Cisco Collaboration Virtualization Support
Version 12.0(1)
Version 11.6(1)
Version 11.5(1)
HCS for Contact Center Network Configuration in a Virtualized Environment
Notes on UCS Tested Reference Configuration and Specs-based Support
Oversubscription Support
Installing VMware Tools
Timekeeping Best Practices for Windows
System Performance Monitoring Using Windows Perfmon Counters

Cisco Collaboration Virtualization Support

The table below is for convenience and is a snapshot summary only. When in doubt or if there is a conflict, check the product details page by clicking on the product name.

For a given application, this table only summarizes the indicated version (which is usually the latest version in a Unified Communications System Release Set).
For older versions or unlisted versions, check the product details page by clicking on the product name.

Version 12.0(1) (top)

IMPORTANT: The Nexus 1000v and other Cisco distributed virtual switches based on the Nexus 1000v are not compatible with ESXi 6.5.

ALERT! This page has been updated to reflect compatibility with the latest M5 hardware. Click here to download support for M4 and older hardware.

Component and Capacity Point VM Configuration Requirements (see OVA details of each component page for details) Download OVA				Supported Hardware (Latest)
Co-residency support = Limited (see notes) Supported Versions of VMware vSphere ESXi = 6.0 U2 with VMFS 5, 6.5 U2 with VMFS 6 (C240 M5 servers require minimum ESXi 6.5 U2), minimum OVA file version v1.0, fresh install only Supported VMware Virtual Machine Hardware Version = 11 Supported VMware VMFS (Virtual Machine File System) = 5
				UCS Tested Reference Configurations					UCS or 3rd-party Specs-based on Intel Xeon
VCPU	vRAM	vDisk	vNIC	BE6000S XS TRC	BE6000M S TRCs	BE6000H S+TRCs	BE7000M M TRCs	BE7000H L TRCs	Full UC Perf. CPUs	Restricted UC Perf. CPUs
Cisco Unified Communications Manager 1				No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes (see details)	No
Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise				No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes (see details)	No
Cisco Unified Intelligence Center				No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes (see details)	No
Cisco Unified Customer Voice Portal				No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes (see details)	No
Cisco Virtualized Voice Browser				No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes (see details)	No
Cisco MediaSense				No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes (see details)	No
Cisco SocialMiner				No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes (see details)	No
Cisco Finesse				No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes (see details)	No
Cisco Enterprise Chat and Email				No	Np	No	No	Yes	Yes (see details)	No
Avaya PG				No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes (see details)	No
Cisco Prime Collaboration Assurance				No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes (see details)	No
Cisco Contact Center Domain Manager				No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes (see details)	No
Extra Large Live Data Server See notes				No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes (see details)	No
Large Live Data Server See notes				No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes (see details)	No
Small Live Data Server See notes				No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes (see details)	No

^{1.HCS for CC 12.0 only supports CUCM 11.5.}

Version 11.6(1) (top)

IMPORTANT: The Nexus 1000v and other Cisco distributed virtual switches based on the Nexus 1000v are not compatible with ESXi 6.5.

ALERT! This page has been updated to reflect compatibility with the latest M5 hardware. Click here to download support for M4 and older hardware.

Component and Capacity Point VM Configuration Requirements (see OVA details of each component page for details) Download OVA				Supported Hardware (Latest)
Co-residency support = Limited (see notes) Supported Versions of VMware vSphere ESXi = 5.5 with VMFS 5, 6.0 with VMFS 5, 6.5 U2 with VMFS 6 (C240 M5 servers require minimum ESXi 6.5 U2), minimum OVA file version v1.0, fresh install only Supported VMware Virtual Machine Hardware Version = 9 Supported VMware VMFS (Virtual Machine File System) = 5
				UCS Tested Reference Configurations					UCS or 3rd-party Specs-based on Intel Xeon
VCPU	vRAM	vDisk	vNIC	BE6000S XS TRC	BE6000M S TRCs	BE6000H S+TRCs	BE7000M M TRCs	BE7000H L TRCs	Full UC Perf. CPUs	Restricted UC Perf. CPUs
Cisco Unified Communications Manager 1				No	No	No	No	All except HX220c M5SX TRC#1	Yes (see details)	No
Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise				No	No	No	No	All except HX220c M5SX TRC#1	Yes (see details)	No
Cisco Unified Intelligence Center				No	No	No	No	All except HX220c M5SX TRC#1	Yes (see details)	No
Cisco Unified Customer Voice Portal				No	No	No	No	All except HX220c M5SX TRC#1	Yes (see details)	No
Cisco Virtualized Voice Browser				No	No	No	No	All except HX220c M5SX TRC#1	Yes (see details)	No
Cisco MediaSense				No	No	No	No	All except HX220c M5SX TRC#1	Yes (see details)	No
Cisco SocialMiner				No	No	No	No	All except HX220c M5SX TRC#1	Yes (see details)	No
Cisco Finesse				No	No	No	No	All except HX220c M5SX TRC#1	Yes (see details)	No
Cisco Enterprise Chat and Email				No	Np	No	No	All except HX240c M5SX TRC#1	Yes (see details)	No
Remote Silent Monitoring				No	No	No	No	All except HX220c M5SX TRC#1	Yes (see details)	No
Avaya PG				No	No	No	No	All except HX220c M5SX TRC#1	Yes (see details)	No
Cisco Prime Collaboration Assurance				No	No	No	No	All except HX220c M5SX TRC#1	Yes (see details)	No
Cisco Contact Center Domain Manager				No	No	No	No	All except HX220c M5SX TRC#1	Yes (see details)	No
Large Live Data Server See notes				No	No	No	No	All except HX220c M5SX TRC#1	Yes (see details)	No
Small Live Data Server See notes				No	No	No	No	All except HX220c M5SX TRC#1	Yes (see details)	No

^{1.HCS for CC 11.6 only supports CUCM 11.5.}

Version 11.5(1) (top)

Component and Capacity Point VM Configuration Requirements (see OVA details of each component page for details) Download OVA				Supported Hardware (Latest)
Co-residency support = Limited (see notes) Supported Versions of VMware vSphere ESXi = 5.5, 6.0 Supported VMware Virtual Machine Hardware Version = 9 Supported VMware VMFS (Virtual Machine File System) = 5 only. (IMPORTANT: HCS for CC 11.5 does not support the ESXi 6.5's default of VMFS v6.)
				UCS Tested Reference Configurations					UCS or 3rd-party Specs-based on Intel Xeon
VCPU	vRAM	vDisk	vNIC	BE6000S XS TRC	BE6000M S TRCs	BE6000H S+TRCs	BE7000M M TRCs	BE7000H L TRCs	Full UC Perf. CPUs	Restricted UC Perf. CPUs
Cisco Unified Communications Manager				No	No	No	No	Yes (see details)	Yes (see details)	No
Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise				No	No	No	No	Yes (see details)	Yes (see details)	No
Cisco Unified Intelligence Center				No	No	No	No	Yes (see details)	Yes (see details)	No
Cisco Unified Customer Voice Portal				No	No	No	No	Yes (see details)	Yes (see details)	No
Cisco Virtualized Voice Browser				No	No	No	No	Yes (see details)	Yes (see details)	No
Cisco MediaSense				No	No	No	No	Yes (see details)	Yes (see details)	No
C isco SocialMiner				No	No	No	No	Yes (see details)	Yes (see details)	No
Cisco Finesse				No	No	No	No	Yes (see details)	Yes (see details)	No
Cisco Enterprise Chat and Email				No	Np	No	No	Yes (see details)	Yes (see details)	No
Remote Silent Monitoring				No	No	No	No	Yes (see details)	Yes (see details)	No
Avaya PG				No	No	No	No	Yes (see details)	Yes (see details)	No
Cisco Prime Collaboration Assurance				No	No	No	No	Yes (see details)	Yes (see details)	No
Cisco Contact Center Domain Manager				No	No	No	No	Yes (see details)	Yes (see details)	No

HCS for Contact Center Network Configuration in a Virtualized Environment (top)

HCS for Contact Center solution supports the following softswitches:

Softswitch	Support
VMware vNetwork Standard Switch (vSS or vSwitch)	Y(C)
VMware vNetwork Distributed Switch (vDS)	Y(C)
Cisco Nexus 1000V	Y(C)
Cisco Application Virtual Switch (AVS)	N

Y(C) means that the softswitch is supported with caveats. HCS for Contact Center has High Availability requirements for network communications that must be met by the chosen softswitch, as folllows:

For details on using the vNetwork Standard Switch, see Unified CCE Network Configuration in a Virtualized Environment.
For details on using the vNetwork Distributed Switch, see the vSS designs in the previous bullet. You can adapt the vSS designs for vDS.
For details on using the Nexus 1000v with Unified CCE, see Nexus 1000v Support in Unified CCE.
For general details on support policies for softswitches, see Virtualization Software Requirements.

Follow these guidelines for enabling Quality of Service (QoS) in Unified CCE:

Enable QoS for all Unified CCE Private network traffic.
For Visible (Public) network traffic, you can use QoS in the 2000 Agent and 4000 Agent Reference Designs.
For Visible (Public) network traffic in a 12,000 Agent Reference Design, QoS can delay the detection of server failures.
For details, refer to the appropriate Quality of Service (QoS) section in the Solution Design Guide for Cisco Hosted Collaboration Solution for Contact Center.

Notes on UCS Tested Reference Configuration and Specs-based Support (top)

Cisco announces end of sale and end of life for:

Cisco UCS C220 M3 Rack Server from December 31, 2016.
Cisco Unified Computing System B-Series Blade Servers (B200 M4, B420 M4, B260 M4 and B460 M4) from February 14, 2019.
Cisco Unified Computing System C-Series Rack Severs (C220 M4, C240 M4 and C460 M4) from February 14, 2019

When the hardware support is specified as "Yes (See details)", the following exceptions exist, as applicable to the TRC or Specs-based policy referenced:

HCS for CC 12.0 only provides spec-based support for HX240c M5SX.

For more information on Unified CCE oversubscription support policy for 11.5 and 11.6, see the Virtual Machines Resource Provisioning Policy section in the Cisco Hosted Collaboration Solution for Contact Center Design Guide.

Cisco HCS for CC supports Cisco UCS servers only under the specs-based support policy. 3rd party servers are not supported

Oversubscription Support (top)

In 11.x and 12.x releases, Cisco HCS for Contact Center reference designs supports virtual machine vCPU oversubscription (virtual CPU to physical Core). For complete details and limitations, see the Solution Design Guide for Cisco Hosted Collaboration Solution for Contact Center.

Installing VMware Tools (top)

You must install the VMware Tools on each of the VMs, and you must use all of the VMware Tools default settings. Please refer to VMware documentation for instructions on installing or upgrading VMware Tools on the VM with the Windows operating system.

Timekeeping Best Practices for Windows (top)

Follow the instructions provided in the VMware Knowledge Base article VMware KB: Timekeeping best practices for Windows.

ESXi hosts and domain controllers must synchronize the time from the same NTP source.
When Unified CCE virtual machines join the domain, they synchronize the time with the domain controller automatically using w32time.
Be sure that Time synchronization between the virtual machine and the host operating system in the VMware Tools tool box GUI of the Windows Server guest operating system remains unchecked; this check box is checked by default.

For more details about time synchronization, see the relevant section in the Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise Design Guide.

System Performance Monitoring Using Windows Perfmon Counters (top)

You must comply with the requirements described in the System Performance Monitoring section of the Unified Contact Center Enterprise Design Guide and in the Performance Counters section in the Serviceability Best Practices Guide for Unified ICM/Contact Center Enterprise.

Virtualization for Cisco HCS for Contact Center

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