VMWare Cisco CUCM/Unity/UCCX/CER

[B_VOIP_NE]

Hello,

I am currently running VMWare 5.5 that was installed using the Cisco image on an HP DL380.  I have a VMWare host in our primary and secondary data centers.  The primary host contains a publisher/subscriber for CUCM, and a publisher for Unity, UCCX, and CER.  The secondary data center host contains subscribers for all of the above

This specific server is separate from our other normal clusters and I have a few questions about this.  Can I update VMWare on this server using update manager within vSphere?  Can I use vMotion to migrate a CUCM/Unity VM from this Cisco image server to our other normal VMWare servers?

CUCM - System version: 10.5.2.13900-12

VMWare - HPE Customized Image ESXi 5.5.0 Update 3 version 550.9.5.0.33 released on April 2016 and based on ESXi 5.5.0 Update 3 Vmkernel Release Build 3568722

[Jaime Valencia]

For ESXi updates, options, procedures, etc. you can refer to VMware docs, that's not dictated by Cisco.

If your server meets the requirements outlined here for the products, you can use it. As to VMware features and caveats, all the info is here:

https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/uc_system/virtualization/cisco-collaboration-virtualization.html

[Ratheesh Kumar]

Hi there

VMware vMotion

NOTE: support varies by app and version. Before reading the best practices below, verify support at Supported Editions and Features of VMware vSphere ESXi, VMware vCenter and VMware vSphere Client.

This feature migrates a live, running Virtual Machine (VM) from one physical server to another.

The following applies to any use of vMotion with UC apps:

• Prior to ESXi 5.1, VM must be installed on shared storage (SAN) and source and destination physical servers must be connected to same SAN. In ESXi 5.1+ vMotion allows "DAS to DAS", i.e. VM can be installed on DAS and source/destination physical servers can have different DAS yet still vMotion the VM.
• Destination physical server must not end up with over-subscribed hardware after the migration. Supported capacity and co-residency rules for UC must be followed before and after the migration.
• VMware "Long Distance vMotion" (site to site) is not supported.
• The only supported scenario is a manual move to a different server, e.g. for planned maintenance on the server or VMware software, or during troubleshooting to move software off of a physical server having issues.
• For real-time load-balancing of live UC VMs (e.g. via Distributed Resource Scheduler [DRS]), a few applications have caveated support (see here for details); otherwise it is not supported.
• Moving a shut down VM during a maintenance window, i.e. a "cold migration" or "host to host migration", is not vMotion and is supported.

VMware Update Manager (VUM)

NOTE: support varies by app and version. Before reading the best practices below, verify support at Supported Editions and Features of VMware vSphere ESXi, VMware vCenter and VMware vSphere Client.

This feature automates patching and updating of VMware vSphere hosts and Guest OS.

Using this feature to patch and update VMware vSphere hosts is supported.

However, using this feature to patch and update the guest OS is only supported by some applications and some versions, this is what is shown on this page when referring to VUM support. Note that Cisco Unified Communications applications upgrades, patches and updates can not be delivered through VMware Update Manager. 

https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/uc_system/virtualization/virtualization-software-requirements.html#vmotion

Hope this helps!

Cheers
Rath!

***Please rate helpful posts***

[B_VOIP_NE]

Thank you very much for all of this information.  I will look through these articles tonight.  I do have one remaining question.  Our ESX host running the Cisco VM's has a specific version of VMWare installed.  I believe this version was used as it contained specific drivers needed by the Cisco VM's running on the server.  Will I have any issues if I migrate these apps to another VMWare host that does NOT have this same version of VMWware running?

[Ratheesh Kumar]

Hi there

As long as you are meeting the virtualization requirements for the hardware to run UC Apps, you should be good. This is the master link for UC, you can go to each sublink to get more details for each particualar app, like CUCM, CUC, IMP

https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/uc_system/virtualization/cisco-collaboration-virtualization.html

Hope this helps!

Cheers
Rath!

***Please rate helpful posts***