While working in the Networking department at ODU we ran into the time of life cycle upgrades.
A very indept process of replacing network equipment with the goal of upgrading the network
infrastructure. We had a team where we rotated who would lead a different life cycle upgrade project.
Our process for completing a life cycle upgrade went like this:
- Survey the closet and ensure that everything fit our standards.
- Check the switch and note which ports are being used and which ports are not being used.
- Check each port and ensure they are plugged into the correct patch panel label based on the switch configuration.
- Transfer over the previous switch's configurations and the port configurations to the new switch.
- Request a timeslot to do the life cycle upgrade.
- Send out an email to the different affected departments that the network will go down during the timeslot.
- Set up the network closet for the day of the life cycle upgrade.
- Replace the old switch with the new switch.
- Troubleshoot if neccessary. Most of time was neccessary.
