Avaya S8300 Replacement procedures
6 steps to help you, and prevent future outages.
When you finish reading this post you’re going to have a good idea of which steps and procedures to take when replacing a defective Avaya S8300 blade media server, as well as learning what to do before starting the replacement process, what to expect when everything goes wrong, and more.
About two years ago, I got the opportunity of helping one client by replacing a defective Avaya S8300 media server, this particular customer was hit by lightning strike which damaged the Avaya S8300 motherboard, leaving them without phone service. An overnight server was sent to this customer, and I arrived later on that same morning to start working on bringing them back up online.
No recent backups were found on either CM or the CMM, the site had around 85 digital endpoints with a hand full of analogs dedicated for fax machines, and paging. I have created these steps to help go through a replacement process=
- 1.- Assess the situation
- 2.- System analisys
- 3.- Install the new blade
- 4.- Software preparation
- 5.- Restore and testing
- 6.- Take preventative measures
1.- Assess the situation
Once you arrive to the customer’s premises and introduce yourself to the site contact, proceed by analyzing the main cause of the Avaya S8300 media server system failure. In my case this particular customer had was hit with a power outage and damaged the media server blade. leaving them inoperative. I have include the following environmental elements that you must check =
Lightning proctors – Depending the kind of lightning protectors, you might need to replace the fuses or the actual unit.
Grounding bar – Verify that the equipment is grounded, if possible get a certified electrician to test the grounding cable.
UPS / Power strips – Power surges can come through the phone line or the electrical outlet, so as a good practice never connect the system straight to a wall-outlet. Test the battery backup or UPS by running tests through the UPS control panel, as well as changing the UPS mode to bypass. This will allow you to test the battery backup unit.
IDF / Aerial Wiring – For those customer with external buildings connected via aerial cabling, you must have a surge protector box at both ends of the cable. While troubleshooting the wiring I have noticed that one of the fuses was blown in the IDF Panel, letting me to believe that the issue was related to aerial cable.
Electric shocks / Attenuation – Have an electrician check the electric readings. I have seen where customers have experience issues with battery backups and their electric sensors.
2.- System Analysis
The Avaya S8300 media server blade gets installed in the G430 or G450 Media gateways. When checking the gateways look at the errors and alarms LEDs.
Other Media Gateway procedures that you can run are=
show faults – Verify that the Avaya S8300 Media is inserted correctly or operational by running the command ‘show faults’ will display the existing media gateways hardware defects.
show module – This command runs an inventory of the existing media modules. For those media defective media modules ‘initializing’ shows as the status.
3.- Install the new blade
The Avaya S8300 media server can be deployed as a Remote Template formally known as LSP (Local Survivable Processor), or ICC (Internal Communications Controller). The licenses are registered against the Media Gateway where it resides. You can grab the serial number by running the command ‘show system’ from the MG’s CLI.
Removing the defective S8300
It is hot-swappable but I suggest that you pull the power to be safe.
Remote Template configuration – the MG most likely is registered to the Core site; inform the site contact that you are bringing down the system, in order to replace the S8300.
ICC Configuration – Pull the defective blade out, and insert the new one in.
Re-using the old Hard Drive (HDD)
Remove the HDD from the old Avaya S8300 media server and install it in the new one. If the HDD is operative this will save you time, and eliminate the need of loading licenses, translations, patches, mailboxes (ICC with embedded voicemail), etc.
4.- Software preparation
Login through the Services port and check the existing software loaded, if this is a new server login with craft / craft01. Once logged in, verify the system version, service packs, and patches loaded. Compare the existing Avaya Matrix to download any other missing software.
5.- Restore and testing
Restore backup – Once you force the restore, the customer must be aware of the messages, and changes to the system. Keep in mind that any configuration updated after the backup file was created, it’s lost.
Trunk Groups – Make sure that you can call and receive calls.
Stations – Have the customer do a walk-through
Auto Attendants – Call each individual AA, and test the breakout or menu options.
Licensing – 45 minutes later the license audit will run, and test the license file.
6.- Take preventative measures
Now that you have checked the environmental elements, schedule a backup job. Have have the customer provide a network-shared-folder to save remote translations.
For embedded voicemail check that you have selected Messages, Mailboxes, and Automated Attendants.
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