Active and Inactive partitions - need expert knowledge

[Pamela White]

We are out of space on CCM ver 8.5.1 and we are about to do what Cisco says is needed.  We are going to run an iso and re-install 8.5.1, which will formet the drive and all existing data gets overwritten.  Then we will restore the current backup.

Our inactive partition has ver 6.something.  Can we make that partition the active one, install 8.5.1 over it, then restore the backup to there?  My goal is to preserve our current active 8.5.1 in case anything goes wrong and we will have a place to go back to.  We've asked the Cisco tech every which way and don't think he is understanding what we are asking.

[Jaime Valencia]

That would be just futile, if the common partition is full, you'll probably face the same issue when you try to upgrade to 8.5, the common partition won't clean up and free space just because you switch to the previous version.

You have a few options here:

A) Use RTMT to clean as much log files and any other unnecessary files as possible

B) Use the ciscocm.free_common_space_v1.1.cop.sgn and lose the ability to switch back at that point

From README

Important Note: This COP file does not install anything on the node. It just runs a script that
removes the inactive side in the common partition to free up the disk space so that upgrade is
successfully completed. You will not be able to switch back to the inactive version after installing this patch.

C) If this is on ESXi, use the ciscocm.vmware-disk-size-reallocation COP file to increase the disk size and then try the upgrade.

D) DRS restore on a fresh install as they instructed.

[Pamela White]

What if we had an extra drive to use?  Say one of our production ones failed and we replaced it.  It would mirror and we'd have a new drive, copy of the original one.  Upgrade that drive and restore the database.

Our original drive would be intact and able to be put back into production if something goes really wrong?

[Jaime Valencia]

Assuming you're talking about an MCS server, we DO NOT support that as a backup method.

[Pamela White]

Yes, MCS.  Why is that not supported and would it work?

[Jaime Valencia]

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/voice_ip_comm/cucm/rel_notes/7_1_2/cucm-rel_notes-712b.html#wp1450232

Removing Hard Drives

Cisco only supports replacing failed hard drives. Cisco does not support drive pulling/swapping as a method of fast upgrade reversion, restore, or server recovery. For information on replacing a failed hard drive, refer to the Troubleshooting Guide for Cisco Unified Communications Manager. 

[Randall White]

Our inactive partition has ver 6.something.  Can we make that partition the active one, install 8.5.1 over it, then restore the backup to there?

To answer your question, no, you can't install to a particular partition. The installation process will wipe the hard drive and build two new partitions (active/inactive). You can't choose to install to one or the other partition.

Randy