Purchase/install 7816 Node License on 7825 or 7845 server?

2ndcongress · ‎07-22-2010

Could someone with knowledge of Cisco official policies related to UCM licensing please clarify and/or post documentation on this?

Question:

If you are running UCM 7.x on a server that is rated to support a greater number of users than you have, is there any reason you cannot purchase and install a node license for a lesser server, one that matches the number of users you actually have?

In other words, if you only have 50 users, but are stuck with (for whatever reason) a set of servers that actually support 5000 users, is it Cisco's policy that you must pay the substantially higher cost of the node license(s) that match the model number of your servers?

This seems like a simple question, but it has been incredibly difficult to get a straight answer. The licensing team refuses to answer and tries to refer you to your local sales team. The local sales team of course has an incentive to sell you the more expensive license so I'm frankly not willing to take their word on this.

Matthew Kaufman · ‎07-27-2010

From a technical standpoint, licenses in CUCM are tied to a MAC address of the server. How this all relates to what you're entitled to is a different story and does need to be addressed with a Cisco account team.

-Matt

Matthew Kaufman · ‎07-27-2010

Hello,

There are other limitations relating to the 7816 server in a cluster environment. These topics are discussed in the UC 7.x SRND:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/voice_ip_comm/cucm/srnd/7x/callpros.html#wp1043563

"When deploying a cluster with Cisco MCS 7816 or equivalent servers, there is a maximum limit of two servers in a cluster: one as the publisher, TFTP server, and backup call processing server, and the other as the primary call processing server. A maximum of 500 phones is supported in this configuration on a Cisco MCS 7816 or equivalent server. When deploying a two-server cluster with higher-capacity servers, Cisco recommends that you do not exceed 1250 users in the cluster. Above 1250 users, a dedicated publisher and separate servers for primary and secondary call processing services is recommended, thus increasing the number of servers in a cluster"

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/voice_ip_comm/cucm/srnd/7x/callpros.html#wp1059559

"MCS 7815 and MCS 7816 servers support only 1+1 redundancy (maximum of 2 servers) and cannot be a member of a cluster containing other servers."

As I understand it, if you have a cluster where you have a 7825/35/45 server and wish to add a 7816 as a node, you cannot do so especially if you're looking to have more than two nodes.

I hope this has clarified some of the issues associated with this situation. Let me know if you have further questions.

--Matt

2ndcongress · ‎07-27-2010

Very helpful, thanks Matt.

In this case, a 1+1 configuration is all that is needed. 7816 servers are more than enough horsepower for the job (<100 phones), but 7825 servers were purchased, along with all the DL's that are now tied to one of the 7825's. It was not discovered that Node licenses were missing from the order until it was too late to revert to 7816's...