Upgrading Software Components; Overview; Vcs Software Components; Prerequisites - Cisco TelePresence Administrator's Manual

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Upgrading software components

You can install new releases of the VCS software components on
your existing hardware. Component upgrades can be performed
in one of two ways:
•
using the web interface (HTTP/HTTPS)
recommended process
•
using secure copy (SCP/PSCP)
This section describes how both of these methods are used to
perform upgrades.
To avoid any performance degradation you are
recommended to upgrade VCS components while the
system is inactive.
You can also upgrade the VCS platform component using
Cisco TMS. See the Cisco TMS documentation for more
information.
For specific information about upgrading peers in a
cluster, refer to the Clustering deployment guide
Overview and System
Introduction
status configuration
D14049.08
November 2010

VCS software components

All existing installed components are listed on the Upgrade page
(Maintenance > Upgrade), showing their current version and
- this is the
associated release key where appropriate.
The main component is the VCS platform. Other components
typically include OCS Relay, the VCS Database and Device
Provisioning.
An upgrade to the VCS platform component will typically include
automatic upgrades of some or all of the other components.
However, you can independently upgrade the other components
if required to do so. The upgrade process ensures that
compatibility is maintained across all components.

Prerequisites

The upgrade requires you to have:
•
a valid Release key, if you are upgrading to the next major
release of the VCS platform, for example from X4.1 to X5.0; it
is not required for dot releases, for example X5.0 to X5.1
•
[27]). a software image file for the component you want to update
•
release notes for the software version you are upgrading to —
additional manual steps may be required
Contact your Cisco representative for more information on how to
obtain these.

Backing up before upgrading

You should backup your system configuration before upgrading.
Click System backup to go to the
If you later need to downgrade to an X4 (or earlier) release
!
you will have to restore a backup made against that
previous release.
Cisco VCS Zones and
configuration neighbors

Overview

Backup and restore page.
Clustering and Call Bandwidth
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Upgrading and option keys

All existing option keys are retained through the upgrade from
one version of the VCS platform to the next, including upgrades
to the next major release. However, you are recommended to take
note of your existing option keys before performing the upgrade.
New features may also become available with each major release
of the VCS platform component, and you may need to install new
option keys to take advantage of these new features. Contact
your Cisco representative for more information on all the options
available for the latest release of VCS software.

Installing and rebooting

Upgrading the VCS platform component is a two-stage process.
First, the new software image is uploaded onto the VCS. At the
same time, the current configuration of the system is recorded,
so that this can be restored after the upgrade. During this initial
stage the system will continue running on its existing software
version, and all normal system processes will continue.
The second part of the upgrade involves rebooting the system. It
is only during the reboot that the VCS installs the new software
version and restores the previous configuration.
This means that you can upload the new software to your
system at any time, and then wait until a convenient moment
(for example, when no calls are taking place) to install the new
version by rebooting the system.
Any configuration changes made between the software
!
upload and the reboot will be lost when the system
restarts using the new software version.
The upgrade of components other than the VCS platform does
not involve a system reboot, however the services provided by
that component will be temporarily stopped while the upgrade
process completes.
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