IM&P Server backup

[pcromwell]

We have a 2 server IM&P cluster version 9.1. High availability is enabled. I need to move the Publisher from an old UCS to new UCS machine. I have performed  a fresh install on the new hardware and then restore from a backup of the legacy publisher.  When I go to the restore wizard I can get the listing of the backup, but it wants to do a restore of both servers, I do not get the option to select just a restore for the publisher. I have tried to see If I can do a backup of just publisher, but I don't get the option. Backup will only backup entire cluster.

We have been running on the subscriber for a few days so If I do a restore of cluster I assume I will lose any changes since backup?

Anyone advise on the best way to restore Publisher?

[Jaime Valencia]

Whu don't you shutdown the VM and move it to the other server?

Or use vMotion?

[pcromwell]

cannot use that method

[Jonathan Unger]

Hi There,

If transferring the files from one UCS manually or via vMotion is not an option, you should still be able to re-build the publisher node manually and restore the backup.

The DRS restore documentation has the procedure laid out for restoring a publisher only.

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/cucm/drs/9_1_1/CUCM_BK_D9A29FAD_00_disaster-recovery-system-cucm-91/CUCM_BK_D9A29FAD_00_disaster-recovery-system-cucm-91_chapter_010.html#DRSA_TK_R0CF3F67_00 

Step 1	Select Navigation > IM and Presence Disaster Recovery System from the menu in the upper right corner of Cisco Unified CM IM and Presence Administration.
Step 2	Select Go.
Step 3	Enter the same Administrator username and password that you use for the Cisco Unified IM and Presence Operating System Administration .
Step 4	Select Restore > Restore Wizard.
Step 5	On the first screen of the Restore Wizard, select the backup device from which to restore.
Step 6	On the second screen of the Restore Wizard, select the backup file that you want to restore. The backup filename indicates the date and time that the system created the backup file.
Step 7	On the third screen of the Restore Wizard, select the features that you want to restore. Only the features that were backed up to the file that you select display.
Step 8	On the final screen of the Restore Wizard, select Restore to start restoring the data Select to restore your data to the first node only (the publisher). Caution    After you select the node to which you want the data restored, the system overwrites any existing data on that server.
Step 9	Restart all nodes in the cluster.

Are you saying that on step 8 of the above procedure, there is no option to resotre the data to only the first node?

Yes, if you restore the publisher data from a backup you will lose the IM&P changes since the backup. 

[pcromwell]

many thanks for the reply. Yes the only option I have from restore
wizard is to restore both servers. It doesn't give me the option to
restore just the publisher.

[Ayodeji Okanlawon]

You should be able to restore a single node

[pcromwell]

Many thanks. The thing I am confused about. On CUCM you get options to
backup pub and sub independantly. that way you can do a restore and
select only the server you wish to restore.
However on the IM&P backup and restore page, the whole backup process
will not you select a certain server. The pub has been down and the sub
has been running for a few days on its own.
when I do a restore from when the PUB was last backed up, surely that
will be a backup that is now out of date due to the sub running on its own?

[James Hawkins]

I cannot understand why you cannot just shutdown the IM Publisher, export it as a single OVF file to a Windows PC and then upload it to the new UCS.

I have just done this for a customer whose UCS C210 M2 servers were approaching End of Support.

I moved the CUCM, IMP, Unity and UCCX servers using this method and (once I figured out that I needed to set the MAC addresses on the new CUCM, Unity Connection and UCCX servers to those of the old servers) everything went without a hitch.

No vSphere/Vmotion or other fancy stuff needed - just a Windows PC with a decent amount of free storage space and a bit of time. 

[Ayodeji Okanlawon]

James,

I actually saw a post of yours a while back and I ust say I have never seen this method before. Can you kind,y enumerate what you did here and why didnt you go the option of backup, install new OVA and deploy vms on new hardware, then restore and ofcourse migrate licenses...

Always good to learn new ways of doing things, but I also like to know the why...

[James Hawkins]

Hi,

There is not much to the process. I am not in front on the system at the moment but, from memory, the process is:

1. Shut down the virtual machine on the old UCS server and make a note of the NIC MAC address used by the VM.
2. In vCenter right click on the server and select Export - in the options box that appears select Single File.
3. You then save the file to the Windows PC you are running vCenter on. (I actually built on virtual Windows 7 PC specifically for this on the new UCS server).
4. After the OVF file has been saved connect to the new UCS server and select File > Deploy OVF Template.
5. Select the OVF file saved from the old UCS server and upload it.
6. You will be walked through the normal few steps for deploying a VM - e.g. selecting disk provisioning, NIC etc. Do not select the "Power on after completion" option.
7. Edit the settings of the VM to set the NIC MAC address to match that of the VM on the old system.
8. Power up the VM and wait for services to start.
9. Check database replication and fix if necessary.

HTH

[James Hawkins]

The process I described in my previous post seemed the obvious way to do things tbh. My reasoning was that I had a perfectly good VM which could be easily migrated to a new host and the process seemed more efficient than backup/rebuild/restore.

For most of my deployments I actually export the Publisher servers in the manner described so that I have a simple way to rebuild in the event of a disaster. This is a matter of deploying the OVF and restoring the latest DRS backup. It is quicker than a complete rebuild especially if there are lots of additional files (locales, firmware etc.).

[Ayodeji Okanlawon]

According to the documentation here..

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/cucm/drs/9_0_1/CUCM_BK_D6C9694F_00_disaster-recovery-system-cucm-90/CUCM_BK_D6C9694F_00_disaster-recovery-system-administration-guide_chapter_010.pdf

You should be able to restore only the publisher node. What you have to bear in mind is that at some there will be dbreplication between the two nodes. Now the database on the pub is older than that of the sub..so what happens next..I am not sure..With CUCM the answer is clear..I am not sure for IM and P