Unity Port Group - Change Servers

[Chin Jam]

Hi

I have 2 Unity severs in a cluster.  I noticed that when the Unity Publisher was taken down for maintenance the Subscriber took over as primary but I was not able to dial the VM pilot number - received fast busy.

- There is only 1 Unity port group configured for SCCP (skinny) - same Name and Name Prefix on both Unity servers. 

- 24 ports configured on each Unity server

- 24 ports on Publisher with 24 ports in service

- 24 ports on Subscriber with 0 Ports in service

- CUCM has 48 ports configured but only 24 are registered other 24 are registration status 'unknown'

I found what I believe may be part of the problem.  The Unity Port Group is pointing to 1 valid CUCM and a previously decommissioned CUCM server address.  I read that the port group servers should be the same order as the Cisco Unified CM Group Configuration in CUCM which is:

1. CUCM Publisher

2. CUCM Subscriber

On the Unity Port Group should I enter the CUCM servers/order as 0 = CUCM Publisher and 1 = CUCM Subscriber?

Should I do the same for the TFTP servers as well as they are also incorrect?

Are there any other changes that need to be made as well and will clicking Save impact any services?

Appreciate your help.

CJ

[Chris Deren]

Yes, for SCCP integration define the port group CUCM order the same as CM Group in CUCM for these ports. You may want to create 2 separate port groups if the Unity servers and CUCMs are split between WAN to have each side point to local servers first.

[Chin Jam]

Thanks for the feedback Chris - much appreciated!

I'm assuming when I change the CUCM Servers to be the same as the CM Group in CUCM, I should make the same change to the TFTP Servers to match.

After clicking 'Save' in the Edit Servers page, do I need to restart any services to apply the change and will this impact any services (should I do it after hours)?

Thanks again,

CJ

[Chris Deren · Accepted solution]

---

I'm assuming when I change the CUCM Servers to be the same as the CM Group in CUCM, I should make the same change to the TFTP Servers to match.

-- Sure

After clicking 'Save' in the Edit Servers page, do I need to restart any services to apply the change and will this impact any services (should I do it after hours)?

-- I would press "Reset" button on the port group page in CUC.

[Chin Jam]

Thanks again Chris.

1 more question:

Since this is a Unity cluster, I need to change the servers on both Publisher & Subscriber Port groups.  Is there a recommended order - e.g. Publisher 1st then Subscriber 2nd?

[Chris Deren]

You should match the order of CUCM Group that is applied to the device pool used by Unity SIP trunk or SCCP ports.  Publisher in most cases should be a backup not primary call processors except for 1 or 2 node deployments.

[Chin Jam]

Both my Unity and CUCM are 2 node clusters.  I only have 1 Cisco Unified CM Group which lists the Publisher 1st and the Subscriber 2nd (all devices register to the Pub) - small deployment.

I am assuming then that the servers should be listed in that same order for the Unity Port Group.  

Would it matter which Unity server I make the Port Group server changes on first - the Unity Pub or Sub?

Thanks

CJ

[Chris Deren]

I would strongly recommend flipping your nodes in your CM Group, Sub should be preferred over Pub for call processing.

You would have the same order on CUC.

As to port groups, are the CUC split across WAN? If not then you just need one port group and assign ports for each server to it.

[Chin Jam]

Thanks for the information.  I'm curious why this was configured by the telco/reseller in this way (i've just started here and i'm finding things are't working).  I would have to research what steps are involved in changing the CM Group order (impact to service and the full procedure).

Yes the CUCs are split across a WAN.  So you are saying I definitely need 2 port groups in this case?

[Chris Deren]

There is a lot of poorly deployed solutions out there, I cannot speak to this particular one, but don't assume anything :-)

If CUC sand CUCMs are split between WAN there may be a benefit of creating 2 separate port groups where each CUC node points to local CUCM node as the primary and use remote CUCM as secondary.  You would do something similar on CUCM side where there would be 2 CUCM groups with reverse order of CUCMs and assigned appropriately to each CUC SIP trunk.

[Chin Jam]

I modified the existing port group servers and all ports registered. Tested the failover and it worked like a charm. I didn't want to change the port groups and CM group as the Sub is at a DR site over a WAN link with no phones local to that site.

Thanks again for your help with this - much appreciated!

CJ