Upgrading SBC Application

This section describes the different methods to upgrade the SBC Core application.

When an SBC upgrade is available, the software is posted on the Ribbon Support Portal. Refer to Downloading Software from the Ribbon Support Portal for more information.

Prerequisites

Prior to performing an upgrade on the SBC Core, ensure the following activities are accomplished.

SBC Core (in general)

• Before upgrading the ConnexIP OS, firmware, and the SBC application, you must first save the configuration in case you encounter any issues during the upgrade.
  • This will allow you to restore the system in case any issues occur during the upgrades procedure.
  • Refer to Saving the SBC Configuration and Restoring SBC Configuration.
    
    

• Before upgrading the application, upgrade the SBC firmware to the latest version on both the active and standby SBCs for an HA pair.

  • Refer to the target Release Note for the latest firmware version.
  • Upgrade the firmware using Upgrading the BMC and BIOS Firmware procedure.

SBC SWe

• Increase the memory to the larger of:

  • the minimum memory required for the release.
    or
  • the memory required for the desired session capacity.
  Note

  The performance/capacity of the SBC SWe is impacted by the amount of memory assigned to the VM. Review SBC SWe Performance Metrics to see the memory requirements for the current release plus a procedure to upgrade memory, if required. Complete the procedure to upgrade memory prior to performing the upgrade.

   

• Ensure the SBC SWe memory reservation meets the requirements for the current release. Refer to SBC SWe Performance Metrics.
• Check minimum disk space requirements: 
  

  The amount of disk space used during the upgrade process depends on how the hypervisor internally handles an instance's disk lifecycle. The following table provides Ribbon's recommendation for extra disk space for different types of nodes/instances.

  Note

  For proper performance, you must provide the minimum resources shown here.

  Node Type	Extra Disk Space* (in GB)
  S-SBC	80
  M-SBC	80
  PSX-M	360
  PSX-S	360
  PSX-Test	360
  EMS_SA	150

  * Extra disk space (in addition to the disk space requirement for the instance) is only applicable during the upgrade process.

  The total disk space requirement during an upgrade = Disk Space for the upgraded instance + extra disk space required only during the upgrade.

Live Software Upgrade (LSWU)

LSWU allows a user to upgrade the SBC application software on HA pairs without impacting service (dropping calls). This is mainly recommended for HA SBC systems. You can also perform a LSWU on the SBC EMA and in SBC EMA Platform Mode. Refer to Live Software Upgrade using CLI and System Administration - Software Install-Upgrade for more information.

Notes for Performing LSWU from Release 11.1.0x

On SBC setups, the active node takes more time than expected for the services to come up after an upgrade from 11.1.0x. Before performing an upgrade from 11.1.0x, apply the following steps:

1. Confirm that the cnixpmadmin password is not default by running the following command as root on the active and standby nodes:
   

   [root@SBC]# $ENCRYPTED_STORE_SH cnxipmadmin

   Note

   The command must not show the default password "Cnx1PmAdm1n"

2. If the password is still the default, randomize the password by running the following command as root on the active node:
   

   [root@SBC]# $CHANGE_DEFAULT_PASSWDS_SH

3. Verify the cnxipmadmin password is updated to a random one on both the active and standby nodes:
   

   [root@SBC]# $ENCRYPTED_STORE_SH cnxipmadmin

Non-Live Software Upgrade (Non-LSWU)

The non-LSWU upgrade process requires taking the SBC system offline to perform an application upgrade. This refers to upgrading the SBC application in a standalone or HA configuration using EMA Platform Mode. Refer to Upgrading SBC Application using EMA Platform Mode for more information.