Cisco is calling the upgrade path to Unity Connection 8.6 a REFRESH Upgrade. From my understanding that is due to the overall change of underlying OS thus the name REFRESH.
I thought this might be a good post to pretty much describe what Cisco calls the “best way” of performing this upgrade.
“Refresh Upgrade” : How is different from previous upgrades?
- Requires a COP file to be installed prior to beginning the RU (without the COP file, attempts to upgrade to 8.6 will be blocked from the start)
- Looks like a “clean install” when viewing local console of machine
- No switch-version (that the administrator will know about)
- Post-upgrade CLI / GUI question is changed (be careful of the default):
- CLI – Do not automatically switch back to the previous version after the upgrade completes
- Web – Do not reboot to the previous partition after the upgrade completes
Reconfiguration and Upgrade Guide for Cisco Unity Connection 8.x has more detailed information
Impact on Standalone Unity Connection Server
- Most services will be offline for the entire duration of the RU.
- All administrative interfaces will be offline
- All phone access (including voice message access) will be offline
Thus, it is very important to plan for the maintenance window when least number of voicemail users get impacted with the outage.
Estimated Time for Refresh Upgrade = Time taken for L2 Upgrade + Time taken for Switch Version (Note: This is a Rough Estimate)
Impact on Unity Connection Cluster
- While the publisher is being upgraded:
- All admin interfaces (and other services) on both publisher and subscriber are disabled
- Phone interface on publisher disabled, still enabled on subscriber
- Users can still access messages on subscriber through phone, no state changes are preserved!
- Any phone messages left on subscriber during this process will not be delivered until subscriber RU is started
- While the subscriber is being upgraded:
- Publisher is fully-functional, able to take messages and allow users to retrieve messages on all interfaces
- Publisher will also deliver any messages from the subscriber while the publisher was being upgraded
- Subscriber will pull down database from publisher, overwriting any local changes that took place while the publisher was upgrading (ex. changes to message read state)
- When the subscriber finishes its RU, the cluster should be restored, and the publisher will have primary role
CAUTION:
Do not start the upgrade on the subscriber server until after the upgrade of the publisher server is complete, or all Connection functionality on both servers will be disabled until the upgrade of the publisher server completes. In addition, the upgrade of the subscriber server will fail, and you will have to upgrade the subscriber server again.
CHECKLIST BEFORE REFRESH UPGRADE
- Take DRS backup from the Publisher and the Subscriber. [Do not forget this step]
- Check Cisco Unity Connection 8.x Supported Platforms List to make sure the hardware platform is supported for Connection 8.6
- If Connection is running on a Cisco MCS 7825-H3 server or HP DL320G5 server: Connect a blank 128-GB or larger USB flash drive or external hard disk to the Connection server. (Note: Any data stored previously on the Flash Drive would be overwrriten.Hence, use a blank Flash Drive). You should leave the USB drive plugged into the machine for the entire duration of the RU to ensure it will safely complete.
- Make sure that the COP file ciscocm.refresh_upgrade.cop is installed on the server before Refresh Upgrade is attempted.
- It is advisable to have all the old messages deleted from the inbox of the users and also from the deleted items folder before attempting an upgrade. This is not a mandatory step but can help reduce the time taken for Refresh Upgrade.
Source: Cisco
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