Upgrade Advice – Avaya IP Office Server Edition 11.1.2.3.0 to 11.1.3.2.0 (VMware Environment)

[William C290]

Hi everyone,


We are planning to upgrade an Avaya IP Office Server Edition deployment currently running on:


Version: 11.1 Feature Pack 2 Service Pack 3
Build: 11.1.2.3.0 (Build 3)


We’re targeting the latest available release:


Version: 11.1 Feature Pack 3 Service Pack 2
Build: 11.1.3.2.0 (Build 6 / 11.1.3200.6)


This deployment is hosted entirely on VMware virtual machines, and due to the sensitive nature of the environment (financial sector), we plan to follow a very cautious upgrade path in the following order:

1. Upgrade the Secondary Server first.
2. Then proceed with all Expansion Systems.
3. Finally, upgrade the Primary Server.

All configuration backups have been completed, and full VMware snapshots will be taken before starting the upgrade.

---

Question:​

Given that this is a VMware environment, which method would be considered more stable and preferred for the upgrade?

• Mounting the ISO file directly to the VM via vSphere,
  or
• Using a bootable external DVD image

Any feedback or recommendations—especially from those who have recently performed this exact upgrade—would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks in advance!

 

[MikeeOK]

I don't understand why you would want to make it more complicated than it needs to be. You are already on R11.1 and in VMware.

Take a snapshot and upgrade using the standard process (Via uploading of iso file in web manager.)

Use the Snapshot as the fall back.

 

[William C290]

@MikeeOK :

Thanks for the input — really appreciate the direct approach.


You're absolutely right: since we're already on R11.1 and running on VMware, upgrading via ISO through Web Manager does work smoothly in most cases, and the snapshot gives a solid rollback plan.


However, this particular deployment is for a banking environment, so we're applying stricter internal policies and following a conservative approach, mainly to avoid any service interruption — even if it's just UI-based (like Agent Desktop or Wallboards going offline temporarily).


We're planning to upgrade in the following sequence:
Secondary → Expansion Systems → Primary,
which is also aligned with Avaya’s best practices for minimizing disruption in multi-server setups.


Appreciate the insight again — always good to hear from those who've been through it directly.

 

[Mo. Abdullah]

Upgrading using web manager 7070 - transferring .iso mechanism is done smoothly from R11.1.2 to R11.1.3. No need for other methods. Just make sure that you have enough disk space in the primary disk before the upgrade.
But if you have ur personal concerns, Attaching the upgrade disk to the VM after shutting down from 7071, and give the upgrade disk priority 0 and the primary disk as priority 1
This is the best method after transferring iso.
Follow the upgrade steps from the Avaya document for attaching the upgrade disk in the VM environment.

 

[IPOriface]

Is your client 24x7, or do you have an outage window?