Prime Collaboration Deployment - PROBLEMS

[Clifford McGlamry]

I have been working with the Prime Collaboration Deployment tool in the lab trying various things with it.  I like the concept of what it is supposed to do, but in practice it fails far more than it succeeds.  Of note:

1.  If a presence server is hooked to CUCM, PCD insists on attempting to discover it.  Doesn't give you the option not to, even if you NEED it not to.

2.  No option at all to address the possibility that the platform OS username and password for the presence server might be different than the CUCM platform OS username and password.  This is a huge miss by Cisco.

3.  If you run a discovery, I find that it often "fails" with no explanation at all.  Why did it fail?  How do I figure out what to fix?  The admin guide references a set of logs to pull, but after reviewing those, they are no help at all.  

4.  Troubleshooting is maddening.  Nothing in the tool, in the documentation, or on line to help with most of the issues I'm seeing.  The issues that are documented, I'm really not seeing occur.  

5. No dedicated forum for addressing issues with a new tool with very skimpy documentation.

I would welcome a pointer at additional resources on this tool.  It could be such a huge help.  As is, it's almost too hard to use due to lack of resources to back it up.  We cannot put this into production deployments if we cannot depend on it to behave correctly.

TIA 

Cliff

[Clifford McGlamry]

6 months after last posting about UCCX upgrades with PCD, it is still broken and not usable.

A PCD upgrade of UCCX NEVER FINISHES because the OS never reports that the installation has finished.  

Certainly an issue for the CCBU that needs to be addressed.  Seems like a simple thing to fix....

[Candreas2]

Hi Cliff, Thank you for posting all the most valuable info about the previous versions of PCD tools and their draw backs. We are planning to upgrade our CUCM 9.1.2 to 11.5. CUXN 9.1.2 to 11.5 and UCCX 9.0.2 to 11.5 soon. I plan to use PCD 11.5.3 for my upgrade tasks. Do you think PCD 11.5.3 resolved all your previous issues that you have gone thru in this discussion and would you recommend this tool for smooth upgrade?

-Charles A

[jarias]

@cmcglamry ... questions on your 1-6.

1. What kinds of PCD updates were you trying to find?  Upgrade-only/nonbootable ISO's for PCD major/minor/MR are posted to cisco.com under the parent UCM release (now in their own subfolder).  PCD ES aren't posted (same as UCM ES not posted).
2. To clarify, this was readdress of PCD 11.5(2) VM  ?  What procedure did you use to re-IP?   PCD borrows plumbing from UCM, and UCM had gotchas here on IP address changes.
3. Which browser/version?   Firefox and Chrome or just one?
4. Are you prepending/adding text to the ISO name or completely renaming it?  Some of that info is used to distinguish which app, version/patch info, etc.  I don't know if the ISO contains a "manifest" or other config file with that info.
5. Which docwiki pages are you referring to?  ("docwiki" can mean either the virtualization stuff on /go/uc-virtualized or the CC app-specific tech docs).  UCM 10.5.2 added a "touchless install" feature to remove Pub/Sub back & forth during cluster Fresh Install.  I'm not aware of CUC/CCX adding that (CUC would be more technically able of the two). 
6. PCD Upgrade Task, right?  Not PCD Migrate?

-james

[Clifford McGlamry]

Jarias,

1. I was looking for exactly that.  But while it's nice to know where it is, that placement makes little sense.  All other Prime products have their own area.  And this product is used with more than just CUCM.  Just noting here.

2.  I used the "set network ip eth0".  In CUCM there was a requirement to update the server IP address first on the server table.  There is no place to do that on PCD, and the documentation doesn't address any special limitation or process for an IP address change that I can find. 

3. Chrome and Firefox (latest)

4. In my case, I added "BOOTABLE_" in front of bootable iso's not otherwise marked as such when I got them. 

5.  Take your pick.  I can't locate specific PCD direction in any location.

6.  Correct, and upgrade task hangs.  It's very reproducable in my lab. 

[a.gooding]

We are now looking to use PCD for some of our migrations. Reading the thread gives me chills to say the least. Has 2017 and PCD brought any further promise? We are going to lab it up next week...

[Clifford McGlamry]

It baffles me that Cisco isn't doing a better job vetting this tool.  

Currently trying to use PCD 12.5.  Customer has a CUCM v9 cluster we need to migrate to new hostnames/ips on version 11.5(1) latest SU.  

After getting everything set up and starting to program the migration task, we hit a deal killer.

You CANNOT deselect the optional step of shutting down the existing CUCM publisher.  The option to select the node and move it to the deselected side is greyed out and disabled.  Also cannot delete this optional step.  

[jarias]

Cliff...

Engineering is ready to have a demo of the PCD/UCM serviceability and status improvements they've been making in 11.5.  We'll record it, but if you'd like to attend live we'd love to have you on the call to get some feedback. 

-james

[Sami Ahmad]

Thanks Cliff. You saved my day, +5 for that.

Hope, Cisco comes back with decoder guide soon.

Regards,

Sami