Upgrading UCCX 9.0(2) to 10.6(1)

If you’re wondering about upgrading UCCX from 9.0(2)SU2 to 10.6(1)SU2, and would like that information with a side of snark, then this is the post for you.

Fair warning, this is one of those your-mileage-may-vary entries, definitely do not take my notes as gospel because I promise *I* won’t be the one restoring your UCCX server from backup at 3am.  Always read the release notes and upgrade guides in their entirety, skipping pages earns you nothing but (more) pain and suffering.

That being said, there’s a few important compatibility matrices you will want to check for this upgrade.

• UCCX ESXi version support
• UCCX UCS supported hardware
• CUCM and UCCX compatibility

Pay close attention to whether your UCS can handle later versions of ESXi without UCS upgrades. For instance, 10.6 no longer supports ESXi 4.X, so you might have some pre-upgrade UCS work to be done before the real party gets started. If you are unsure about your UCS/ESXi version compatibility, try this link for checking.

UCCX 10.6 upgrade from 9.0(2) does require a .cop file, I used ciscouccx.refresh_upgrade_v1.9.cop.sgn.

Before beginning this process, I highly suggest taking a screenshot of your licensing, sacrificing a couple of chickens, and making sure you have ordered your upgrade license through the PUT tool. Voice engineering breeds much in the way of paranoia, so I also recommend downloading the scripts and prompts, just in case you get the additional fun of rebuilding the server from scratch. It should go without saying, but I’ll say it anyway, be sure to check that your backups have been running AND that they have been running successfully.

The order of operations goes something like this for an HA setup, note that there is no Finesse deployed in my setup, strictly CAD.

• Confirm the primary is active and all services show IN SERVICE – don’t skip this, I’ve never tried to upgrade in an active failed over state, but I imagine it’s like crossing the streams and would end in much badness.
• Install .cop file on the primary, reboot, grab coffee, wait for services to come back up
• Install .cop file on the secondary, reboot, grab moar coffee, wait for services to come back up
• Install upgrade file to primary, drive to a different county to get coffee, don’t panic when the server reboots during the installation, and do not reboot after install.
• Install upgrade file to secondary, switch to vodka. Question life choices to get involved in voice engineering.  Do not reboot after install.
• Switch versions on the primary. There’s more than enough time at this stage to continue questioning your life choices. All of them.
• Server (finally) boots to new version. Wait for services to start. The docs say this could take up to 30 minutes. Shouting profanities at the server will not shorten this interval significantly, but you’ll likely try anyway.
• Log into the server, install license file, note the error message about OVA template issues. Shut down the server because seriously, who needs that kind of negativity in life? Or shutdown because you need to make changes to the OVA. Whichever…
• Modify OVA template for RAM, OS, and vNIC changes*
• Power on server, wait for services. Yes, again.
• Switch versions on the secondary, repeat the process above, pour another glass of whatever is left.
• Once the primary and secondary are both online with all services show IN SERVICE, check that replication status is good. 
  
• Run the client configuration tool and test your queues.  Buy a lottery ticket if you haven’t had to call TAC,by this point.**

The above list is strictly an overview, but gives you a reasonable idea of what to expect during the upgrade. A whole lot of proper planning will result is a whole lot of waiting for things to happen, but not much else.  An uneventful voice upgrade is an awesome voice upgrade.

*Things got interesting with this. During the planning stages, TAC sent me a link to the procedure for altering the OVA, related to Bug ID CSCut04158. This detailed the process to change the vNIC to vmxnet3. When I presented the process to my virtualization guru, he concluded it would not work for our configuration, we would have to use some PowerCLI magic instead. And by we, I mean he. He used PowerCLI magic, I just threw another chicken onto the alter. The code went something like get-vm MyServerName | get-networkadapter | set-networkadapter -type “vmxnet3” – use this suggestion at your own risk, I am not a virtualization expert, nor do I play one on TV. 

**I will point out that in the upgrade guide, an error about unaligned partitions is called out as a potential issue – it sounded like a whole lot of no fun resulting in rebuilding from backup, and I was quite relieved I didn’t hit that one. Did I mention read the docs?  Definitely do that…

Published 08/16/2016