Pre-upgrade requirements

Best practice

Important

Upgrade the system only during a planned downtime for system maintenance.

For a successful upgrade, implement the following best practices. In case of an upgrade failure, you also have a high probability of successfully restoring the initial software release.

Identify a server with adequate disk space to store the datasets. The Messaging server backs up Messaging data over the customer LAN to an external ftp server. The network must support a minimum average transfer rate of 1.6 MB/sec. The supported backup methods are FTP, SFTP, and SCP.
CD/DVD of the current software release and/or Operating System.
Current Service Packs on application.
The required applications on the computer to perform the upgrade.
Monitor, Mouse, and appropriate keyboard to connect to the server.
Paper copy of IP addresses and Naming information.
Paper copy of worksheets.

Software requirements

Before you upgrade Messaging, confirm that the version of System Platform you are running is compatible with Messaging Release 6.2.

To obtain information on the supported version, see Avaya Aura® Messaging Release Notes on the Avaya Support Web site at https://support.avaya.com/Products/P0792.
To verify currently installed version of System Platform, see Verifying the version of System Platform.

If the software on your system does not match the software components in the release notes, you must download the needed software before proceeding.

You need to download the following software:

System Platform from the Product Licensing and Delivery System (PLDS). For more information, refer to the Software download section of Implementing Avaya Aura® Messaging.
The Messaging templates from PLDS. For more information, refer to the Software download section of Implementing Avaya Aura® Messaging.
Service packs available on the Avaya Support Web site, https://support.avaya.com/Products/P0792.

After upgrading the System Platform software, you must update the System Platform software with the latest approved patches and service packs. Ensure that these patches and service packs are verified for use with Messaging. You can download the latest patches from the Avaya support Web site.

For information on the latest patches, see Avaya Aura® Messaging Release Notes available on the Avaya support Web site, https://support.avaya.com/Products/P0792.

For more information on downloading and installing patches and Service Packs, see Installing patches.

RAID battery status

You must check the RAID battery status of the server before you upgrade Messaging. For more information, see Checking the RAID battery status.

If you see any of the following alerts, contact Avaya services: O_AVDM10102: RAID battery capacity too low and O_AVDM10101: RAID current setting is write through.
If there are no alerts for RAID battery, continue with the upgrade process.

Alarms

Before you upgrade Messaging, make sure that there are no active alarms in the system.

To view current alarms, see Viewing current alarms.
For Messaging alarms repair procedure, see Avaya Aura® Messaging Alarms and Events.
For System Platform alarms and events, see Administering Avaya Aura™ System Platform.

Application requirements

You must install a Secure Shell application such as PuTTy on your computer.

Browser requirements

You must install any of the following Web browser on your computer:

Internet Explorer 7.x, 8.x, or 9.x
FireFox 10.0.2
Safari 4.x or 5.x
Google Chrome v17

Backup location and access information

The Messaging server backs up Messaging data over the customer LAN to an external ftp server. In the event of a upgrade failure, the information stored on the external server is used to restore the system to an operational state. Messaging data backup may easily reach 50 Gigabytes or more. Customers may be unable to support transfers of single files of this size. Hence, in Messaging, the system automatically divides large data backups into 500 MB files before transfer. Each file transfer might complete in about 5 minutes. Consequently, the network must support a minimum average transfer rate of 1.6 MB/sec.

The following methods are available for backup:

FTP: When you choose this selection, you must also enter a user name, password, host name, and directory. The default directory for backup data on the FTP server is /var/home/ftp. If you want to use the default directory, enter a forward slash (/) in the directory field. You must start the FTP server before backing up data.
SFTP: A network protocol that provides file transfers over data streams. The SFTP client is added to all Linux platforms.
SCP: A means of securely transferring computer files between a local and a remote host, or between two remote hosts, using the Secure Shell (SSH) protocol.

For more information on backup, see Administering Avaya Aura® Messaging.