Cisco Unity Connection 14 Supported Platforms List

This document provides information about the platforms supported for Cisco Unity Connection 14. The Unity Connection installation application prevents installation on servers that do not meet the exact specifications or models listed in this document.

Platform Overlays for Unity Connection

Unity Connection 14 supports only virtual machines for installation. The Specifications for Virtual Platform Overlays for Currently Shipping Unity Connection lists the virtualization specifications, and the user and port limits when you install Unity Connection 14 on a virtual machine.


Note
Unity Connection is not pre-installed on any platform. Unity Connection can only be installed on virtual machines.

Specifications for Virtual Platform Overlays for Currently Shipping Unity Connection Servers

This section describes specifications and limits for Unity Connection installed on a virtual machine.

For information on system requirements for a virtual environment, see the “Requirements for Installing Unity Connection on a Virtual Machine” section in the System Requirements for Cisco Unity Connection Release 14 at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/connection/14/requirements/b_14cucsysreqs.html.

For platform/part number, see the link: http://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/uc_system/virtualization/virtualization-cisco-unity-connection.html

Table 1. Specifications for Virtual Platform Overlays for Currently Shipping Unity Connection Servers

Virtual Platform Overlay for up to 200 Users

Virtual Platform Overlay for up to 1000 Users

Virtual Platform Overlay for up to 5000 Users

Virtual Platform Overlay for up to 10,000 Users

Virtual Platform Overlay for up to 20,000 Users

(Applicable for Unity Connection Release 14SU1 and later)

vCPU (Number of Virtual Processors)1 Cores and Speed per Core2

If a virtual machine uses ESXi 6.7 and later see section, Steps to update CPU Reservation for Virtual machine Hardware Version 14 and above for additional settings.

1@a minimum of 1.8 GHz

1@ minimum of 2 GHz (2 GHz reserved) or

2 @ minimum of 1.8 GHz each (3.6 GHz reserved)

2@a minimum of 2.50 GHz each (5.00 GHz reserved)

4@a minimum of 2.50 GHz each(10 GHz reserved)

7@a minimum of 2.50 GHz each (17.5 GHz reserved)

(Applicable for Unity Connection Release 14)

vCPU (Number of Virtual Processors) 1 Cores and Speed per Core 2

If a virtual machine uses ESXi 6.7 and later see section, Steps to update CPU Reservation for Virtual machine Hardware Version 14 and above for additional settings.

1@a minimum of 1.8 GHz

1@a minimum of 2.13 GHz (2.13 GHz reserved) or

2 @ minimum of 1.8 GHz each (3.6 GHz reserved)

2@a minimum of 2.53 GHz each (5.06 GHz reserved)

4@a minimum of 2.53 GHz each(10.12 GHz reserved) or

4@a for Xeon E7 processors-minimum of 2.4 GHz each(9.6 GHz reserved)

7@a minimum of 2.53 GHz each (17.71 GHz reserved)

7@a for Xeon E7 processors - minimum of 2.4 GHz each (16.8 GHz reserved)

vRAM (Amount of Virtual RAM)

4 GB reserved

4 GB reserved

6 GB reserved

6 GB reserved

8 GB reserved

10 GB reserved (for secure Jabber endpoints)

vDisk (Size of Virtual Hard Disks) 3

1 x 160GB

1 x 160GB, file system aligned at 64KB blocks

1 x 200 GB, file system aligned at 64KB blocks

Select the required OVA configuration from the drop-down list available for up to 10,000 users:

  • 2 x 146 GB

  • 2 x 300 GB

  • 2 x 500 GB

File system aligned at 64KB blocks

Select the required OVA configuration from the drop-down list available for up to 20,000 users:

  • 2 x 300 GB

  • 2 x 500 GB

File system aligned at 64KB blocks

Total number of Tenants supported on Unity Connection

-

5

20

30

60

Total number of available ports per virtual machine: Voice + TTS  + Voice recognition

84

24

100

150

250

Total number of available ports in a cluster 4

16

48

200

300

500

Total number of concurrent video calls on each virtual machine (cluster/standalone deployment 5

0

2

2

2

20

Total number of users with mailboxes

200

1,000

5,000

10,000

20,000

Number of Cisco Personal Communications Assistant users

200

1,000

5,000

10,000

20,000

Total number of active clients: Cisco Unified Personal Communicator + Third-party IMAP + Cisco Unity conferencing + Cisco Unified Mobile Advantage + RSS + Phone View users (assumes all IMAP Idle clients)

0

1,000

5,000

10,000

20,000

Total number of LDAP Corporate Directory Users

200

1,000

5,000

10,000

20,000

Approximate message storage, G-711 codec, minutes

75,000

72,944

137,298

Depends on the .ova file:

  • 2 x 146 GB: 252,831

  • 2 x 300 GB: 514,287

  • 2 x 500 GB: 919,992

Depends on the .ova file:

  • 2 x 300 GB: 514,287

  • 2 x 500 GB: 919,992

Unity Connection locations in the HTTPS network

0

3

10

10

25

Total number of Unity Connection SRSV branches supported

0

10

35

35

35

Maximum number of Unified Messaging(SIB) users supported on Microsoft Office 365 6

0

For 1 vCPU - 0

For 2 vCPU - 1000 7

3500

7500

15000

Maximum number of Unified Messaging(SIB) users supported on Microsoft Exchange

0

For 1 vCPU - 0

For 2 vCPU - 1000 7

5000

10000

20000

Maximum number of Unified Messaging(SIB) users supported on Google Workspace

0

For 1 vCPU - 0

For 2 vCPU - 1000 7

2000

4000

8000
1 For VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1 and earlier, at least one processor core must be available for the VMware ESXi hypervisor / scheduler.
2 For Spec- based processor requirements, see http://docwiki.cisco.com/wiki/Unified_Communications_in_a_Virtualized_Environment
3 Opus codec doubles the Disk size when used as line codec with PCM linear as recording codec.
4 For UCS E blade, though you are allowed to create more than 8 ports on Cisco Unity Connection Administration, it is recommended to create a maximum of 8 ports to avoid performance issues.
5 Cisco Media Sense is now end of life and end of support, hence Unity Connection will no longer provide the Video Messaging feature for users.For more information on Cisco Media Sense EOL, see https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/customer-collaboration/mediasense/eos-eol-notice-c51-738857.html.
6 For information on configuring Unified Messaging, see Task List for Configuring Unified Messaging with Office 365 section of "Configuring Unified Messaging" chapter of the Unified Messaging Guide for Cisco Unity Connection Release 14, available at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/connection/14/unified_messaging/guide/b_14cucumgx.html.
7 To change the number of CPUs(1vCPU to 2vCPU) for 1000 users overlay, see "Modifying the CPU" section in the ReadMe of the applicable OVAs at https://software.cisco.com/download/release.html?mdfid=283062758&flowid=77763&softwareid=282074348&release=OVA-12.0&relind=AVAILABLE&rellifecycle=&reltype=latest

Steps to update CPU Reservation for Virtual machine Hardware Version 14 and above

If a virtual machine uses ESXi 6.7 and later(VM version 14) then 100% CPU reservation is a mandatory requirement to power it on. This is required for exclusive assignment of the CPU cores.

For more information, see VMWare documents available at https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Cloud-on-AWS/services/vmc-aws-performance/GUID-2808758A-1605-4729-9D03-6C68A6C19DCD.html.

To power on virtual machine, you need to manually set the CPU reservation. Follow below steps to update the CPU reservation:

  1. After OVA deployment open the virtual machine in VMWare.

  2. Select Edit Settings > CPU > Reservation.

  3. Manually update the CPU reservation value to (Speed per Core * Number of Cores). For example, if you pick a 2.6 GHz CPU the VM will not power on unless the CPU reservation is manually altered. If you have a 7 core 2.6 GHz CPU, the CPU reservation need to be set as (Speed per Core * Number of Cores). In this case the CPU reservation should be set to (2.6*7) = 18.2 GHz.

Additional Information Related to Platform-Overlay Specifications

Unity Connection Cluster

The Unity Connection cluster feature provides high-availability voice messaging with two Unity Connection servers that are configured in a cluster. In this configuration, also known as active-active high availability, a single node consists of two servers, and the number of ports depends on the server model. The total number of node ports is additive (meaning a single node can support up to 500 ports, but the total number of users supported is applicable only to the primary server. The primary and secondary servers in a cluster must match in CPU and amount of memory, or the configuration is not supported.

If the hard disk space does not match on the two servers that you are using for a cluster, the smaller amount of disk space determines the storage capacity for each server in the cluster. See also, section “Requirements for a Unity Connection Cluster” in System Requirements for Cisco Unity Connection Release 14 at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/connection/14/requirements/b_14cucsysreqs.html.

IMAP Idle Clients

The calculations for the total number of active clients assume the use of IMAP clients that support IMAP Idle. Cisco Unified Personal Communicator 7.0 and earlier, Cisco Unified Mobility Advantage, and Cisco Unified Mobile Communicator do not support IMAP Idle. As a result, each active instance of each of these clients (that does not support IMAP Idle) that is accessing Unity Connection voice messages counts as four active clients.

Scaling Platform

Below is the list of supported clients on Unity Connection:

  1. Cisco Jabber

  2. Cisco Webex


Note

Other clients are also supported on Unity Connection but below qualification numbers are specific to Jabber and Webex.

The table contains information on the number of endpoints of supported clients that Unity Connection supports with single inbox users for specific OVA.

Table 2. Non Secure Endpoints of supported clients with Single Inbox Users
Virtual Platform Overlay vCPU (Number of Virtual Processors) Cores and Speed per Core Single Inbox Users Endpoints on a Standalone Server
Total Endpoints Per CUC Cluster (Load Balancing)8
HA Endpoints Per CUC HA Pair 9
20,000 Users 7 vCPU 20,000 5,000 10,000 5,000
15,000 7,500 15,000 7,500
10,000 8,000 16,000 8,000
5,000 8,500 17,000 8,500
0 10,000 20,000 10,000
10,000 Users 4 vCPU 10,000 2,000 4,000 2,000
0 4,000 8,000 4,000
5,000 Users 2 vCPU 5,000 1,000 2,000 1,000

0

2,000

4,000

2,000
1,000 Users 2 vCPU 1,000 200 400 200
0 500 1000 500
1vCPU 0 100 200 100
8

In Load Balancing, clients are statically configured on either publisher server or subscriber server. If any of the server stops functioning, the services of the clients configured on the server go down.

9

In HA pair, clients are configured on publisher server. If publisher server stops functioning, the subscriber server provides services to the configured clients.

The table contains information on the number of endpoints of supported clients that Unity Connection supports with office 365 users for specific OVA.

Table 3. Non Secure Endpoints of supported clients with Office 365 Users

Virtual Platform Overlay

vCPU (Number of Virtual Processors) Cores and Speed per Core

Office 365 Users

Endpoints on a Standalone Server

Total Endpoints Per CUC Cluster (Load Balancing) 9

HA Endpoints Per CUC HA Pair 10

20,000 Users

7vCPU

8,000

12,000

16,000

12,000

Note

Non secure endpoints of supported clients for Office 365 users are yet not qualified with lower end OVAs

The table contains information on the number of secure endpoints of supported clients that Unity Connection supports along with single inbox users.

Table 4. Secure Jabber Endpoints with Single Inbox Users
Virtual Platform Overlay vCPU (Number of Virtual Processors) Cores and Speed per Core Single Inbox Users Secure Endpoints on a Standalone Server

Total Secure Endpoints Per CUC Cluster (Load Balancing) 9

HA Secure Endpoints

Per CUC HA Pair 10
20,000 Users 7 vCPU(with 8GB RAM) 20,000 2,500 5,000 2,500
15,000 5,000 10,000 5,000
Table 5. Secure Jabber Endpoints with Single Inbox Users
Virtual Platform Overlay vCPU (Number of Virtual Processors) Cores and Speed per Core Single Inbox Users Secure Endpoints on a Standalone Server

Total Secure Endpoints Per CUC Cluster (Load Balancing) 9

HA Secure Endpoints

Per CUC HA Pair 10
20,000 Users 7 vCPU(with 10GB RAM)

20,000

5,000

10,000

5,000

15,000

7,500

15,000

7,500

10,000

8,000

16,000

8,000

5,000

8,500

17,000

8,500

0

10,000

20,000

10,000

Note

  • The performance numbers qualified given are based on the assumptions that while user is using different clients for voice messaging operation the user is having less telephony usage.

  • Secure endpoints of supported clients for Single Inbox users are yet not qualified with lower end OVAs.

Configuring vCPU, vRAM, and vDisk for Unity Connection on Virtual Machines

To simplify deployment of Unity Connection on a virtual machine, Cisco provides OVA templates for the virtual platform overlays defined in Table 1.


Caution
Modification in the number of virtual CPUs and the amount of virtual RAM is allowed based on the configuration of the supported OVAs. However change in the number or size of virtual disks is not supported.

Cisco Unity Connection Release 14SU1 and later, supports changes in hardware configuration without rebuilding the servers. If virtual RAM is increased to 10GB on supported OVA then you should execute CLI command utils cuc hwconfig update after modification. For CLI details, see "Utils Commands" chapter of Command Line Interface Reference Guide for Cisco Unified Communications Solutions available at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/unified-communications/unified-communications-manager-callmanager/products-command-reference-list.html.

In Unity Connection Release 14, for changing the hardware configurations you must follow the workaround instructions mentioned at https://cdetsng.cisco.com/webui/#view=CSCvy86441.

In addition, the OVA templates align the file system on the virtual disk(s) in the virtual machine at 64-KB blocks, which results in improved storage input/output operations per second (IOPS).

For information on downloading the latest OVA files, see the “Installation and Upgrade Information” section in the applicable Release Notes for Cisco Unity Connection at http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps6509/prod_release_notes_list.html.

For information on deploying an OVA file while installing a new Unity Connection virtual server, see chapter “Installing Cisco Unity Connection” in Install, Upgrade, and Maintenance Guide for Cisco Unity Connection Release 14, available at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/connection/14/install_upgrade/guide/b_14cuciumg.html.

For information on deploying an OVA file while migrating from a physical server to a virtual server, see the section “Migrating a Physical Server to Virtual Machine” of chapter “Maintaining Cisco Unity Connection Server” in Install, Upgrade, and Maintenance Guide for Cisco Unity Connection Release 14, available at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/connection/14/install_upgrade/guide/b_14cuciumg.html.

For information on deploying other Unified Communication applications on the same physical server with Unity Connection, see the Unified Communications Virtualization wiki at http://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/uc_system/virtualization/virtualization-cisco-unity-connection.html.

Additional Platform Information

Replacing a Unity Connection Server as You Upgrade to Unity Connection 14

MCS servers are not supported for use with Unity Connection 14, and an attempt to install or upgrade to Unity Connection 14 on these servers will fail. For more information on migrating a physical server to a virtual machine as you upgrade to Unity Connection 14, see the chapter “Maintaining Cisco Unity Connection Server” of Install, Upgrade, and Maintenance Guide for Cisco Unity Connection, Release 14, available at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/connection/14/install_upgrade/guide/b_14cuciumg.html.

Platform Overlays for Unity Connection SRSV

For hardware specifications and support limits on each platform, see the Specification for Hardware Platforms and Cisco IOS Software Releases Supported by Unity Connection SRSV.

The Specifications for Virtual Platform Overlays Supported by Unity Connection SRSV table lists the virtualization specifications, the user limit, and the port limit when you install Unity Connection SRSV on a virtual machine.

Specification for Hardware Platforms and Cisco IOS Software Releases Supported by Unity Connection SRSV

This section lists the supported hardware platforms and the minimum Cisco IOS software release required to support the hardware platform Unity Connection SRSV.

Table 6. Specifications for Unity Connection SRSV

Cisco Platform

Unity Connection SRSV on SM-SRE-900-K9

Unity Connection SRSV on SM-SRE-910-K9

UCS E140D, E140DP, E160D, and E160 DP

Cisco 2911

Cisco 2921

Cisco 2951

15.2(4)M4

15.2(4)M4

15.2(4)T

Cisco 3925

Cisco 3945

15.4(1)T

15.4(1)T

15.2(4)T

Cisco 3925E

Cisco 3945E

15.1(3)T

15.1(3)T

15.2(4)T

Cisco 4300

-

-

3.12S

Cisco 4400

-

-

3.13S and later


Note
A different Cisco IOS software release may be required depending on the version of Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express or Cisco Unified Survivable Remote Site Telephony (SRST) being used. For more information refer to Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express documentation available at http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/voicesw/ps4625/index.html.

Specifications for Virtual Platform Overlays Supported by Unity Connection SRSV

This section lists the specifications for virtual platform overlays supported by Cisco Unity Connection SRSV.

Table 7. Specifications for Supported Virtual Platform Overlays by Unity Connection SRSV

Virtual Platform Overlay

vCPU (Number of Virtual Processors) Cores and Speed per Core

1@a minimum of 1.8 GHz

vRAM (Amount of Virtual RAM)

4 GB

vDisk (Size of Virtual Hard Disks)

1x160GB

Total number of available voice ports

12

Total number of users with mailboxes

500

Approximate message storage, G-711 codec, minutes

72,944

Number of public distribution lists

500

Number of Call Handlers

500

Number of languages supported

2