[cisco-voip] CUCM Pre-Upgrade Checklist

Tue Apr 24 23:25:09 EDT 2018

I've made a ISO file of COP files before and named it cisco-cops.iso
and mounted it to VM

On Tue, Apr 24, 2018 at 6:44 PM, Charles Goldsmith <wokka at justfamily.org> wrote:
> 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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