Avaya UCM Problems

Posted by Dan Israel on Feb 23, 2014 in Information & Technology

We recently experienced trouble with our Avaya Unified Communications Module (UCM). Naturally this occurred just after the 1 year warranty expired. So despite there being a proliferation of problems with these modules…Avaya would not do anything – so, we were forced to make some decisions.

PROBLEM SOLVED
We were able to resolve the problem by re-imaging the UCM.  I’ll try to post the procedure we used shortly…BUT!

CONSIDER THIS
Consider NOT replacing or fixing the UCM. After the UCM failed, our tech felt the quickest way to get back on line in the interim was to create a windows server running VoiceMail Pro. Because we are already virtualized running VMware vShpere host, this was a matter of minutes. Avaya actually makes a iso image of a running linux machine that you can create a virtual machine with. If you elect to do this,make sure you use Centos for 8.1 or 9.0 iteration of the Avaya Applications Server. Some Avaya literature states “Red Hat” for OS selection. However, it is not a Red Hat, and unless you select Centos, the installation will fail due to a lack of IDE vs. SCSI Drivers and E1000 Network Driver.

Virtaulizing this helped to ensure up-time and quality back-ups through our existing architecture.  Even if you don’t virtualize you might consider deploying on hardware that is less expensive than the UCM, and more common – thus allowing you more control over every aspect of the operation, troubleshooting, and repair.

WINDOWS vs LINUX
We toyed with using the Linux based Avaya Applications Server in part because it comes essentially ready to go.  But also because it was identical in operation to the Unified Communication Module.  We had already written the updating procedures, etc.  Howeever, this  turned about to be a “no-brainer.”  The Windows version are so easy and intutive that no written procedures are necessary.  And you can backup with any Windows backup program, including the built in version.  This alone makes the transition worth it.

SUMMARY
I guess the UCM makes sense for an extrmely small setup.  But for an Enterprise solution, JUST SAY NO!  It’s not stable enough and requires completely different management than every other system in the Data Center.