So with the introduction of Cisco Prime Collaboration Deployment, now upgrade any of your UC applications its easier and quicker than before. One of the big advantages that I see with this new product is that the product can have control of the overall infrastructure, starting from VMware all the way to the UC applications.

For a better understanding of this product you can use the following link: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/cucm/pcdadmin/10_0_1/CUCM_BK_U9C58CB1_00_pcd-administration-guide-1001.html – The previous is the one for version 10.x – I don’t see too many changes from version to version.

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Upgrading CUCM 9.1 to 10.5 – As one of my previous articles explains there are few things that you need to keep in mind in case you run into those issues, the main ones I had were:

ISSUE 1 – The /common folder did not have enough space and the upgrade was not completing – I added a COP file to CUCM for this one, which did not fix my issue. In order to have access to this one use the following link, make sure you take a look at the ReadMe:

ciscocm.free_common_space_v1.1.cop.sgn – VMware Disk Size Reallocation COP file: This COP file allows UCM VMs to increase the size of their vDisk(s) without requiring a system rebuild. http://software.cisco.com/download/release.html?mdfid=285963825&flowid=50402&softwareid=282204704&release=COP-Files&relind=AVAILABLE&rellifecycle=&reltype=latest

ISSUE 2 – I kept having the same space issue so I noticed that there was another alternative a bit more risky but it was what helped me fix the issue. Here is the link to that one:

ciscocm.vmware-disk-size-reallocation-1.0.cop.sgn – UCM VM Dynamic Disk Size Reallocation COP File. http://software.cisco.com/download/release.html?mdfid=284603137&flowid=47762&softwareid=282204704&release=COP-Files&relind=AVAILABLE&rellifecycle=&reltype=latest

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Note that they are not the same. Well enough with the issues, let’s talk about the process and few recommendations:

The Planning – There are few consideration that you have to make before you start any upgrade:

Having a good DRS back up, this one is a MUST

Upgrade phones in advance, maybe like a previous maintenance window? – I use to do this one migrating from MCS to UCS, it what quite nice because the phones would start in no time at the end of the process, right now it will help depending on the number of CUCM instances and the number of phones in your cluster.

A back out plan – Its very unlikely that will run into this one but its always good to have a plan B, my recommendations, maybe Clon your VM? – Maybe create a Snapshot? – although none of these practices are completely supported on CUCM (IU have never had an issue with them but I have only used them in my lab).

Download your files – You will need the bootable media from Cisco **CCO login required, go to the Cisco PUT (Product Upgrade Tool) and by using your ESW and UCSS contracts order the upgrade. Also you will need this new COP file, make sure you upload this one before the upgrade:

Ciscocm.version3-keys.cop.sgn – http://software.cisco.com/download/release.html?mdfid=285963825&flowid=50402&softwareid=282204704&release=COP-Files&relind=AVAILABLE&rellifecycle=&reltype=latest

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Start the Upgrade – Either if you are a CLI or a GUI type of person, you can use both:

CLI (High Level) – Connecting via SSH start the upgrade utils system upgrade initiate – you will be presented with few more options on how you want to access the ISO or COP files, I always like to upload my files to VMware and then make available to the Guest OS. Process is very self-explanatory from there.

GUI (High Level) – Using the web portion, go to OS Administration – and go to Software and Upgrades – select Local CD or SFTP.

The advantage of doing it with CLI is that you can start logging of the console and then use for any troubleshooting later. In case you have done 2 or more of these, you will end up liking it.

A coffee cup, and a couple of hours break! – after you have completed uploading the file and your upgrade has started you can take a well deserved break.

About the Author:

Andres Sarmiento, CCIE # 53520 (Collaboration)
With more than 13 years of experience, Andres is specialized in the Unified Communications and Collaboration technologies. Consulted for several companies in South Florida, also Financial Institutions on behalf of Cisco Systems. Andres has been involved in high-profile implementations including Cisco technologies; such as Data Center, UC & Collaboration, Contact Center Express, Routing & Switching, Security and Hosted IPT Service provider infrastructures.

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