IPCC

Cisco Networkers 2006

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It is weird, for months you are preparing yourself (mentally if not physically) for some event. And then it is over and it is like OK what now? I am back from Las Vegas. I had a great time, and I learned allot at Networkers. And now it is like what’s next? I know that answer but it is just a bit different with this big event over with.

In the short term I have to focus on my office move, and a few other issues. The next few weeks will probably be a bit hectic while we transition into the new place.

As for what I took away from Networkers, I learned allot. I got insight on what’s next for IPCC (UCC I guess now). Upgrade options for Call Manager, and a ton of great disaster recovery and disaster resiliency ideas. I have to start laying the ground work for going to California for Networkers 2007!

Problem Resolution

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We had a demo of some really cool problem resolution software today. It can watch what goes on throughout all the servers and clients and correlates a problem for you. It does way more than that, but it is a difficult concept to write about. I am sold, but we need to evaluate it a bit more before we can make a decision.

Work was normal otherwise. Well normal except for the circuit failure we had in our call center computer room Thursday and again this morning. I don’t know who is stupid enough to close the door on a computer room that feels like it is 110 degrees inside while a fan is at the door blowing hot air out of it? Long story. We had some HVAC issues that caused other power related issues. The power issues caused some problems on thursday with our IPCC system. It was resolved by a reboot, but it was fun for a bit while we troubleshooted the issue. Otherwise I have been able to catch up on the backlog of issues this week since my boss was out sick.

Call Manager Upgrade

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Finally after 4 attempts (or at least I counted 4) we have upgraded our VOIP PBX to the latest version of Cisco Call Manager. Now we are happily (for now) running on version 4.1.3 release 2. This is a vast improvement over our previous version 3.3.3. Looking at version numbers doesn’t explain why, but trust me it was a needed upgrade.

We had so many false starts with this thing that I am happy that it is finally over. The problem is that the upgrade is over, but the upgrade was the first part of other enhancements we need to make. Everything else was held up by the upgrade. Hopefully Kai will pull it together and complete the other dependent tasks related to this upgrade now that we are on CCM 4.

I also hope this is the last time we have to use our current integrators. This upgrade was part of the original deal to install our IPCC system. Now that it is done I am going to shop around and try to find a new Cisco partner. I am going to lunch with our Cisco rep this week to discuss things. I am also going to lunch with another Cisco partner that our telecom rep knows. They are supposed to be a Cisco gold partner. I am keeping my options open for now. Soon I will need to pick someone to do our phone system in our office if we move to a new location.

Roller Coaster Day

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When I didn’t think the day could get any crazier it did. I was very busy all day putting out fires at work (figuratively not really). Just as I recovered from a week delay on our AD project, I get major complications from our IPCC deployment. Dan and I had a opinionated discussion with our integrators. We also are very close to purchasing our first SAN. We are pretty sure we got the price to a number we are happy with.

Finalized plans to make changes to our voice circuits to allow for more resiliency if we have a failure. Stupid issues arose regarding mislabeling of circuits. The little details that we are not following up on are killing me, but when asked to get tons done in a certain amount of time, you have to give somewhere. I just don’t like doing it.

I have other issues going on with VPN tunnels to partners of ours. It has been very stressful. I thrive on stress, but sometimes it is allot. Hopefully tomorrow will be calmer.

A Good Day

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it was busy today, but I got allot done. I got final approval for the active directory design I wanted.

The initial AD servers are built. Or I should say the OS is built. They goto the data center tomorrow. Then they get mounted and built. Once done the real work begins.

On another project I am having danny work on some VPN setup issues. I wanted to deal with it, but as Glenn said I need to delegate more. And I really do. I am so busy I need to hand off items to others.

IPCC deployment is delayed. This is an internal decision. I never really thought the target date was achievable anyway. These new targets seem more realistic. I would rather the system be correct, than rushed out. More on that as it develops.

A Good Steak

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Wednesday night I went to a meet and greet for Cisco people interested in (or using) IPCC. I met some cool high level tech guys on the team from Cisco, the product manager, etc. I also had some important questions answered for me.

I met up with Pankaj, and we cut out of the meet and greet and hit Morton’s for dinner. I love a good steak. I also love a good steak 2 nights in a row. We had a few drinks waiting for some other people we were meeting up with. It was a good time. I even got to try the Godiva desert I missed the last time I was at Morton’s with Alison. It was fantastic.

I ended up back at the Paris and met up with Joe, Karen and Joe’s folks for drinks at the lounge. I didn’t drink more (i was pretty well off from the Morton’s alcohol) but I hung out with them for a while.

Cisco Networkers 2005

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Today was the first full day of Cisco Networkers. Allot of cool stuff going on. Way too much for me to go into too much detail. In a recap yesterday I learned what will be happening in the new version of IPCC. Some cool stuff there. I ate not enough food at the expo Cisco threw. I wasn’t hungry for that kind of fare, but it was awesome stuff. I got some information on some products I was interested in. I got some follow up reading to do. Then I got some answers from some engineers at Cisco about some products. I also got some free software that I need to try out. I could have used it a few weeks ago, but what can you do?

After that I meet up with my friend Joe. he is also out in Vegas for the same conference. We met up with his girlfriend and parents (they all came out to hang while he did his conference thing). They wanted to do the Star Trek Experience in the Hilton, but thankfully we just browsed the gift shop. They ended up eating the buffet at the hilton instead of eating at the Star Trek Theme restaurant. I ended up at a little cafe in the Paris. I am not a Vegas buffet person. I NEVER get my moneys worth at one of those. I don’t eat enough. Money wasn’t the reason I didn’t go though. I just don’t like those things. Even the nicest ones seem skeevy to me. Maybe it is memories of the Circus Circus buffet when I was 14?

Today’s keynote by John Chambers was good. He is a really good speaker. This was the second time I got the opportunity to hear him speak.

The first session I went to was overkill for me. They were talking about really high end network design of Data Centers. Cool to be sure, but I won’t be needing to apply those theories for a while. The next 2 sessions were on IPCC. What you can do with VOIP is amazing. I already drank the cool-ade on that stuff a while ago, but it is truly amazing what you can do with VOIP. Video, Soft-phone, Call Routing, Etc.

Tomorrow hopefully I will learn some other cool network stuff. I get to do a class on SNMP. I use it a bit now, but a better understanding of it would be very helpful.

All Consuming Project

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The move downstairs is taking up allot more of my time than I would have liked. I am on my way home now. Kai and Co. will make sure the cubes are finished and the cable work is done right.

Now that the contracts are back, our data center wants to schedule the move of our gear to our new cage. I need to call them tomorrow. Hopefully we can do everything and have ourselves up in the new cage by mid June. Then all we have to worry about is IPCC.

On other notes I am working on getting a DC into VMware, still. I got side tracked since I had to goto Kingston. I will demote one of our DC’s tomorrow and bring it online as a virtual machine.

Still waiting to run the active directory upgrade at our data center. this will enable us to have 2003 domain controllers. This will be helpful for Biztalk 2004.

Construction (Still Going On)

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I am off to Kingston for 2 days of construction fun tomorrow. We are moving existing cubes downstairs, and putting in the remaining furniture. When I mean we, I mean the furniture guys are coming and I am going to “supervise”. I am going for 2 days since the furniture people think it will take that long. The cable guys are coming out the day after the furniture guys leave to finish up the cable. Once that is done we can move the remaining reps downstairs and be done with this long delayed project.

Fear not, the next 2 major projects is already underway. Turns out we are big enough and have the right people in place that I can run two major upgrades at the same time. My stress level is up there, but we can do it. I have NYC people (myself included) working on upgrades (now officially moving) of our cage to a new location in our data center. Kingston on the other hand is working on IPCC. I am still involved in that, but Kai will have to handle some of the day to day details since he will manage the product after it is deployed. Along the way the dev team has noted that they will be building an entirely new website environment to accommodate the next generation site they are building. That means in addition to what I just mentioned we need to find space for, design, quote, build and then manage new Dev, QA, & production environments. that means servers, databases, web servers, etc. All this while we maintain our existing equipment. It will be an interesting project.

IPCC SOW

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We met our integrator about the statement of work for our IPCC deployment. They calmed our nerves about most issues but we came up with another one. Dan and I will talk about this tomorrow.

If that is done, we can sign the papers and in 90 (work filled, super stressful, and probably extremely interesting and fun) days we will have an IPCC call center.

More news as it develops…