CUCM 11.5 move to another VMWare host (different location)

[shivani.sharma]

Hello,

We need to move a CUCM 11.5 VM to a different VMWare host at a different location. I am trying to figure out the best way to do this. The public IP address of the host will change. And also we need to move the phone endpoints in batches since this CUCM supports multiple customers. I would like to create a copy of existing VM on the new host and then have both the instances running at the same time so that we can migrate the endpoints in batches. If I create a copy will that change the MAC address of the new instance? And if it does can I associate the existing phone licenses from the Cisco Prime License Manager to the new instance? Please advise what would be the best way to do this.

Thank you.

[Roger Kallberg]

You cannot have two instances of the same node running at the same time. For the IP address change there are very good documentation of the steps involved in this. Have you read these? For the actual move of the VM, you'd be looking at doing an off-line vMotion to move it to the other location.

[TONY SMITH]

You refer to different customers.  Are these completely separate, or do you have any dialling between them, or sharing of voice gateways or anything?

I'm thinking your best bet would be to build a new empty CUCM cluster at the new location, then add the configuration for each customer as you migrate them. You would need to takes some steps with certificates to enable the phones to move to the new cluster. However the devil is in the detail so this may be impractical in your particular case.

Regarding licensing you would just point your new Publish at the PLM and it would help itself to licences as needed. You would just have to make sure the two clusters don't exceed the total available licence count, for example by removing phones from the old one as you add their configuration to the new.

Alternatively you could add a new Subscriber at the new location, change your phones (and gateways) to treat that as their first preference, and then move the existing Publisher and other Subscribers.

[bmennenga]

Did similar this weekend.  We used the new "DataExport" feature on 14.X.

1. 11.X server install COP for SHA 512 and then the "DataExport" COP file.  (also suggest setting pre8.0 upgrade setting so phones will readily accept new CUCM system just in case)

2. Run dataexport on 11.X server

3. Install new 14.X server at new location, new name, new IP and select "Import" to make this essentially a clone of the old CUCM cluster.

4. Install new CUCM Subscribers for the new 14.X cluster.

Now the issue...  You can easily migrate phones to new cluster, but then they are isolated from other cluster.  You can do a SIP trunk to bridge between, but since phone A has a number on both systems and only registered to one, phones on the other cluster still won't be able to dial them.  You'd have to alter the partitions of the lines to hide them from the system they are not registered to so then they can hit a default route to the other CUCM.  Instead of all of the juggling around we went for the flash cut and moved all phones, gateways, Unity, UCCX, etc on one weekend.

[shivani.sharma]

Thanks for sharing your experience. How did you move the phone licenses from 11.x CUCM to 14.x CUCM cluster?

[Roger Kallberg]

With the help of GLO, Cisco Global Licensing support and your account team.

[bmennenga]

14.X is Smart Licensing so need to migrate your old licenses to Smart Licensing and then point the CUCM to your Smart account or on-prem satellite server.  You will need support contract or FLEX licensing to put in for an upgrade.  You can no longer purchase UC support contract anymore, any renewal is now just buying FLEX licensing each year instead.  If your account is setup correctly you can go to software.cisco.com and then the entitlement page and see the contract order for FLEX.  From there you can order an upgrade to 14.X which will get you the software.  The the licensing team can "upgrade" your licenses to 14.X.  If you need to migrate your old licenses to smart still there is a process on your smart license portal to convert PAK licenses to smart account.  You also have 60 day grace period to resolve the licensing after the upgrade if needed.

Your Cisco partner and account team should be able to help walk you through the license upgrade and verify if your support is in place for this.

[shivani.sharma]

Thank you!! This is really helpful!

I am planning on creating a copy of the existing CUCM 11.5 VM to the new location and then upgrading it to the latest version. Do you see any issues with that approach? This way I don't have to take a backup and then restore the new VM.

As you suggested I will then work with Cisco to change the PAK licensing to FLEX and then point the server to the licensing server.

Please comment if you any issues with doing it this way.

Thank you!

[DanielDragosz]

We migrated many of our publishers and subscribers to different locations (ip address change and hostname change).

If you are interested I can write some quick info about it - cisco documentation have errors.

This is a pretty straightforward process (if you know what you are doing) and the fastest.

[shivani.sharma]

Hello,

Yes, if you can provide a quick process/steps of the migration then that would be great!

Our setup is very simple, only one server in the cluster (no subscribers at this time).

Thank you!

[shivani.sharma]

Hello,

Can you please provide quick info on what steps you took to migrate your cucm servers? And how did you migrate the licensing as well?

Thank you.

[Roger Kallberg]

There is no effect on licensing when you alter the IP address. The licenses are either on PLM pre 12, or in SL post 12.

[Muhammad Yaseen]

Hi Daniel, 

i need to migrate CUCM 11.5 cluster pub & 2 Sub to 14.0 version could you please share or advise what is the simple or best procedure to migrate easily on new server.

[Roger Kallberg]

@Muhammad Yaseen As your question is not exactly a match with what the OP asked I advise you to post your question in your own post.

[DanielDragosz]

Instruction does not contain commands and backup strategy tested on 11.5su5 (altogether 3 publishers moves to another ESX and different DC). Assuming you are moving publisher and commands issued from CLI

1. Remove DNS server from the publisher - this is ridiculous but it makes sense as the script is going through a few checks before hostname is changed - you won't find this in any cisco documentation

2. Hostname change and update DNS entry with a new hostname and old IP

3. Wait for all services to start and (especially DB) add DNS servers to the publisher

4. Reboot - wait for all services to start

5. Change IP address, wait for all services to start (if DB wont start this mean that DB tables contains old IP address, you can change IP address back to old one and DB should start) power off and move to another esx host - update DNS meantime with new ip and new hostname

6. Power on and add DNS server back to the publisher

The above is valid for Call Manager and Unity Connection, for IM&P there is a few steps more (you need to stop services in a specific order before hostname/ip address change).