Downgrade to 6.1.4 on a brandnew MCS7835 with pre-installed 7.1

[Steffen Bruening]

Hi there,

a customer has ordered a MCS7835I3-K9-CMC2 which was delivered with a CUCM 7.1 Pre-Installation. The existing customer cluster is runnin’ on release 6.1.4 (6.1.4.2190-3). To Join this new server to the current cluster I need to downgrade the version also to 6.1.4. (The whole cluster upgrade is scheduled for later) I created a bootable medium and started the installation. I was surprised to see the message on the screen that the current hardware is not supported. Is it possible that new hardware is to new and therefore unknown for the platform check in release 6.1.4? But that would be strange because I can order also a MCS7835I3 with 6.1 pre-installed.

Any ideas how can bring the 6.1. version to this server. Do I need to install a different 6.1 Version at first before I can upgrade to 6.1.4?

Regards

Steffen

[philip.e.denton]

Steffen,

The release notes for that version of CUCM seem not to directly address new installs of CUCM 6.1(4), but rather several different upgrade options, mentioned in the release notes here:

http://cisco.biz/en/US/docs/voice_ip_comm/cucm/rel_notes/6_1_4/cucm-rel_note-614.html#wp918289

As far as validating hardware, check what you have against the compatibility matrix here:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/voicesw/ps6790/ps5748/ps378/prod_brochure0900aecd8062a4f9.html

It sounds to me like 6.1(4) may not be suitable for new installs.  Either way, as someone posted in a different thread (just this morning but I already forgot who) you should look at both the active and inactive partitions of your production CUCM servers and try to make your new node match exactly.  That way you always have the option of rolling the whole cluster back to the same CUCM version if you have problems or need to revert for some reason.

With any luck the previous version before 6.1(4) is a bootable version so you can do a two-step upgrade and be done with it!

[Aaron Harrison · Accepted solution]

Hi Steffan

Take a look at the list of servers mapped to CCM versions : http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/voicesw/ps6790/ps5748/ps378/prod_brochure0900aecd8062a4f9.html

Ideally you'd look at that before you buy the server, but since we need to work with what you have...

- 6.1.5 lists your server as compatible. 6.1.4 does not. I guess if you order it with 6.1, it will be 6.1.5 that you receive.

- You can upgrade the existing cluster to 6.1.5 and then install the new server with 6.1.5.

- Downloaded ISOs are not bootable; you would need to get a media kit or make the ISO bootable by following the instructions at this URL (http://htluo.blogspot.com/2010/04/how-to-make-non-bootable-iso-image.html). You can try 'stealing' the boot info from your 6.1.4 DVD and apply that to the 6.1.5 ISO.

Regards

Aaron

Please rate helpful posts..

[Steffen Bruening]

Thanks Aaron and Phil. Thats a pitty. Originally it was planned to upgrade the existing cluster at first to 7.1.2 before joining the new server but for unknown reasons the customer decided that the cluster should expand at first before going to the new release.

Regards

Steffen

[philip.e.denton]

Alternatively you could use whatever bootable (appliance-based) version of CUCM you may have lying around to start your install with and choose the option to apply a patch (upgrade) during your install, along with your 6.1(5) media.