CUCM 12.5 to 15 Upgrade/Migration VMware

[mumbles202]

Currently I have a 2 node CUCM 12.5 cluster running on ESXi 6.5 that I'm looking to get to version 15.  Based on the v15 upgrade guide this is possible, but CUCM v15 isn't supported on ESXi 6.5, or at least not tested.  Is the best option to try to do a fresh install of v15 on a 8.0 ESXi cluster using the data-import utility?  Or would it be better to get ESXi to 6.7, then upgrade the cluster to 14, migrate to the 8.0 ESXi environment and then upgrade again to v15? 

Would these be the only supported ways to upgrade (other than PCD)?

[Vaijanath Sonvane]

Hi @mumbles202,

If your existing CUCM OVA meets the CUCM 15 requirements then the best approach is to first upgrade ESXi to version 7.0U3 or higher and then perform CUCM upgrade.  Both CUCM version 12.5(1) SU2+ and 15 are supported 7.0U3 or higher. Please see below URL for Supported Major/Minor VMware ESXi Versions. The mentioned versions are minimum supported Release of each:

https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/uc_system/virtualization/virtualization-cisco-unified-communications-manager.html

[Nithin Eluvathingal]

For CUCM 15, the minimum supported releases are 7.0 U3 and 8.0 U1. Therefore, you must be on one of these versions when upgrading to version 15.

CUCM 12.5 does support 7.0 U3, so you can upgrade VMware and then upgrade the CUCM to 15.

My recommendation would be to migrate the CUCM to a new OVA of 15 using PCD, as this automates almost all the processes. However, if you choose the fresh install with data export option, you’ll need to manually export the data for all the nodes and iDuring the installation of each node, you’ll need to point to the SFTP were the data has been exported.

[m.goretti]

Hi,

I've same issue. Cluster CUCM and IM&P 12.5 in ESXi 6.7. My customer wants to upgrade to 15. I was thinking of upgrading vmware to 8, and then upgrading the cluster to 15. In theory vmware 8 should support the hardware version of VM (even though Cisco does not support it). What do you think? What is the best procedure to follow?

[Roger Kallberg]

The best procedure would be to do a stepped update. First you update ESXi to version 7U3 and then you update the UC systems from 12.5 to 15. Lastly you update ESXi to version 8.

Likely not the answer you want, but that’s the only way to stay within supported boundaries.

[m.goretti]

Thank you Roger.

Last question. ESXi 7U3 is only supported from CUCM 15 (from Virtualization for Cisco Unified Communications Manager Doc). 12.5 (in my case 12.5.1.10000-22) is only supported ESXi 6.5/6.7. What is the difference with 8? Because in terms of compatibility I don't see any differences. They are both not compatible (for Cisco). Maybe the transition from 6.7 to 8 is more complicated?

[Roger Kallberg]

If 12.5 doesn’t support ESXi 7 then you’ll need to add an extra step to land on 14 in between. Or simply do a new installation of 15, with a data export/import to get the data from your 12.5 system.

[vikasgupta2k]

Hi,

I have not done upgrades to v15 yet. Just to clarify one quick thing, there is no option for in-place upgrade to v15? Either it is PCD upgrade or Data Export/Import upgrade, is that correct? How about Unity Connection and IM&P?

Thanks

[Roger Kallberg]

I don’t know if it’s an option to upgrade from 12.5 to 15, you’ll need to read the upgrade guidelines for this. I have first hand experience of upgrades from 14 to 15, due to that we always keeps our systems updated with every release. So an upgrade from 12.5 to 15 hasn’t been on the table and therefore I’ve never had a need to look into that.

[vikasgupta2k]

Thank you. Can I do in-place upgrade from v14 to v15?

[Roger Kallberg]

The answer to that depends on how your VM is built for the hard drive. If it’s built based on an old OVA with dual 80GB hard drives you’ll need to create new VMs based off the current OVA version and then either do a new installation and restore DRS backup to it, we did this for a number of our CM systems, or do a data export and import during installation. If your VMs are already built based on the current standard for hard drive you can upgrade them directly after you have made the necessary changes to RAM amount. All this is outlined in the upgrade guidelines. Recommend that you read these before you begin the upgrade process.

[Nithin Eluvathingal]

A direct upgrade is possible from version 12.5.X and above. If you are one version below, a direct upgrade is not feasible. You will need to perform a migration using either a PCD or a fresh install with data export.

Using PCD, you cannot migrate the Unity Connection. However, with a fresh install and data export option, you can migrate the Unity Connection.

Please refer to the upgrade guides for both Unity and CUCM to plan your migration.

[Elliot Dierksen]

COBRAS is another great option for Unity Connection migrations.

[Nithin Eluvathingal]

Since the fresh install with data export started to support Unity, I guess  Cobras will be less used for the new versions. All my recent Unity migrations have been using the data export option.

[Roger Kallberg]

We still use Cobras heavily for migration of users between CUC systems. For example we’ve soon use it to move our AsiaPac users to DI.