Solved: Cisco Unity: Adding another Unity Pair with separate Active Directory/Exchange Pair

rodolfo.ileto · ‎03-18-2010

Hello,

I've got a interesting scenario and warning everyone this is going to be long but I will try to trim it.

We are currently running Unity 7.0 with failover and Exchange Integration. 1 Unity Pair and 2 Exchange Servers with DCGC on one Exchange Server.

We split our exchange servers for load balancing purposes. We split them up by last names with Exchange A running last names from A-K and Exchange B L-Z. They are used for message store purpose only and not unified messaging or Active Directory.

Exchange Server A has 7000 users and Exchange Server B has 3000

We are running 9,200 subscribers and Cisco Advance Services is recommending we add another Unity Pair due to some MWI issues we are having.

Here is the recommendation:

1 Unity Pair

2 Exchange Servers

2 Separate DCGC running on the same Domain

Here is what were planning to do:

Separate the subscribers by Region/Location for Example: Burbank CA / Glendale CA allowing two Unity Pairs separated by Region Unity A and Unity B

Unity A=Burbank Users Only

Exchange Servers A and B

Unity B=Glendale Users Only

Exchange Servers A and B

Since there are fewer GLENDALE users we are planning on removing those subscribers from unity A and adding them Unity B. I understand we have to use GSM and then Cobras to do this, but is there a more recommended way? Also can you bulk import subscribers to another unity Pair by query?

Also, what is a recommended way of removing the mailboxes if we wanted to split them up by region? For example, I want to grab the mailboxes of the Glendale CA users from the current Exchange Server to the new Exchange servers instead of doing them manually?

I just want to know what is the best way about going about this.

If someone could provide some feedback that would be great.

David Hailey · ‎03-18-2010

Well, you can do an import with GSM via AD but that's not quite what you need to do. You need to move the objects with GSM and you can selectively do it in bulk but you'll still have to sift thru and select individual users one by one. If you hold down CTRL or SHIFT, you can bulk select subscribers. Probably not great for your particular task but alas, that's essentially what needs to be done. Once you do that, you'll walk thru a wizard to make some selections applicable to the move and then move the users. Don't forget to set up a dialing domain between the servers and share the streams folder or GSM won't work properly either. I'm sure you saw that in the Help online. Once you do that, you run COBRAS and it will write the rest of the user data to the subscribers you moved over.

I don't have any great advice for moving the mailboxes other than the standard method and ExMerge, of course. Sorry, man.

Hailey

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View solution in original post

David Hailey · ‎03-18-2010

COBRAS is the recommended method. You need the GSM tool to move users to the new Unity system within the same domain (this cleans up user properties associated with the old Unity server). Then use COBRAS to selectively grab the users you want to migrate and export the data from the existing Unity. Then use COBRAS import to move those user's data over to the new system. As for bulk removal, you can bulk delete from within Unity. Just don't delete the AD and Exchange users when you use the Bulk Delete tool in the Tools Depot.

www.ciscounitytools.com has all you need to know.

Hailey

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rodolfo.ileto · ‎03-18-2010

Thank you very much for the fast reply, I greatly appreciate it.

Any tips for the moving over the mail stores from the exchange servers it's currenty on to another exchange pair? Without having to select each user in active directory and moving them with a exchange task? I know about exmerge but I need to select particular users and not all.

David Hailey · ‎03-18-2010

What version of Exchange? I am assuming 2003?

Hailey

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rodolfo.ileto · ‎03-18-2010

Exchange 2003.

Also can you bulk import through GSM? I tried it but I don't think I was doing it right. I was trying to do a search on the DTMF ID and move particular users. I watched the video and went through the entire help file but didn't see how it would work.

David Hailey · ‎03-18-2010

Well, you can do an import with GSM via AD but that's not quite what you need to do. You need to move the objects with GSM and you can selectively do it in bulk but you'll still have to sift thru and select individual users one by one. If you hold down CTRL or SHIFT, you can bulk select subscribers. Probably not great for your particular task but alas, that's essentially what needs to be done. Once you do that, you'll walk thru a wizard to make some selections applicable to the move and then move the users. Don't forget to set up a dialing domain between the servers and share the streams folder or GSM won't work properly either. I'm sure you saw that in the Help online. Once you do that, you run COBRAS and it will write the rest of the user data to the subscribers you moved over.

I don't have any great advice for moving the mailboxes other than the standard method and ExMerge, of course. Sorry, man.

Hailey

Please rate helpful posts!

rodolfo.ileto · ‎03-22-2010

Thank you very much for your help. You've been very helpful.