Contact Expert v7.4 for Skype for Business Server

Contact Expert Upgrade Guide

Introduction

This article describes the cumulative upgrade deployment method for Contact expert. Such upgrades can only be applied if a previous version of Contact Expert is already installed. If you would like to deploy Contact Expert to a computer for the first time, please perform a clean install instead. (For further information, please visit Deployment Guide.)

To proceed with the cumulative upgrade, please obtain the corresponding Contact Expert Cumulative Service Pack installation media (ISO file or DVD).

To get the complete list of all enhancements implemented and all bugs fixed in this Contact Expert version, and view our recommendations and other notes about this version, please check the Release Notes document first.

Prerequisites

To make sure your environment is qualified for the new version of the system please check the prerequisites thoroughly!

Upgrade Path for New Major Version Update

Upgrading to version 7.0 of Contact Expert is supported from the following source version(s):

CE 6.1

Version 7.0 of Contact Expert is a "major version" which means that the source version of the product from which an upgrade is supported is more limited.

Installing CE Cumulative Update

Backup Recommendations Before Upgrading

This section describes the recommended methodology for backing up the Contact Expert including services, data and configuration. The backup policy is governed by your organization's business continuity strategy. There are two items described in detail below that you need to fit into your organization's overall strategy:

Backing up CE system and configuration
Backing up CE databases

Backing Up Contact Expert System and Configuration

Contact Expert system is located on the CE Core Host server(s). Geomant recommends a full system backup in order to have a copy of the previously deployed services, configuration and any additional data.

The default install path is C:\Geomant\CE unless you specified otherwise at installation time. As a minimum, all files and sub-directories in this directory should be backed up along with configuration files. However, a folder backup will not save any of the system prerequisites like .NET Framework, telephony API libraries, etc., nor the configuration settings stored in the registry. Therefore this approach will not provide a complete rollback ability!

Geomant advises a computer level backup. If Contact Expert is hosted in a virtual server environment (e.g. Hyper-V or VMware), making a copy (snapshot, checkpoint, etc.) of the entire CE Core Host is the recommended strategy.

You will need careful sizing of your hardware / virtualized architecture before deployment.

Backing Up Contact Expert Databases

Contact Expert stores parts of the configuration, business data and all reporting data in two SQL database files. These files are physically located on the CE Database Host.

Creating a backup before performing a Contact Expert upgrade is strongly recommended. However, it is also recommended to back these files up daily to a safe storage in order to prevent data loss in case of hardware failure.

Files recommended for daily backup:

File name	Description
ACESystem.mdf	Database file containing Contact Expert system configuration, contact related data and stored procedures.
ACESystem.ldf	SQL transaction log file for ACESystem database.
ACEReport.mdf	Database file containing Contact Expert reporting tables and stored procedures.
ACEReport.ldf	SQL transaction log file for ACEReport database.

Notice on Custom SfB Presence Settings

CE provides custom SfB presence to CE Agent presence associations by the form of a small XML file that is served by default from the CE Core Host computer and is read by the SfB Client on the agent workstations. However, for highly available deployments Geomant's advise is to serve this from an external web server computer, not from the primary or secondary CE Core Hosts. This version of the product uses a newer, modified custom presence XML file and is not compatible with the old files.

You must manually replace all custom presence XML files served by external (non CE Core Host) computers – typically in a HA environment – with the newer file deployed by the upgrade installer of this version of the product!

Find more information on the custom presence settings in the agent installation article.

Notice on Existing OnCall IVR Version

In case the OnCall IVR solution is in use at your deployment, please check the IVR compatibility matrix for further information on version congruence.

Upgrading CE Core Host

Log on to CE Core Host with domain or local administrator privileges.
Launch CE Server Manager tool and stop all CE components on every configured CE Core Host (if you have more than one configured).
Wait for each component to stop and double-check they all stopped fine. Do not attempt an upgrade unless all components stopped.
Close the Server Manager tool.
Stop CE Server Agent Windows service using the Services tool in the operating system.
If you have a Personal BI beta/custom version deployed in your Contact Expert environment, please perform the steps described in the Removing Beta Versions of Personal BI section.
Launch Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio with database administrator permission and run the below scripts from the installation media in the following order:
1. CE_DB\CESystem_CSP.sql
2. CE_DB\CEReport_CSP.sql
If you have Microsoft Skype for Business Server 2015 (UCMA 5.0) telephony environment, please perform the steps described in the Installing the Updated CE Core Services section.
If you have WebChat installed, please perform the steps described in the Upgrading CE WebChat chapter.
If you would like to upgrade your CE system from a Lync Server 2013 (UCMA 4.0) telephony environment to Skype for Business Server 2015 (UCMA 5.0), please follow the steps in the Upgrading Lync Server 2013 to Skype for Business Server 2015 chapter below.
When the custom presence XML file is served from locations other than the CE Core Hosts, then manually replace the file with the newer version deployed by the upgrade installer (see notes at the top of this article for more information).
If you are upgrading from CE 6.1 or earlier version, you need to upgrade the Skype for Business parameters used by CE components, please perform the steps described in the Upgrade Skype for Business parameters chapter.
Before starting up CE, you need to upgrade timezone information in the database. Please follow the steps in the Upgrade timezone information in the database chapter below.
If you are upgrading from CE 6.1 or earlier version, you need to convert all timestamps in the database to UTC. Please perform the steps described in the Convert timestamps in the business data chapter.
Launch CE Server Manager tool and start up all CE components on all configured CE Core Host.
Wait for all CE components to start up properly (acquiring 'green' status).

Removing Beta Versions of Personal BI

Performing these steps is necessary only if you have a Personal BI beta or custom version deployed in your Contact Expert environment. This includes all BI versions deployed prior to Contact Expert v5.5.

Launch Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio with database administrator permission.
Delete all objects (tables, views, etc.) from the BI schema from the ACESystem database.
Delete the BI schema from the ACESystem database.
Delete all objects (tables, views, etc.) from the BI schema from the ACEReport database.
Delete the BI schema from the ACEReport database.

Upgrading Lync Server 2013 to Skype for Business Server 2015

Please visit the Migrating Contact Expert from Microsoft Lync 2013 to Microsoft Skype for Business 2015 article for instructions on how to migrate the Lync/UCMA components on the CE Core Hosts to the appropriate version.

Installing the Updated CE Core Services

Run CE_Admin\setup.exe from the installation media to install the administration tools.
1. Accept all the default settings in the install wizard.
For the Avaya TSAPI edition of CE: In case you have an older version of Avaya CT TS Win32 Client installed, please uninstall it and install TSAPI 3.1\setup.exe from the installation media.
Run CE_Server\setup.exe from the installation media to install the core server components.
1. In case you are using Skype for Business Server 2015 environment, please select the Update to Microsoft Skype for Business 2015 option in the Platform Information screen of the wizard. Accept all other default settings.
2. In case you are using Lync Server 2013 environment, please select the "Normal system update" option in the Platform Information screen of the wizard. Accept all other default settings.
Re-add the firewall rules by executing the following cmdlets in the order listed:
```
Remove-CEFirewallRules

Add-CEFirewallRules
```
Start up CE Server Agent Windows service using the Services tool.
Open Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager and make sure that DefaultAppPool is set to .NET CLR version 4.0.

Upgrading CE Recorder Host

Follow the steps outlined in the Installing the Updated CE Core Services section including any Microsoft UCMA upgrade if applicable, except for the Administration components that you might or might not wish to install on the CE Recorder Host.

Of course this is not needed if the recording services are co-located with CE Core Host on a single server.

Upgrading CE Agent (Operator) PC

Log on to the CE Agent PC with domain or local administrator privileges.
Make sure that CE Agent Client Application is not running.
Make sure that Microsoft Skype for Business client software is not running. It is important to exit from this application, a simple sign out is not enough.
Run one of the following setup files depending on your Microsoft Lync/SfB telephony platform version:
1. If you have Microsoft Lync Server 2010 environment, run CE_Agent.Net.Lync2010/setup.bat from the installation media.
2. If you have Microsoft Lync Server 2013 or Microsoft Skype for Business Server 2015 environment, run CE_Agent.Net/setup.bat from the installation media.

Upgrading CE Administrator PC

Log on to the CE Administrator PC with domain or local administrator privileges.
Make sure that CE Script Designer application is not running.
Make sure that you are signed out of Microsoft Skype for Business client software.
Run CE_Teleproxy\setup.exe from the installation media.
Accept all default settings in the installer.

Upgrading CE WebChat

Starting from CE v6.0 the chat components running on the customer premises are deployed and upgraded with the CE Core Services ("CE_Server") install package. In an upgrade scenario this means that the CE_Server upgrade installer package deploys everything that is needed for the chat functionality to work in the new CE version.

Since these new chat server components are different from the old components, some of the old files not in use anymore will remain on the CE Core Host computer. This does not pose any operational risk as the system simply avoids them.

Updating the Scripting Configuration

Would you need to change these configurations, please follow the instructions on the Scripting article to perform any Workflow Settings changes. Also, use the Get- and Set-CECloudBasedScriptingProperties cmdlets to see current values and update them as needed.

Note

In order for CE to work with modern scripting (either in the cloud or on-premises), a software component called CE Connector is required. You need to get Geomant's insight into whether upgrading CE and/or the modern Scripting solution needs the upgrading of this component too!

Post installation steps

Upgrade Skype for Business parameters

Upgrading from CE 6.1 or earlier version, you need to upgrade the Skype for Business parameters used by CE components before starting up Contact Expert. You need to execute the following steps to upgrade Skype For Business parameters:

Log on to CE Core Host with domain administrator privileges.
Find and open the CE Tools shortcut on the desktop and run CE PowerShell with administrator privileges.
Execute the following command in the PowerShell window:
```
Upgrade-CESfBConfiguration -Fqdn "[CE Database Host FQDN]" -Instance "[Instance Name]" -Port "[Port Number]" -DatabaseName "ACESystem" -Login "ACESystem" -Password "MyACEP1ssw0rd"
```
Instance and Port parameters are optional. Specify the instance if CE databases are deployed on a named SQL server instance, otherwise skip this parameter; specify the port number if fix TCP port is used, otherwise skip this parameter.

Note
TrustedConnection: In case you want to connect to the database with Windows authentication instead of SQL authentication, you have to skip Login and Password parameters, then you have to specify TrustedConnection parameter with 1 value.

Upgrade Timezone Information in the Database

Version 7.0+ of Contact Expert supports setting different timezones for tenants.

Important

Upon finishing the installation, you need to synchronize timezone information from the CE Core Host server to the CE database before starting up Contact Expert.

You need to execute the following steps:

Log on to CE Core Host with domain administrator privileges.
Find and open the CE Tools shortcut on the desktop and run CE PowerShell with administrator privileges.
Execute the following command in the PowerShell window:
```
Upgrade-CEDatabaseTimezoneRecords -Fqdn "[CE Database Host FQDN]" -Instance "[Instance Name]" -Port "[Port Number]" -DatabaseName "ACESystem" -Login "ACESystem" -Password "MyACEP1ssw0rd"
```
Instance and Port parameters are optional. Specify the instance if CE databases are deployed on a named SQL server instance, otherwise skip this parameter; specify the port number if fix TCP port is used, otherwise skip this parameter.

Note
TrustedConnection: In case you want to connect to the database with Windows authentication instead of SQL authentication, you have to skip filling the Login and Password parameters, and you have to specify TrustedConnection parameter with the value 1.
Now, that the timezone information is synchronized in the database, you need to change all current and historical business data in the database to conform to the timezone settings.

Convert Timestamps in the Business Data

When you are upgrading from CE 6.1 or earlier version, you need to convert all timestamps in your current and historical business data to UTC, so the timezone support could present those times correctly. To do this you have to run SP_UPDATE_TIMESTAMPS_TO_UTC stored procedure in both ACESystem and ACEReport databases.

Note

This step could take a considerable amount of time for a large / loaded contact center, depending on the capacity and performance of the CE Database Host and the connecting network. This could mean hours.

Open SQL Server Management Studio and connect to CE Database Host with a login account having database system administration ("sa") privileges.

Execute the stored procedure in ACESystem database:

USE [ACESystem]

EXEC [dbo].[SP_UPDATE_TIMESTAMPS_TO_UTC]

Execute the stored procedure in ACEReport database:
```
USE [ACEReport]

EXEC [dbo].[SP_UPDATE_TIMESTAMPS_TO_UTC]
```
Important
Please wait for the execution to complete and do not abort the process!

Move recording files from the root folder of a storage

When you are upgrading from CE 7.2 or earlier version, in order to keep earlier recording files available, you need to check if the folder property of existing recording rules are changed.

Note

The folder property of recording rules became mandatory and have to be unique from CE 7.3.

If a recording rule previously had undefined or non unique folder property, then the CE upgrade process defined a new unique folder for the recording rule. In this case please move the existing recording files to the new folder as described in the Changing Storage guide.