Cisco Unity connection upgrade from 10.5 to 11.5

[karen.johnson5801]

hi experts,

we have 1 pub and 1 sub for unity connection.  what is the quickest and easiest way to upgrade those with minimum down time ?

And what is down during the upgrade ?

thanks ,

K

[Jaime Valencia · Accepted solution]

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/connection/11x/install_upgrade/guide/b_11xcuciumg.html

As to what will be down

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/connection/10x/install_upgrade/guide/10xcuciumgx/10xcuciumg040.html

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/connection/10x/design/guide/10xcucdgx/10xcucdg060.html

That will also depend on how you configured your pair to handle the services, if they're dedicated, or share the load, etc.

[karen.johnson5801]

if we upgrade to totally new Blade B200 (Unity Connection 11.5) from BE6K (Unity connection 10.5 ), then it would be below or anything else?

- install new unity 11.5 on new B200

- back up and restore config from CUC 10.5 to CUC 11.5

- and 4 hours/server is enough in this case, maximum?

tks,

K

[Jaime Valencia]

That's NOT an upgrade, that is a migration, that's a different deal.

You can use COBRAS to migrate the information directly between versions, if you want to use DRS, the exact same version has to be installed, the upgrade.

[karen.johnson5801]

is it better to use COBRAS or RDS in that case?

[Deepak Rawat]

DRS is always a preferred method over COBRAS Karen and if you have the bandwidth there in terms of maintenance window, hardware etc you should go for DRS only.

Regards

Deepak

[karen.johnson5801]

that means I will build exact same version of CUC 10.5 , then DRS to it, and upgrade it to CUC 11.5 ? 

and CUC 10.5 always compatible with UCM 11.5, right?   if i upgarde UCM first

[Jaime Valencia · Accepted solution]

I wouldn't say it's the preferred option, DRS is a backup tool, COBRAS is a tool to perform the migration between different versions, and can double as a backup tool.

DRS will get EVERY single setting, COBRAS will not (help explains what IS supported and what is NOT supported).

If you already have 11.5 installed, you can use COBRAS to get all the user data. That's going to be faster/easier.

If you want to get every single setting, then DRS is the way to go, but that involves restoring in the same release, then upgrading.

Yes, pretty much any CUC release above 7.x works with any current CUCM release.

[matthubach]

I am scheduling an L2 upgrade (10.5 to 11.5).

Am I correct in understanding from the links posted above, that...

"When a Unity Connection cluster is upgraded, the publisher server is completely disabled for the entire duration of upgrade..."

However, when upgrading a cluster...

"In case of L2 upgrade of a cluster, do not restart or perform switch version on the publisher server before completing the upgrade on subscriber server otherwise cluster does not function properly."

Therefore, as I upgrade the Publisher, the publisher server is offline. The services are being provided by the subscriber.

"...but the subscriber server continues to provide services to users and callers."

When I begin to upgrade the subscriber, it too will be offline and therefore my entire cluster is offline while the subscriber upgrades?

[jchoefer72]

This is where I am.  Normally (CUCM) I would do the upgrades and then switch versions after hours to minimize impact.

It would appear that you can't do that method with Unity as the documentation indicates the server is offline (even if you don't do the switch.)

OR...is it saying that the server is offline DURING the switch and the Subscriber is handling the traffic until it's complete?  Then, once I start the subscriber switch, that server would be offline and the publisher would take over (on version 11.5)?

The latter seems the more logical answer....but Cisco isn't always logical.

[Greg Dickinson]

Hey did you ever pull the trigger on this upgrade?  Which is the case, can you do the upgrade during the day and then switch after hours?

[matthubach]

Greg, you can select to upgrade to the inactive partition w/o impacting  any services. You will be prompted to install to the inactive partition. PS, in my scenario, performing the upgrade from the CLI was a lot more reliable than from the web UI.

I followed these 2 documents pretty thoroughly. No issues after my CCM and IM&P upgrade.

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/cucm/upgrade/11_5_1/cucm_b_upgrade-guide-cucm-115/cucm_b_upgrade-guide-cucm-115_chapter_010010.html#topic_AF2C3D782EC41BA23195BC4B59CFC11C

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/cucm/upgrade/11_5_1/cucm_b_upgrade-guide-cucm-115/cucm_b_upgrade-guide-cucm-115_chapter_010001.html#task_6A908940C86955C4256D8291A55DAFE2