Upgrading the Pexip Infinity platform

We have designed the upgrade process to minimize disruption. However, there may be some temporary loss of functionality or unpredictable system behavior due to Conferencing Nodes running conflicting software versions, or some Conferencing Nodes being placed in maintenance mode. For this reason, we recommend upgrading at a time of minimal usage.

There is a known limitation with upgrades from v39.x, v40.x, and v41.0 whereby Conferencing Nodes are put into maintenance mode but do not wait until all calls have cleared before being upgraded and rebooted. You must therefore upgrade from these versions in a maintenance window to minimize the impact on any ongoing calls.

Upgrade paths to version 42

Before upgrading, identify the software version currently running on your Pexip Infinity platform and follow the appropriate upgrade path.

To check the software version, select About at the top right of the Pexip Infinity Management Node.

If you are using Teams Connectors, you can upgrade directly to the target version without deploying the intermediate Pexip Infinity versions shown in the upgrade paths below.

Use the table below to determine the required upgrade path to version 42.

Current version Required upgrade path Notes
v41.x or later

Current version → v42

 You can upgrade directly to v42.

v35.1 - v40.x

Current version → v41.1 → v42

You must upgrade through v41 before upgrading to v42.

v41.1 is the recommend intermediate release; v41.0 is also supported.

v31.4 - v34.2 Current version → v35.1 → v41.1 → v42

You must upgrade through v35 and v41 before upgrading to v42.

v35.1 and v41.1 are the recommended intermediate releases; v41.0 is also supported as the v41 intermediate release.
Earlier than v31.4 See the upgrade documentation for your current version before upgrading.

If you are upgrading from a version prior to v32, you must remove any existing MD5/SHA1 certificates, except root certificates, and replace them with new certificates before upgrading to v32 or later. See the Certificate usage guidelines for more information.

You must complete any required intermediate upgrades before upgrading to version 42. Do not skip an intermediate version in the upgrade path.

The upgrade process

When you initiate an upgrade of the Pexip Infinity software, the following steps occur automatically:

  1. The Management Node software is upgraded, after which the Management Node automatically reboots.

  2. The first 10 Conferencing Nodes are put into maintenance mode. This means that all further incoming calls to those nodes will be rejected.

    In Pexip Infinity deployments of 10 Conferencing Nodes or fewer, all of the nodes are placed into maintenance mode.

  3. When all calls have cleared from a Conferencing Node that is in maintenance mode, its software is upgraded and the node is rebooted. This process should take around 2 minutes to complete, but may take longer depending on the connection speed between the Management Node and the Conferencing Node, as the upgrade files have to be transferred between the nodes.

    If all of the calls on a Conferencing Node that is in maintenance mode have not cleared after 1 hour, the node is taken out of maintenance mode and put at the back of the queue of nodes to be upgraded. A further attempt to upgrade that node will be made after all other nodes have been upgraded, or had upgrade attempts made.

  4. After a Conferencing Node has been upgraded successfully, or has been put back in the queue for a later upgrade attempt and is again available, another Conferencing Node is selected and put into maintenance mode.

  5. The process continues with each subsequent Conferencing Node being put into maintenance mode and, after all calls have cleared, being upgraded and then rebooted. Up to 10 Conferencing Nodes may simultaneously be in maintenance mode or in the process of being upgraded at any one time.

    Any Conferencing Nodes used for dynamic cloud bursting will be automatically started up and upgraded. Bursting nodes are normally selected for upgrade after the system has upgraded, or attempted to upgrade, the "always-on" nodes.

  6. If the upgrade of the Management Node and all Conferencing Nodes has not completed successfully after 24 hours, the process will stop and all nodes will be left in their existing upgrade state. This is designed to prevent situations where some Conferencing Nodes cannot be upgraded, which would otherwise leave the system in a permanent state of upgrading.

If the upgrade process does not complete successfully and stops after 24 hours, you may have a mix of upgraded and non-upgraded nodes. You must then repeat the upgrade process. During a repeat upgrade, only those nodes that have not already been upgraded will be included in the upgrade process.

During the 24-hour period from when an upgrade has been initiated, you cannot re-initiate an upgrade using the Administrator interface. If you must re-initiate an upgrade during this time, you must reboot the Management Node and then start the process again.

When to upgrade

While the upgrade is in progress, some Conferencing Nodes will be running the newer version of the software and some will be running the older version. These Conferencing Nodes will be incompatible until they are all again running the same version.

This means that there may be instances where two endpoints dial the same Virtual Meeting Room alias but, if they are routed to different Conferencing Nodes that are running different versions of the software, the two endpoints will be in different conferences.

It may also mean that, if an endpoint is in an ongoing call on a node that is put into maintenance mode in preparation for an upgrade, some call functionality, such as presentation sharing, may be limited. For this reason, we recommend upgrading at a time of minimal usage.

Alternatively, to avoid unpredictable system behavior due to Conferencing Nodes running conflicting software versions, you may want to manually put all of your Conferencing Nodes into maintenance mode before initiating the upgrade process. This allows all the existing calls to finish, but will not admit any new calls.

You should then actively monitor your Conferencing Nodes' status and manually take each node out of maintenance mode after it has been upgraded to the new software version, so that the system can start taking new calls again on those upgraded nodes.

Upgrading to version 42

Before starting the upgrade, identify the current software version and follow the appropriate upgrade path described in Upgrade paths to version 42.

If your upgrade path requires one or more intermediate versions, perform the upgrades one version at a time. Verify that each upgrade has completed successfully before starting the next one.

How to upgrade

When upgrading, note the following:

  • A Management Node upgrade may take a long time, potentially up to 1 hour. Do not reboot the Management Node under any circumstances. If you are concerned about the time the upgrade is taking, contact your Pexip authorized support representative.
  • There is normally no need to reboot a Conferencing Node. If a Conferencing Node appears to be stuck for over 1 hour, contact your your Pexip authorized support representative. Do not reboot the node.
  • If you experience issues when upgrading, contact your your Pexip authorized support representative. Do not attempt to roll back to VM snapshots without first contacting them.
  • When upgrading from v38.x or earlier, all Conferencing Nodes must have completed upgrade before any nodes become available. If a Conferencing Node appears to have failed upgrade, contact your your Pexip authorized support representative.

To upgrade Pexip Infinity software:

  1. Before upgrading an on-premises deployment, we recommend that you use your hypervisor's snapshot functionality to take a full VMware/Hyper-V snapshot of the Management Node. We recommend that you do not take a snapshot of your Conferencing Nodes. You can simply redeploy them from the Management Node after it has been rolled back, if this is required.

    Before upgrading a cloud-based deployment (Azure, AWS, GCP or Oracle), backup the Management Node using Pexip Infinity's built-in mechanism (Utilities > Backup/Restore).

  2. Download the appropriate Pexip Infinity upgrade package for the next version in your upgrade path from the Pexip download page.
  3. Before upgrading, ensure that all "always-on" Conferencing Nodes are powered on and are reachable, with no Connectivity Loss errors, and are all running the same version from which you are upgrading. You do not need to power on any cloud bursting nodes.
  4. From the Pexip Infinity Administrator interface, go to Utilities > Upgrade.

  5. Select Choose File and browse to the location of the upgrade package.

    Management node upgrade page with package selection

  6. Select Continue.

    • When upgrading from versions prior to v39.0, there is a short delay while the upgrade package is uploaded.

      After the upgrade package has been uploaded, you are presented with a confirmation page showing details of the existing software version and the upgrade version.

    • When upgrading from v39.0 or later, you are presented with a page showing details of the existing software version and the upgrade version, along with a progress bar indicating how long is left until upload of the new upgrade package is complete.

  7. To proceed, select Start upgrade.

    You are taken to the Upgrade status page, showing the current upgrade status of the Management Node and all Conferencing Nodes. This page automatically refreshes every 5 seconds.

  8. When the upgrade completes, all nodes will show a status of No upgrade in progress and have the new Installed version.

  9. If your upgrade path requires another upgrade, verify that the current upgrade has completed successfully. Download the upgrade package for the next version and repeat steps 4–8.

  10. If the upgrade process completes and there are some nodes that have failed to upgrade, you can restart the upgrade process by uploading the upgrade package to the Management Node again via Utilities > Upgrade. This will skip over any nodes that have already been upgraded.

  11. If you have Pexip CVI for Microsoft Teams, you must also upgrade your associated Teams Connector deployment in Azure to the same version, including minor/"dot" releases, as your Pexip Infinity deployment.

No additional actions are required to upgrade the Management Node or Conferencing Nodes individually.

We recommend that you take a fresh backup of your system after upgrading.

If you are using VMware snapshots for backup purposes, we recommend that you delete those snapshots after approximately two weeks, providing your upgraded system is operating as expected. This is because Virtual Machines, in general, should not run with snapshots over time.

Error messages during upgrade

The following Error and Warning messages are expected during an upgrade and do not require any action:

2017-03-03T12:12:02.400+00:00 <manager_hostname> 2017-03-03 12:12:02,456 Level="ERROR" Name="administrator.system.connectivity" Message="Unable to contact node." Src-Node="<node_ip_fqdn>" Node="<node_ip_fqdn>"

2017-03-09T07:04:08.460+00:00 <manager_hostname> 2017-03-09 07:04:08,460 Level="WARNING" Name="administrator.alarm" Message="Alarm raised" Node="<node_ip_fqdn>" Alarm="connectivity_lost" Time="2017-03-09 07:04:08,455" Instance="Source=<node_ip_fqdn>, Destination=<node_ip_fqdn>" Detail=""

Upgrading configuration-only deployments

The automatic upgrade process described above updates the Management Node and all Conferencing Nodes, including Conferencing Nodes created using the configuration only deployment type.

If you want to deploy new configuration-only Conferencing Nodes after the upgrade, you must download and use a version of the Conferencing Node VM template that matches the version of the Management Node that you have upgraded to.

Creating a new Conferencing Node from a VM template containing a different version of the Pexip Infinity software from the version running on the Management Node is not supported and will not work. See Deploying a Conferencing Node using a generic VM template and configuration file for more information.

Definition of upgrade statuses

During an upgrade, the Upgrade status page reports the status of each Conferencing Node as follows:

Status Description
No upgrade in progress The default state before a Conferencing Node is upgraded, or after the node has rebooted.
Upgrade pending An upgrade of the platform is in progress and the Conferencing Node is waiting in the upgrade queue.
Preparing to upgrade The Conferencing Node is preparing to upgrade. The node is put into maintenance mode, and other services are stopped.
Waiting for calls to clear The Conferencing Node is in maintenance mode and is waiting for existing conferences to complete.
Timeout waiting for calls to clear Not all conferences had cleared within 1 hour. This Conferencing Node has been removed from maintenance mode and the upgrade will be attempted again later.
Upgrade in progress The new software is being unpackaged and installed on the Conferencing Node. During this time, the Conferencing Node does not synchronize configuration with the Management Node.
Rebooting The upgrade has completed and the Conferencing Node is rebooting.
Could not communicate with conferencing node The Conferencing Node cannot be contacted.

Downgrading or recovering from a failed upgrade

If you experience issues when upgrading, contact your your Pexip authorized support representative before attempting to roll back or downgrade your deployment. Downgrading should only be done following their advice.

To downgrade your system to the previous version, or to recover your system from a failed upgrade:

  1. Restore the Management Node from the VM snapshot that you took using your hypervisor at the start of the upgrade process.
  2. Restore the individual Conferencing Nodes by either:
    • redeploying each Conferencing Node from the Management Node - see Deploying new Conferencing Nodes, or
    • restoring the hypervisor snapshot of each Conferencing Node that was taken at the start of the upgrade process.

Checking the installed version

To verify which software version is installed on your deployment, check the Management Node or Conferencing Nodes as appropriate.

Management Node

To view the software version running on the Management Node, select About at the top-right corner of the Pexip Infinity Administrator interface.

Conferencing Nodes

To view the software version running on individual Conferencing Nodes, go to Status > Conferencing Nodes. The software version number is shown in the Installed version column.