Sharing data stores between BE6000 UCS Servers

[James Hawkins]

Hi,

I have two UCS C220 M3 servers running Business Edition version 9.1.

The servers are in the same data centre and each host a CUCM server, Unity Connection server and Presence Server.

This is great as each application has two servers and so there is survivability it the case that one UCS server fails.

Now the customer wants an Attendant Console and has purchased the Cisco Unified Business Attendant Console which does not have a high availability option.

I have installed this on one UCS server where it is running happily. To provide some resilience what I am considering is turning off the CUBAC VM, copying its files to the other UCS server and adding it to the inventory of that server.

I have tested this by manually copying the files to my PC then uploading them to the second UCS server and it worked ok but took a fair time.

I was wondering if there are any ways to improve/automate this.

My first thought was whether it is possible to share the internal storage of the UCS servers with each other using some clever storage tricks (iSCSI, NFS?).

If not is it supported/recommended to add external storage (say a NAS) to the BE6000 servers and use this as a shared storage area?

If yes to the above is there a way to automate the shutdown, copying and restart of the CUBAC virtual machine on the first UCS server?

My other concern is about leaving a Windows Server VM powered off for an extended period. Is this a very bad thing as it will miss updates or is it something that Windows will deal with gracefully?

I realise that this is a bit wacky and a far better solution would have been to buy an Attendant Console with high availability built in to it.

Thanks

[Jaime Valencia]

BE 6K only is supported while being used with the internal storage the server comes with, its not meant to have any additional storage, you would need to keep a copy of the VM for backup.

Sent from Cisco Technical Support iPad App

[Chris Deren]

Sounds like you should be upgrading to Premium edition of AC.

Chris

[James Hawkins]

Guys,

Thanks for the responses.

I know what I am asking is far from ideal but this is the position that I have been put in by circumstances.

If I had been involved in the selection of the console CUBAC would not have been selected and I would not be in this position (I would probably have used Fidelus console with queuing provided by CUCM hunt groups).

Unfortunately I have to play the hand I have been dealt hence my questions about sharing data stores etc.

I acknowledge that I am stepping away from best practice but if anyone has input on my original questions I would be grateful.

Thanks

James