[cisco-voip] CUCM Pre-Upgrade Checklist

Tue Apr 24 20:44:58 EDT 2018

Agreed Ryan, 100%.  I've never used the ESXi server for DRS, but I have
used it to store a COP file for an upgrade when a client's VPN was blocking
me, or sent  files to it in order to transfer to TAC.

Customer firewalls and VPN can be a pain sometimes when doing late night,
remote support, and you come up with creative ways to handle the task.

For example, needed the old license files from pre-upgrade on a system for
GLO one night, doing it remotely and needed to root CUCM.  Customer had
already copied the system over to a lab environment, so shut it down and
booted using the recovery cd.  Used it to access root and mount the
partitions, grabbed the files and put onto a temporary VMDK that I added to
the vm.  Copied that VMDK off of the ESXi host onto vmware workstation into
a linux VM of my own and copied the license files off of it, fired off to
GLO.  Took me about 20 minutes total, but didn't have involve TAC to get
the license files needed for the upgrade.

Yes, I realize there is a command at the CLI to extract them, but when it
gives a non-descript error about transferring said files to SFTP, it's just
not worth the hassle of opening a case.  I had already tried the ESXi sftp
server, as well as a centos VM to no avail.

On Tue, Apr 24, 2018 at 8:19 PM Ryan Huff <ryanhuff at outlook.com> wrote:

> While I understand the purpose and intention of a temporary DRS target;
> I’d be hesitant to use the ESXi server itself.
>
> All things temporary become permanent, especially in the SMB space :).
>
> Though, I will admit it’s an awfully convenient Linux server in a pinch ;).
>
>
> -Ryan-
>
> On Apr 24, 2018, at 19:22, Charles Goldsmith <wokka at justfamily.org> wrote:
>
> Nothing better than having a pair of linux VM's to backup to, in
> geographically diverse locations :)
>
> For a temporary backup or COP source, enable ssh on the esxi host or I use
> my macbook as the sftp server.
>
>
> On Tue, Apr 24, 2018 at 6:51 PM Anthony Holloway <
> avholloway+cisco-voip at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I was mostly making fun of the "free FTDP" when it should have been
>> "freeFTPd."  However, I appreciate you breathing new life into this.
>>
>> On Tue, Apr 24, 2018 at 2:34 PM Ryan Ratliff (rratliff) <
>> rratliff at cisco.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Just filed CSCvj14739 to see if they will update the docs. Given the
>>> last release of FreeFTPd was a number of years ago there’s no guarantee it
>>> will happen, but that doesn’t mean it won’t work any longer.
>>>
>>> -Ryan
>>>
>>> On Apr 24, 2018, at 3:10 PM, Ryan Huff <ryanhuff at outlook.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> It was the 1GB max per transaction file size, but was then fixed. I
>>> don’t think they’ve restricted their cipher suites either, so I think it
>>> still works with CBC-Blowfish and other older/weaker suites .... which is
>>> why folks like it on CUCM; might not be the most secure but it just works.
>>>
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>
>>> On Apr 24, 2018, at 15:06, Ryan Ratliff (rratliff) <rratliff at cisco.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> I vaguely recall something changing with FreeFTPd that specifically
>>> broke our DRS and that’s why it’s no longer supported.
>>> i don’t know if it was a max file size or something else.
>>>
>>> -Ryan
>>>
>>> On Apr 24, 2018, at 12:33 PM, Anthony Holloway <
>>> avholloway+cisco-voip at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> I just noticed Cisco now supports freeFTPd, but they stopped supporting
>>> my favorite SFTP product "free FTDP."  :(
>>>
>>> "Cisco does not support using the SFTP product free FTDP."
>>>
>>> Source: same document
>>>
>>> On Sat, Mar 31, 2018 at 10:38 PM Anthony Holloway <
>>> avholloway+cisco-voip at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Has anyone seen this lately?  This thing is nuts.  I've been doing
>>>> upgrades for like 10 years now, and this seems a little over the top.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/cucm/upgrade/11_5_1/cucm_b_upgrade-guide-cucm-115/cucm_b_upgrade-guide-cucm-115_chapter_010001.html
>>>>
>>>> Some Highlights:
>>>>
>>>> "If you have custom ringtones or background images in the TFTP
>>>> directory, you need to create a separate backup for these files. They are
>>>> not included in the Disaster Recovery System (DRS) backup file."
>>>>
>>>> Good to know.  I must admit that I didn't know that.
>>>>
>>>> "Record the following login and password information: all application
>>>> users credentials, such as DRS, AXL, and accounts for other third-party
>>>> integration"
>>>>
>>>> What?  Why?  What do you plan on doing with my configuration?
>>>>
>>>> "Record the settings for Enterprise Parameters on both [CM] nodes and
>>>> [IM&P] nodes. [T]he settings that are configured on Unified Communications
>>>> Manager nodes overwrite the settings configured on IM and Presence Service
>>>> nodes during the upgrade process."
>>>>
>>>> Well that's some lazy software engineering right there folks.
>>>>
>>>> "Export user records using the Bulk Administration Tool (BAT)."
>>>>
>>>> That's a nice list of users you got there.  It would be a shame if this
>>>> upgrade deleted all of them.
>>>>
>>>> And the list just goes on, and on, and on.  The pre-upgrade is as long
>>>> as the upgrade.  Who legitimately is already doing 100% of these things?
>>>>
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