For upgrading Session Manager and Branch Session Manager to Release 10.2.x:

• Before upgrading Session Manager to Release 10.2.x, Avaya recommends that the older Session Manager Release version must be on the latest version of its releases with the latest Security Service Pack (SSP). The latest version for Release 7.1.x, 8.0.x, and 8.1.x are Release 7.1.3.8, 8.0.1.2, and 8.1.3.8 respectively.

  When you are on a latest release, you can use the backupSM and restoreSM commands or the data migration utility to upgrade to Release 10.2.x.

• To upgrade Session Manager from Release 7.0.x to Release 10.2 and later, first upgrade Session Manager Release 7.0.x to 10.1.x, and then upgrade to Release 10.2 and later.

  You cannot directly upgrade from Release 7.0.x to Release 10.2 and later. If you upgrade directly from Release 7.0.x to Release 10.2 and later, the upgrade might fail.

• In a scenario where upgrade of more than one Session Manager is from releases 7.x and 8.x, Cassandra has two distinct clusters, one on Session Manager Release 7.x or 8.x and the other on Session Manager Release 10.2. In this case, the User Storage Data under System Status on System Manager shows failed. Therefore, it is recommended that you upgrade the Session Managers running Release 7.x and 8.x to release 10.2 as soon as possible.

• To upgrade Session Manager to Release 10.2.x and later, you must install the latest Security Service Pack (SSP) on Session Manager Release 8.1.x and later system before upgrading System Manager to Release 10.2.x and later.

• For upgrading Session Manager from Release 6.x to Release 10.1 and later, first upgrade Session Manager 6.x to 8.1.x, and then upgrade to Release 10.1 and later. You cannot directly upgrade the Release 6.x system to Release 10.1 and later.

• From Release 10.1 and later, Appliance Virtualization Platform is no longer supported for deploying or upgrading the Avaya Aura® applications. To upgrade the Avaya Aura® applications, migrate Appliance Virtualization Platform to Avaya Solutions Platform 130 (Avaya-Supplied ESXi 7.0) Release 5.1.

• From Release 10.1 and later, Avaya Aura® applications will no longer have the Amazon Web Services (AWS). Alternately, you can continue to deploy the application by using the software-only offer. For more information, see the product-specific Software-only and Infrastructure As a Service Environments guide.

• Upgrade the Session Manager servers one at a time to limit service degradation and outages.

• Upgrade all Session Manager instances to the new release as soon as practical, preferably in a single maintenance window. Session Manager clusters are designed to operate with a mix of two supported releases within the cluster during the upgrade interval, however, some features may not perform optimally while in this configuration. Under no circumstance should there be more than two separate releases of Session Manager within a cluster.

• Schedule the upgrade during hours of little or no system activity. The active call count of Session Manager determines when the upgrade must occur. Ideally, the active call count should be zero.

• Most SIP endpoints are assigned to a primary and a secondary SIP Proxy Server (Session Manager). When upgrading the primary Session Manager, the endpoint does not lose service because the secondary Session Manager handles the call.

• Verify firewall settings when performing a system installation or upgrade. For more information, see the Avaya Aura® Port Matrix document for Avaya Aura® Session Manager at Avaya Support website.