Hardware upgrade with same Call Manager version, how to migrate configuraiton?

[bilalghayad]

Hi All;

I have to do hardware upgrade for the current system and keep the same Cisco Call manager version, in that case what is the best method to migrate the configuration in a safe and easy way without need to re-doing it?

Any advise?

Regards

Bilal

[David Hailey · Accepted solution]

The answer actually depends on the version of CUCM you are running.  If you are running a 4x version, you will need to build your new server to the exact same specs as the current server - same revision of CCM, same OS, etc.  Like for like in all cases is best.  From there, you would need to have a BARS backup and perform a restore on the new system.  You can read all about BARS if you just search for Backup and Recovery System on CCO.  On 5x and up, BARS is no longer the same.  The concept is the same but the tool is built-in and is called DRS (Disaster Recovery System).  The concepts are the same and you can find anything you need on CCO.  If you are on 7x and up, the BAT tools have really robust export/import tools.  You may not be able to keep every single config but you can migrate a ton of data very quickly.  Take a look at the info for BARS and DRS and also write back with what version you're running.

Hailey

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[bilalghayad]

Thanks a lot for your kindly answer.

Using the BARS or the DRS, even the users will be migrated?

Regards

Bilal

[David Hailey · Accepted solution]

They should be, yes.  The only exception may be for LDAP integrations where you may need to resync with LDAP to get a fresh copy of the user.

Hailey

[bilalghayad]

Thanks a lot for your kindly help and reply.

In case we need to do upgrade for the call manager on this new hardware, also the BARS will work fine with us (if the current Call Manager is windows based while the new one is Linux based), so BARS will be used? Or how?

Regards

Bilal

[David Hailey · Accepted solution]

You can't use BARS to move from Windows-based servers to Linux-based servers.  If you have new hardware, then it will come pre-built (or should) with whatever version of CUCM you ordered for it.  In that case, you need to first run Data Migration Assistant (DMA) on your older Windows-based hardware.  You can download DMA from Cisco.com with a CCO account and you need to make sure you use a version that is compatible with both the legacy version of CCM and the new version of CUCM.  Usually, the latest and greatest will work - but check the release notes.  Once you work out any errors that the DMA report tells you about, then you run DMA again until you have a clean backup of the system.

When you install the new hardware, you will be asked if you'd like to import data from a previous Windows system.  This is where your DMA file comes in.  It's easiest if you copy the DMA file to an SFTP server and then configure the Linux-based server to pull the DMA tar file from there.  When you do that, the DMA file migrates over all of the data from the old system.  No BARS or DRS is used in this scenario.

Hailey

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