Sunday, February 6, 2011

CUCM 8.5.1 Install and upgrade Facts

As you may be aware that CUCM 8.5.1 was launched sometime in late December 2010. It was eagerly awaited by everyone in cisco world for the simple fact that some of the previous versions of CUCM could not be upgraded to 8.x ( example CUCM 7.1.5)
Throughout the weekend i was totally after it and finally managed to upgrade.

I wanted to share some of the facts that i found while working on it.

1. CUCM 8.5.1 is suported on VMware but a DVD installation of this software is not supported on VM so the only option is to get a iso file and store it in local datastore or somewhere on network and then install. It took me lot of time to realise this ( this is documented in CUCM VMware comnpatibility guide)

2. Fact # 2 : CUCM 8.5.1 download from Cisco.com ( it comes in 3 signature files which you will have merge into a single file ) is not a bootable file ( be awere its documented in release notes of 8.5.1 that its bootable file but it is not ) so you will probably have to install 8.0.3 ( which is a bootable ...very interesting ) and then upgrade to CUCM 8.5.1

3. Fact # 3 is CUCM 8.0.3 and several other versions of CUCM ( i think few version in 7.x
) in cisco download are bootable files and can be used for fresh install or upgrades. I read somewhere that cisco is now moving in this direction and coming uploads on cisco download will most likely be bootable only. Not sure whey they mis documented this for 8.5.1


4. Fact # 4 when upgrading from 8.0.3 to 8.5.1 the amount of time to upgrade per server is nearly 3 hrs, while doing the upgrade i almost lost the patience at one place ( because there was no console messages on screen for almost 1 hr) but patience finally paid off..heheheh

5. fact CUPS software on Cisco download is not a bootable version, get it from Cisco PUT.

Its too late and time to go to bed, i will keep posting the info as it comes.

Any questions pls leave a message and i will try to reply

I wanted to add another valuable piece of information specially for VM deployments.

When generating license file do not use MAC mentioned under OS admin page Network MAC. Use CLI command " show status " to get the MAC and use that MAC to generate license file.

It took Licensing in Cisco and TAC to figure this out and was very frustrating..hope this will help!
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9 comments:

  1. AnonymousMay 9, 2011 at 12:38 PM

    Hi,

    I just wanted to double check again......you mentioned that 8.5 isn't bootable, so cannot be used for a fresh install. I take it that it should be good to upgrade from my current version 6.1.4.

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. kolesikJune 20, 2012 at 3:42 AM

      Hello,skybaba.
      Did you succesefully migrate from 6.1.4 to 8.5 ver ? I just will nedd to do the same. If you will share you opinion, comments and ect to me,it would be so kind from your site.
      My email kolunchik119@gmail.com

      Delete
  2. josaic2June 7, 2011 at 10:52 PM

    Hi, how about installing it on ESX and not on ESXi? I'm getting an error "This hardware is no longer supported. Validation error on HSSI mode:
    VMware Validation Failure:
    Unable to validate VMware based server disk settings" I'm using VM with 2vCPU, 3GB Mem, 100GB HDD hosted in ESX4.1
    If you have solution in my, please email me at josaic2@gmail.com

    Thanks a lot.

    ReplyDelete
  3. 十二月July 13, 2011 at 3:16 AM

    Hi, i'm new to CUCM. When i try to install the CUCM8.5 in vmware using vSphere Client 4.0, i came across the problem of network connectivity check failure, "Default gateway name/address is invalid or gateway is not responding". Any idea?

    ReplyDelete
  4. dvaidyaSeptember 7, 2011 at 7:06 AM

    Dear All,

    just wanted to share my experience with installation of CUCM 8.5 which i downloaded from Cisco website and installed on VMware .
    i face some difficulties with NTP part as during installation it was not moving ahead without any valid NTP server to over come this issue i simulated router on GNS as NTP server and connected to my VM network and worked fine .
    also CUCM 8.5 required more resources in terms of memory and harddisk space i have simulated with 2 GB RAM but seems to be very less.

    ReplyDelete
  5. dvaidyaSeptember 7, 2011 at 11:18 AM

    Dear All, Any one knows after installing cucm 8.5 on vmware when you restart server its loosing network connectivity even you specify correct network adapter still its not communicating . is ther any bug on os or something . please help me out if anyone knows this issue .

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hemant - The techy guy - next doorSeptember 20, 2011 at 2:41 AM

    I do have the same issue as of dvaidya..........

    ReplyDelete
  7. tit_tatOctober 23, 2011 at 10:24 AM

    hi mate..ur post is awesome,but i have a problem in my home lab as i am trying to upgrade with remote system from cucm8.0.3 to 8.5.1 in vmware, but to no success,i am getting "unknown error while accessing the upgrade file" please can u give me suggestions like how to proceed. with the upgrade.
    thanks in advance

    ReplyDelete
  8. v01ce_r0kerMay 20, 2012 at 11:53 PM

    can anyone please provide me download link for cucm ISO i cant get it from any where
    my mail ID sawantvisald@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete

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