VTC VM Infrastructure Newbee

[tony.ferrara]

So I just recently received (2) BE7000 along with (1) CMS 1000. On both BE7000 it looks like they are loaded with the default vm's (Cisco Paging Server, Cisco Prime Collaboration Deployment, Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning, Cisco Unified Communications Manager, Cisco Unified Contact Center Express, Cisco Unity Connection, and CUCM IM and Presense Server).

Needless to say I miss the days when all you needed was TMS, VCS and a Codian....

What I dont see loaded is an Expressway-C/Expressway-E. I am making the assumption that I would stick one of the BE7000's in the DMZ and that would be the Expressway-E, and then the other would sit inside and contain the Expressway-C. I do see an Expressway ova file on the cisco downloads webpage but is there a specific ova for -C and -E or is it the same?

Also I am assuming I dont need the Paging Server or the Cisco Unity Connection as all I am trying to do right now is replace my existing setup which is comprised of TMS, VCS, and MCU.

Another issue I have found is that with the CMS 1000 server, after doing the initial setup, the only way to access it is via vSphere. Is there no web interface? I thought CMS was what was replacing TMS, or I could be wrong and just struggling with making this transition to the VTC VM world.  

[PJMack]

CMS is basically an MCU, it does not replace TMS in any way. You will still want TMS. 

If you are just trying to replace your current setup you just should have done a migration from your (I'm assuming old/legacy) VCS Control and Expressway to Expressway Core and Edge (which can do everything the VCS does) with the licenses you would need to support your environment, and CMS to replace your MCU. TMS would remain, you would just want to upgrade to support the newer hardware/software. 

Unless there's more to your environment and goals that you've mentioned, it seems like what you purchased isn't really what you needed. 

[tony.ferrara]

That helps alot. The main reason why we went this route was to incorporate Skype for Business which we just got stood up. I figured what we got with the BE7000s was well beyond what we actually needed I was just having issue with which of the VMs on the boxes I actually needed to replace the current infrastructure and work on expanding our capabilities later. I assumed I needed the expressway core and edge but those ova's were not on the boxes. 

[Jaime Valencia]

VCS-C, VCS-E, EXP-C and EXP-E all use the same OVA, licensing determines which of the four options you end up with.

CMS DOES have a GUI, but all the initial configuration is via MMP, if you have not configured the web admin, that's why you don't have a GUI.