Config Backup: back up the CUCM configuration

What it is for

The CUCM backup keeps a restorable copy of selected CUCM objects in the EasyUC database. For a phone this includes lines, speed dials, BLF buttons, add-on modules, services, owner and user associations. EasyUC reads the objects from the CUCM via AXL, one after another and never in parallel. If an object is later deleted directly in the CUCM, it can be restored under Restore Config exactly as it was backed up.

The Config Backup page is the information view for this backup. For each category it shows whether it is backed up, how many records and how much storage are used, when the last full reconciliation took place and which changes EasyUC detected most recently. All other pages continue to show the live data of the CUCM. The backup is read only for restoring.

Config Backup is not a backup of the EasyUC appliance and not a replacement for the DRS backup of the CUCM. Only the object types of a CUCM connection listed below are backed up. Objects such as device pools, partitions, calling search spaces, route lists, route groups, hunt pilots or line groups are not part of the backup. They must exist in the CUCM for a restore to succeed.

Prerequisites

• License module cucm and an active CUCM connection. Without a connection the page shows: “No active CUCM connection. Select one at the top or set one up first.”
• For the menu items Config Backup and Restore Config one of these roles is sufficient: ROLE_APP_LIST_DELETE_DEVICE, ROLE_APP_RESTORE_DEVICE, ROLE_APP_RESTORE_DELETED_USER, ROLE_APP_RESTORE_TRANS_PATTERN, ROLE_APP_CREATE_TRANS_PATTERN, ROLE_APP_RESTORE_ROUTE_PATTERN, ROLE_APP_CREATE_ROUTE_PATTERN, ROLE_APP_RESTORE_ENDUSER.
• Which tabs you see depends on the object type. Phones and phone numbers: ROLE_APP_LIST_DELETE_DEVICE, ROLE_APP_RESTORE_DEVICE or ROLE_APP_RESTORE_DELETED_USER. Translation patterns: ROLE_APP_RESTORE_TRANS_PATTERN or ROLE_APP_CREATE_TRANS_PATTERN. Route patterns: ROLE_APP_RESTORE_ROUTE_PATTERN or ROLE_APP_CREATE_ROUTE_PATTERN. End users: ROLE_APP_RESTORE_ENDUSER or ROLE_APP_RESTORE_DELETED_USER.
• SIP trunks, gateways, gateway ports and application users are visible only to administrators and template creators (ROLE_APP_ADMIN, ROLE_APP_TEMPLATE).
• Enabling, changing settings, Back up now, Accept and Delete backed-up data now are available only to administrators.
• The background job of the CUCM backup must exist and be enabled. For fast detection of changes, the change feed of the change log should also be running for the connection.
• Plan a time window with little activity on the CUCM. The first full pass reads every selected object once.

Step by step: enable the CUCM backup on the connection

1. Open Administration → CUCM & Provisioning → CUCM Connections.
2. On the required connection, click Actions and select CUCM backup. The CUCM backup dialog opens. If nothing has been saved yet, it shows: “Nothing has been saved for this connection yet – the defaults are shown.”
3. Switch on Enable CUCM backup. The box Effects of enabling appears. It states the expected AXL load, the estimated duration of the first pass and the storage required.
4. Under Backed-up objects, select the types. The defaults are Phones, Translation patterns and Route patterns. You can add Phone numbers (lines/DNs), End users with controlled devices, Application users with controlled devices, SIP trunks and Gateways with ports (MGCP, SCCP, H.323). At least one type must be selected.
5. Under Time window for the full pass, set Start, End and Time zone. The window may span midnight. Start and end must differ.
6. Select the Pace. It determines the pause between two AXL requests.
7. Enter Re-read at the latest after (days) and Retention of deleted objects (days).
8. Tick I have read the effects and want to enable the CUCM backup. Without the tick the dialog reports: “Please confirm the effects before saving.”
9. Click Save. The dialog reports: “The CUCM backup is enabled. The first full pass starts in the next time window – or right away with “Back up now”.”
10. If you do not want to wait for the time window, click Back up now in the Status section. The pass starts with the next run, after 5 minutes at the latest, even outside the time window.
11. In the Status section, check the progress with Refresh. For each object type the table shows Backed up, Deleted, Held, Pending and Storage.

Step by step: read the state of the backup on the Config Backup page

1. Open EasyUC Cisco → Config Backup. The Overview tab is active.
2. Read the status bar. It shows Enabled or Disabled, the state (Pass running, Interrupted, Requested, Ready), the next time window and Change feed active.
3. Read the table. For each category it shows Backup, Records, Storage, uncompressed, Last full reconciliation, Last change and Changes (7 days). The categories are grouped by Devices, Dial plan, Users and Infrastructure. The Total row summarizes all categories.
4. Below the table, check Database usage (all connections, approx.). The value covers the tables of the CUCM backup including indexes.
5. Read the section Not part of the backup. It lists the CUCM objects that EasyUC does not back up.
6. Click a category, for example Phones, or select the tab of the same name.
7. Read the Baseline data of the category: time, start and duration of the last full reconciliation, number of objects in the CUCM with the values new, changed and deleted, the oldest state read and since when changes have been logged.
8. Stay on the sub-tab Recent changes. Filter by kind (New, Changed, Deleted, Held, Reappeared, Restored) and period (24 hours, 7 days, 30 days, all).
9. In the Fields column, click the number of fields of a row. For each field EasyUC shows the values before and after. Secret values appear as “not backed up”.
10. Switch to the sub-tab All objects. Search for an object and click Details. The Backup dialog shows the tabs Overview, Complete configuration and Changes.
11. In the Complete configuration tab you can search by field or value, show empty and volatile fields and download the backup with Export (JSON).
12. With To Restore Config at the top right you switch to the deleted objects.

Step by step: switch categories, back up immediately and delete data

1. As an administrator, open EasyUC Cisco → Config Backup → Overview.
2. To add a category, activate the switch in the Backup column. Confirm the prompt Switch category on? with Switch on. The category is backed up from the next pass onward. The first reconciliation is the baseline backup.
3. To switch a category off, deactivate the switch and confirm Switch category off? with Switch off. Deletions in the CUCM are then no longer detected for this category. Existing backups remain restorable until the date shown.
4. Gateways and gateway ports share one switch. The page points this out with Shared switch with ….
5. The last enabled category cannot be switched off individually. In this case, switch off the backup as a whole with the switch in the status bar and confirm Switch the backup off?.
6. Click Back up now to request a full pass. The page reports: “Backup requested – it starts within 5 minutes.”
7. If the status bar shows Held deletions, first check in the CUCM whether the objects were really deleted. Then click Accept and confirm the prompt. Only then are the objects considered deleted and restorable.
8. With Settings … you open the CUCM backup dialog of the connection without leaving the page.
9. For a switched-off category with existing data, Delete backed-up data now · <category> appears below the table. Click it and confirm Delete backed-up data?. All backed-up objects of the category including the change log are deleted permanently.

Fields and options

Check the result and troubleshoot

• You recognize success by Enabled in the status bar, a date in Last full reconciliation and rising values in Records.
• Secret values such as passwords, PINs and digest credentials are never backed up. The Backup dialog marks them with “not backed up – set it again when restoring”.
• “Please select at least one object type.”: select at least one type under Backed-up objects.
• “Start and end of the time window must differ.”: correct the time window.
• “The background job of the CUCM backup is missing or disabled. Please check under background jobs.”: activate the job under the background jobs.
• “Change feed off – changes are only backed up in the time window”: the change feed of the change log is not running for this connection. A restore then brings back the last backed-up state. Switch on the change feed on the CUCM connection.
• “The CUCM backup is enabled, but none of the selected object types is backed up on this connection yet – nothing is collected.”: also select a type that is already backed up.
• “The CUCM backup settings were changed in the meantime (e.g. by another administrator). Nothing was saved – the view has been reloaded, please try again.”: repeat the action.
• “The category was switched off just now – please try again in a minute.” or “Partly deleted – please run it again.”: start Delete backed-up data now again.
• “You do not have permission for this.”: you lack the role for this category. Figures of a category without permission appear as a dash with the note “No permission for this category”.
• A pass in the state Interrupted waits until the next time window. Back up now resumes it immediately.