All About Cisco Multicast MOH Configuration

Agenda

• Overview
• Configuration Check
• Troubleshooting & Common Problems

Overview

Configuration Check

Make sure that you have the IP Voice Media Streaming App turned “On” in order for your server to start streaming the Multicast packets outbound toward the gateway.

Make sure that you have your MOH file loaded in to each and every CUCM server that you are using in the cluster. This is a bit counterintuitive because you think you are configuring the server to play the MOH file that you are loading. Instead we do this simply to be able to select the MOH file to play whenever the phone is configured.

Here we verify how long our MOH file is as well as verifying its “In Use”

This page allows us to make the configuration change for Multicasting as well as verify what codecs are supported with the stream that you’ve installed.

This page shows us how many MOH servers we can configure as well as where exactly they are registered to. Many times customers don’t know that these must show up as “Registered with …” in order to work properly. Be sure to check this and then reset these as needed.

MRG setup as well as the Multicast checkbox that you must enable.

MRGL setup that allows us to place our MRG inside the selected resource groups in order for us to be able to access our MOH server and file correctly.

This is the phone configuration page and the locations that you must configure if you want to access an MOH server/file. You don’t need an MRGL here if its taken care of on the Device Pool.

This is the line configuration page and the locations that you could possibly configure if you want to access an MOH

This is the Device Pool where I’ve configured an MRGL (optional), but only if its not taken care of at the Phone Configuration page.

This is the MOH server configuration where I enable Multicasting and then define how I will configure the multicast IP on the gateway as well as the port number.

This is the chart that shows you how the IP’s and ports change depending on the previous Slides configuration.

This is the gateway configuration that I’ve done, and you see where I’ve added the “Pim sparse-dense-mode” command that is needed.

Below is the configuration setup for multicast routing that you must enable throughout the entire network.

You will need to place this command on the gateway in order for the MOH to begin streaming outbound from the gateway to the PSTN/Outbound Interfaces as desired.

Troubleshooting &Common Problems Common Problems

• I hear TOH (Tone-On-Hold) and not able to hear my MOH file that I expect
• Verify Audio Source and Multicast Flag are set correctly on the traces, if they are then this is most likely a gateway issue.
• I just hear silence and my file isn’t playing
• Verify Audio Source and Multicast Flag are set correctly on the traces, if they are then this is most likely a gateway issue.
• Verify Regions and Codecs being used, if H.323 remember that Dial-Peer 0 uses G.729 automatically so be sure to specify the correct codec if needed.

Below is the command that you can run from the gateway that will show you the MOH file that is configured to play which must match up to the file that is expected to be streaming. You can also see the Multicast IP address involved with the command listed. The 192.168.2.1 IP address is the Loopback address. You can use either the loopback or a physical interface for your setup.

This is the command that you run from the SSH session on the CUCM servers. The Following command will spit the output of the Multicast MOH servers that are configured and what their port/IP address is. We are incrementing on the IP address for my setup which means that the IP addresses will Increment here as well. For each different IP address you involve a different codec negotiated.

The following command will be input on the MOH gateway that we’ve involved. The output of this command will display the active MOH sessions on that particular GW as desired. From this command we can see the Multicast IP address, RTP Port, Packet count (which should be incrementing), call ID, Codec negotiated, and Incoming interface being used

The command ran on the gateway here is “debug MGCP Packets”and from that output we can see where the multicast IP address is detected and then used to stream all relative information as needed.

 

 

Troubleshooting

• Verify through the CUCM traces first that you have your AudioSource ID and Multicast Flag enabled.
• Proceed to the gateway, verify the codec information and gateway configuration commands are set correctly. If you are receiving silence try using another file you’ve verified to work or speak with the MS team.
• Traces to obtain:CM traces set to “Detailed” and pull after making a test callI PVMS traces set to detailed to confirm that its working correctly Debug MGCP packets (if MGCP)Debug voip CCAPI inout Show ccm-manager music-on-hold (whenever you enable the call)

#moh-server, #multicast-ip-address, #multicast-moh

How to take Cisco Unity Connection Express backup

Configuring the Backup Server

Before you begin the backup process from the Administration Backup/Restore Start Backup window, you must first set the parameters in this window.

Use this procedure to configure the backup server.

1. Choose Administration > Backup/Restore > Configuration.
2. Enter the information shown in the following fields:
3. Server URL—The URL of the server on the network where backup files are stored. The format should be ftp://server/directory/ where server is the IP address or hostname of the server.
4. User ID—The account name or user ID on the backup server. You must have an account on the system to which you are backing up your data. Do not use an anonymous user ID.
5. Password—The password for the account name or user ID on the backup server.
6. Confirm Password—The password entered again.
7. Maximum Revisions—The maximum number of revisions of the backup data that you want to keep on the server. The maximum number is 50. The default value is 5.
8. Click Apply to save the information.

Starting a Backup

You must do the following before starting a backup:

• Configure the server used to back up the data. See Configuring the Backup Server.
• Save your configuration. See Saving or Reloading Your Configuration.

Caution : Performing a backup for the system data and configuration requires taking the system offline. Active voice-mail calls at that time are dropped, and callers reaching voice mail during the backup receive a message that the voice-mail system is unavailable. Active calls to the autoattendant are not dropped and the autoattendant continues to receive and process calls during the backup.

Use this procedure to begin the data backup process.

1. Click Administration > Backup/Restore > Start Backup. The Start Backup window appears and the system automatically generates a backup ID. The backup ID number increases by 1 every time you back up the server.
2. Enter a description of the backup file; for example, “backupdata6-2-04.”
3. Select the category of backup, or type of data that you want to save:
4. Configuration—Saves the configurations of the system and applications.
5. Data—Saves your voice-mail messages.
6. Historical Reporting Data—Saves your historical reporting information.
7. Click Start Backup.

#ccie-voice, #unity

Cisco UCM User Licensing

Bsoft Bangalore

Agenda 

• UCM Licensing High Level design
• Phone classification (a subset)
• License Tier classification
• Screen shots of the Licensing UI pages
• Troubleshooting tips
• Feature documentation

UCM Licensing High Level Design

Phone Classification

• Tin: analog, Cisco 3905, Cisco VGC phone, Cisco VGC Virtual phone
• Copper: Cisco 6901, Cisco 6911, Cisco 6921, CUC-RTX
• Bronze: Most phones
• Silver: Cisco IP Communicator, Cisco IP Personal Communicator, IMS integrated mobile, Unified Client Services Framework
• Gold: Cisco Dual Mode for Android, Cisco Dual Mode for iPhone, Cisco Unified Mobile Communicator,
• Telepresence: Carrier-Integrated Mobile

License Tiers

Essential	Basic	Enhanced	Standard	Premium	Professional	Telepresence
Features
EM	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
SNR	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Phones (number)	1	1	1	2	6	10	1
Phone Type
Tin	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Copper	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Bronze	Y	Y	Y	Y
Silver	Y	Y	Y
Gold	Y	Y
Tele-presence	Y

Licensing States on UCM

View original post 466 more words

Collaboration update information videos

TP & VIDEO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNteelLjFOwBe Everywhere With Video Collaboration – YouTube

Cisco Collaboration launch March 2014 – new units – YouTube

Cisco Partner Summit 2014 Global General Session Demo: TelePresence SX10 – YouTube

Cisco Partner Summit 2014 Collaboration Breakout Demo: TelePresence MX700 – YouTube

Dynamic Video Meetings with SpeakerTrack 60 – YouTube

Collaboration Summit 2013 Keynote Demo: Cisco TelePresence MX300 G2 – YouTube

 

Telephony

Cisco BE6000 Overview – YouTube

Experience Ease-of-Use with Cisco Business Edition 6000 – YouTube

Fundamentals of the Unified Communications BE 6000 – YouTube

Cisco IP Phone 7800 Series – YouTube

Cisco DX650: User Experience – YouTube

 

Jabber

Cisco Jabber – IM Presence Voice and TelePresence on ANY DEVICE ANYWHERE! – YouTube

Cisco Jabber Guest Explained in Detail – YouTube

Jabber Specialist Training – Presentations and Recordings

Microsoft Competitive Material

#collaboration

CCIE Collaboration Lab

Lab Equipment:

• Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) C460 Rack Server
• Cisco 3925 Integrated Services Routers Generation 2 (ISR G2)
• Cisco 2921 Integrated Services Routers Generation 2 (ISR G2)
• ISR G2 Modules and Interface Cards
  • – 1-Port 3rd Gen Multiflex Trunk Voice/WAN Int. Cards – T1/E1
  • – Cisco High-Density Packet Voice Digital Signal Processor Modules (PVDM3)
  • – Cisco Service Ready Module 710 Service Module with Cisco Unity Express
  • – 4-port Cisco Gigabit EtherSwitch 10/100/1000BASE-TX autosensing EHWIC with POE
• Cisco Catalyst 3750-X Series Switch
• Cisco Unified IP Phones 7965 and 9971
• Cisco Jabber for Windows
• Cisco Jabber Video for Cisco Telepresence*

*In backbone, no candidate configuration required

Software Versions
Any major software release which has been generally available for six months is eligible for testing in the CCIE Collaboration Lab Exam.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager 9.1
• Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express 9.1
• Cisco Unified Contact Center Express 9.0
• Cisco Unified Communications Manager IM and Presence 9.1
• Cisco Unity Connection 9.1
• Cisco Unity Express 8.6
• All routers use IOS version 15.2(4) M Train
• Cisco Catalyst 3750 Series Switches uses 15.0(2) Main Train

Network Interfaces

• Fast Ethernet
• Frame Relay

Telephony Interfaces

• T1/E1

Cisco Press Resources

 CCIE Collaboration Reading List:

     Cisco IP Telephony (CIPT) (Authorized Self-Study Guide), 2nd Edition

http://www.ciscopress.com/store/cisco-ip-telephony-cipt-authorized-self-study-guide-9781587054099

     Cisco Voice Gateways and Gatekeepers

http://www.ciscopress.com/store/cisco-voice-gateways-and-gatekeepers-9781587052583

     Fax, Modem, and Text for IP Telephony

http://www.ciscopress.com/store/fax-modem-and-text-for-ip-telephony-9781587052699

     SIP Trunking

http://www.ciscopress.com/store/sip-trunking-9781587059445

     Cisco Unified Presence Fundamentals

http://www.ciscopress.com/store/cisco-unified-presence-fundamentals-9781587140440

     Cisco Unity Connection

http://www.ciscopress.com/store/cisco-unity-connection-9781587142819

     Securing Cisco IP Telephony Networks

http://www.ciscopress.com/store/securing-cisco-ip-telephony-networks-9781587142956

     Troubleshooting Cisco IP Telephony

http://www.ciscopress.com/store/troubleshooting-cisco-ip-telephony-paperback-9781587143021

Cisco Solutions Reference Network Design (SRND) and Design Guides

     Cisco Unified Communications System 9.x SRND

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/voice_ip_comm/cucm/srnd/9x/uc9x.html

     Cisco Unified Contact Center Express Solution Reference Network Design Release 9.0(1)

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/partner/docs/voice_ip_comm/cust_contact/contact_center/crs/express_9_0/design/UCCX_BK_UD5B347F_00_uccx-solution-reference-network-design.html

     Design Guide for Cisco Unity Connection Release 9.x

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/voice_ip_comm/connection/9x/design/guide/9xcucdgx.html

     Cisco Unified CallManager Express Solution Reference Network Design Guide

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/partner/docs/voice_ip_comm/cucme/srnd/design/guide/cmesrnd.html

Administration and Deployment Guides

     Cisco Unified Communications Manager Documentation Guide, Release 9.0(1)

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/voice_ip_comm/cucm/docguide/9_0_1/CUCM_BK_CEDBAA6F_00_cucm-documentation-guide-90.html

     Cisco Unified CCX Administration Guide, Release 9.0(1)

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/partner/docs/voice_ip_comm/cust_contact/contact_center/crs/express_9_0/configuration/guide/UCCX_BK_U767AC77_00_uccx-admin-guide.html

     System Administration Guide for Cisco Unity Connection Release 9.x

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/voice_ip_comm/connection/9x/administration/guide/9xcucsagx.html

     Deployment Guide for IM and Presence Service on Cisco Unified Communications Manager, Release 9.0(1)

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/voice_ip_comm/cucm/im_presence/deployment/9_0_1/CUP0_BK_D41159BD_00_deployment-guide-for-imp-90.html

Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express System Administrator Guide

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/voice_ip_comm/cucme/admin/configuration/guide/cmeadm.html

Coming soon in Bsoft Bangalore 

#30, 1st floor,1st Main,BTM 2nd stage
Bennergetta Road,Bangalore,India

Mobile: 09886623909
Phone : 080 4146 5262

VMware Requirements in UC

Introduction: Mandatory VMware Products and Services

Note: This page only covers VMware product/version/feature support.

• It does not cover compute/network/storage hardware support policy for UC virtualization.
• It does not cover application co-residency support policy for UC virtualizatoin.
• See other links at http://www.cisco.com/go/uc-virtualized for these details.

 

VMware vSphere ESXi is mandatory for UC virtualization and UC on UCS.

• UC is only supported on UCS servers with VMware vSphere ESXi.
• See rest of this page for other details on VMware product, version and feature support.
• Nonvirtualized, physical, or bare-metal installations are not supported for UC on UCS.

 

VMware vCenter is:

• Mandatory for all Specs-based deployments
• Optional for Tested Reference Configuration deployments.

 

For UC on UCS, VMware vSphere ESXi and vCenter may be purchased from Cisco or customer provided. For specs-based with HP/IBM, all VMware software must be customer-provided. SeeBefore You Buy or Deploy – Considerations for Design and Procurement for information on VMware purchase options.

Compatibility of UC apps/versions with VMware vSphere ESXi versions varies by UC app and is outlined later in this document. See the following links for details on “legacy” virtualization support (i.e. 7.x of UC apps with VMware vSphere on limited 3rd-party servers):

• Cisco Unity Virtualization Design Guide
• Virtualization Guide for Cisco Unified ICM/Contact Center Enterprise & Hosted 7.5(3)

 

Note: in all cases, the customer is required to have a valid service contract (either with Cisco or with VMware, depending on what/how purchased) to be supported. See Services and Support Contracts for VMware are Required for how to ensure this is done for different Editions of Vmware vSphere ESXi.

Supported Virtualization Hypervisor Vendors

At this time, the only vendor supported for UC is VMware.

Other vendors/products – such as Microsoft Hyper-V, Citrix Xen, Red Hat KVM – are not supported for Cisco UC virtualization.

Supported VMware Products

VMware vSphere ESXi is required for Cisco UC virtualization.

• ESX and ESXi are architecture options for VMware vSphere (click here for a comparison). UC only supports ESXi. Recall that vSphere 3.x and 4.x offered both options, but 5.0+ only offers ESXi.
• VMware vSphere ESX, regardless of version, is not supported for UC. This is due to technical reasons and VMware’s direction to transition from ESX to ESXi. Note a VMware ESX cluster can contain VMware ESXi servers running Cisco Unified Communications.
• No other VMware server virtualization products are supported.

 

Supported Versions of VMware vSphere ESXi

The minimum version for VMware vSphere ESXi is 4.0. But note a higher minimum version may be required depending on what UC apps/versions you run (see tables below) and what hardware you select.

• Note that use of VMware vSphere ESXi 4.1 requires disabling the “LRO” setting as described here.
• Versions of VMware vSphere ESXi prior to 4.0 are not supported due to technical reasons.
• Each UC app/version will specify the required compatible Major Releases and Minor Releases of VMware vSphere ESXi (e.g. 4.0 or 4.1) in the tables below.
  • Unlisted Major/Minor versions are not supported.
  • Unless otherwise indicated, the base Major/Minor version shown is the minimum required.
  • Some UC apps will also require a minimum Maintenance Release and will indicate if this is the case. Otherwise UC does not specify or recommend patches, updates or Maintenance Releases (e.g. 4.0 U1) for a required Major/Minor Release of vSphere ESXi. Follow recommendations of the server vendor and VMware for what you should use. Unless otherwise indicated by a UC app, UC supports all VMware vSphere ESXi patches, updates and Maintenance Releases for a supported Major/Minor Release at time of VMware launch as long as the server vendor supports them.

 

VMware vSphere ESXi Version Support for Call Processing and System Management Applications

Application	VMware vSphere ESXi 4.0	VMware vSphere ESXi 4.1 Cisco UC Virt. Foundation 4.1*	VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0 Cisco UC Virt. Foundation 5.0*	VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1 Cisco UC Virt. Foundation 5.1*
Unified Communications Manager (Unified CM)	8.0(2+), 8.5(x), 8.6(x), 9.0(1), 9.1(x)	8.0(2+), 8.5(x), 8.6(x), 9.0(1), 9.1(x)	8.0(2+), 8.5(x), 8.6(x), 9.0(1), 9.1(x)	8.0(2+), 8.5(x), 8.6(x), 9.0(1), 9.1(x)
Cisco Paging Server for Unified CM	8.3+	8.3+	8.3+	Not supported
Unified CM IM & Presence Service	Not supported	9.0(x), 9.1(x)	9.0(x), 9.1(x)	9.0(x), 9.1(x)
Cisco Business Edition 6000	Click here for details
Cisco Emergency Responder (CER)	8.5(x), 8.6(x), 8.7(x), 9.0(x)	8.5(x), 8.6(x), 8.7(x), 9.0(x)	8.5(x), 8.6(x), 8.7(x), 9.0(x)	8.7(x), 9.0(x)
Session Manager Edition (SME)	8.5(x), 8.6(x), 9.0(x), 9.1(x)	8.5(x), 8.6(x), 9.0(x), 9.1(x)	8.5(x), 8.6(x), 9.0(x), 9.1(x)	8.5(x), 8.6(x), 9.0(x), 9.1(x)
Unified Attendant Consoles	8.0(3+), 8.5(x)	8.6(x)	8.6(x)	8.6(x)
Cisco Intercompany Media Engine (CIME)	Not supported	8.6(2+), 9.0(x)	8.6(2+), 9.0(x)	8.6(2+), 9.0(x)
Cisco UC Management Suite (Cisco UPM, UOM, USM, USSM) Cisco Prime UC Management Suite (Prime UPM, Prime UOM, Prime USM)	8.0 and later	8.0 and later	8.6 and later	UPM: 8.6 and later UOM/USM/USSM:Not supported
Prime Collaboration Manager	Not supported	Not supported	1.2 and later	Not supported
Prime Collaboration Provisioning (PCP) Prime Collaboration Assurance (PCA)	9.x	9.x	9.x	9.x

• For applications that are allowed “on-box” with Cisco Business Edition 6000, this also includes version compatibility with Cisco UC Virtualization Hypervisor which is only supported for use with Cisco Business Edition 6000.

VMware vSphere ESXi Version Support for Messaging and Presence Applications

Application	VMware vSphere ESXi 4.0	VMware vSphere ESXi 4.1 Cisco UC Virtualization Foundation 4.1*	VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0 Cisco UC Virtualization Foundation 5.0*	VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1 Cisco UC Virtualization Foundation 5.1*
Cisco Unity Connection	8.0(2)+, 8.5(x), 8.6(x), 9.0(x), 9.1(x)	8.0(2)+, 8.5(x), 8.6(x), 9.0(x), 9.1(x)	8.0(2)+, 8.5(x), 8.6(x), 9.0(x), 9.1(x)	8.0(2)+, 8.5(x), 8.6(x), 9.0(x), 9.1(x)
Cisco Unity	7.x and later	7.x and later	7.x and later	7.x and later
Cisco Unified Presence	8.0(2)+	8.0(2)+	8.6(1)+	8.6(4)+

• For applications that are allowed “on-box” with Cisco Business Edition 6000, this also includes version compatibility with Cisco UC Virtualization Hypervisor which is only supported for use with Cisco Business Edition 6000.

VMware vSphere ESXi Version Support for Contact Center Applications

Note:

For Virtual Machines that need more than 4 vCPUs, the VMware vSphere ESXi 4.1 Enterprise Plus licensing is required (8 way virtual SMP capability and applicable to ESXi 4.x only). The VMware vSphere 4.1 Enterprise Plus license can be procured from the Cisco build-to-order or directly from the VMware (see VMware Purchasing section above.)

 

Notation Convention. The 8.0(1+) means 8.0(x) (x=1 and later 2,3,etc.) The 8.0(x) SU1+ means 8.0(x) and thereafter SU such as SU1, SU2, SU3, etc. in the 8.0(x). The 8.0(1)+ means 8.0(1) and thereafter releases like 8.0(1), 8.0(2) or 8.5(1), etc. The 8.x means any releases in that train: 8.0, 8.1, etc. The same is for other major releases (9, 10, etc.) using the + or x convention.

Application	VMware vSphere ESXi 4.0 and 4.0 Updates	VMware vSphere ESXi 4.1  and 4.1 Updates	VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0  and 5.0 Updates	VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1 and 5.1 Updates
Unified Contact Center Express / IP IVR	8.0(2+), 8.5(1+), 9.x	8.0(2) SU2+, 8.5(1+), 9.x	8.0(2) SU4+, 8.5(1) SU2+, 9.x	8.5(1)SU4+, 9.0(2)+
Cisco Unified Work Force Optimization (WFO), Quality Management (QM), and Work Force Management (WFM)	8.5(1)	8.5(2+), 9.x	8.5(2+), 9.x	Not supported
Unified Contact Center Enterprise	ESXi 4.0 Update 1 (minimum required). See below	See below	See below	Not supported
– Router, Logger, Rogger, Agent PG, MR PG, VRU PG, Administration and Data Server (AW, AW-CONFIG, AW-HDS, AW-HDS-DDS, HDS-DDS), Administration Client, Outbound Option with SIP Dialer, Support Tools (not supported in 8.5x and later)	8.0(2+), 8.5(1+)	8.0(2+), 8.5(1+)	8.5(1+), 9.x	Not supported
Cisco Packaged Contact Center Enterprise	Not supported	Not supported	9.x	Not supported
Cisco Unified Intelligence Center	8.0(3), 8.0(4)	8.5(2), 8.5(3), 8.5(4)	8.5(4+), 9.x	Not supported
Unified Contact Center Management Portal	8.0(2+), 8.5(1+)	8.0(2+), 8.5(1+)	8.5(1+), 9.x	Not supported
Unified Customer Voice Portal (all components)	8.0(1+) or 8.5(1+)	8.0(1+) or 8.5(1+)	8.5(1+), 9.x	Not supported
Cisco MediaSense	8.5(1)	8.5(2+)	8.5(4+), 9.x	Not supported
Cisco SocialMiner	8.5(1+)	8.5(1+)	8.5(3+), 9.x	Not supported
Unified Email Interaction Manager and Web Interaction Manager	4.3(2+)	4.3(2+), 4.4(1+)	4.4(1+), 9.x	Not supported
Cisco Finesse	Not supported	8.5(3+)	8.5(3+), 9.x	Not supported

VMware vSphere ESXi Version Support for TelePresence Applications

Application	VMware vSphere ESXi 4.0	VMware vSphere ESXi 4.1	VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0	VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1
Cisco TelePresence Manager	1.8.x, 1.9.0	1.8.x, 1.9.0	1.8.x, 1.9.0	Not currently supported
Cisco TelePresence Multipoint Switch	1.8.x, 1.9.0	1.8.x, 1.9.0	1.8.x, 1.9.0	Not currently supported
Cisco TelePresence Video Communication Server	Not supported	X7.1 and later	X7.1 and later with ESXi 5.0 Update 1	X7.1 and later
Cisco TelePresence Conductor	Not supported	XC1.2 and later	XC1.2 and later with ESXi 5.0 Update 1	XC1.2 and later

Support of Cisco VN-Link and Cisco Nexus 1000V

Note that Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise does NOT support this – see UCS Network Configuration for Unified CCE.

Unless otherwise indicated above, Cisco VN-Link, Cisco Nexus 1000V, Cisco Nexus 1010, and VM-FEX are supported by UC applications that support the VMware vNetwork Distributed Switch (see Supported Editions and Features of VMware vSphere ESXi, VMware vCenter and VMware vSphere Client).

Cisco VN-Link, Cisco Nexus® 1000V, Cisco Nexus 1010, VM-FEX and VMware vNetwork Distributed Switch all require VMware ESXi Enterprise Plus Edition (see Supported Editions and Features of VMware vSphere ESXi, VMware vCenter and VMware vSphere Client). Other editions do not support these capabilities.

For UC on UCS B-series, Cisco UCS 6100 does not currently support Layer 3 to Layer 2 COS markings. Additionally, the UC applications and operating systems cannot set the Layer 2 COS markings. Use of Cisco Nexus® 1000V is therefore strongly recommended as this is the only way to manage traffic congestion through the current UCS 6100. Please recall that traffic congestion risk will vary and is dependent on many factors such as UC vs. non-UC virtual machine count and their traffic characteristics across all blades, chassis and fabric extenders connected to the same UCS 6100.

For UC on UCS C-series, Cisco Nexus® 1000V is recommended but not mandatory as there is no intermediate UCS 6100 to design around.

For more information on Cisco VN-Link, Cisco Nexus 1000V and VM-FEX, see the following:

• http://www.cisco.com/en/US/solutions/collateral/ns340/ns517/ns224/ns892/ns894/white_paper_c11-525307.html
• http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9902/index.html
• http://www.cisco.com/en/US/netsol/ns1124/index.html

Supported Editions and Features of VMware vSphere ESXi, VMware vCenter and VMware vSphere Client

VMware vSphere Client (formerly branded VI Client) and VMware vCenter are management consoles for VMware vSphere hosts.

• vSphere Client is free but only has basic management capabilities.
• vCenter is not free as it has advanced management capabilities, but note UC may not support every feature in vCenter. vCenter is mandatory for any specs-based deployment.

 

VMware vSphere ESXi is sold in several Editions with different levels of feature support.

• Click here for a comparison of VMware vSphere ESXi feature Editions on vmware.com.

• Click here for a clarification of “free ESXi 4.1” vs. “vSphere ESXi 4.1 Hypervisor Edition” (formerly branded as “VMware ESXi Single Server Edition” or “free ESXi”).
• For details on supported features for 4.x versions of other vSphere ESXi Editions, see your VMware account team. VMware on their web site provides a “best effort” comparison here.

• If buying VMware vSphere ESXi direct from VMware:

• Click here for VMware’s Purchase Advisor for vSphere on vmware.com.
• Click here for an overview of VMware vSphere ESXi pricing on vmware.com.

 

There are no UC-specific restrictions on what VMware vSphere ESXi feature Edition you “can” use, but the Edition you “should” use will be determined by VMware licensing rules based on aspects of the UC deployment. The customer is responsible for selecting the correct VMware vSphere ESXi Edition based on their feature and UC application requirements. The following non-exhaustive list is provided for convenience only as examples of what must be considered under VMware’s current licensing rules, which are subject to change:

• If you want to use Cisco Nexus 1000V with UC, that requires the VMware vSphere ESXi feature “Distributed Switch” which is only available in Enterprise Plus Edition.
• If you want to use a UC virtual machine OVA template with a large quantity of vCPU, verify the VMware vSphere ESXi Edition supports sufficient “vCPU Entitlement” for that OVA’s vCPU count.

• E.g. the Unity Connection 20K user OVA that requires 7 vCPU per VM.

• Verify all the UC-supported VMware vSphere ESXi features you want to use are supported by the Edition you pick.
• The “Cisco UC Virtualization Hypervisor” is only supported for use with Business Edition 6000 and has the following restrictions:

• It is not available or transferable for use with any other hardware or software.
• Server Hardware restricted to UCS C200 M2 TRC#1
• Max total vRAM across all VMs is 16 GB (of which 14 GB are available to UC apps)
• Max vCPU per VM is 8
• Does not support VMware vCenter management. Does not offer any advanced operational features like other Editions.

• The “Cisco UC Virtualization Foundation” is only supported for use with Business Edition 6000 and UC on UCS.

• Not available direct from VMware, only sold as part of BE6K or UC on UCS. It is not available or transferable for use with non-UCS hardware or non-UC software.
• Server Hardware restricted to 2-socket UCS B-Series models and 2-socket UCS C-Series models.
• Max total vRAM across all VMs is 32 GB (of which 30 GB are available to UC apps)
• Max vCPU per VM is 8
• Supports VMware vCenter management (purchased separately). UC-supported advanced operational features limited to vStorage APIs. All other UC-supported features (including but not limited to VMware High Availability, Data Recovery, vMotion, Distributed Switch, etc.) are not offered.

 

Finally, note that UC may not support all of the features that are included in the VMware vSphere ESXi Edition you pick. This may be because the feature is N/A for a UC deployment, or it has not been sufficiently tested before UC will support, or it requires application enhancements before UC can support.

The table below lists VMware feature support by UC app/version. If the feature is supported, click on its name in the table to view UC caveats and best practices. Feature support may vary by UC app. This site will be updated as new support becomes available.

Note:

feature support for Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise varies by component (e.g. Peripheral Gateway) and deployment model (e.g. “Rogger”) – this section will give a summary support position, but for individual components see Support for Virtualization on the ESXi/UCS Platform.

 

Legend for Feature Support Tables

• Y(C) = Supported with Caveats – see Best Practices for details
• Y(P) = Partial (limited) support only – see Best Practices for details
• No = the feature is not supported at this time – see Best Practices for alternatives, if any.

VMware Feature Support for Call Processing and System Management 8.0(2) through 9.0(1)

Feature	Unified CM	CER	SME	Unified Attendant Consoles	PCP	PCA	UPM	UOM, USM, USSM	CIME
vSphere ESXi 4.0 Features
VM Templates (OVAs)	Y(C)	Y(C)	Y(C)	Y(C)	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y(C)
Copy Virtual Machine	Y(C)	Y(C)	Y(C)	No	Y(C)	no	Y(C)	No	Y(C)
Restart Virtual Machine on Different ESXi Host	Y(C)	Y(C)	Y(C)	Y(C)	Y(C)	Y(C)	Y(C)	Y(C)	Y(C)
Resize Virtual Machine	Y(P)	Y(P)	Y(P)	Y(P)	Y(P)	Y(P)	Y(P)	Y(P)	Y(P)
VMware Hot Add	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Multiple Physical NICs and vNICs	Y(P)	Y(P)	Y(P)	Y(P)	Yes	Y(P)	Yes	Y(P)	Y(P)
VMware High Availability (HA)	Y(C)	Y(C)	Y(C)	No	Y(C)	No	Y(C)	No	Y(C)
VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM)	Y(C)	Y(C)	Y(C)	No	Y(C)	No	Y(C)	No	Y(C)
VMware vNetwork Distributed Switch	Y(C)	Y(C)	Y(C)	No	Y(C)	No	Y(C)	No	Y(C)
VMware vMotion	Y(C)	Y(C)	Y(C)	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	No
VMware Dynamic Resource Scheduler (DRS)	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
VMware Dynamic Power Management	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Long Distance vMotion	No	No	No	No	Y(C)	No	Y(C)	No	No
VMware Storage vMotion	Y(C)	Y(C)	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	No
VMware Update Manager (VUM)	Y(P)	Y(P)	Y(P)	Y(P)	Y(P)	Y(P)	Y(P)	Y(P)	Y(P)
VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB)	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
VMware Data Recovery (DR, VDR)	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	No
VMware Snapshots	No	No	No	No	Y(C)	No	Y(C)	No	No
VMware Fault Tolerance (FT)	No	No	No	No	Y(C)	No	Y(C)	No	No
VMware vCenter Converter	No	No	No	No	No	No	Y(C)	No	No
VMsafe	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
VMware vShield	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Virtual Appliance Packaging of UC apps	No	No	No	No	Y(C)	No	Y(C)	No	No
3rd-Party VM-based Backup Tools (e.g. Veeam, Viziocore, esXpress)	No	No	No	No					No
3rd-Party VM-based Deployment Tools (e.g. rPath, Platespin)	No	No	No	No					No
3rd-Party Physical To Virtual (P2V) Migration Tools	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
All others not listed	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
vSphere ESXi 4.1 Features
VMware Boot from SAN	Y(C)	Y(C)	Y(C)	Y(C)	Y(C)	Y(C)	Y(C)	Y(C)	Y(C)
All other vSphere ESXi 4.1 Features	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
vSphere ESXi 5.0 Features
Same EXSi 4.1 features supported in ESXi 5.0					Y	Y	Y	Y
Same EXSi 5.0 features supported in ESXi 5.1					Y	Y	Y	Y
All vSphere ESXi 5.0 Features	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
All vSphere ESXi 5.1 Features					No	No	No	Nn

Notes:

1. PCP =Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning. PCA = Cisco Prime Collaboration Assurance.
2. Blanks indicate not tested or info is not available at this time.

VMware Feature Support for Messaging and Presence 8.0(2) through 9.x

‘

Feature	Unity Connection	Unity	Unified Presence, Unified CM IM&Presence
vSphere ESXi 4.0 Features
VM Templates (OVAs)	Y(C)	Y(C)	Y(C)
Copy Virtual Machine	Y(C)	Y(C)	Y(C)
Restart Virtual Machine on Different ESXi Host	Y(C)	Y(C)	Y(C)
Resize Virtual Machine	Y(P)	Y(P)	Y(PP
VMware Hot Add	No	No	No
Multiple Physical NICs and vNICs	Y(P)	Y(P)	Y(P)
VMware High Availability (HA)	Y(C)	Y(C)	Y(C)
VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM)	Y(C)	No	Y(C)
VMware vNetwork Distributed Switch	Y(C)	Y(C)	Y(C)
VMware vMotion	Y(P)	No	Y(P)
VMware Dynamic Resource Scheduler (DRS)	No	No	No
VMware Dynamic Power Management	No	No	No
Long Distance vMotion	No	No	No
VMware Storage vMotion	No	No	No
VMware Update Manager (VUM)	Y(P)	Y(P)	Y(P)
VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB)	No	Y(C)	No
VMware Data Recovery (DR, VDR)	No	No	No
VMware Snapshots	No	Y(C)	No
VMware Fault Tolerance (FT)	No	No	No
VMware vCenter Converter	No	No	No
VMsafe	No	No	No
VMware vShield	No	No	No
Virtual Appliance Packaging of UC apps	No	No	No
3rd-Party VM-based Backup Tools (e.g. Veeam, Viziocore, esXpress)	No	No	No
3rd-Party VM-based Deployment Tools (e.g. rPath, Platespin)	No	No	No
3rd-Party Physical To Virtual (P2V) Migration Tools	No	No	No
All others not listed	No	No	No
vSphere ESXi 4.1 Features
Identity	No	No	Y(C)
VMware Boot from SAN	Y(C)	Y(C)	Y(C)
All other vSphere ESXi 4.1 Features	No	No	No

 

VMware Feature Support for Contact Center 8.0(2) through 9.x

  Notation: Y: regular Yes

Feature	Unified CCX	Cisco WFO, QM, and WFM	Unified CCE, CVP	Unified IC	Cisco MediaSense	SocialMiner	Unfied EIM-WIM	Cisco Finesse
vSphere ESXi 4.0 Features
VM Templates (OVAs)	Y(C)	Y(C)	Y(C)	Y(C)	Y(C)	Y(C)	Y(C)	Y(C)
Copy Virtual Machine	Y(C)	Y(C)	Y(C)	Y(C)	No	Y(C)	Y(C)	No
Restart Virtual Machine on Different ESXi Host	Y(C)	Y(C)	Y(C)	Y(C)	No	Y(C)	No	No
Resize Virtual Machine	Y(P)	Y(P)	No	Y(P)	No	No	No	No
VMware Hot Add	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Multiple Physical NICs and vNICs	Y(P)	Y(P)	Y(P)	Y(P)	No	No	No	No
VMware High Availability (HA)	No	No	No	No	No	No	Y(C)	No
VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM)	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
VMware vNetwork Distributed Switch	Y(C)	Y(C)	No	Y(C)	Y(C)	No	No	No
VMware vMotion	Y(C)	Y(P)	No	No	No	No	No	No
VMware Dynamic Resource Scheduler (DRS)	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
VMware Dynamic Power Management	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Long Distance vMotion	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
VMware Storage vMotion	Y(C)	Y(C)	No	No	No	No	No	No
VMware Update Manager (VUM)	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB)	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
VMware Data Recovery (DR, VDR)	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
VMware Snapshots	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
VMware Fault Tolerance (FT)	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
VMware vCenter Converter	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
VMsafe	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
VMware vShield	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Virtual Appliance Packaging of UC apps	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
3rd-Party VM-based Backup Tools (e.g. Veeam, Viziocore, esXpress)	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
3rd-Party VM-based Deployment Tools (e.g. rPath, Platespin)	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
3rd-Party Physical To Virtual (P2V) Migration Tools	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
All others not listed	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
vSphere ESXi 4.1 Features
VMware Boot from SAN	Y(C)	Y(C)	Y(C)	Y(C)	Y(C)	Y(C)	Y(C)	No
All other vSphere ESXi 4.1 Features	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
vSphere ESXi 5.0 Features
Same EXSi 4.1 features supported in ESXi 5.0	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
All other vSphere ESXi 5.0 Features	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
vSphere ESXi 5.1 Features
Same EXSi 5.0 features supported in ESXi 5.1	Y	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
All other vSphere ESXi 5.1 Features	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No

 

VMware Feature Support for TelePresence Applications

Feature	Cisco TelePresence Manager	Cisco TelePresence Multipoint Switch
vSphere ESXi 4.0 Features
VM Templates (OVAs)	Y(C)	Y(C)
Copy Virtual Machine	Y(C)	Y(C)
Restart Virtual Machine on Different ESXi Host	Y(C)	Y(C)
Resize Virtual Machine	Y(P)	Y(P)
VMware Hot Add	No	No
Multiple Physical NICs and vNICs	Y(P)	Y(P)
VMware High Availability (HA)	Y(C)	Y(C)
VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM)	Y(C)	Y(C)
VMware vNetwork Distributed Switch	Y(C)	Y(C)
VMware vMotion	No	No
VMware Dynamic Resource Scheduler (DRS)	No	No
VMware Dynamic Power Management	No	No
Long Distance vMotion	No	No
VMware Storage vMotion	No	No
VMware Update Manager (VUM)	No	No
VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB)	No	No
VMware Data Recovery (DR, VDR)	No	No
VMware Snapshots	No	No
VMware Fault Tolerance (FT)	No	No
VMware vCenter Converter	No	No
VMsafe	No	No
VMware vShield	No	No
Virtual Appliance Packaging of UC apps	No	No
3rd-Party VM-based Backup Tools (e.g. Veeam, Viziocore, esXpress)	No	No
3rd-Party VM-based Deployment Tools (e.g. rPath, Platespin)	No	No
3rd-Party Physical To Virtual (P2V) Migration Tools	No	No
All others not listed	No	No
vSphere ESXi 4.1 Features
VMware Boot from SAN	No	No
All other vSphere ESXi 4.1 Features	No	No
vSphere ESXi 5.0 Features
All vSphere ESXi 5.0 Features	No	No

Best Practices

Virtual Machine Templates (OVA files)

NOTE: support varies by app and version. Before reading the best practices below, verify support at Supported Editions and Features of VMware vSphere ESXi, VMware vCenter and VMware vSphere Client.

See www.dmtf.org for details on the Open Virtualization Format, which describes an OVF Package (a directory of files describing a virtual machine’s configuration) and an OVA Package (single tar file containing an OVF Package).

“Template” in this context refers to an OVA file that defines the virtual server (but not the “workload”, i.e. the UC OS and application). Each virtualized UC product provides a set of predefined virtual machine templates (as OVA files) for supported Virtual Machine (VM) configurations. Customers must download and use these OVA template files for initial install, as they cover items such as supported capacity levels and any required OS/VM/SAN “alignment”. OVAs configured differently than the predefined templates are not supported at this time. To download the OVA files, refer to the Unified Communications Virtualization sizing guidelines.

Copy Virtual Machine

NOTE: support varies by app and version. Before reading the best practices below, verify support at Supported Editions and Features of VMware vSphere ESXi, VMware vCenter and VMware vSphere Client.

Copying a Virtual Machine (VM) copies both the virtual server configuration and the workload (UC OS and application) running on that virtual server to a file on networked shared storage. This allows VMs to be copied, then subsequently modified or shut down. This feature effectively provides a method to do full system backup/restore, take system images or revert changes to software versions, user data and configuration changes.

• Prior to copying, the VM must first be shutdown (which will shut down the virtual server, the UC OS and the UC application).
• If uploading a VM copy as a “whole system restore”, clustered UC applications such as CUCM will probably require their replication to be manually “fixed” via a CLI command.

Restart Virtual Machine on Different ESXi Host

NOTE: support varies by app and version. Before reading the best practices below, verify support at Supported Editions and Features of VMware vSphere ESXi, VMware vCenter and VMware vSphere Client.

A Virtual Machine (VM) file on network/shared storage can be booted on any physical server hosting ESXi that has access to that network shared storage. With multiple physical ESXi hosts connected to the same network shared storage, this can be used to perform:

• Fast manual server moves, e.g. moving VM from ESXi host A to ESXi host B in another chassis, closet, building, etc.
• Fast manual server recovery, e.g. moving VM from ESXi host A that has just had a server hardware or VMware failure to ESXi host B that is healthy. See also VMware High Availability and Site Recovery Manager.
• Setting up software at a staging location to be later moved or deployed elsewhere. For multi-site scenarios, this may instead require “exporting” the VM.

Resize Virtual Machine

NOTE: support varies by app and version. Before reading the best practices below, verify support at Supported Editions and Features of VMware vSphere ESXi, VMware vCenter and VMware vSphere Client.

Similar to adding/removing physical hardware to/from a physical server, you can add/remove virtual hardware (vCPU, vRAM, vDisk, vNIC, etc.) to/from a Virtual Machine (VM) via a software change in VMware’s configuration interfaces. Where supported, this provides the VM equivalent of migration to a more powerful or less powerful server.

• Any changes to a VM must align with the best practices in Virtual Machine Templates (OVA files). VM changes that result in an unsupported OVA configuration are not allowed. Even if you align with supported OVA configurations, desired VM changes may be prevented by one of the other caveats below.
• Support for adding virtual hardware resources (similar to moving from a less powerful server to a more powerful server, such as MCS 7825 ⇒ MCS 7845) depends on which resource, and which UC product:

• Adding vCPU is supported for all apps except Unity and Unity Connection, but requires VM to be shutdown first.
• Adding vRAM is supported but requires VM to be shutdown first.
• Adding vDisk is not supported as it would require re-partitioning by the application.

• Adding vNIC is not supported unless the UC app supports multiple network connections with different IP addresses. See best practices for Multiple Physical NICs and vNICs.
• For all other changes, it is recommended to backup the application, reinstall application on a new OVA file, and restore the application.
• Removing virtual hardware resources (vCPU, vRAM, vDisk, etc.) is not supported (similar to moving from a more powerful server to a less powerful server, such as MCS 7845 ⇒ MCS 7825). These migrations require backing up the application, reinstalling on a new OVA file, and and restoring the application.
• Live runtime resizing via the VMware Hot Add feature is not supported.

VMware Hot Add

Not supported. See Resize Virtual Machine instead.

Multiple Physical NICs and vNICs

NOTE: support varies by app and version. Before reading the best practices below, verify support at Supported Editions and Features of VMware vSphere ESXi, VMware vCenter and VMware vSphere Client.

Some virtualized UCS servers are configured with multiple physical NICs (see UCS page at http://www.cisco.com/go/swonly). Network traffic is switched from physical NICs to “vNIC’s” of the Virtual Machines (VM) via either VMware vSwitch or Cisco Nexus 1000V. Customers can use these multiple NICs for VM network traffic, VMware console access, or management “back-doors” for administrative access, backups, software updates or other traffic that is desired to be segregated from the VM network traffic. All these uses are supported for UC but note that UC apps like CUCM and UCCX only support a single vNIC with a single IP address.

VMware High Availability (HA)

NOTE: support varies by app and version. Before reading the best practices below, verify support at Supported Editions and Features of VMware vSphere ESXi, VMware vCenter and VMware vSphere Client.

This feature automatically restarts a Virtual Machine (VM) on the same physical server or a different physical server. It can be used to supplement software redundancy as a means of fast, automated Failed-server recovery when a VM (but not the application) is hung or if there is a fault with the physical host server or VMware software.

• Failovers to other servers must not result in an unsupported deployment model (e.g. destination server must align with supported co-residency after failover occurs).
• Does not protect vs. faults with the SAN or network hardware.

VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM)

NOTE: support varies by app and version. Before reading the best practices below, verify support at Supported Editions and Features of VMware vSphere ESXi, VMware vCenter and VMware vSphere Client.

This feature provides an automated disaster recovery solution that works on a “site to site” basis, where a “site” comprises physical servers, VMware and SAN storage. Refer to the VMware documentation for requirements to use this feature. There are no special requirements to use this feature with UC apps that support it.

VMware Identity

The VMware identity feature allows you to copy an existing instance of a virtual Cisco Unified Presence, and change its identity. The identity of a system is made up of every setting that you usually configure during a fresh install (such as IP address, hostname, passwords).

You can then use this new identity for another instance of a Cisco Unified Presence on a virtual machine. This avoids you having to perform a complete installation each time you deploy a new Cisco Unified Presence.

VMware vNetwork Distributed Switch

NOTE: support varies by app and version. Before reading the best practices below, verify support at Supported Editions and Features of VMware vSphere ESXi, VMware vCenter and VMware vSphere Client.

Supporting apps in UC on UCS may either use this feature, or the Cisco VN-Link technology (such as Cisco Nexus 1000V).

 

VMware vMotion

NOTE: support varies by app and version. Before reading the best practices below, verify support at Supported Editions and Features of VMware vSphere ESXi, VMware vCenter and VMware vSphere Client.

This feature migrates a live, running Virtual Machine (VM) from one physical server to another.

The following applies to any use of vMotion with UC apps:

• VM must be installed on shared storage (SAN).
• Source and destination physical servers must be connected to same SAN.
• Destination physical server must not end up with over-subscribed hardware after the migration. Supported capacity and co-residency rules for UC must be followed before and after the migration.
• VMware “Long Distance vMotion” (site to site) is not supported.
• The only supported scenario is a manual move to a different server, e.g. for planned maintenance on the server or VMware software, or during troubleshooting to move software off of a physical server having issues.
• Use of vMotion for real-time load-balancing of live UC VMs is not supported, whether alone or in conjunction with VMware Dynamic Resource Scheduler (DRS) or Dynamic Power Management (DPM).
• Moving a shut down VM during a maintenance window, i.e. a “cold migration” or “host to host migration”, is not vMotion and is supported.

If the UC app is listed as “Supported with Caveats”, then support is as described below:

• Migration of UC VMs that are live and processing live traffic is supported, but note that Cisco testing cannot cover every possible operational scenario. Testing has shown there is a slight risk of calls in progress being impacted for a few seconds as the migration occurs, with worst case result of the affected calls being dropped. If vMotion is suspected as the cause of dropped calls, customers should gather appropriate application logs as well as performance data from VMware vCenter and send to Cisco TAC for analysis.

If the UC app is listed as “Partial” support, then support is “maintenance mode only” as described below:

• “Maintenance mode only” – VMware vMotion by definition operates on live VMs, but the VM running the UC app must be “live but quiescent”. I.e. in a maintenance window, not in production, not processing live traffic. This is because during the vMotion cutover, the system is paused, which for real-time UC apps creates service interruption which degrade voice quality after the migration for calls in progress.

 

VMware Dynamic Resource Scheduler

Not supported. See vMotion for what is supported.

VMware Dynamic Power Management

Not supported. See vMotion for what is supported.

Long Distance vMotion

Not supported. See vMotion for what is supported. Long Distance vMotion is a joint Cisco and VMware validated architecture for using the vMotion feature across data centers. For more information, see http://blogs.cisco.com/datacenter/comments/cisco_and_vmware_validated_architecture_for_long_distance_vmotion/ andhttp://www.cisco.com/en/US/solutions/collateral/ns340/ns517/ns224/ns836/white_paper_c11-557822.pdf.

Storage vMotion

NOTE: support varies by app and version. Before reading the best practices below, verify support at Supported Editions and Features of VMware vSphere ESXi, VMware vCenter and VMware vSphere Client.

This “customer convenience” feature provides easy migration of a live system from one SAN to another SAN. For UC apps, an easier suggested alternative is to just perform manual VM shutdown and migration to the new SAN. However, if Storage vMotion must be used, it is only under the following conditions:

• Requires SAN storage.
• May only be done during a maintenance window with UC VMs shut down.

VMware Update Manager (VUM)

NOTE: Support varies by application and version. Before reading the best practices below, verify support at Supported Editions and Features of VMware vSphere ESXi, VMware vCenter and VMware vSphere Client. For more details on Cisco Unity support, see http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/voice_ip_comm/unity/virtualization_design/guide/cuvirtualdg010.html#wp82246.

This feature automates patching and updating of VMware vSphere hosts and Guest OS.

Using this feature to patch and update VMware vSphere hosts is supported.

However, using this feature to patch and update the guest OS is only supported by some applications and some versions, this is what is shown on this page when referring to VUM support. Note that Cisco Unified Communications applications upgrades, patches and updates can not be delivered through VMware Update Manager.

VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB)

NOTE: support varies by app and version. Before reading the best practices below, verify support at Supported Editions and Features of VMware vSphere ESXi, VMware vCenter and VMware vSphere Client. For more details on Cisco Unity support, see http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/voice_ip_comm/unity/virtualization_design/guide/cuvirtualdg010.html#wp82246.

This feature provides integration with 3rd-party backup utilities so that they can non-disruptively backup the OS and application in a Virtual Machine (VM). See also VMware Data Recovery and Copy Virtual Machine.

Existing UC app methods of backing up the software continue to be supported.

VMware Data Recovery

Not supported. See VMware Consolidated Backup for what is supported.

VMware Snapshots

NOTE: support varies by app and version. Before reading the best practices below, verify support at Supported Editions and Features of VMware vSphere ESXi, VMware vCenter and VMware vSphere Client. For more details on Cisco Unity support, see http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/voice_ip_comm/unity/virtualization_design/guide/cuvirtualdg010.html#wp82246.

Used to preserve the state of a VM without copying or creating additional VMs, effectively as a backup/restore or reversion technique. See also VMware Data Recovery and Copy Virtual Machine.

VMware Fault Tolerance

Not supported. See VMware High Availability for what is supported. Another alternative is manual Virtual Machine shutdown and migration.

VMware vCenter Converter

P2V tools are not supported. To migrate from bare-metal servers (e.g. Cisco 7800 Series Media Convergence Server) to UC on UCS, the supported procedure is:

• upgrade to 8.x software version on the bare-metal server
• take a software backup
• fresh install 8.x software on VMware / UC on UCS
• restore from backup

VMsafe

Not supported. See the documentation for the UC application software or UC appliance software to see what is supported.

VMware vShield

Not supported. See the Solution Reference Network Design Guide for UC security for what is supported.

Virtual Appliance Packaging of UC apps

Not supported. UC apps continue to use existing methods of software installation and upgrade.

3rd-Party VM-based Backup Tools

Not supported. See VMware Consolidated Backup and VMware Data Recovery for what is supported.

3rd-Party VM-based Deployment Tools

Not supported. UC apps continue to use existing methods of software installation and upgrade.

3rd-Party Physical To Virtual (P2V) Migration Tools

Not supported. See VMware vCenter Converter for what is supported.

VMware Boot from SAN

NOTE: support varies by app and version. Before reading the best practices below, verify support at Supported Editions and Features of VMware vSphere ESXi, VMware vCenter and VMware vSphere Client.

VMware ESXi 4.1 is required for this feature. Even it works with 4.0, VMware’s official support is only for 4.1 and later. Requires use of a “diskless” server – see Supported Hardware for tested reference configurations. Both VMware ESXi and UC apps are installed on, and boot from, the fibre channel SAN. See UCS page at www.cisco.com/go/swonly for storage support policy.

Services and Support Contracts for VMware are Required

Customers deploying virtualized UC must have a valid support contract for the VMware software in order to be supported by Cisco.

Customers purchasing VMware software licenses from Cisco must also purchase a subscription services part number from Cisco (for part number examples, see the UC on UCS page at www.cisco.com/go/swonly).

Customers purchasing VMware software from a 3rd-party must purchase subscription services from that 3rd-party or from VMware.

Customers should note that for VMware vSphere Hypervisor (formerly called “ESXi Single Server Edition” or “free ESXi”), VMware does not offer the same services options and terms as they do for their Standard, Advanced, Enterprise or Enterprise Plus Editions. Customers should take this into account when planning and pricing their support strategy.

Cisco Field and Channel Partners may consult the User Connect Licensing Ordering Guide for more information.

Cisco TAC Support Expectations

The following table describes how TAC support works for VMware in a UC on UCS context, based on who VMware was purchased from.

Special case: when Cisco as a VMware reseller sells VMware Enterprise License Agreements, it is treated as a VMware direct sale for TAC support purposes based on how the maintenance contracts are structured.

 

	Buy from Cisco as Collaboration SKU	Buy from Cisco as Data Center SKU	Buy from 3rd-party, or enterprise/site license
Available VMware ESXi Editions	Standard	Advanced, Enterprise or Enterprise Plus	Standard, Advanced, Enterprise, Enterprise Plus or vSphere Hypervisor (formerly “Single Server Edition” or “free ESXi”
Mandatory Support Contracts	ISV1 from Cisco as Collaboration Service SKU	ISV1 from Cisco as Data Center Service SKU	“SnS” subscription from VMware
Who takes first call?	Cisco	Cisco	VMware

TAC Responsibility: Note that multi-vendor triage is the norm in virtualized deployments, where the storage, server, hypervisor, OS and application are potentially all from different vendors. Cisco Voice TAC responsibility is the UC application, demarcated at the Virtual Machine. Cisco Server Virtualization TAC responsibility is for VMware (via triage), Cisco UCS, Cisco storage access (or triage with customer and their vendor) and storage array (via triage with customer and their vendor). Escalation to VMware, the customer, or the customer’s storage vendors will be done as needed for solution components not produced by Cisco.

UCS C220 Hardware

Hardware Configuration

The following table describes UCS C220 Hardware configuration.

C220 M3S (SFF) TRC#2

Note:

This TRC is ONLY supported for use with Cisco Business Edition 6000, and it is quoted as UCSC-C220-M3SBE in CMBE6K-UCL-K9 or CMBE6K-UWL-K9. It has special rules for allowed VM OVA templates and allowed co-residency.

Quantity	Cisco Part Number	Description
1	UCSC-C220-M3S	UCS C220 M3 SFF w/o CPU, mem, HDD, PCIe, w/ rail kit
2	UCS-CPU-E5-2609	2.4 GHz E5-2609/80W 4C/10MB Cache/DDR3 1066MHz
4	UCS-MR-1X082RY-A	8GB DDR3-1600-MHz RDIMM/PC3-12800/dual rank/1.35v
4	A03-D500GC3	500GB 6Gb SATA 7.2K RPM SFF hot plug/drive sled mounted
1	UCS-RAID-9266	MegaRAID 9266-8i + battery backup for C240 and C220
		DVD drive not offered with C220 M3.
1	R2XX-RAID10	Enable RAID 10 Setting
1	UCSC-PSU-650W	650W power supply for C-series rack servers
1	UCSC-SD-16G-C220	16GB SD Card Module for C220 Servers
4	N20-BBLKD	Auto-included: UCS 2.5 inch HDD blanking panel
2	UCSC-HS-C220M3	Auto-included: Heat Sink for UCS C220 M3 Rack Server
1	UCSC-PSU-BLKP	Auto-included: Power supply blanking panel/filler (same as San Mateo)
1	UCSC-RAIL1	Auto-included: 2U Rail Kit for C220 servers
1	UCSC-PCIF-01F	Auto-included: Full height PCIe filler for C-Series

Related Hardware Documentation

Monitoring and Alarming for Cisco UCS

At this time on Cisco UCS, certain types of serviceability monitoring and alarming (such as hard drive failure) are only available via OS instrumentation. For UC on UCS this means alerts are generated by VMware in CIM format, and require VMware vCenter or equivalent CIM-compliant console. Refer to the UCS RAID Controller SMI-S Reference Guide for detailed information on this topic.

Bsoft |Bangalore|

#ucs

All about SIP

Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)
SIP is a signaling protocol widely used for voice and video.
Traditionally if your enterprise wants to connect to PSTN could, you would need BRIs, PRIs, PSTN gateways.
With SIP Trunking service you can avoid all the Network PSTN connections.

What is SIP Trunk:
Internet telephony service provider (ITSP) offer SIP trunk as a service for communication between enterprise PBX and PSTN.
IP Phone——-CUCM———–SIP Trunk————-ITSP——–PSTN
Each SIP trunk can have multiple voice session based on enterprise needs.
G.711 – 17 calls over T1
G.729a – 45 calls over T1
SIP trunk is not limited to voice, it can also help enterprise to setup instant messaging, real-time presence, video, etc.
For more details refer to RFC 3261

Benefits of having SIP Trunk:

1. Like I said no need to invest in PSTN gateway and voice cards.
2. Off course low cost compared to traditional PRI T1.
3. Reach out to the world on cost of local call.
4. Easy installation and maintenance.
5. Optimal use of bandwidth as data and voice run on same connection.
6. Move away from T1/E1 capacity limitations of 23/30 channels.
7. SIP trunk normalization and transparency
8. Up to 16 destination IP addresses per trunk
9. Automated hunting from a primary PBX to a secondary
10. Automated failover to PSTN with full trunk

Deployment:
For you to deploy SIP in your enterprise there are two things which needs to be there.

1. SIP enabled PBX
2. SIP enabled edge device

Bandwidth Utilization:
It is always good idea to reserve 27 Kbps with G.729  per call and 84Kbps for G.711

Minimum Bandwidth Requirement
Codec	Voice Bit Rate
G.711	64 Kbps
G.729	8 Kbps

 

Cisco Recommendations:

Application	H.323	MGCP	SIP	Preferred
Voice Mail		Control of Individual Ports		MGCP
Configuration	Dial Peer Based	Centralized in CUCM	Dial Peer Based	MGCP
Load on CUCM		Least		MGCP
Q.SIG Tunneling	Only between PBXs	Supported		MGCP
Video	H.320 ISDN		H.320 ISDN	H323/SIP
Fax & Modem	Pass-through, T.38	Pass-through, T.38	Pass-through, T.38	H323/SIP/MGCP
Port Density		High Density Cards		MGCP
Redundancy	Range of options with dial-peers		Range of options with dial-peers	H.323/Sip
Security	IPSec and SRTP	IPSec and SRTP	TLS and SRTP	SIP
Voice XML	Supported		Supported	H.323/SIP

 

 Centralized SIP Trunk Design Limitations

MoH	Centralized MoH Limited to 50
Central Site Device Pool	Multiple Device Pools for Devices on Datacenters
Non Ported DIDs	Requires a Different Call Flow and Different Call Routing
FAX	Not Supported on SIP Trunk; Handled by Site GW
SRST	Limited Access via FXO, PRI for Medium/Large Site
DTMF	SIP Trunk and Check IP Phone

Basic SIP Trunk configuration in CUCM

1. Step 1:
   1. Create a SIP profile (optional).
   2. Create a SIP trunk security profile (optional)
   3. Create a SIP trunk.
   4. Configure the destination address.
   5. Configure the destination port.
2. Step2: Associate the SIP trunk to a Route Pattern or Route Group.
3. Step3: Configure SIP timers, counters, and service parameters, if necessary.
4. Step4: Reset the SIP trunk

Common SIP Requests

1. REGISTER – to register a phone or line with a SIP Server
2. INVITE – to set-up a call
3. CANCEL- to cancel a call set-up
4. BYE – to terminate a call

Common SIP Responses

1. 100 trying
2. 180 ringing
3. 200 OK
4. 401 not authorized
5. 404 destination not found
6. 486 busy

SIP Trunks vs. H.323 Trunks (Inter cluster)

	H.323	SIP
Annex M1 Features / Q.SIG Tunneling	NO	NO
Signal Authentication	No	YES
Media Encryption	YES	YES
GK Support	YES	NO
SIP Proxy Support	NO	YES
iLBC and G.Clear Support	No	YES
G.722 Support	YES	YES
Multicast MoH	YES	YES
SIP Subscribe/Notify, Publish-Presence	NO	YES
Path Replacement	NO	NO
Call Completion to Busy Subscriber	NO	NO
Call Completion No Reply	NO	NO
Message Waiting Indicator (On/ Off)	No	YES
Alerting Name	NO	YES

 

Books:
SIP Trunking byChristina Hattingh, Darryl Sladden, ATM Zakaria Swapan Published by Cisco Press.

Reference:
Cisco Unified Communications System 8.x SRND
BRKUCC-2006 – SIP trunk design and deployment
BRKCCT-2030 – SIP based Architectures for Cisco Contact Center Solutions & Collaboration
BRKUCC-2735 – SIP Trunk Design and Deployment Playbook for the Enterprise
BRKUCC-2450 – Planning for SIP trunking and dial plan centralization with SME

#sip

Cisco UCS Manager 2.1

Cisco UCS^® Manager provides unified, embedded management of all software and hardware components of the Cisco Unified Computing System^™ (Cisco UCS) across multiple chassis, rack servers, and thousands of virtual machines. Cisco UCS Manager manages Cisco UCS as a single entity through an intuitive GUI, a command-line interface (CLI), or an XML API for comprehensive access to all Cisco UCS Manager functions.

Cisco UCS Manager 2.1 Data Sheet

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/ps10265/ps10281/data_sheet_c78-520522.html

 

#ucs

Cisco UCS Manager Architecture | Bsoft Bangalore

Cisco UCS™ Manager provides unified, embedded management of all software and hardware components of the Cisco Unified Computing System™ (Cisco UCS) across multiple chassis, rack-mount servers, and thousands of virtual machines. Cisco UCS Manager is a device manager that manages Cisco UCS as a single entity through an intuitive GUI, a command-line interface (CLI), or an XML API for comprehensive access to all Cisco UCS Manager functions.

The management solution of an integrated data center infrastructure must control the network and storage resources required by the computing platform. Server management software typically becomes more complex with the need for various products to control and maintain the integrated infrastructure. Each component vendor has its own management interface and communication protocols. However, Cisco UCS Manager, which runs embedded in the fabric interconnect, manages all components of Cisco UCS through a single pane. Managing the server, networking, and storage resources with a unified approach greatly decreases complexity, providing the capability to deploy and alter applications quickly with the innovative use of policies, role-based access control (RBAC), service profiles, and templates.

Cisco UCS Architectural Components

Cisco UCS has many physical components, all managed by Cisco UCS Manager (Figure 1). Cisco UCS is a next-generation data center platform that unifies computing, networking, storage access, and virtualization resources into a cohesive system designed to reduce total cost of ownership (TCO) and increase business agility. The system integrates a low-latency, lossless 10 Gigabit Ethernet unified network fabric with enterprise-class, x86-architecture servers. It is a scalable, multichassis platform in which all resources are integrated into a unified management domain.

Cisco UCS Components

Cisco UCS Manager Architecture System Components

The architecture of Cisco UCS Manager consists of multiple layers with well-defined boundaries. External interfaces provide communication with the outside world (Figure 2). The data management engine (DME) is the central service that manages the components of Cisco UCS. Application gateways act as hardware abstraction layers between the DME and the managed endpoints. The endpoints are the actual devices or entities that are managed by Cisco UCS Manager, but they are not considered as part of Cisco UCS Manager itself.

Model-Based Framework in Cisco UCS Manager

Cisco UCS Manager exposes all of its functions through a powerful native XML API. All operations, including the Cisco UCS Manager’s GUI and CLI, use this XML API. The management information tree is exposed in its entirety through the API, permitting users to modify management information as needed. Cisco’s GUI and CLI for Cisco UCS Manager also use the XML API. Users can create their own front-end user interfaces with the API. For example, organizations that want to deploy Cisco UCS in a multi-tenant environment can create a custom GUI for each tenant. Others may want to use the API to connect to a configuration management database (CMDB) or to third-party management and provisioning tools. Cisco management ecosystem partners have built robust solutions using the API to integrate Cisco UCS management into their software products.

Data Management Engine

The DME is the central component in Cisco UCS Manager and consists of multiple internal services. The DME is the only component in Cisco UCS that stores and maintains states for the managed devices and elements. The DME is the authoritative source of configuration information. It is responsible for propagating configuration changes to the devices and endpoints in the form of managed objects. Managed objects contain the desired configuration and the current state of a corresponding endpoint.

Administrators make changes to MOs in the management information tree through the XML API. These changes are validated by the DME and propagated to the specific endpoint. For example, if an operator initiates a server “power-on” request through the GUI, when the DME receives the request, it validates it, and if the request is valid, the DME makes the corresponding state change on the server objects in the management information tree. This state change is then propagated to the server through the appropriate application gateway.

Management Information Tree

All the physical and logical components that comprise Cisco UCS are represented in a hierarchical management information model referred to as a management information tree. The Cisco UCS Manager information model is the logical abstraction of all hardware and software components managed in Cisco UCS. Each node in the information tree represents a managed object or group of objects that contains its configuration and operational state. The state information for a managed object includes both its administrative state (how it is configured) and its operational state (how it is running). Hierarchically organizing the management information reflects a logical containment of the objects. It also facilitates parallel and asynchronous management operations, thereby improving the consistency of the operations and the efficiency of the transactions on individual managed objects and on subtrees of managed objects. For example, it enables administrators to configure a complete Cisco UCS instance in a single transaction.

Application Gateways

Application gateways are agents used by the DME to propagate changes to the endpoints. They also report the system state from the endpoints to the DME. An application gateway is a module that converts management information (such as configuration, statistics, and faults) from its native representation into the form of a managed object. The application gateway is the hardware abstraction layer that abstracts the object model from the managed device or entity. Application gateways implement the platform-specific details of each of the managed endpoints. In Cisco UCS Manager, the application gateways are implemented for the Cisco NX-OS Software chassis, blades, ports, host agents, and network interface cards (NICs).

Application gateways compare the administrative state of a managed object with the operational state of the managed endpoint and take appropriate action. Application gateways are stateless, and their stimuli (entities that can change the configuration state of a managed object) are unchanged in value when multiplied by themselves, making Cisco UCS Manager a robust framework for configuration management, particularly in the event of failures. When an application gateway fails to configure an endpoint, that failure is reflected in the operational state of the managed object. At the end of any transaction, whether it was successful or not, all affected objects are inspected, and appropriate managed object rules are applied.

With this model-based framework, Cisco UCS Manager separates business logic from platform implementation. This approach lets programmers develop the business logic independent of the platform implementation, thus permitting rapid support for new platforms. This approach also helps simplify software maintenance, since model logic errors should be easily distinguished from platform implementation errors.

Managed Endpoints

Managed endpoints are resources within Cisco UCS that are managed by the Cisco UCS Manager [Figure 3]. The DME within Cisco UCS Manager interacts with the endpoints through the application gateways. These resources are LAN, SAN, and server related.

With Cisco UCS Manager, all configuration changes are first applied to the managed object in the information model by the DME and are then applied to the actual managed endpoint by the appropriate application gateway. These deployments of management to managed objects are fully transactional and abide by the atomic, consistent, isolated, and durable (ACID) requirements of a standard database transaction. With the DME, the deployment of the administrative state to the managed endpoint is just a side-effect of an information model transaction. However, the deployment of the administrative state to the managed endpoint is not transactional in nature. This is an important distinction between the model and the managed endpoint implementations.

Power On Sequence

 Server Boot Request

Step	Command/Process	Administrative Power State of MO (Server)	Operational Power State of MO (Server)
1.0	CMB Request: Boot Server	Down	Down
2.0	Request gets queued	Down	Down
3.0	State change in Model Information Tree	Up	Down
4.0	Transaction complete	Up	Down
5.0	Pass change information and boot request stimuli	Up	Down
6.0	Persistify the state change of MO to local store	Up	Down
6.1	Send state change information to peer DME	Up	Down
6.2	Persify the state of MO to peer’s local store	Up	Down
6.3	Reply with success (replication and persistification)	Up	Down
7.0	CMO: Response and external notification	Up	Down
8.0	Apply reboot stimuli	Up	Down
9.0	Instruct CIMC to power on server	Up	Down
10.0	Reply from CIMC, server power on success	Up	Down
11.0	Reply, reboot stimuli success, pass new power state information	Up	Up

Security

This flexibility in client interfaces facilitates role-based management because it enables IT administrators from network, storage, and server domains to work with the terminology with which they are most familiar. Users may choose to adapt their tools for specific needs. For example, one administrator may be responsible for servers, one for SAN configuration, one for LAN configuration, and one for managing the rest of the Cisco UCS infrastructure. In large-scale environments, teams of users may be responsible for managing each of these components across the entire organization. Within these teams, some individuals may specialize in the management of subcomponents (for example, on the IT management team, one user may be responsible only for virtual NIC [vNIC] configuration). Standard roles are built into Cisco UCS Manager, and you can also create custom roles. Each role has a corresponding set of privileges that control write access to server configuration, internal and border LAN configuration, internal and border SAN configuration, and configuration of other Cisco UCS components, including configuration of RBAC itself.

Larger-enterprise customers can divide their organizations hierarchically into suborganizations. A locale is a region within that hierarchy. A combination of locales and privileges can determine to what resources users have rights within suborganizations.

In addition, authentication of users can be performed from an external system such as Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) (Active Directory [AD]), RADIUS, or TACACS; or internally using local accounts. Authorization is performed by the Cisco UCS Manager after the user has been authenticated.

Availability

Cisco UCS supports the use of two interconnected fabric interconnects for management redundancy and increased fabric interconnect throughput. A valid high-availability configuration includes a pair of interconnected fabric interconnects and two fabric extender modules per chassis, with one fabric extender attached to one fabric interconnect, and the other fabric extender attached to the other fabric interconnect,

High Availability Using Management Redundancy

Both Cisco UCS Manager instances can run as either the active or standby instances. (The data plane always remains active-active during normal production.) All Cisco UCS Manager processes running in these instances are monitored and restarted if they terminate abnormally by a monitoring process. A floating management IP address is configured on the active instance so that all GUI and CLI connections and management operations are forced to initiate there. Configuration and operational state changes are then propagated over the private network from the active instance to the standby instance so that management information is synchronized. The Cisco UCS Manager instance acting as the active instance will remain so either until it fails over or until the administrator requests a role change (a switchover). Each instance periodically sends a heartbeat message to the other to indicate that it is healthy. Cisco UCS Manager detects and resolves heartbeat discontinuities by using the serial electronic erasable programmable read-only memory (SEEPROM) on the chassis.

Reliability and Serviceability

Since the DME is aware of the administrative and operational states of all managed endpoints, it notifies all interested client programs about state and configuration changes as they occur. The DME was designed to publish notifications to clients so that clients can maintain a consistent and up-to-date view of management information without having to poll Cisco UCS Manager for updates. GUI, CLI, and XML API clients can subscribe to events so that they reflect the most up-to-date state and configuration of the system at all times.

Cisco UCS Manager uses generic object notifications to manage events and faults. An event is a representation of something that momentarily occurred in the system; for example, insertion of a blade into a chassis is represented as an event. By contrast, a fault represents something that failed in the system; the failure of a fan module is represented as a fault. Events and faults are themselves objects that are managed by Cisco UCS Manager and are subject to the same base set of rules as other managed objects in Cisco UCS Manager. However, events and faults have additional rules that specifically apply to them. For example, event managed objects are immutable because they usually correspond to a momentary, nonpersistent condition that should be logged.

By contrast, fault managed objects are mutable because the operational state of a managed endpoint may transition between a failed state and a functioning state. Such a fault is known as a cleared fault. Cisco UCS Manager has a user-configurable policy for handling cleared faults. Cisco UCS Manager can automatically delete or retain cleared faults for a certain amount of time. For both events and faults, Cisco UCS Manager supports the concept of expiry or termination in the lifecycle of their corresponding managed objects.

Modular Management

Cisco UCS Manager software is an embedded device manager for all Cisco UCS components. In essence, Cisco UCS Manager creates a unified management domain that serves as the central nervous system of Cisco UCS. In one sense, Cisco UCS Manager takes the place of several system management tools associated with traditional computing infrastructure by integrating computing, networking, storage access, and virtualization resources in a single cohesive system. However, Cisco UCS Manager leaves cross-system and heterogeneous device management to other system management tools and provides different APIs for those tools.

Policy-Based Management

A policy-based management approach allows Cisco UCS Manager to use the metadata of servers to abstract the state of the hardware. For example, the administrative state of blades is managed with service profiles. A service profile contains values for a server’s property settings, including vNICs, MAC addresses, boot policies, firmware policies, and other elements. By abstracting these settings from the physical server to a service profile, you can deploy a service profile to any physical computing hardware in Cisco UCS. Furthermore, the service profile can, at any time, be migrated from one physical server to another. Figure 5 summarizes the information that is included in a service profile and shows how that information is populated in the service profile and ultimately associated with a server.

 Service Profile Elements

A service profile is therefore the description of a logical server, and there is a one-to-one relationship between a service profile and a physical server. A service profile template is the blueprint for creating new service profiles. Using policies and pools that are defined by functional administrators, server managers can create service profiles. For example, a network administrator can define a pool of MAC addresses and policies such as quality of service (QoS) for a VLAN. A server administrator can the use a MAC address from the pool to create a service profile.

A service profile can be associated with a physical server either manually or automatically (using a policy or the XML API). When a service profile is associated with a server, the DME performs all necessary changes to fulfill the request. Specifically, a thread of the DME process, referred to as the “doer” thread, creates a service profile association workflow in the form of a finite state machine (FSM). The doer thread modifies the managed objects in the management information tree according to the settings in the service profile. It then calls the appropriate application gateways to actually deploy the configuration changes to the managed endpoints. The application gateways transition through platform-specific workflows to help ensure that all endpoints are modified appropriately.

The doer thread does not wait for the application gateway to complete its task. Instead, the doer thread processes the next task in its queue. When the application gateway completes its task, it signals the doer thread, at which point the doer thread transitions to the next task in the FSM. The DME orchestrates all management stimuli serially and transactionally to help guarantee that all requests to change the management information tree are successfully performed. Cisco UCS Manager implements a policy-based management using service profiles to help automate provisioning and increase agility.

Standard Interfaces and Clients

Cisco UCS Manager abstracts the back-end platform implementation from the business logic of the information model and is designed with independent front-end user interfaces. Configuration state changes that originated in the user interface are then applied to the managed object in the information model, and finally they are deployed to the managed endpoint. Conversely, operational state changes originating in the managed endpoint are applied to the managed object in the information model, and they then finally appear in the user interface.

The two primary interfaces for user interaction with Cisco UCS Manager are the buffered CLI and the GUI (Figure 6). Both the CLI and GUI are written using the XML API. The GUI provides a very simple and intuitive interface for users to manage Cisco UCS. The Java Web Start executable code is pushed to the administrative client at the time of connection to the management port, helping ensure that the most current version of the GUI is deployed. One of the benefits of using the GUI is that it provides several wizards to guide users through complex configuration tasks.

Client interfaces, such as the CLI and GUI, generate stimuli in Cisco UCS that can change the configuration state of a managed object. A less obvious example of a stimulus generator is another managed object. For example, if a fabric extender fails, then the operational state of the network interface ports connected to that fabric extender will also be affected.

The CLI provides an interface for users who prefer working at the command line. One of the benefits of using the buffered CLI is that it provides the capability to group multiple configuration changes in a single transaction. The CLI also allows the user to perform multiple commands and to store and run scripts. For example, if users perform a set of management operations on a regular basis, the associated commands can be stored in a script. Users can, whenever they want, run the script with a single command. In this way, users can effectively create their own custom configuration wizards by writing scripts. The CLI also comes equipped with standard enterprise features such as a command history and syntactically guided command completion.

Separation of Business Logic and Hardware Implementation

In addition to the native open XML API, Cisco UCS Manager complies with Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI); Serial-over-LAN (SoL); keyboard, video, and mouse (KVM) connection; Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP); syslog; Systems Management Architecture for Server Hardware Command-Line Protocol (SMASH-CLP); and Common Information Model XML (CIM-XML) requirements.

Evolution of Cisco UCS Manager

Cisco UCS was introduced in July 2009, and as of December 2011 it has been used by more than 9000 customers globally. The first version of Cisco UCS Manager introduced the concepts of service profiles, service profile templates, policies, pools, and access through the XML API for agile management of Cisco UCS components. Since then, new features and capabilities have been added, with regular input from customers. Updates have been made for scalability, to accommodate hardware upgrades, and to improve usability. The December 2010 release brought significant enhancements in most domains, including monitoring, security, and network and rack-mount server management. The September 2011 release of Cisco UCS Manager 2.0 brought support for next-generation fabric hardware and various software innovations. In the future, Cisco will continue to introduce innovations throughout the Cisco UCS infrastructure.

Conclusion

Cisco UCS Manager is an embedded unified manager for Cisco UCS. It enables a policy-based management approach through the use of service profiles and just-in-time provisioning of physical resources. The model-based framework of Cisco UCS Manager separates the operational logic from platform implementation, making the software easier to maintain. The Cisco UCS Manager information model is hierarchical, which makes modifying the management information tree more intuitive for XML API users. Managed objects can be modified either through configuration state changes initiated by an administrator or through operational state changes that occur in the managed endpoint, both of which occur as ACID-compliant transactions in the DME. Users can use various industry-standard interfaces to manage Cisco UCS or use the GUI or CLI to interact with Cisco UCS Manager. The XML API makes the infrastructure programmable and can be used to write custom management interfaces as well as perform integration with existing environments. Cisco UCS provides high availability to Cisco UCS Manager by running two fabric interconnects in the environment.

Cisco Unified Computing Services

Using a unified view of data center resources, Cisco and our industry-leading partners deliver services that accelerate your transition to a unified computing architecture. Cisco Unified Computing Services help you quickly deploy your data center resources, simplify ongoing operations, and optimize your infrastructure to better meet your business needs. For more information about these and other Cisco Data Center Services, visit http://www.cisco.com/go/unifiedcomputingservices.

Why Cisco?

Cisco UCS continues Cisco’s long history of innovation in delivering integrated systems for improved business results based on industry standards and using the network as the platform. Cisco UCS is a critical component of the Cisco Unified Data Center, which provides a complete data center infrastructure architecture. The Cisco Unified Data Center combines computing, storage, networking, security, and management resources into a fabric architecture that delivers outstanding performance for physical and virtualized business applications. Created to help companies evolve to cloud computing environments, the Cisco Unified Data Center embeds automation and simplified operations at the server, network, and cloud-services layers.

For More Information

Contact your local Cisco representative or visit:

• Cisco Unified Computing System

http://www.cisco.com/go/unifiedcomputing

• Cisco Unified Computing System: A Complete Reference Guide to the Cisco Data Center Virtualization Server Architecture

http://www.amazon.com/Cisco-Unified-Computing-System-Center/dp/1587141930

• Cisco Developer Network

http://developer.cisco.com/web/unifiedcomputing/home

• Cisco UCS Manager product page on Cisco.com

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps10281/index.html

• Cisco UCS Platform Emulator (UCSPE) download

http://developer.cisco.com/web/unifiedcomputing/ucsemulatordownload

• Cisco UCS Manager Advantage Video Series

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/ps10265/ucs_advantage_video_library.html

• Cisco IT Solutions

http://www.cisco.com/web/about/ciscoitatwork/data_center/index.html

 

#ucs