Controller upgrades

[ddog511]

I have several MXeIII controllers and see in the service link page that newer versions are available to install.  I know I can call the company that manages them, but do I *need* them?  It seems like a pretty straight forward process - install to the inactive, set it as active and reboot.  Am I missing something?  The management company will charge me per controller and I have several, so just wondering if the charge is worth it vs doing it myself.

[lundah]

If it's a new major release (i.e., 9.2 to 10.0), you need active SWA on the system to be able to upgrade. Other than that, assuming everything goes well, it's a simple process. If something goes wrong, that's when the partner may need to get involved, as there's some maintenance tasks around clearing or updating the hardware signature of the system license that only the partner can perform. Whichever you choose, make sure you have a backup (ideally multiple) before you start.

[acejavelin]

Since it is now in the Servicelink tab, I get asked this occasionally, and I agree mostly with lundah here...

Make absolutely sure you have Software Assurance if you are changing major revisions... for example you can go from 9.4.0.25 to 9.4.1.21 without SWA, but you cannot go to 10.0.0.76, the upgrade shouldn't be allowed but there have been instances where the system allows you to then it can't license itself to the MSL servers and you are left with a system that is working but cannot process any calls (so basically a useless system). If you are not confident in this, seek out your vendor.

Reboot your system... Power it off completely and power it back on and make sure things come back to normal... If you are not confident doing this then maybe seek out you vendor.

Make 2 backups... backups equals backups minus 1... If you trust it, test it... do a restore... Well, at least be comfortable enough that you COULD do one... if you are not confident doing a restore then maybe seek out your vendor, or at least make sure your vendor is comfortable doing it. I have seen some small shops where they can "work on" a MiVB, but when things get hairy, they flake out. Make sure you understand the two types of backups, the one you do in the MiVB and the one you do in Server Manager.

Make sure you understand the process... there are two kinds of upgrades you can do, Perform Upgrade and Download and Install are different even though the end result is identical. I NEVER do a "Perform Upgrade" anymore as I have had instances where it can take a very long time, more than 12 hours and I have seen downtime get pretty high... You can download and install and upgrade whenever you wish, this method will still have downtime, but significantly less than the Perform Upgrade method... Typically 45 minutes to 2 hours depending on system size and how many phones need to upgrade.

If you have other ancillary systems, like MiCollab, Call Recording, Call Center Manager, etc... make sure those don't need an upgrade as well... Usually you are fine, but sometimes things can get wonky if the systems get too far apart.

I make this all sound scary, but it really isn't if you have done your homework... I have a few customers that do this and at least one has a newer version than my test platform. It usually goes smoothly and when I do it for customers it's often just two hours of babysitting the system to make them feel good about it... BUT if you have to make that call at 2am because your system is down, your on-call tech isn't going to be very happy and the bill probably won't be cheap either.

[ddog511]

Thanks for the response!  Most things I'm comfortable with but this is one I haven't done yet.  Is it safe to assume that if I have an active service link subscription that I also have SWA?  I 90% sure we do have SWA. 

Re your comment about completely powering off the system - is that *before* the upgrade or after?

I didn't know there was a difference in backups from System admin tool vs server manager.  Which one is better for this situation? 
Backup / Restore - no problem, have done that a few times. 

Thanks for the comparison on the two types of install.  That helps a lot as well.  We do have MiCollab but I don't see a version 10 in service link yet for that device. 

[billbry66]

are you mitel certified ?
have you read any release notes for the new version you are thinking of installing ?
Don't assume that because you can see it listed that its supported and everything will work afterwards

At the lease you should read the release notes to see if there are any requirements for the upgrade

NOTE upgrades are not always an improvement ( especially GA releases)
- its normally best to wait until the 1st service pack for a GA release before changing to a new version)

if i was a maintainer , i wouldn't be too pleased with a customer trying out an upgrade and messing it up and then asking for us to fix it.
would your business suffer if there was an extended outage of the phone system whilst it was being fixed after it stopped working ?

And as others have suggested - the MIVB is normally the last system that should be upgraded if there are there servers in place
most others (micollab MICC MBG) are backwards compatible ( BUT NOT ALWAYS) sometimes all servers may have to be upgraded at the same time.

if your MIVB are clustered ( and sharing data) that is also an implication ( depending upon what version they are running and what you are planning on upgrading to)

[lundah]

Thanks for the response!  Most things I'm comfortable with but this is one I haven't done yet.  Is it safe to assume that if I have an active service link subscription that I also have SWA?  I 90% sure we do have SWA. 

Re your comment about completely powering off the system - is that *before* the upgrade or after?

I didn't know there was a difference in backups from System admin tool vs server manager.  Which one is better for this situation? 
Backup / Restore - no problem, have done that a few times. 

Thanks for the comparison on the two types of install.  That helps a lot as well.  We do have MiCollab but I don't see a version 10 in service link yet for that device.

I absolutely would not do a major release upgrade on my own as an end customer without partner support. I also would wait for the first SP/FP release of MiVB 10.0 before upgrading, I've been burned too many times with GA releases in the past. The latest MiCollab release is 9.7, and was just recently released; same applies there, wait for the FP/SP first before upgrading.

[acejavelin]

Thanks for the response!  Most things I'm comfortable with but this is one I haven't done yet.  Is it safe to assume that if I have an active service link subscription that I also have SWA?  I 90% sure we do have SWA. 

Re your comment about completely powering off the system - is that *before* the upgrade or after?

I didn't know there was a difference in backups from System admin tool vs server manager.  Which one is better for this situation? 
Backup / Restore - no problem, have done that a few times. 

Thanks for the comparison on the two types of install.  That helps a lot as well.  We do have MiCollab but I don't see a version 10 in service link yet for that device.

I absolutely would not do a major release upgrade on my own as an end customer without partner support. I also would wait for the first SP/FP release of MiVB 10.0 before upgrading, I've been burned too many times with GA releases in the past. The latest MiCollab release is 9.7, and was just recently released; same applies there, wait for the FP/SP first before upgrading.

Absolutely agree... This isn't Windows... You don't need to be looking at the "latest" unless you either absolutely need a feature or a bug fix offered in it, otherwise stability is the primary thing to consider here. Often "new" major releases add more bugs than features, and the first service pack or maintenance release after it fixes the majority of them.

[ddog511]

Thank you all for the advice.  I'll hold off for now and when we do decide to move to it, we'll have the vendor do it.