It is assumed that you have standard procedures for system maintenance and that the person performing the software upgrade is qualified to perform this procedure.
Planning Considerations
The following should be considered while planning a maintenance window:
- for deployment configuration information needed during the upgrade, contact Ribbon to obtain the latest DSC- SP2000 Network Engineering Specification (also known as the Specbook)
- network activities that are taking place during the software upgrade
- soak time before beginning a new network change
- service usage irregularities such as phone-in contests
- availability of operations staff
- availability of vendor’s support staff
- availability of support staff in Network Operations Centers (NOCs) that are connected to your system
- seasonal issues such as Christmas brown-out periods of network changes
- NOC expert staff vacation schedules
- It is recommended that the Network Operations Centers test its test call plan prior to the software upgrade.
- If you have off-site systems for spare hardware purposes, consider upgrading these systems as disaster recovery, lab, and training sites. If such a system is available, the training for software upgrade and rollback should take place on this system. Make sure to note the required time for each process.
- Sites with PCE: It is recommended that PCE should be removed before continuing with the upgrade procedure.
- It is recommended that you reset the system time and date (if required) during the maintenance window. For more information about configuring the system date and time, refer to the Setting System Date and Time.
Note
It is highly recommended that you run a pre-upgrade check while planning the maintenance window to identify and resolve any possible SCTP related issues. Refer to Execute the Pre-Upgrade Check.
Ribbon Support
Ribbon Customer Support provides emergency support to customers who have a support agreement. However, it is recommended that you notify Ribbon about one week prior to planning a maintenance window for a software upgrade. For contact information, refer to Customer Support.
Example Software Upgrade Maintenance Window Schedule
The following is an example of a software upgrade document:
- STP Software Upgrade
- CLLI: wesott234top
- Maintenance Window Times:
- Start: 30 November 2014 23:00 EST
- Late Stop: 1 December 2014 03:00 EST
Expected Stop: 1 December 2014 00:30 EST
NoteExpected stop refers to the time when a software upgrade without any problems should be completed. Late stop refers to the time when an aborted upgrade with software rollback to the previous software version is completed.
The following table provides an example schedule for a software upgrade.
Example Schedule for a Software Upgrade
| Item | Expected Completion |
|---|---|
| Approval of the maintenance window for the software upgrade plan | November 15 |
| Notification to connected Network Operations Centers¹ | November 23 |
| Notification to various departments affected by this event (Billing, Marketing, and so on) | November 23 |
| Dry-runs in lab | Week of November 23 |
| Backup system | November 30, 22:00 |
| Review system status | November 30, 22:15 |
| Call NOCs and connected networks² | November 30, 23:45 |
| Perform software upgrade according to the instructions in this document | 00:00 |
| Call NOCs and connected networks | 01:30 |
| Review system status and test service | 01:30 |
| Backup systems |
¹ Providing the NOCs and connected networks one week's notice to the software upgrade gives them an opportunity to advise you of any activities they may have that could hinder the software upgrade.
² It is recommended that you contact the NOCs and connected networks prior to bringing down the SS7 links. Performing this task generates alarms.
Overview
Content Tools