In case you were wondering, if there was a way to change the name of a Unity Connection server… of course there is a way… Now, the question is, would you do it?
So in this case I will go with the Cisco Prime Collaboration Deployment to even think about tackling this one. Seems that there is a function that will assist you on doing that. I guess I will definitely take a look at that and share my experience with you in the near future, as I keep advancing on creating more content that is keeping me distracted, but hang in there, cools stuff is coming soon 🙂
There is a manual way and very nice documented by Cisco, does it work? – in my opinion it should… but after few attempts I decided to give up on it, and began rebuilding my Unity Connection Server. But
Here I will bring you from the Cisco Documentation itself, how to do it:
The Relevant Information
Step 1 On a DNS server, change the DNS record of the Unity Connection server to the new hostname.
Step 2 Confirm that the DNS change propagates to the server. Sign in to the server by using an SSH application, and run the CLI command utils network host .
Do not proceed if the new hostname does not resolve to the correct IP address.
Step 3 Optional: On the Unity Connection server, change the SMTP domain in Cisco Unity Connection Administration:
a. Expand System Settings > SMTP Configuration , and select Server .
b. Select Change SMTP Domain , and change the value of the SMTP Domain field.
c. Select Save .
Step 4 In Unity Connection Administration, change the hostname of the server:
a. Expand System Settings , and select Cluster .
b. Select Find to display the list of servers.
c. Select the hostname of the server that you want to rename.
d. On the Server Configuration page, change the value of the Hostname/IP Address field to the new name.
e. Select Save .
Step 5 Optional: In Unity Connection Administration, change the networking display name of the server:
a. Expand Networking , and select Locations .
b. Select the display name of the server that you want to rename.
c. On the Edit Location page, change the value of the Display Name field to the new name. (This field is for display purpose only and need not match the server hostname.)
d. Select Save .
Step 6 In Cisco Unified Operating System Administration, change the hostname of the server:
a. From the Settings menu, select IP > Ethernet .
b. Change the hostname of the Unity Connection server.
c. Select Save .
d. This causes the server to restart. If the server does not restart automatically, then hard reboot the standalone server. Proceed with Step 7 once the server is back to running state.
Step 7 Navigate to Cisco Unified Operating System Administration, and check if the old hostname of the server is replaced by the new hostname.
For the Brave ones, Changing the hostname of the Publisher – (Cluster)
Step 1 On a DNS server, change the DNS record of the publisher server to the new hostname.
Step 2 Confirm that the DNS change propagates to the publisher server. Sign in to the publisher server by using an SSH application, and run the CLI command utils network host .
Do not proceed if the new hostname does not resolve to the correct IP address.
Step 3 Repeat Step 2 on the subscriber server.
Step 4 On the publisher server, change the SMTP domain in Cisco Unity Connection Administration (this change is automatically replicated to the subscriber server):
a. Expand System Settings > SMTP Configuration , and select Server .
b. Select Change SMTP Domain , and change the value of the SMTP Domain field.
c. Select Save .
Step 5 On the publisher server, change the hostname of the publisher server in Unity Connection Administration:
a. Expand System Settings , and select Cluster .
b. Select Find to display a list of servers.
c. Select the hostname of the server that you want to rename.
d. On the Server Configuration page, change the value of the Hostname/IP Address field to the new name.
e. Select Save .
Step 6 Optional: On the publisher server, change the networking display name of the server in Unity Connection Administration:
a. Expand Networking , and select Locations .
b. Select the display name of the server that you want to rename.
c. On the Edit Location page, change the value of the Display Name field to the new name. (This field is for display purpose only and need not match the server hostname.)
d. Select Save .
Step 7 On the subscriber server, change the name by which the subscriber server knows the publisher server:
a. In Cisco Unified Operating System Administration, from the Settings menu, select IP > Publisher .
b. Change the hostname of the publisher server.
c. Select Save .
Step 8 On the publisher server, change the name of the publisher server in Cisco Unified Operating System Administration.
a. From the Settings menu, select IP > Ethernet .
b. Change the hostname of the publisher server.
c. Select Save .
d. Hard boot the publisher server. Wait for the publisher server to finish restarting. When you are able to sign-in to Unity Connection Administration on the publisher server, continue with Step 9.
Step 9 Hard boot subscriber server. When you are able to sign-in to Unity Connection Administration on the subscriber server, continue with Step 10.
Step 10 On the publisher server, to reset replication run the CLI command utils dbreplication reset all.
Note On all the publisher and subscriber servers, run the CLI command utils dbreplication stop before running the utils dbreplication reset all command. For more information, see the applicable secion in the Command Line Interface Reference Guide for Cisco Unified Communications Solutions guide: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps6509/prod_maintenance_guides_list.html.
Step 11 Wait until the replication reset process is complete. To determine when the process is completed:
a. Sign in to Real-Time Monitoring Tool (RTMT) by connecting to the publisher server.
b. On the System menu, select Performance > Open Performance Monitoring .
c. In the right pane, expand Number of Replicates Created and State of Replication , then double-click Replicate_State .
d. In the Object Instances dialog box, select ReplicateCount and select Add .
e. Wait until the value reaches 2.0 .
For more information on possible values and their meaning, right-click Replicate_State , and select Counter Description .
f. On the File menu, select Exit to exit RTMT.
Step 12 Sign in to the publisher server by using an SSH application, and run the CLI command utils system restart to restart the server.
This command causes the Unity Connection cluster servers to change server status so that the publisher server has the secondary status and the subscriber server has the primary status.
Step 13 Run the CLI command utils cuc cluster makeprimary to change the publisher server to primary status.
My take on this process?
For real! if I have to do all this, I probably would, but c’mon… all of it could just lead to unknown issues, I’m not TAC engineer or anything as good as one of them, but my recommendation will be to rebuild the server.
My take may change when I try this one in the future using Prime Collaboration Deployment
About the Author:
Andres Sarmiento, CCIE # 53520 (Collaboration)
With more than 13 years of experience, Andres is specialized in the Unified Communications and Collaboration technologies. Consulted for several companies in South Florida, also Financial Institutions on behalf of Cisco Systems. Andres has been involved in high-profile implementations including Cisco technologies; such as Data Center, UC & Collaboration, Contact Center Express, Routing & Switching, Security and Hosted IPT Service provider infrastructures.