1. A communication node upgrade system comprising: a computing system comprising at least one processing system and at least one memory for storing instructions that are executed by the at least one processing system to: identify an existing virtual machine (VM) to be upgraded, the existing VM comprising at least one communication node that provides one or more communication services for a communication network, wherein the existing VM is executed in a virtualized computing environment; obtain upgraded software for the existing VM; create a new VM in the virtualized computing environment using the upgraded software; copy configuration information from the existing VM to the new VM, the configuration information including information associated with configuration of the existing VM to provide the communication services by the existing VM; and replace operation of the existing VM with the new VM in the communication network.