VBlock/FlexPod for a Voice Upgrade

Alex90

Hi all,

Currently looking into the various options available to us in regard to updating our voice/UC infrastructure. Has anyone got any experience with migrating from old versions for CUCM, Unity etc and putting them all into a VBlock/Flexpod rack? I really don't know much about either of these solutions but from my understanding you basically have some Cisco UCS servers, a C220 for example with VMWare EXSi installed on them and then CUCM, CUC, CUPS etc running as VMs? Within the rack you then have dedicated EMC storage? Is it even possible to do this kind of upgrade/migration?

I won't list the version of every machine or software we use, but just to give you an idea CUCM is v6.x...

Cheers in advance.

shodown

Yes I have done these upgrades before.

Umm QoS can become a concern if you don't have good folks understanding of the pod. Otherwise its a pretty stable platform. I would let the DC guys take care of provisioning the storage and VM's, and let the Voice guys take care of setting up the actual applications.

joelsfood

I've not done CUCM on them, but I have deployed Lync on Flexpod, and have extensive experience with flexpod/vblock/Smartstack. In essence, yes, they're how yo'uve described them. You get a pod that is tested and configured to work together. Server, storage, hypervisor. Obviously, you can still make things run poorly if you don't plan it right, but you know with one of these pods that the equipment and hypervisor is all tested. Plus UCS servers are great.

down77

As long as you perform the necessary migration pre-planning steps it should work, though I agree with shodown that QoS can be a big concern. I would also make sure that they provision the hypervisors in accordance with Cisco's best practice documentation (below) and not part of a common VMware resource cluster.

Unified Communications VMware Requirements - DocWiki

I'm a big fan of the FlexPod and VersaStack (newer, IBM) reference architectures. I've worked on a number of VBlock deployments but not as much of a fan (personal preference).

Alex90

Thanks very much for your help guys - I'm just waiting for BT to come back with a quote/and to see what solution they will be offering. Hopefully they suggest a VBlock or Flexpod deployment but if not, I will be suggesting it.

Might have to re-post when I know more to ask some questions!

shodown

Are you thinking about getting a flex pod just for your voice deployment? I would say you would have to be rather large cause thats a pretty expensive deployment. Depending on your size I could give you some suggestions.

Alex90

Yes that is what we were initially thinking. Size wise we are not massive, just one cluster supporting 2000 users in London only. At present we are only really using the core UC products (CUCM, Unity) but then we also have Telepresence. In addition we're using a trader voice system, NICE voice recorders, and a call logging/reporting server. In terms of CUCM we have 1 PUB and 3 SUB.

We don't use CUPS, UCCE/X or anything like that (unfortunately).

shodown

flexpod is way overkill. You can get by with UCS C series with local storage, will save yourself some pain and a lot of Hardware/PS/Smart net dollars.

Naomi Goldberg

If you want to hear more about migrating to FlexPod from real users, without vendor interference, then you might find the 38 Flexpod reviews on IT Central Station to be useful. This user wrote that it was easy to set up, but lost points on configurability. You can read the full review here: http://www.itcentralstation.com/product_reviews/flexpod-review-34366-by-techplanner876