If you are responsible for upgrading CUCM 4.1 to version 6.1, you are not alone.  “The rush to upgrade is mainly due to the new features 6.x offers over 4.x. Mobility, Workspace anywhere, Security and SIP Integration is just a few as to why many aim to make the move this year.1” To ensure a successful upgrade, it is necessary to perform a comprehensive analysis and certification of the CUCM system to establish a configuration and performance baseline of the system. 

• Problem: Most Common Upgrade Issues
• All devices did not register after the upgrade
• All devices did not receive the proper firmware version during the upgrade
• Outbound calling failed for some office, gateway indicated registered but test calls failed
• Voicemail ports improperly added to hunt lists
 

• Solution: Validates CUCM Configuration, Availability and Performance
• Configuration Analysis (Baseline & Post Migration)
• Phone Registration & Firmware Verification
• Automated Testing from the End User Perspective
• Voice Service & Performance Monitoring
• Configuration “As Built” Documentation & Certification Reports

Migration to CUCM 6.x is not a simple task since users must now acclimate to a hardware appliance versus a the CUCM 4 Windows-based software application“, says Gurmeet Lamba, Senior Vice President, Product Development, Clarus Systems.  “End customers must now contend with much ‘newness’ including new hardware, operating system, and internal database management system within the CUCM application itself.  With great change comes increased operational risks during and post-migration process.  Clarus System ultimate goal is a smooth migration to mitigate and minimize these risks for our customers and prospects.

Clarus Systems processes are based on best practices and ensure operational readiness by benchmarking and testing the system from the end-user’s perspective, through:

• Configuration Analysis (Baseline & Post Migration)
• Phone Registration & Firmware Verification
• Automated Testing (system, locations and devices)
• Voice Service & Performance Monitoring
• Configuration “As Built” Documentation and Certification Reports

Enterprises, systems integrators and managed service providers rely on Clarus Systems proven migration verification approach to turn data into actionable intelligence by delivering certification services that enable process efficiencies for successful transitions.

Upgrade Verification Model

Phase	Objectives	Deliverables
Pre-Upgrade	Create system, location, device, line level configuration reports & benchmarks Perform detail analysis CUCM Configuration Analysis Device Registration status determination CUCM System/Device voice service monitoring Automated test execution	Establish CUCM system baseline CUCM System CUCM Configurations Device Registration CUCM Test/Certification
Upgrade	Device registration Status Determination Phones, Voicemail Ports, Gateways, Trunks & Gatekeepers Monitor CUCM Servers, Service Availability & Performance	Early verification of CUCM System and Device Registration status CUCM Synchronization Configuration change analysis
Post Upgrade	Create system, location, device, line level configuration reports CUCM Configuration Change Tracking/Verification Automated Test Execution Problem Reporting/Troubleshooting/Resolution	Comprehensive verification process, ensuring operationally readiness Comprehensive configuration, change tracking, and certification reports
System Monitoring	CUCM system, device registration, and voice service monitoring & alerting for 30 days	Ensure CUCM system availability and performance, including no new problems introduced as a result of migration

Significant Reporting for Actionable Insight
Clarus Systems domain experts collect and analyze the data collected throughout the entire migration process and turns it into actionable insight for maximized system performance. This intelligence provides a myriad of intuitive comparison reports that help identify differences in configuration, device registration, routing patterns, service availability, and system certification to name a few.

• Automated using scheduled tasks
• Created Pre and Post upgrade
• Additional customized reporting upon needs

 CUCM Configuration Reports

• System
  • Cluster Summary
  • System Summary
  • Route Plan Summary
  • Feature Summary
  • Service Summary
  • CTI Route Point
  • Call Park Report
  • Routing Pattern
  • Routing Device
• Location/Device Pool
  • Phone Configuration Summary
  • Detailed Phone Inventory
  • Call Handling

Service Analysis Reports

• Hourly Call History
• Daily/Hourly Call Failure

Alert Reports

• Daily/Weekly/Monthly Alert Summary

CUCM Configuration Change Reports

• Generated for each System and Location

Certification/Verification via Automated Testing
As configuration analysis and device registration status check occurs, comprehensive certification validation is concurrently running. Certification of the system, location and device components will be performed by Clarus Systems using our automated testing technology.

• Concurrent Test Plans Performed
  • Multiple CUCM clusters and multiple locations/device pools
• Performance Management Capabilities
  • Monitor and alert on certification test failures
  • Monitor routing/gateway/application server termination/destination  points
• Tests performed for each location/campus/device pool for complete coverage
  • Local DID – verifies PSTN outbound/inbound Local calling
  • Inter Office DID – verifies PSTN/WAN routing/calling
  • Outbound PSTN Calls – long distance, international, toll free, etc
  • Conference bridge
  • Meet-me

Performance Monitoring and Management
A critical step in the post-upgrade phase is to determine the availability and operational readiness of your network.  To do this, Clarus Systems leverages performance management capabilities within ClarusIPC Plus+ to proactively monitor the critical system KPI’s such as servers, gateways, and media resources.
Performance monitoring and management is performed by establishing rules, policies, and notifications for three critical areas of your CUCM 6.x environment, including device registration, CUCM system, and voice service.

Real-time Availability Monitoring & Alerting for Critical Components

• CUCM System Monitoring
  • CUCM Server
  • CUCM Server Services
  • MGCP Gateways
  • Media Resources
• Device Registration Monitoring
  • Phones
  • Voicemail Ports
  • CTI Route Points
  • MGCP Gateways
  • Trunks
  • Gatekeepers
  • Monitoring available for each CUCM Cluster and Device Pools
• Voice Service Monitoring
  • Voice Call Failure
  • Application Call Failure
  • Gateway/Port/WAN/Application congestion/failover
  • Monitoring can be provides for all levels of CUCM system
    • Enterprise
    • Cluster
    • Location
    • End User

Efficient Migrations for Optimized Performance
If your enterprise is planning to make the move to the latest version of CUCM, it is recommended that you look to third party validation services to minimize risks and maximize operational readiness. With Clarus Systems Migration Certification Service, you will benefit from best practices and unmatched testing, monitoring and alerting capabilities for effectively optimized application performance.