How do I move subscribers from unity 4.2 to unity 5 and keep greetings?

[jonathanwalton]

I'm running unity 4.2 with about 700 subscribers. I'm also running exchange 2003. I've setup new unity 5 servers on new hardware and I'm trying to find the best solution to move all the subscribers (in phases, not all at the same time) from unity 4.2 to the new unity 5 servers. All of the import tools I have downloaded all require that I remove subscriber properties before I can import, but it's critical that the subscribers keep their greetings and alternate extensions and call handlers(not as critical). So I'm looking to “move” the subscribers rather than create 700 new subscribers and have everyone re-record their greeting. Does anyone know a tool or a guide that covers this? Any help would be appreciated.

[ranpierce]

The new COBRAS tool might do it.

http://www.ciscounitytools.com/App_COBRAS.htm

It is not TAC supported yet. It is cool if you can use it. Read up on it, watch the videos, and test it.

If you can get buyoff on it........ who knows

rlp

[Rob Huffman]

Hi Jonathan,

Have you looked @ COBRAS;

http://www.ciscounitytools.com/App_COBRAS.htm

Hope this helps!

Rob

[Ginger Dillon]

Hi -

Also, in a pinch, if you need to move subscriber greetings, you can copy these from the c:\comserver\stream files folder. Copy to a shared drive and then upload using the Unity SA for each subscriber's spoken name or greetings. More appropriate for small users for sure. But, here's what I would do if your environment permits ... you could digitally network your Unity 5.x and 4.2 servers together, as long as same PBX integration and AD forest and Exchange admin group. Then use Global Subscriber Manager to move users between servers. The tool is found is Unity Tools Depot on server, called GSM

:-)

Ginger

[Tommer Catlin]

Ginger has it right.

Digitally network the servers

Share the stream files folder

use Global Subscriber Manager to move the subscribers.

[Tray Stoutmeyer]

Use Global Subscriber manager.

[jonathanwalton]

I couldn't find a way to use global subscriber manager without removing the subscriber properties first. The reason for my post was to find a way to keep the information intact, just move the account to a newer unity server. It seems that COBRAS may be what I'm looking for - I'm in the process of testing it. If you know a way to "move" complete accounts with global subscriber manager, please let me know how. The GSM training videos sure make it seem like it's not an option.

[Tommer Catlin]

Im not really sure how you are doing it with GSM, because the training videos are exactly on. They transfer everything over, greetings, passwords, settings, etc. I migrated about 200 subscribers last month with the tool and it worked out great. I have not tried cobras yet, but i here it's great.. (not yet TAC supported!)

Here is what you can do to at least try it.

Digitally network your 4.x and 5.x

share the streamed folders

Create a new account on 4.x, set a password, personal greeting, recorded name, etc.

Migrate this account with GSM

Does it meet your requirements? If not, no harm, no foul for digital networking. It's easy to "undo" this process. The test account, just remove.

Cheers,

[jonathanwalton]

When I use GSM and select an account to move, I don't see anything under the "Select Destination System" options. I don't see my new server on this screen as an option to move to. I do see it in the normal GSM screen in the left frame, and I'm able to see the subscribers. That's the hurdle I have with GSM at the moment.

[Tommer Catlin]

That means your Digital Networking is not setup correctly.

For digital networking to work:

- Unity servers must belong to same domain

- be able to communicate between each other. (Ping, DNS, etc)

- Setup some dialing domain. 100 for Unity 4.x and 200 for Unity 5.x or something like that.

[jonathanwalton]

I believe it has to do with the dialing domain. Let me fill in the complete picture. I have a call manager 4.02 cluster with a couple unity 4.2 servers that have been working for about 5 years. I'm setting up a new cluster of call manager 6 servers with a couple of unity 5 servers - all new versions are on new hardware. They are part of the same AD domain, and can ping each other just fine. I'm looking to start transferring groups of users to the new servers so I can phase out the old hardware. I have the Call manager migration plan set, just working out the kinks on the unity subscriber migration. The 2 call manager clusters are talking via a trunk(setup in call manager), and the new unity 5 servers are setup with voicemail ports on the new call manager 6 servers only. Both unity clusters can see each other and the subscribers, but I'm not sure if they are in the same dialing domain. The "dialing domain" term is pretty new to me, so I'm researching what my setup falls under. I thought I'd give a little more info in case anyone has an “ah-ha” moment while I'm trying to figure this out. Thanks for any help.

[lindborg]

In short a dialing domain defines a group of Unity servers that all share the same dialing plan - which means all extensions across all users on all those servers are unique and you can dial all users on all those servers directly without use of a trunk access code and such. You define the dialing domain on the primary location in the SA - all servers on the same network that share the same dialing domain name are assumed to be part of the same dialing plan.

GSM requires that when you're moving a subscriber from one server to another Unity server that they're in the same dialing domain such that it can ensure the move is not going to cause a conflict with extensions along the way. So it'll only show servers as a destination target if they share the same dialing domain name.

Hopefully that didn't just muddy the waters up for you worse...

As a side note, COBRAS (noted earlier on this thread) can help you move not just subscribers but also call handlers, schedules and public DLs between your clusters even if they aren't in the same dialing domain or even the same network - I've had a number of sites using it for various unity to unity moves/migrations/merges in the last couple months and it's working out reasonably well - you might want to eyeball it as an option if you're dialing plans between the new/old installations cause heartache here.

[jonathanwalton]

I found dialing domain information in one of my Cisco books written by you! I believe I just need to create the dialing domain, because I can't see that one exists right now. All the extensions are unique, and we don't use access codes, so I don't think that will be a problem. I need to research it a bit and see if creating a dialing domain is more of an after-hours project, or if it will have no effect on the users if I created it in the middle of the day.

I was toying with COBRAS, and watched the videos, but I'm stuck on a weird issue. From my old unity 4.2 server I perform an export, but on my unity 5 server, I try and import 1 subscriber, it complains about an extension conflict with an existing object on the target voice mail server. That doesn't make sense to me because the target server only has 2 test subscribers currently. After the export I "removed subscriber properties" from the old unity server, and tried the import again with the same results.

I think the GSM will work better for me if I can get the dialing domain working. I only have a few call handlers, schedules, and things like that.

[lindborg · Accepted solution]

COBRAS should tell you which extension is conflicting - it wont be in AD, it'll be in the local Unity SQL directory (COBRAS does not ever look in the directory - AD or Domino).

Creating a dialing domain wont have any effect - it's safe. It'll replicate around the directory and you should see it as an option on your other servers after a while - may take a bit depending on your topology.

[jonathanwalton]

Thanks for everyone's help! I created the dialing domain and everything is working as it should. I moved a test subscriber and it worked like a charm! I have a few things to smooth out with the move process, but it's working! Thank you very much!