Chesapeake NetCraftsmen

What's in a name really?  For Cisco Unified Communications Manager the hostname is critical.  When performing an upgrade  to CUCM 6.1 using DMA and changing the host name/IP address of the publisher node, the system services may become unstable and will not stay active.  Issues are also seen where services won't start and RTMT reports errors when trying to gather data from the publisher node.

The Issue.

I encountered an issue testing a DMA migration from Call Manager 4.1.3 to CUCM 6.1.3bSU1.  In this upgrade the first node is loaded using a 6.1.3b DVD image and a mid-install patch (SU1) is applied.  During the installation of 6.1.3, the host name and IP address are specified with different values than used by the 4.1.3 publisher.

Installation completed successfully and license files could be installed/uploaded without issue.  When attempting to load services however the following errors were seen:

>show network cluster

When ran on the 6.1 publisher, the output of this command showed the "old" hostname and "new" IP address.  Further, the "old" publisher is listed as a subscriber.

>show tech network host

You will see the "old" publisher name in the hosts file but the "new" publisher name is not

>From the platform web interface show>system has the correct hostname information

>From the Unified Reporting portal, the Database Replication status reports shows various errors related to invalid host names

In addition to the above symptoms, any attempt to start the TFTP service fails.  The Call Manager, IP Voice Media Streaming, CTI Manager, and other application services will start but will immediately crash.

The Solution.

Clearly something is amiss with the installation wizard.  In other versions, it is noted that the install wizard will actually confirm with the installer that they intend to change the IP address/host name.  To resolve this issue, use the following command from the console:

>set network hostname <newpublisherhostname>

After issuing this command, reset the publisher node.

Status for Other Versions.

5.1 : Issue not seen

6.1: Issue found.

7.x: Issue not seen

Recently I tested this with CUCM 7.1(2) and I did not have the same issue.  I tested with CUCM 6.1(3) on multiple occassions and experienced the issue.