Maximum devices and calls supported by CUCM on specific hardware

[voiphub01]

Friends,

As per SRND, maximum of 40,000 phones can be configured in a cluster however there is no information for maximum call capacity and respective OEM servers/hardwares which can be used.

Is there any documentation which specifies the standard IBM/HP models with each model supporting maximum devices and simultaneous call capacity?

Regards

[Chris Deren]

40,000 is marketing number, this number would be achievable if no other services/devices were used on CUCM, i.e. voice GWs, etc.  If you are a partner you can use the sizing tool to get precise capacity estimates.  As to your actual question, you did not specify you version, but assuming 8+ on vmware then the number depends on which OVA template you install, so technically to get 40000 phones you'd need to use 10,000 user OVA which require 4 vCPUs for each, this is all documented in CUCM SRND.

[voiphub01]

Hi Chris and Jaime,

Thank you very much for the information (+5).

Couple of questions to clarify my understanding as documentation is widely spread and sometimes difficult to read between the lines.

To run with 9.1(x) version and considering 7500 users per node;

1. Cisco suggested part is MCS 7845 and equivalent IBM part is;

IBM x3650-M2

1 Quad-Core Intel 2.00GHz Nehalem E5504 Processor

4GB RAM

2x 300GB Hard Drives

On IBM platform, if I will be using OVA template of 7500 users and use the system to its full capacity as per guidelines, does this mean that I can't run now any other VM machine on this server and this server become dedicated CUCM node?

2. As per below link, only CPUs are suggested with no specific server model, does this mean that I can have server of any brand with suggested CPU model and I can load any OVA template upto 10,000 users?

http://docwiki.cisco.com/wiki/UC_Virtualization_Supported_Hardware#Processors_.2F_CPUs

Will appreciate your suggestion.

Regards

[Chris Deren]

Are you trying to run the CUCM in bare metal (supported until 10.0) or virtualize?

If virtualize this server is not up to par, look at the spec based requirements for what you would need in order to meet Cisco's spec based 3rd party server:

http://docwiki.cisco.com/wiki/UC_Virtualization_Supported_Hardware#.22Can_I_use_this_server.3F.22

The CPU model you have is not listed, you will surely need more RAM as well, especially since the ESXi OS takes up 2 GB itself.

Your server seems like a bare metal candidate for older releases, but to virtualize you will need to consider upgrading.

[Jaime Valencia]

OK, let's make one thing nice and clear:

YOU CANNOT VIRTUALIZE OVER MCSs OR EQUIVALENT. At least not for production environments

MCS can only be used for bare metal install

CUCM 10.x+ DOES NOT RUN ON MCSs

A dedicated virtualization server is required for this, and depending on your ESXi version, 2 GB or RAM for ESXi might not cut it, 5.5 requires 4 GB for the hypervisor alone.

If you're going to buy a 3rd party server, you'll need to review the virtualization wiki for the guidelines, we only recommend that way if you know how to properly size and choose the server specs to meet the guidelines. We do not qualify 3rd party servers, it's your responsibility to do so, based on the wiki info. If you're not comfortable doing that, you better just look into buying a TRC.

[Jaime Valencia]

This can only be found in older documents, since we went with virtualization, as long as your VM platform meets the guidelines from the Virtualization Wiki, you can deploy any of the OVAs you like.

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/cucm/srnd/7x/uc7_0/callpros.html