CUC 8.6 Ports

[bkhanal1971]

I am going to add a CUC 8.6 server in an existing cluster of 2 CUC 8.6 servers configured in HA mode. Since the new server I am installing will be located at the other side of the wan link, I am concerend about the port configuration as the wan bandwidth is impacted by the number of ports configured. Currently, the 2 node CUC cluster in the main site has total of 192 ports (96 ports in each server). I want to reduce the total number of ports to not more than 60 in the cluster that will have 3 CUC servers in total. So my confusion is whether I need to configure 20 ports per server ( I need to delete excess ports in my case) or 60 ports per server so that my wan replication traffic of CUC database remains within 60 ports equivalent which is I think 14 mb.

Thanks, Khanal

[David Hailey]

I may be misunderstanding your intent and if so, you'll have to say so but the first thing is that you can't have a 3 server CUC cluster.  CUC runs in an active/active HA configuration only when a cluster is configured so there are 2 nodes.  The WAN BW requirements for ports is between the 2 nodes in that cluster.  If you add a 3rd node, then it would be a standalone CUC and you would need to use Digital Networking to have any "integration" with the existing cluster.

Hailey

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[bkhanal1971]

I never thought that a cluster cannot have 3 servers. That changes my whole plan .

Basically I am trying to get rid of two CUC clusters and keep only one. I thought I should keep a 2 node cluster as it is and build new server which will reside at the other end of wan and join to the 2 node cluster at the main side. And of course restore using COBRAS.

So, how can i accomplish my above goals? Should I take out one of the servers from the 2 node server cluster and install a new one in other site? If so are there any methods/process I should be follwoing to remove one server? And how about the port counts? If i configure 60 ports per server in 2 server cluster the replication counts only 60 total ports , not 120 right?

Thank you, Khanal

[David Hailey]

Khanal,

I'm glad to help but I need some more info:

1.  Where are the 2 servers in the Unity Connection cluster installed today?  Are they in separate datacenters?

2.  Where is the 3rd site relative to the Unity Connection cluster?

3.  How many users total and how many per each of the 3 sites?

In general, I doubt you need a 3rd server unless you just have very limited bandwidth between datacenters.  If you already have a cluster and meet the bandwidth/latency requirements with the existing ports (FYI - 192 ports is a LOT of ports. Many folks tend to go the easy route and just configure as many ports as possible, which is OK but doesn't necessarily mean you actually need that many), then I don't see the harm in just letting the 3rd site use the centralized voicemail as the other 2 sites unless you give me some other details that make it clear as to what the problem is.

Anyway, let me know some details and we'll go from there.

Hailey

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[bkhanal1971]

Hi Hailey, Thank you a bunch for your willingness to help me at the time when I need to make the final implementation decision regarding the future of our voice messaging system using CUC. Following is our existing environment.

~ 2 sites (Site A & Site B) seperated by WAN link. As always, bandwidth is limited but can spare upto 10 mbps for the CUC replication traffic.

~ A single CUCM cluster using version 8.6. Pub and Sub in Site A and 2 Subs in Site B

~ 1 CUC PUB in Site A in its own cluster. Total mailboxes about 450

~ 1 CUC Pub & 1 Sub in Site B in its own cluster. So I have two CUC cluster and one CUCM cluster. Total mailboxes about 700

My goal is to get rid of two clusters and keep only one. Before your response yesterday, I was otherwise planning to install a new server in Site B and join that to the CUC cluster in Site B which already has 2 CUC servers and restore the mailboxes.

I don't know what would be your recommendations based on the above scenario but my own crazy idea is whether I can move the CUC sub from Site B (which is a second server in HA) to Site A (VM running on ESXi 5.1), change the IP address to match with the Site A IP scheme? If that works then  probably this will be the easiest approach. I could then restore the data from existing CUC server in Site A to the CUC Sub I will be move there from Site B.

Thank you so much for your help. It means a lot to me at this time.

[David Hailey]

So, essentially you have 2 separate Unity Connection systems (1 cluster and 1 standalone) and you'd like to consolidate to a single centralized cluster as you have with CUCM.  At a technical level, if you have 10Mbs available between data centers then you could support a single cluster with 50 ports per server.  Essentially what this means is that you would want to ensure that, in an outage (i.e. one of the 2 nodes is offlines) that 50 ports is enough to service all (or a majority of) the expected call volume to Unity Connection.  However, during normal operations you could peak up to 100 ports as both servers would be online.  Whether that works for you or not depends on how many call handlers, number of mailboxes, message notification, and so forth.

So - what I would recommend that you do is take a look at the actual port utilization on both Unity Connection systems to determine if that is a viable option for you.  You should also make sure you fully understand the architecture and active/active nature of the application for reference.  If you are using Unified Messaging, there may be other B/W considerations that come into play when consolidating to a single cluster across datacenters.

If you determine that you can consolidate and support the anticipated call volume, then I don't see any reason why you wouldn't be able to "move" the Subscriber node of the existing cluster in one datacenter to the other.  You could also use COBRAS to export data from the standalone system, import into the single cluster, and decommision.  There is a bit more to it than that so you would want to make sure you are on top of things so you don't run into any headaches that could be avoided with upfront planning.

Hailey

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[bkhanal1971]

Hi Hailey: I really appreciate you taking time to provide me with such a detailed analysis of my issue and the solution that would best serve my requirement.

I will run the port utilization report to find out the actual utilization of ports and see if 50 ports suffice. Assuming that is enough and I want to move the existing subscriber from the cluster to other site,

~ can i simply turn it off and use storage vmotion to move it to a new VM in other site? Publisher should continue functioning right? Will sub sync with Pub after the change of IP address?

~ since IP address will be changed, I will probably need to engage Cisco licensing to rehost the license?

Is there any other issues I should be aware of in order to bring the CUC HA cluster fully operational?

[David Hailey · Accepted solution]

Can you use vMotion?  Depends and with caveats:

See http://docwiki.cisco.com/wiki/Unified_Communications_VMware_Requirements#VMware_vMotion

When you change the IP address, you will need to reboot the cluster.  You will also need to ensure you update the IP address in the CUC Admin (i.e. where you defined the Subscriber within the cluster).  This will change the License MAC of the Subscriber and with version 8.x, the HA license is directly tied to that so you will need to get a rehosted HA license (this is just port-based licenses and loaded on the Sub itself).

Other things to look out for?  Yes, DB replication issues and the usual.  I would ensure that you have a DRS backup of both servers prior to making changes.  With CUC, you may also need to force the Publisher to overwrite the DB on the Subscriber if you have issues after the change.  Make sure to do your homework and read up on the procedures.

Hailey

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[bkhanal1971]

Thank you so much for the great information David. I have made up my mind to install a fresh copy of CUC subscriber to join the cluster. However, before doing that , I wanted to get your expert advise on the procedure of removing the subscriber from my existing HA cluster. Can I just power off the existing subscriber and be able to add a new one to the cluster? Sorry for asking too much questions but this is the best way i can learn and implement things

[David Hailey · Accepted solution]

Glad to help.  You will essentially want to make the Pub a standalone node by removing the Subscriber and then you will recreate the cluster when you reinstall the software on the new VM.  You should follow the procedure here:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/voice_ip_comm/connection/8x/upgrade/guide/8xcucrug045.html#wp1053678

Hailey

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[bkhanal1971]

Writing to let you know that I successfully recreated a new HA cluster with immense help from you!!! I was really nervous at the begining but you made it so easy. You deserve more than +5 from me