VMware template change

[tdudas]

Hi Experts,

Would anyone please help me on this below:

I'm about to upgrade UCCX Cluster 10.6 to 11.6. I just realized that the Master server has VM Template 7, while the Slave server have VM Template 8. Of course both Virtual Machines configuration vCPU/vRAM/HDD are the same.

- Should the Template be upgraded/changed to 8 for the Master server before appliance upgrade to 11.6 on UCCX Cluster?

- also not sure how the VM Tamplate can be upgraded/changed?

Many thanks,

Tibor

[Aeby Vinod]

A clone is a copy of a virtual machine. A template is a master copy of a virtual machine that can be used to create many clones. When you clone a virtual machine, you create a copy of the entire virtual machine, including its settings, any configured virtual devices, installed software, and other contents of the virtual machine's disks.

When you say VM template 7 and 8 do you mean the naming used for the deployed VM's (master and slave) or do you mean the actual template used for deployment for these VM's which you saw in the info messages? I don't believe you can change the template once its already deployed, you might need to redeploy it.

Regardless, for the upgrade just make sure you implemented the system with a OVA template and you have a valid DRS backup and you follow the virtualization and upgrade guide and you should be good also you should be able to recover the system incase there are any issues.

Virtualization Guide:
https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/uc_system/virtualization/virtualization-cisco-unified-contact-center-express.html

Upgrade Guide:
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/cust_contact/contact_center/crs/express_11_6/install/guide/uccx_b_unified-ccx-install-upgrade-guide/uccx_b_unified-ccx-install-upgrade-guide_chapter_0100.html?bookSearch=true

Please rate if you find this helpful.

Regards,
Aeby

[tdudas]

Hi Aeby,

Many thanks for your time answering to my query.

Regarding VM Template Version X, when you check the Virtual Machine Properties (Memory, CPUs, ... Hard disk, Network adapter) on the right up corner of this window you can see "Virtual Machine Version: X", which is for me for one server is 7, while for the other one is 8, all the HW detailes are the same in both templates

4x vCPU

16GB vRAM

2x 146GB vDisk

1x vNIC

By checking link:

https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/uc_system/virtualization/virtualization-cisco-unified-contact-center-express.html#11.6

>> it shows for 400 agents 'Component & Capacity Point' the parameters are the same.

The ESXi host version is 5.5.0, which also seems to be good.

comment for fresh install (which is not the case for me) mentions:

Supported Versions of VMware vSphere ESXi= 5.0 U1, 5.1, 5.5, 6.0, 6.5 (For application fresh installs on ESXi 6.5 (VMFS5 or 6) and/or vCenter 6.5, use minimum OVA file version UCCX_11.6_vmv7_v2.5.ova. Does not apply to ESXi version upgrades.); HX TRC 6.0 only

vmv7 >> so I would assume my VM Template should be good

So I cannot really see reason to change VM Template for upgrading to 11.6 (from 10.6).

Have I missed any important points, which would require VM Template upgrade?

Many thanks,

Tibor

[Aeby Vinod · Accepted solution]

Hey Tibor,

This is going to be a long post:

The below basically answers your question:

Virtual Machine Version (vmv)
The vmv represents the version of virtual hardware. New ESXi versions may increase the latest vmv version, but new ESXi versions support older vmv versions (see vmware.com for information on compability of old vmv versions with new ESXi versions, such as this vmware.com KB article for compatibility for ESXi version with vmv version).

Cisco Collaboration apps do not require or even use most of the new features in new vmv versions (e.g. larger VMs, more virtual HW options, etc.). Cisco Collaboration apps only require vmv4 functionality, so a newer vmv is usually transparent. To date, Cisco has not discovered any issues with Collaboration apps due to a newer vmv version.

Cisco-provided/required OVA files will be for the specific vmv version used when testing the ESXi major/minor version (e.g. OVAs for ESXi 5.x include vmv7 and vmv8).

For customers using vSphere Client instead of vCenter, it is NOT recommended to upgrade to a newer vmv. E.g. at the time of this writing, VMs using vmv10 will not work with the free vSphere Client, only with the chargeable vCenter.

Otherwise, unless indicated NOT to by a Cisco Collaboration app, customers are free to manually upgrade the vmv to a newer vmv supported by the ESXi version. Cisco does not produce OVA files for newer vmv versions, or test newer vmv versions since VMware indicates these are backwards compatible.

https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/uc_system/virtualization/virtualization-software-requirements.html

So most importantly other than following the upgrade guide please make sure you take a look at the Software Compatibility Matrix for 11.6(1) as well before the upgrade.
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/cust_contact/contact_center/crs/express_compatibility/matrix/uccxcompat11_6_1.html


Additional information from vmware (if you are interested in reading):

Virtual Machine Hardware Versions.
Virtual machine version 7
Compatible with ESX/ESXi 4, 4.x, and later hosts. Recommended for sharing storage or virtual machines with ESX/ESXi versions 3.5 to 4.1.

Virtual machine version 8
Compatible with ESXi 5.0 and later hosts. Recommended for virtual machines that do not need to migrate to ESX/ESXi 4.x hosts.

Virtual Machine Hardware Versions
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.0/com.vmware.vsphere.hostclient.doc/GUID-68E5EDAE-66DE-43F8-9420-F424AFEADB1D.html#GUID-68E5EDAE-66DE-43F8-9420-F424AFEADB1D
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.0/com.vmware.vsphere.hostclient.doc/GUID-946BD612-A0C5-417C-A807-AD1120F2B356.html

Please rate if you find this helpful.

Regards,
Aeby

[tdudas]

Hi Aeby,

Many thanks for your help and time.

Really appreciated your detailed answer!

Kind regards,

Tibor