CUCM - Installing device firmware

[Stuart Morrissey]

Hi,

I've read a decent amount of material on this so far however I just wanted to do a sense check, am I missing something here or  should I be watching out for something else ?

CUCM version 11.5.1.11.900-26 - 3 node cluster with Pub and 2 sub

Devices 8851, 8832 - Both available in 11.5 and no device pack required.

• Download the device firmware. In this case I'm going for 12.5(1)SR3 on the 51's and 12.5(1)SR3  on the 32's (from their respective firmware pages). There's newer versions out but I'd rather not go with the latest releases.
  
• Take note of the MD5 hash from the download page on each device
• Take note of the current firmware default load on CUCM
• Upload to FTP server
• Go to CUCM Publisher > OS Administration > Install/Upgrade software (I've read that it has to go on the publisher first even if our DHCP options note the subscribers as the TFTP servers)
• Point towards FTP directory and upload device firmware (checking the MD5 hash matches the one noted earlier)
• Repeat for Sub1 and Sub2
• Go to default load and verify new firmware is uploaded
• Change default load back to old load so devices that restart won't upgrade without testing. If the TFTP Service is restarted before the load is reverted, then devices not running that firmware will begin an upgrade. Not good if it's not tested in the environment yet so this is a big part!
• Restart TFTP service on all nodes (not service affecting)
• Specify active load on desired devices in CUCM config page to test new firmware 
• Once satisfied, change default firmware load on CUCM back to new firmware version name
• Restart devices to pull down the new firmware version

Thanks in advance.

(EDIT: Some of my steps were in the wrong order so I've fixed it on the chance someone uses it in the future).

[Chris Deren · Accepted solution]

This is one way of doing it and your steps are in order, alternatively instead of installing the .cop files with new firmware you can download the .zip file with the firmware version, unzip the content of it and upload all files directly to the TFTP store on your CUCM nodes, then restart TFTP service. With this method you do not have to change anything on device defaults page as it never updates.  

[Stuart Morrissey]

Out of the ways I was able to read, that's the first I seen the zip option mentioned. Seems just as straightforward. 

Thanks for the heads up, Chris, I'll give that option a try today to see how it goes.

[support]

Doing an IP phone firmware update on several 8851's to 12.7  will I need to reboot the Publisher, or just restart the TFTP services on the cluster after I upload the files.

Thanks

[Chris Deren]

No need to reboot servers, restart TFTP service and then reboot the phones.

[support]

Ok that's good, but how do you reboot 500 phones without rebooting the CUCM.

Thanks

[TONY SMITH]

You can schedule a device reset or restart with BAT (Bulk Administration Tool).

Bulk Administration / Phones / Reset Restart Phones / Query

Use the query to select just the device type whose firmware needs to update, and choose a time to suit. 

[support]

Great thank you Tony

[Roger Kallberg]

Also possible from enterprise parameters, select reset from there will reset all phones in the cluster. If you want to be more selective you could also do this from your various device pools. Yet another option is to search for the phones and select the once you’d want to reset. That is pretty much the same as the bulk option, minus the possibility to do the reset at a later time for something specified in advance.

[Chris Deren]

Not a good idea to reset all phones at the same time on cluster with large amount of phones (1000+), use BAT reset phones option instead as reset all at ones will cause TFTP server pegging and potential issues.