CUCM upgrade from 10.5.2 (SU9) to 12.5.X

[Jagadish2]

Hi,

We are planning to upgrade our CUCM cluster from 10.5.2  to 12.5.X. Also, Unity Connection version is 10.5.2 SU8, which we are not upgrading.

Currently we are running our CUCM Cluster on UCS-C240-M3S and its not under support. So we are buying new hosts/hardware from cisco.

Please suggest the best plan on up gradation ..... scenarios mentioned below...

Scenario 1) First to upgrade from 10.5 to 12.5 on existing hardware (hosts) and then take backup and restore (DRS) ??

or

Scenario 2) Take backup of 10.5 (current backup) and then restore it on new Hardware ( considering all same parameters like CUCM pub and subs, hostname, ip , ntp etc will be defined same on new hardware).. Then upgrade it to CUCM 12.5. ??

Queries..

a) Which scenario is better ?? Is there any other scenarios ??

b) Currently all CAPF certificates have expired, should we have to renew all  certificates before upgrade ?? We are not using any secure connections/security.

c) Also, at the same time we have unity connection 10.5.2(SU8) which we have integrated through cucm (SCCP). Once after upgrading  CUCM to 12.5, then we are planning to enable only TLS 1.2. Will there be any issue between cucm 12.5 TLS Enabled and cuc 10.5.2 interoperability ?? Will it work ??

Please suggest.

Regards,

Jagadish

[Nithin Eluvathingal · Accepted solution]

I would suggest to use  PCD for the CUCM migrations. 

I normally run PCD on new Server, Configure migration task for CUCM. PCD automate the migration. 

Using PCD we cannot migrate CUC , so I go with the DRS backup method. In last 6 months I have done almost 4-5 similar migration all using PCD.

Enhancement on CUCM 14/12.5SU(5)>> 12.5 SU 5 is available now. 

you can do fresh CUCM install using the data exported from old cluster.

As you are not using secure, you can renew it later. But better to do it before upgrade. 

You need to check the CSR compatibility guide and make sure the CUCM and CUC version are recommended versions. Refer CSR guide from below link. 

https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/uc_system/unified/communications/system/Compatibility/CSR-Compatibility-Matrix-InteractiveHTML.html

Highly recommended to read below guides. 

• upgrade and migrate guides.
• Release notes
• Read me notes
• Compatibility guides.

[Elliot Dierksen]

PCD is certainly a viable option as @Nithin Eluvathingal suggests. I know there are differing opinions, but I don't know that just being on a newer version of virtual hardware actually gets you anything. It is SUPPOSED to work with a direct upgrade from 10.5 to 12.5, but I have had issues at a couple different customers, so I don't do it directly. I do an intermediate upgrade to 11.5, and then move the cluster on to 12.5 once that is complete. If PCD isn't an option because you don't have the right kind of ESXi licensing, you can also build a new cluster offline, and then flash cut to it.

Do you have Vcenter? If so, it is easy to migrate the VM's to new hardware. If you don't, you can use 'scp' for the ESXi command line to copy the files from the old host to the new host.

[Nithin Eluvathingal]

Licensing won’t be an issues for new boxes.

The following are compatible with Cisco Prime Collaboration Deployment:

• Cisco UC Virtualization Foundation 6x (appears as "Foundation Edition" in vSphere Client)

• Cisco UC Virtualization Hypervisor Plus 6x

• Cisco Collaboration Virtualization Standard 6x

• VMware vSphere Standard Edition 6x

• VMware vSphere Enterprise Plus Edition 6x (there is no more "Enterprise Edition")

• Evaluation mode license

[Roger Kallberg · Accepted solution]

As @Elliot Dierksen suggested use vmotion to move the VMs to the new hosts. There is no need to go to the length of DRA to move to new hardware. I would recommend you to upgrade on your current hardware and then simply move your VMs to the new hosts on the new hardware.

About your questions on CUC. My recommendation would be to also upgrade this to 12.5. I’ve seen to many odd issues with older versions of CUC in combination with newer version of CM. Even if the compatibility chart states that it should work.