Unity 4 to Unity 7 upgrade advise/suggestions (VM Only)

[mmertens]

Hi,

   I have a Unity 4.0(4) intallation which I will be upgrading to Unity 7.X. I have two new Unity servers (will eventually be running in FO mode) and will be building these on a segregated network. This was an will continue to be Voice Mail only; the message store exists on the 4.0 Unity server and there are only around 150 users. Also, the current Unity server is the domain controller for the VoIP AD. (I know Cisco suggests against this). The customer cannot find the the original Unity 4.0 discs, therefore, a DiRT backp is not an option. So I was going to build a new Unity server(s) from scratch, including failover, one will be domain controller, and then create the Subscribers from scratch (perhaps BAT them in). There is only one customized AA/CallHandler so I was going to copy the prompts and move them over manually. For subscriber greetings, I was going to ensure my subscribers are named the same on the new server and copy over the greetings from one directory to another. Phone PINs will be reset to a standard PIN on the new system and I will force the users to change on next log in. Lastly, I was going to setup a new VM pilot at time of cut-pver so users can dial that new number and get the old Unity server to retrieve their old VM messages (I may have to upgrade TSP on the old Unity server to work with CUCM 7.X).

  Can anyone suggest a better way since I don't have the original discs? Or can anyone provide any pointers or suggest something that I may be missing?

Thanks! I appreciate any/all information or help.

Mike.

[David Hailey · Accepted solution]

Honestly, I don't know how well copying over files is going to work.  I've never tried it but the missing part of the equation here is the SQL database.  You can copy files over via Windows copy but that doesn't necessarily update Subscriber records or other objects in SQL.

In any case, Cisco actually now posts the DVD image files for Unity on CCO.  They can be downloaded and then you can create the CD/DVD's using the downloaded files.  Of course, the software images apply to existing licensed installations of this Cisco product.  If I were you, I would do one of two things (based on your licensing status):

1) Download Unity 4.0(5) and upgrade the existing server(s) to that version.  Build the new servers at 7x.  Then use COBRAS to migrate data from the old system to the new.

2) Download Unity 4.0(4) and go with the DiRT option.  To me, this is more work - but some prefer it.

Either way, I think you're much more likely to be successful going with one of these proven routes for upgrading/migrating to new version, new servers.

Hailey

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[mmertens]

David,

  Thanks! I think I'll take a number #1 Probably if I was going to go to a non-Failover to a non-Failover, the DiRT would be best. COBRAS seems much less risky and certainly less work. I really appreciate your input on my manual migration and your itemized upgrade paths.

Thanks!

Mike.