Moving Large Number of Subscribers and Call Handlers to another Unity Server

[smanuel]

I have been tasked with moving a large number of unity subscribers and associated call handlers from one Unity Server to another. In addition their associated exchange mailboxes will also be moved from one exchange server to another.

Here is the scenario:

Large Enterprise environment.

Unity Server versions 4 to 7

Exchange Server 2003

The old Unity Servers have multiple call manager integrations, up to 4 call manager clusters. An example wold be that we would move all the subscribers and call handlers that associated with one integration and leave the others untouched.

Here is what I'm looking for.

A roadmap or document that provide some insight on how to determine what subscribers and call handlers are associated with a particular integration on a unity server. I know that a subscriber dump will show that but is there anything else short of a subscriber dump.

Once the subscriber and call handlers are determined, what tools/methods are available to move subscriber and call handlers from one unity server to another ?? I've used GSM before and it does not move call handlers that I'm aware of.

If sound files are used in the call handlers for customized greetings, etc...how will they be moved if the call handler that uses the audio file is moved ??

Does a tool exist that would move all the associated exhange mailboxes from one server to another, this is being done for load balancing purposes.

The main goal is to as painlessly as possible move potentially a 1000 or more Unity Subscribers and associated Call Handlers from one Unity Server to another.

Thanks in advance.

[David Hailey · Accepted solution]

You will need to make use of the COBRAS Migration Tools and, if you are moving objects within the same AD, the GSM tool as well.  COBRAS will moves Call Handlers, Subscribers, and etc.  You will need to recreate the UTIM integrations and do some other work as well to be fully successful with COBRAS.  As for GSM, it is used to move the user association with a particular Unity server to the new Unity server.  You should read up on the COBRAS Import, Export, and Data Viewer tools completely (every word) here:  www.ciscounitytools.com.

As for determining switch association, Subscriber Info Dump is the best tool to do that and is not harmful to your system.  Run it and get the data that you need.

As for how well COBRAS works, it's great - used it many times in a number of scenarios.  Recently, I used it to migrate 4000 subscribers, 200+ call handlers, and messages from a Unity 5x to Unity Connection 7x installation.  I've done similar in smaller scale as well going from Unity 4 to Unity 7 (different AD) as well as same AD (using GSM in addition to COBRAS).

Hailey

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[Tommer Catlin]

If you are going to "forklife" it all out, I would use DIRT.

If you are trying to do this is small batches, then you have to use a combo of GSM to move the Subscribers, and then move the Call Handlers with COBRAS.

http://www.ciscounitytools.com/Applications/General/COBRAS/COBRAS.html

I like use the (2) tool approach if I have to batch subscribers from one system to another. (pending the stars are aligned)

COBRAS does a great job for just about everything, Call Handlers work great.  But take note, if the call handler has a target to an Subscriber, you may have to rebuild that piece.   What will happen is that when you move a Subscriber with GSM or COBRAS, it gets removed from that Unity server and possibly the link is then broken off the call handler.   YOu will need to link it back after the import is complete.

COBRAS will leave the existing CallHandlers intact on the existing system.  So you can export a copy of all or a few call handlers, and import them back in and test.

For users, if you have (2) unity severs in the same domain, you can not have the same user on each system.  So they will be deleted off the old system (or will want to have them deleted) when you use cobras.    GSM will auto clean up the old system user account.

With DIRT, you will have to adjust the integrations.  Those do not seem to work right with multiple intigrations.   Something in the file export of it starting with 0, 1, 2 for the integtrations, then import it has 1,2,3  etc.

COBRAS will let you pick it all upon import, which switch, etc.

Check out the video on the link.  It explains a ton!

[David Hailey · Accepted solution]

Just a follow-up:

COBRAS does not remove anything from the system when you do an export. The data is simply copied/exported to a DB that can be used for import into another system. If you choose to export only certain subscribers but all Call Handlers then upon import, you will likely have unresolved references for Call Handlers to Subscribers you chose not to export. In that case, you choose a new subscriber that the Call Handler is associated to. This is done during import - you cannot complete an import step without resolving all unresolved references. You'll see this is well documented in the COBRAS Help file. My fall back or "backout plan" if you want to call it that when doing COBRAS migrations is that, for most scenarios, it is more than easy to revert back to the old system with little to no effort at all.

When using GSM, you don't actually delete the users off the old Unity server when you use COBRAS. You use the GSM tool to actually "move" the users over (within the same domain) to the new server. This removes all references on the AD user object to the old Unity server and establishes a reference to the new server. You then use COBRAS to overwrite that user's data - i.e., voice greetings, Subscriber settings, and so forth.

DiRT is not bad and it does get everything but it is A LOT of work. In order to use DiRT, you have to build your new server to the exact same revision and specs as the existing Unity server and then do a DiRT restore. From there, you don't just "upgrade" the system to a new version. In fact, the words "upgrade" and "Unity" should not be used in the same sentence. You will essentially do an in-place rebuild of the system. Granted, the data will be on the server and so forth but you will still have to complete every installation task just as if you'd never installed the pre-upgrade version. It won't take as long (e.g., Permissions will be set, etc) but that's what it equates to.

With COBRAS, you have to do a little planning but you can stand up your new system to whatever version you want. Then do some pre-import configurations as explained in the Help file. From there, you run the import and then do a little post-import cleanup (depending on your setup). Rebuild your ports and UTIM integrations and you're done.

There are varying schools of thought on this. You have to choose what you are most comfortable with. If doing a wholesale migration from one version to another is the end goal, COBRAS will save you a LOT of time.

Hailey

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