a bug...er...newly discovered feature...is found.

 

Thank you,

Sean

 

Sean Merrow     CCIE 25197

Physical Security CSE

Cisco Systems

 

 

Scenario 2:

Problem:

Once again user had multiple hard drives fail all at once that forced him to replace them and do a factory restore (time number 6).  He got Suse reinstalled, updated the VSMS server to 6.3.3, restored from backup.  Now the VSOM server sees the VSMS as up, but cannot see a version number, capacity, and says no repositories avaliable.  The VSMS server has 2 local repositories defined and active.

Has anyone seen this before and have any idea how to resolve it?

 

Solution:

I have VSOM on seperate server with 55 Media servers and yes I have seen this countless times. The first thing you should do is UPGRADE FW package on your servers to 11.0.1-0046 <-- this will fix lot of your issues with muiltple drive failures.

If this issue happens after FW upgrade follow these procedures. Because more then likely your operating System is still intact and all your data is still GOOD. Beleive me I fixed this many many times

If you have hard drive fail and after rebuild second drive fails, go into WebBios CTRL-H and look at drive states normally one drive will say OFFLINE and other FAILED. Make offlline drive - ONLINE and reboot server. After reboot ,WebBios check state of hard drives Which will probably say Unconfigured Spun Up.

Command MegaCli -cfgForeign -Scan -aALL

Command MegaCli -cfgForeign -Clear -aALL

Now make Foreign drive as Hot Spare

Comamnd MegaCli -PDHSP -Set -Physdrv \[E:S\] -aALL

E - Enclosure ID S - Slot drive number

 

Source Discussion

https://supportforums.cisco.com/discussion/11992816/vsms-recover-failure

Comments
Scott Olsen
Level 6
Level 6

Thanks for the confirmation.  I never actually did get a chance to try here in our lab yet due to a combination of scheduling and holiday vacations.

At least I know I'll be able to use it without issue when I do get the opportunity to refresh our internal lab.

Cheers!

teddycousins
Level 1
Level 1

Hi Sean -

Can I also use this script to upgrade from 3.1/5.1?

Sean Merrow
Level 4
Level 4

Hi Teddy,

The script was never tested on 3.1/5.1.  I do know that there were some pretty significant architectural changes between 3.1/5.1 and the 6.3.x series.  I would recommend openeing a case with TAC to make sure your upgrade goes smoothly.

Thanks,

Sean

teddycousins
Level 1
Level 1

Okay...thanks again for this response!

daniel.funk
Community Member

Sean,  This script appeared to run great.  I'm getting an error when logging into the web portal of the VSOM, "There is a problem with the application, DB error connect failed"  I checked settings and left the password blank when I did the fresh install.  Ideas? No errors shown when installing.  Thanks

Sean Merrow
Level 4
Level 4

Hi Daniel,

Sounds like MySQL may not be running.  You can check the status of it and restart it with the following commands:

/etc/init.d/mysql status

/etc/init.d/mysql stop

/etc/init.d/mysql start

/etc/init.d/mysql status

If you find that it is not running, but everything works after you start it up, then you can use the following steps to make sure it starts up after the next reboot:

Check to see which run levels mysql is configured to start up automatically

vsom-server # chkconfig --list | grep mysql

mysql    0:off  1:off  2:off  3:off  4:off  5:off  6:off

Okay, so it is not set up startup on any run level.  Let’s fix that:

vsom-server # chkconfig mysql on

vsom-server # chkconfig --list | grep mysql

mysql     0:off  1:off  2:on   3:on   4:off  5:on  6:off

If none of this helps, then please open a case with Cisco TAC and a Phy Sec support engineer can assist.  You'll want to get them the log file that was created and placed in the same folder as the script when you ran it.

Thanks,

Sean

tbergquist
Level 1
Level 1

Sean,

This worked beautifully!  A huge time saver.  I actually spent more time uploading the zip files to the remote site VSMS servers than it took to run this script.

Thanks!

Tim

Ed Johnston
Level 1
Level 1

Has anyone tried the script with 6.3.2 MR3 yet?

tbergquist
Level 1
Level 1

I just used it for MR3 and it worked great.

Ed Johnston
Level 1
Level 1

Great. Thanks!

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