Upgrade - CUCM/CUC/CCX/CER 10.5.2 > 12

[B_VOIP_NE]

Hello,

I am looking for some advice on an upgrade.  We are currently running the following versions.  I was originally planning to upgrade CUCM and update the other applications in a staged order.  I then realized that the newest version of CUCM is not compatible with any of our current application version.  I have never upgraded a UC environment so am looking for recommendations.  Would it be better to upgrade CUCM to 11.5 so I can wait on the other upgrades and then bring them up to 11.5 before going to 12?  Currently we have active partition 10.5.2.x and inactive 9.x.  Would it be better to create new VM's and do a DRS backup/restore or just in place direct upgrades?

The upgrade seemed straight forward at first however, the more I research the more intimidating it is.

CUCM	CUC	CER	CCX
10.5.2.13900-12	10.5.2.13900-12	10.5.1.20000-3	10.6.1.11002-15

Devices: 6921, 7942, 7965, 7975, 8851, and 9971

Gateways Cisco 2921, 2901, 2911, 

Cisco VG224

Thank you for any information and helpful tips you can provide.

[Shalid Kurunnan Chalil]

Hi,

A quick reply to your query, follow the standard upgrade process from OS level [Or you can choose PCD upgrade] In either case, I recommend to upgrade the UCM to 11.5 so it is compatible with the existing as well as the new UCCX and CER, followed by CCX to 11.5

Step 1. upgrade call manager to 11.5(1)
Step 2. upgrade uccx to 11.5(1)SU1
Step 3. upgrade call manager to 12.0(1)
Step 4. upgrade uccx to 11.6(1)
Step 5. Cisco Emergency Responder 12.0

Once you install the new version of UCM you current inactive version will be replaced with newly installed software until you manually switch to the new release.

You have to consider that the UCM release 12, the licensing has been changed. so you may have to either install the CSSM Satellite on a VM to manage the licenses in your UC setup.

This URL may give you insight about the Licensing in Release 12 - https://community.cisco.com/t5/collaboration-voice-and-video/cucm-smart-licensing-for-version-12-x/ta-p/3185867

All mentioned phone and gateway models are supported in latest UC releases. You haven't mentioned about the IOS version and so need to cross-check that again.

Regards,
Shalid

[B_VOIP_NE]

Thank you very much for your detailed response. This upgrade plan makes very good sense.

The gateways/SRSTs are running the following version: Version 15.4(3)M5 / Version 15.0(1r)M16 / Version 15.0(1r)M9 / Version 15.0(1)M4 / Version 15.1(3)T

The VG's are running 12.4(24)T4,

So from what I can gather my first maintenance window will be upgrading UCM from 10.5.2 > 11.5(1). My current version of CUC 10.5.2, CCX 10.6.1, and CER 10.5.1 are all compatible with this upgrade. The only one I can't verify is CER 10.5.1 > UCM 11.5(1) compatibility. Can anyone confirm this?

Then I can plan out the next upgrade and maintenance windows. It looks like CUC 10.5.2 is compatible with UCM 10.x+ I am assuming that includes UCM 11.5(1) but I can't verify CER 10.5.1 is compatible with UCM 11.5(1). Is anyone familiar with this compatibility?

[Shalid Kurunnan Chalil]

Hi, 

My bad and apologise for giving the wrong direction for CER..., I cross check with Cisco and further reading on the CER upgrade document it says that the CER should be upgrade prior to UCM upgrade.

 Upgrading Emergency Responder

• You must upgrade Emergency Responder before you upgrade Unified CM. Only after you have installed the new version of Emergency Responder can you then upgrade Unified CM.

• After you have upgraded both Emergency Responder and Unified CM, you must then update the Unified CM Version on Emergency Responder.

reference  (Page #2) : https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/cer/12_0_1/english/administration/guide/cer0_b_cisco-emergency-responder-administration-guide-1201/cer0_b_cisco-emergency-responder-administration-guide-1201_chapter_010.pdf  

CER release 12 having the backward compatibility with Cisco call manager.

Regarding the IOS; you shoudl upgrade to the supported version of 12.

you can find the supported IOS releases over here ;

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

Regards,

Shalid 

Please remember to rate helpful responses   

[B_VOIP_NE]

I found what I was looking for the CER 12.0(1) release notes which states backwards compatibility all the way back to UCM 9.1.  

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/cer/12_0_1/english/release_notes/guide/cer0_b_cisco-emergency-responder-release-notes-1201.html

My plan is now the following.  Would you please confirm this looks like the best approach for someone that's new to upgrades but is confident in the administration side?  Also just to confirm a direct upgrade via "software update" from the GUI is the easiest way for me to do this?

Maintenance Window 1: Upgrade CER from 10.5.1 > 12.0(1), Upgrade UCM from 10.5.2 > 11.5(1), install COP file for CCX ciscouccx.106x.cucm11x-compatible.14.cop.sgn.

Maintenance Window 2: Upgrade CCX 11.5(1), Upgrade CUC 11.5(1)

Maintenance Window 3: Upgrade UCM to 12.0(1), upgrade CUC to 12.0(1), upgrade CCX to 11.6(1).

[B_VOIP_NE]

Thank you again for the information.  Did you see somewhere that CER 12 is backwards compatible with UCM 10.5.2-11.5(1)?  If so I can do that upgrade first as you suggested.  I can't find any documentation on CER's compatibility with UCM 10.5.2 except from this site below which just shows CER 12 is compatible with UCM 12.  This is a very confusing process for a first timer!

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

[Anil Sharma]

hello,

I am also planning to upgrade CUCM to version 12.0.1 SU2.
Other applications I have in my environment are as follows:
CUACA: 11.0.2.10
CUC: 10.5.2.10000-5
CER: 10.5.1.20000-3
UCCX: 10.6.1.10000-39
My understanding is I can upgrade directly to CUCM 12.0.1 followed by UCCX upgrade to 11.6
can someone please confirm that if CER 10.5.1.20000-3 is compatible with CUCM 12 or not ?
My existing CUACA and CUC versions as I know are compatible with Version 12 CUCM so need not to worry about upgrading them in same Maintenance window. Please advise thanks.