Core Issue
The Cisco Unity server 4.2(1) runs at 100 percent central processing unit (CPU) utilization for most of the time during the day. These processes are responsible for the high CPU:
- AvUMRSyncSvr.exe
- AvDSGlobalCatal
Resolution
In order to resolve this issue, make sure the Cisco Unity server does not point to the root of the D drive, because it requires that Cisco Unity go through the whole D drive whenever it calls a file, which causes the CPU to spike. This puts a burden on the AVCSUmrsync service. This service monitors the message folder and forwards the messages to the Microsoft Exchange server. It points to the UnityMta folder by default, but with this install, it points to the root of D. So, every file and folder in the D drive tries to be sent to Exchange, which causes the UMR service to peg, and get hung. It also adds more work for the Global Catalog service and the Directory Services Active Directory (DSAD), which look up users and do authentication. This leads to high CPU and causes the Cisco Unity services to hang.
Also, message waiting indicator (MWI) collisions lead to the high CPU utilization when the ports are not configured correctly, which means that all the ports are set to do MWI and to handle inbound calls. So, when Cisco Unity starts the resync of the MWI, it dials ports, and runs into inbound calls. This causes Cisco Unity CPU to spike, because it has to try the MWI over and over until it works. It is recommended to keep the bottom four ports for MWI only and dedicate the rest of the ports to inbound calls.
In order to correct the Cisco Unity installation, complete these steps:
- Create a Disaster Recovery Tool (DiRT) backup of Cisco Unity.
- Uninstall Cisco Unity.
- Reinstall Cisco Unity and restore the data. Make sure during the install that the install path is D:\commserver.
DiRT and the Cisco Unity uninstall program can be downloaded from Cisco Unity Tools.
Refer to Cisco Unity Architecture Overview for more information about the various services that run in Cisco Unity.
