14. Software Upgrade

14.1. Release Notes

The Sipwise C5 version mr7.5.7 has the following important changes:

  • Upgrade from Debian 9 (stretch) to Debian 10 (buster) [TT#60950]
  • Add LNP NCOS pattern filter (See Section 7.3.2.2, “Creating Rules per NCOS Level” in the handbook to have more details) [TT#60903]
  • Conversion of kamailio location records from datetime to timestamp format [TT#23358]
  • Add support for tel:uri in inbound From and PAI headers [TT#61251]
  • Rework and optimise the customer calls fraud control and notification logic [TT#51409]
  • [Carrier] New feature ngcpcfg push-parallel to apply changes on all nodes in parallel [TT#63758]
  • New ngcp-exporter component that exports active subscriber NCOS levels into .csv files [TT#62951]
  • Upgrade Kamailio from version 5.1.6 to 5.2.3 [TT#56950]
  • Upgrade MariaDB from version 10.1 to 10.3 [TT#60950]
  • Rework block_in_clir subscriber/customer’s preference (See Section 7.3.1.3, “Block Anonymous Numbers” in the handbook to have more details) [TT#47593]

Please find the complete changelog in our release notes on our WEB site.

14.2. Overview

The Sipwise C5 software upgrade procedure to mr7.5.7 will perform several fundamental tasks:

  • Upgrade the base system from Debian 9 (stretch) to Debian 10 (buster)
  • upgrade the NGCP software packages
  • upgrade the NGCP configuration templates
  • upgrade the NGCP DB schema
  • upgrade the NGCP configuration schema
  • upgrade the base system within Debian 10 (buster) to the latest package versions

14.3. Preparing the software upgrade

It is recommended to execute the preparatory steps in this chapter a few days before the actual software upgrade. They do not cause a service downtime, so it is safe to execute them during peak hours.

14.3.1. Log into the C5 server

Run the terminal multiplexer under the sipwise user (to reuse the Sipwise .screenrc settings that are convenient for working in multiple windows):

screen -S my_screen_name_for_ngcp_upgrade

Become root inside your screen session:

sudo -s

14.3.2. Check the overall system status

Check the overall system status:

ngcp-status

14.3.3. Evaluate and update custom modifications

For the below steps, investigate and make sure you understand why the custom modifications were introduced and if they are still required after the software upgrade. If the custom modifications are not required anymore, remove them (e.g. if a bug was fixed in the target release and the existing patch becomes irrelevant).

warning

If you directly change the working configuration (e.g. add custom templates or change the existing ones) for some reason, then the system must be thoroughly tested after these changes have been applied. Continue with the software upgrade preparation only if the results of the tests are acceptable.

Find the local changes to the template files:

ngcp-customtt-diff-helper

The script will also ask you if you would like to download the templates for your target release. To download the new templates separately, execute:

ngcp-customtt-diff-helper -d

In the tmp folder provided by the script, you can review the patchtt files or merge the current customtt with the new tt2 templates, creating the new customtt.tt2 files. Once you do this, archive the new patchtt/customtt files to reapply your custom modifications after the software upgrade:

ngcp-customtt-diff-helper -t

Find all available script options with the "-h" parameter.

warning

Starting from version mr7.0.1 a new kamailio module called "pv_headers" has been introduced. This new module enables storing all headers in XAVP to freely modify them in the kamailio logic and only apply them once when it’s time for the packet to be routed outside. The main goal of the module is to offload the intermediate header processing into the XAVP dynamic container as well as provide with high-level methods and pseudovariables to simplify SIP message header modifications. The module is enabled by default in kamailio proxy and all the templates have been updated to use this new logic. Before proceeding with the upgrade it is essential that the customtt/patchtt you have in place are updated to this new format. At appendix you can find additional information on the module.

14.3.4. Check system integrity

Check if there are any *.tt2.dpkg-dist files among the templates. They usually appear when tt2 files are modified directly instead of creating customtt/patchtt files. If you find any *.tt2.dpkg-dist files, treat the corresponding tt2 files as if they were customtt.tt2 and introduce the changes from the existing tt2 files into the new templates (create associated customtt.tt2 or patchtt.tt2) before the software upgrade.

find /etc/ngcp-config -name \*.tt2.dpkg-dist

Note that in the end all *.tt2.dpkg-dist files must be removed before the software upgrade as they prevent the upgrade script from updating the tt2 files.

Check and remove dpkg files left from previous software upgrades.

Make sure that the list is empty before you continue:

find /etc/ngcp-config -name \*.tt2.dpkg\*

Changes made directly in tt2 templates will be lost after the software upgrade. Only custom changes made in customtt.tt2 or added by patchtt.tt2 files will be kept. Hence, check the system for locally modified tt2 files on all nodes:

ngcp-status --integrity

14.3.5. Check the configuration framework status

Check the configuration framework status on all nodes. All checks must show the "OK" result and there must be no actions required:

ngcpcfg status

Run "apt-get update" and ensure that you do not have any warnings and errors in the output.

warning

If the installation uses locally specified mirrors, then the mirrors must be switched to the Sipwise APT repositories (at least for the software upgrade). Otherwise, the public Debian mirrors may not provide packages for old Releases anymore or at least provide outdated ones!

14.3.6. Check migration of location entries from Mysql to Redis DB

warning

Upgrade to mr7.5 is allowed with kamailio.location in Redis DB only! It is necessary for the proper migration of location records from datetime to bigint/epoch.

Starting from mr6.2.1, location, acc and dialogs data are stored in RedisDB allowing better system performances. Before proceed with the upgrade, check if location data are already migrated to RedisDB:

ngcpcfg values "kamailio.proxy.redis.usrloc"

If the answer is yes, then skip this sub-chapter and proceed with the next one. On the contrary, an answer equals to no means that the migration process has not been completed. This happens because, to be more flexible and to reduce the downtime of the system, only acc and dialogs data have been moved automatically to RedisDB. Migration of location data is a step that should be done manually and it was probably skipped during previous upgrades.

To proceed with the migration and complete the process, execute the following commands during out of business hours.

  • Enable location data storage on RedisDB:
ngcpcfg set /etc/ngcp-config/config.yml "kamailio.proxy.redis.usrloc=yes"
  • Apply the changes to configuration templates:
ngcpcfg apply 'Enable location data storage on RedisDB'
important

Execute the following 3 steps one after another with as short as possible delay between them.

  • Migrate all location data from MySQL to Redis DB using an adhoc script:
ngcp-location-migrate
  • Update the internal counters for accurate statistics about location entries: (This step can be executed any time location entries have been manually modified)
ngcp-location-sync
  • Restart kamailio proxy, panel and mediator services to load migrated location data
ngcp-service kamailio-proxy restart
ngcp-service ngcp-panel restart
ngcp-service ngcp-mediator restart
  • Clean old location data stored in MySQL using an adhoc script:
ngcp-location-migrate -c

14.4. Upgrade from previous versions to mr7.5.7

info

The document describes upgrade from all mr7.4.* and mr6.5.* LTS releases.

14.4.1. Preparing for maintenance mode

Sipwise C5 introduces Maintenance Mode with its mr5.4.1 release. The maintenance mode of Sipwise C5 will disable some background services (for instance: ngcp-mediator) during the software upgrade. It thus prevents the system from getting into an inconsistent state while the upgrade is being performed. You can activate maintenance mode by applying a simple configuration change as described later.

  • Enable maintenance mode:
ngcpcfg set /etc/ngcp-config/config.yml "general.maintenance=yes"
  • Apply configuration changes by executing:
ngcpcfg apply 'Enabling maintenance mode before the upgrade to mr7.5.7'

14.4.2. Set the proper software repositories

warning

Ensure you are using the Sipwise APT repositories. Public Debian mirrors may not provide packages for old Debian releases anymore. Also, they might be outdated. Consider using Sipwise repositories for the time of the upgrade.

Execute the following commands as root:

echo "# Please visit /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ instead." > /etc/apt/sources.list

mkdir -p /etc/apt/sources.list.d
for file in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/*.list ; do mv "${file}" "${file}.DISABLED" ; done

NGCP_CURRENT_VERSION=$(cat /etc/ngcp_version)
cat > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list << EOF
# Debian repositories, deployed via upgrade ${NGCP_CURRENT_VERSION}->mr7.5.7
deb https://debian.sipwise.com/debian/ stretch main contrib non-free
#deb-src https://debian.sipwise.com/debian/ stretch main contrib non-free
#
deb https://debian.sipwise.com/debian-security/ stretch-security main contrib non-free
#deb-src https://debian.sipwise.com/debian-security/ stretch-security main contrib non-free
#
deb https://debian.sipwise.com/debian/ stretch-updates main contrib non-free
#deb-src https://debian.sipwise.com/debian/ stretch-updates main contrib non-free

deb https://debian.sipwise.com/debian-debug/ stretch-debug main contrib non-free
#deb-src https://debian.sipwise.com/debian-debug/ stretch-debug main contrib non-free
EOF

NGCP_CURRENT_VERSION=$(cat /etc/ngcp_version)
cat > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/sipwise.list << EOF
# NGCP_MANAGED_FILE
# Sipwise repository, deployed via upgrade ${NGCP_CURRENT_VERSION}->mr7.5.7
deb https://deb.sipwise.com/spce/${NGCP_CURRENT_VERSION}/ stretch main
#deb-src https://deb.sipwise.com/spce/${NGCP_CURRENT_VERSION}/ stretch main
EOF
warning

Do not use "ngcpcfg apply/build" after executing the steps from the above block, as otherwise the changes will be overwritten and you will have to redo these steps. Run "apt-get update" and ensure you have no warnings/errors here.

14.4.3. Switch to new repositories

To upgrade Sipwise C5 to release mr7.5.7, execute the following commands:

NGCP_CURRENT_VERSION=$(cat /etc/ngcp_version)
sed -i "s/${NGCP_CURRENT_VERSION}/mr7.5.7/" /etc/apt/sources.list.d/sipwise.list

sed -i "s/stretch/buster/g" /etc/apt/sources.list.d/sipwise.list /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list

apt-get update
apt-get install ngcp-upgrade-ce

14.4.4. Upgrade Sipwise C5

Run the upgrade script as root like this:

ngcp-upgrade
info

Sipwise C5 can be upgraded to mr7.5.7 from previous release or previous build only. The script ngcp-upgrade will find all the possible destination releases for the upgrade and makes it possible to choose the proper one.

info

If there is an error during the upgrade, the ngcp-upgrade script will request you to solve it. Once you’ve fixed the problem, just execute ngcp-upgrade again and it will continue from the previous step.

The upgrade script will ask you to confirm that you want to start. Read the given information carefully, and if you agree, proceed with y.

The upgrade process will take several minutes, depending on your network connection and server performance. After everything has been updated successfully, it will finally ask you to reboot your system. Confirm to let the system reboot (it will boot with an updated kernel).

Once up again, double-check your config file /etc/ngcp-config/config.yml (sections will be rearranged now and will contain more parameters) and your domain/subscriber/peer configuration and test the setup.

14.4.5. ngcp-upgrade options

The following options in ngcp-upgrade can be specially useful in some instances of upgrade:

  • --step-by-step: confirm before proceeding to next step. With this option the upgrade operation is performed confirming every step before execution, with the possibility to instruct to continue without confirming further steps until the end (if confirmation is only needed for some steps at the beginning).
  • --pause-before-step STEP_NAME: pause execution before step, given by the name of the script (e.g. "backup_mysql_db"). This option can be useful in several scenarios, for example:

    • to help to debug problems or work around known problems during upgrades. In this case the operator can pause at a given step known to be problematic or just before a problematic set, perform some manual checks or changes, then continue the upgrade until another step (with confirmation like with the recent option --step-by-step), or just continue without stop until the end
    • another use might be to help to speed up upgrades when it involves several nodes: they can all proceed in parallel when it’s known to be safe to do so; then perform some parts in lock-step (some nodes waiting until others finish with some stage); then continue in parallel until the end
  • --skip-db-backup: This will speed-up the process in cases where it’s deemed unnecessary, and this is very likely in the upgrade of nodes other than the first.

14.5. Post-upgrade tasks

14.5.1. Disabling maintenance mode

In order to disable the maintenance mode, do the following:

  • Disable the maintenance mode:
ngcpcfg set /etc/ngcp-config/config.yml "general.maintenance=no"
  • Apply the changes to configuration templates:
ngcpcfg apply 'Disable the maintenance mode after the upgrade to mr7.5.7'

14.5.2. Post-upgrade checks

When everything has finished successfully, check that replication is running. Check ngcp-status. Finally, do a basic functionality test. Check the web interface, register two test subscribers and perform a test call between them to ensure call routing works.

info

You can find a backup of some important configuration files of your existing installation under /ngcp-data/backup/ngcp-mr7.5.7-* (where * is a place holder for a timestamp) in case you need to roll back something at any time. A log file of the upgrade procedure is available at /ngcp-data/backup/ngcp-mr7.5.7-*/upgrade.log.

14.6. Applying the Latest Hotfixes

If your current release is already the latest or you prefer to be on the LTS release, we still suggest appling the latest hotfixes and critical bug fixes.

Execute all steps as described in Section 14.3, “Preparing the software upgrade”. They include the system checks, customtt/patchtt preparation and others. It is important to execute all the steps from the above chapter.

14.6.1. Apply hotfixes

ngcp-update

14.6.2. Recheck or update the custom configuration templates

Merge/add the custom configuration templates if needed.

Apply the changes to configuration templates:

ngcpcfg apply 'apply customtt/patchtt after installing the latest packages'

Execute the final checks as described in the Post-upgrade checks section.