Cisco TMS Upgrade (Backup Meetings)

[Nalaka Karunaratne]

Hi,

I'm upgrading from TMS from 14.1 to 14.5. Couple of questions.

* From the admin guide it tells you to backup the SQL database using SQL backup components

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms187048%28v=sql.105%29.aspx.

Does this backup the current scheduled meetings ?

* Does the upgrade effect the current scheduled meetings? If so is there any supported way to backup / restore the current scheduled meetings. There are several re-current meetings in the organisation so need to know if these will be impactd

Thanks

Nalaka

[Jens Didriksen · Accepted solution]

tmsng db contains all the scheduled meetings which has been scheduled right up until you tell people not to schedule any more due to upgrade. ;)

I run tms and the sql server on vms and just take a snapshot of both just prior to upgrade. Haven't had any issues with any upgrades as far as any scheduled meetings goes.

/jens

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[Patrick Sparkman]

When you perform an upgrade, the installer will update the database with any changes it needs to do for the newer version of TMS you're running.  All the information in the database, such as TMS settings/configurations and conferences will remain and be unaffected.

Backing up the database is just in case the upgrade fails and you need to restore to the previous version of TMS.  Backing up the database will backup everything that has to do with TMS, including the conferences.

[Nalaka Karunaratne]

Thanks Patrick. So the option we have from the GUI (System --> Configuration Backup --> Backup) only backs up the configuration data and not the meeting data? If I need to backup the meetings then the SQL backup is needed right?

Also its a shame that the GUI backup option backs up the data back to the tmsng and does not let you backup to a remote location. If the box dies then this is not much helpful...

Nal

[Patrick Sparkman · Accepted solution]

As Jens and I mentioned, when you do a backup of the tmsng database, you're backing up everything that has to do with TMS, because all data, including conferences are in the database. 

Regarding the the backups using the installer, you can always copy them off the server, or use a third party backup solution to keep a backup of the TMS server and assocIated database backups that are stored on it. 

[Wayne DeNardi]

The GUI option you mentioned (System > Configuration Backup > Backup) stores a copy of each of the endpoints' configuration in to the TMS database, it's not a backup of TMS, nor any of the scheduled conferences held in TMS.  As the others have said, you need to do the SQL Backup of the tmsng database which holds all that information.

Wayne
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[Patrick Sparkman]

Something to note to my reply about the backup option in the TMS installer that I remembered today.  Since TMS 14.4, that backup dialog has been removed.  It's still present in TMS 14.1, the version you're currently running, but after you upgrade past 14.4, you'll need to rely on another method to backup the database.  The TMS install and upgrade guide recommends you use one of these backup methods in the following Microsoft technet article depending on which version of SQL server your'e using, Back Up and Restore of SQL Server Databases.

Also, you said you're going to TMS 14.5, why not upgrade to the most recent release which is 14.6.1?

[Nalaka Karunaratne]

The reason for the customer to upgrade to TMS was because we are planning to install TMSXE version 4.1. The document only mentions 14.5 as the supported TMS version so I thought I will stick to that. I assume that 14.6 would be supported as well but thought of sticking with the doc.

The upgrade went well with no issues.
 

[Patrick Sparkman]

Something to note to my reply about the backup option in the TMS installer that I remembered today.  Since TMS 14.4, that backup dialog has been removed.  It's still present in TMS 14.1, the version you're currently running, but after you upgrade past 14.4, you'll need to rely on another method to backup the database.  The TMS install and upgrade guide recommends you use one of these backup methods in the following Microsoft technet article depending on which version of SQL server your'e using, Back Up and Restore of SQL Server Databases.

Something to keep in mind as you're upgrading TMS to different version, take note of the requirements of the newer versions of Windows Server as well as SQL Server.

Also, you said you're going to TMS 14.5, why not upgrade to the most recent release which is 14.6.1?

[Nalaka Karunaratne]

Hi Jens,

Thanks for the information. Very much appreciated.