[cisco-voip] Upgrades prohibited... sigh

Tue Feb 11 16:59:58 EST 2014

lol. thanks Matthew. 

I think I'm going to have to engage our partner for an official answer this week, while I try out some scenarios. Bottom line is, if Cisco isn't going to officially support this or help out, then I have to go to management and let them know, and they can raise the roof. ;) It would be nice to at least get a "no, sorry, the COP refresh file does not properly disable upgrade restrictions on MCS hardware" - or something like that. 

I can't believe I'm the only one out here that doesn't have the money to go to VM just yet, and has enough hardware to do an off-line install with supported hardware. I guess if the supported way to is to get licenses rehosted, than I'm OK with that, as long as our partner will support us when the requests go to licensing. 

Interestingly enough, I was reading the main page (https://supportforums.cisco.com/docs/DOC-35163) and found the following bug listed there (https://tools.cisco.com/bugsearch/bug/CSCtb86875) which states that I need install the license after the DRS restore. So this would make the correct order: 

    1. install v7 
    2. install COP/refresh 
    3. do DRS 
    4. reboot servers 
    5. perform dbreplicate fixes if required 
    6. upload license 
    7. perform upgrades 

We'll have to see how my next test goes. 

Funny thing is, the license reporting page shows no problem with the licenses. Weird. 

Oh well, tomorrow's another day. 

--- 
Lelio Fulgenzi, B.A. 
Senior Analyst, Network Infrastructure 
Computing and Communications Services (CCS) 
University of Guelph 

519‐824‐4120 Ext 56354 
lelio at uoguelph.ca 
www.uoguelph.ca/ccs 
Room 037, Animal Science and Nutrition Building 
Guelph, Ontario, N1G 2W1 

----- Original Message -----

From: "Matthew Loraditch" <MLoraditch at heliontechnologies.com> 
To: "Lelio Fulgenzi" <lelio at uoguelph.ca> 
Cc: "cisco-voip" <cisco-voip at puck.nether.net> 
Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2014 4:37:50 PM 
Subject: RE: [cisco-voip] Upgrades prohibited... *sigh* 

Yes you are technically correct about the refresh file. The original version was designed to allow the OS upgrades that happened with <8.6 to 8.6+. They then added the removal of the license check with v1.2 and 1.3 of the refresh solely for the Jump upgrade. So yes you will need the refresh file to install 9.1.2 but you won’t have to deal with the licensing crud if you rehost. 

The jump upgrade is the recommended path because VMWare is the recommended path what you are doing is what every cisco partner, TAC and sales employee doesn’t want you to do, but technically still supports. We all still love you Lelio, but I know the PM in charge of the OS stuff and he’d cringe knowing you were doing this :) 

I would install your licenses before the refresh file but I’d guess it won’t matter. 

cid:image001.jpg at 01C95158.4441E1B0
Matthew G. Loraditch – CCNP-Voice, CCNA-R&S, CCDA 
1965 Greenspring Drive 
Timonium, MD 21093 

direct voice. 443.541.1518 
fax. 410.252.9284 

Twitter | Facebook | Website | Email Support 
Support Phone. 410.252.8830 
cid:image002.png at 01CF2745.9EFA8A80

From: Lelio Fulgenzi [mailto:lelio at uoguelph.ca] 
Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2014 4:17 PM 
To: Matthew Loraditch 
Cc: cisco-voip 
Subject: Re: [cisco-voip] Upgrades prohibited... *sigh* 

Hi Matthew, re-hosting licenses is definitely an option. I wanted to make sure that this path _didn't_ work first, because it is the recommended/advertised approach. 

I'm lucky in that I already have the licenses for my test cluster which match this isolated publisher MAC, since they were issued on this isolated pub first, and I rehosted to another one due to some issues. 

For my production cluster, it means rehosting to the isolated pub MAC and going forward. 

Your comment regarding "the only reason you need the refresh file is because 6.1 and 7.1 can’t read licenses when running on VMWare" is interesting because according to the readme file, it's for more than that. In fact, it doesn't mention licensing at all. 

The refresh upgrade COP file delivers changes to the user experience on the CLI and GUI that are related to a refresh upgrade, and basic functionality needed to support refresh upgrades. Refresh upgrade is a new feature in 8.6(x) that allows upgrades between incompatible OS versions. 

The question then becomes, at what point do I install the license files, before or after the COP_refresh file? 

Lelio 

--- 
Lelio Fulgenzi, B.A. 
Senior Analyst, Network Infrastructure 
Computing and Communications Services (CCS) 
University of Guelph 

519 ‐ 824 ‐ 4120 Ext 56354 
lelio at uoguelph.ca 
www.uoguelph.ca/ccs 
Room 037, Animal Science and Nutrition Building 
Guelph, Ontario, N1G 2W1 

From: "Matthew Loraditch" < MLoraditch at heliontechnologies.com > 
To: "Lelio Fulgenzi" < lelio at uoguelph.ca >, "cisco-voip" < cisco-voip at puck.nether.net > 
Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2014 3:42:06 PM 
Subject: RE: [cisco-voip] Upgrades prohibited... *sigh* 
Just being devil’s advocate but since you aren’t going to VM, why don’t you just rehost the license files. It seems like you may have spent more time trying to JUMP when the only reason you need the refresh file is because 6.1 and 7.1 can’t read licenses when running on VMWare. You can do that once and since it’s hardware the MAC isn’t going to change no matter how many times you have to run through the install. Seems easier to open that case once and wait a few hours for rehosted licenses. 

cid:image001.jpg at 01C95158.4441E1B0
Matthew G. Loraditch – CCNP-Voice, CCNA-R&S, CCDA 
1965 Greenspring Drive 
Timonium, MD 21093 

direct voice. 443.541.1518 
fax. 410.252.9284 

Twitter | Facebook | Website | Email Support 
Support Phone. 410.252.8830 
cid:image002.png at 01CF273F.417B0D40

From: cisco-voip [ mailto:cisco-voip-bounces at puck.nether.net ] On Behalf Of Lelio Fulgenzi 
Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2014 3:34 PM 
To: cisco-voip 
Subject: [cisco-voip] Upgrades prohibited... *sigh* 

OK, so, I've attempted the upgrade from v7.1(5b)SU3 to v9.1(2)SU1 and I've got the dreaded "upgrades prohibited during license grace period" error. *big sigh* 

I'm using this as a resource: 

https://supportforums.cisco.com/servlet/JiveServlet/download/35163-6-15369435/Drive_to_Nine_Jump_upgrade_versions_4.1.3-7.1.5_to_9.1.2-3%5B1%5D.pdf 

Some comments: 

    * I am not recreating my cluster on VM ware, I am using supported MCS servers 
    * I installed 7.1(5b)SU3 via a "install with patch" process, using 7.1(3a) media 
    * I installed the the v1.3 COP refresh file next and did NOT reboot the cluster 
    * I performed a DRS restore and recovered first the publisher, then the subscriber 
    * I rebooted the subscriber first, then the publisher 
    * Performed dbreplication recovery (with an unfortunate reboot in the middle) 

I guess the biggest question is whether or not the COP refresh files disables the licenses restrictions on MCS servers or not. Or whether I should attempt this again, or call the TAC for them to allow upgrades via root. 

I'm on an isolated network, so it means some fancy routing on a laptop if the TAC is necessary. 

Suggestions? 

Lelio 

--- 
Lelio Fulgenzi, B.A. 
Senior Analyst, Network Infrastructure 
Computing and Communications Services (CCS) 
University of Guelph 

519 ‐ 824 ‐ 4120 Ext 56354 
lelio at uoguelph.ca 
www.uoguelph.ca/ccs 
Room 037, Animal Science and Nutrition Building 
Guelph, Ontario, N1G 2W1 

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