Approximate time to upgrade a Unity server ?

[hibbert23]

We have a single Compaq DL380 G2 running Unity Voicemail 4.0 Build 4.0(1) with 750 users and are looking to upgrade this to Unity Voicemail 4.2 on a new Compaq DL380 G4. Anyone have any idea how long this should take ?

Thanks

Andy

[gpulos · Accepted solution]

this could take upto 4 hours or less if there are no issues whatsoever that arise. testing will add some time as well...

you are performing a software and hardware upgrade so there are a few caveats to watch for. see this link for more info:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/voicesw/ps2237/products_upgrade_guides_book09186a0080222fdf.html

see the 'replacing or converting a cisco unity server or failover servers' section.

[Tommer Catlin · Accepted solution]

Before you do anything, buy a spare drive for the 4.0 server. Pull out the a good drive and place the new drive in. At least if anything goes wrong, you can pop the old drive back in and have all your data/os/configs in tack.

It will take about 4 hours to do an implace upgrade of the 4.0(1) to 4.2. Then install all the patches and test the system.

Run DiRT to backup the system (that will take sometime with 750 users and depending how big your database is in SQL)

On your new server, you will have to build it the same spec as your upgraded server from 4.0 to 4.2. This would include all your patches, SRs, everything. Get it running and tested. Then, copy your DiRT to the new server and import. It should go smoothly.

[Ginger Dillon]

Hi -

When I did this, I allocated a weekend to get the job done. This afforded me time to work with TAC if needed. Definitely agree with previous post, get a spare drive or at least break your RAID mirror set on the 4.0 system. Here are a couple of things to be aware of:

- You will need updated license files to reflect the new server's MAC address. You can get these from licensing@cisco.com in advance. Just send them a note with your current license files attached and let them know when you plan to move to the new server.

- If you are renaming the new Unity server as I did, you will need to redirect the Unity inbox URL to the new server's URL (which you may not use). Since we are a UM shop, we also had to push ViewMail updates in the registry when the users logged on the first day on the new server. We also posted notification of web changes to our customers in advance.

- You can run a Unity demo license on the new server to test it. Just remember to delete any test subscribers on the new server before running DiRT restore.

- If you are unplugging your old server from the network to DiRT restore the new server, you will NOT be deinstalling Unity. Therefore, you will end up with duplicate Unity public distribution lists. I ended up deleting the wrong ones and rebuilt them from the new Unity server (my error) :-)

- If you will be reusing the IP address, you will need to update DNS - you can add a CNAME record as an alias to point to the new server.

- And I cannot stress enough to run DBWalker and clean up any errors on the old server before running DiRT backup. It will save you much time!

When I did this move, I also worked with my Cisco account team to have a person available by phone to help me with escalation of problems, if needed. I never did, but it helped my comfort zone alot!

Best wishes,

Ginger