MAS Server Reboot Guidance

[mpmcquade]

We recently had an issue with NuPoint where all the voicemail ports went to a RNA state.  Upon contacting vendor support for this issue, I was advised to reboot the MAS (MiCollab 7.1.0.35) server to reactivate the ports.  Although this resolved the issues we were experiencing, no root cause was determined at the time.  I've been asked by my manager whether we should do a scheduled reboot of the MAS (and other virtual servers in our Mitel environment) to hopefully prevent this from occurring again?  Is there guidance or a best practice in the Mitel world that suggests a regularly scheduled reboot is needed and or beneficial?

[acejavelin]

We recently had an issue with NuPoint where all the voicemail ports went to a RNA state.  Upon contacting vendor support for this issue, I was advised to reboot the MAS (MiCollab 7.1.0.35) server to reactivate the ports.  Although this resolved the issues we were experiencing, no root cause was determined at the time.  I've been asked by my manager whether we should do a scheduled reboot of the MAS (and other virtual servers in our Mitel environment) to hopefully prevent this from occurring again?  Is there guidance or a best practice in the Mitel world that suggests a regularly scheduled reboot is needed and or beneficial?

I would say no... scheduled reboots are not required or recommended under normal circumstances. I have MiCollab servers that have been running for well over a year without a hiccup, and MBG's that have been running for several years.

Mitel MAS or MiCollab servers run Mitel Standard Linux, which is based on CentOS Linux... an extremely stable, enterprise grade Linux distribution. Linux in general does not need to be rebooted even for upgrades or patches, except if the kernel changes. There are *nix systems running out there with uptimes of 10+ years.

That said, properly rebooting the server should not have any negative effect on operation or performance either. Be sure you are maintaining regular backups though, just in case, although this has nothing to do with rebooting, it is just good practice.

[johnp]

If it was just nupoint issue, I would go into nupoint web console and edit offline configuration making sure to copy the active. Save and activate. This should just bring nupoint down and then back up. This happens fairly fast and should do the same as your reboot did.

[ZuluAlpha]

I will echo acejavelin's experience on the reboots. Our MCD 3300's require the occasional reboot for a variety of reasons, but I have gone over a year without rebooting Nupoint or MiCollab - and even then those reboots were due to scheduled upgrades or power issues - not necessarily due to the servers themselves. One MAS server was up above 700 days at one point.

[VinceWhirlwind]

I've had NuPoint suddenly stop working. Restarting the NuPoint services can be done without restarting the whole server. That didn't fix my NuPoint problem though.
 
I had a MiCollab setup that had a memory leak - for about a year it needed to be rebooted on a monthly basis. Then, suddenly the memory leak stopped happening. The reboots didn't cause any problems.

[mszodiac]

I also find rebooting the MiCollab not necessary as they can run extended periods without issue.  Where I find it necessary is when I make changes in Nupoint that do not take into effect.  For example, after I change the Nupoint ports on the MCD to "Trusted", I find activating the offline configuration does not work at times.

Backing up the database, as what acejavelin said, is very important.

I think it's also good to have an OVA file of the MiCollab.  The OVA/snapshot contains both the MiCollab and the Nupoint backup minimizing the restore process, IF ever the system crashes.

[mpmcquade]

Thanks all for your input!  I do nightly backups of all of my Mitel servers - I learned the hard way in a prior life!  It sounds like most everyone let's their NuPoint system run without regularly scheduled reboots barring any issues.  I think I may do a quarterly restart of the NuPoint services following johnp's method of editing the oflline config just for my piece of mind.

[acejavelin]

Thanks all for your input!  I do nightly backups of all of my Mitel servers - I learned the hard way in a prior life!  It sounds like most everyone let's their NuPoint system run without regularly scheduled reboots barring any issues.  I think I may do a quarterly restart of the NuPoint services following johnp's method of editing the oflline config just for my piece of mind.

I'm not one to knock a guy for doing backups... but nightly? Seems a bit overkill, we usually find monthly backup are sufficient except after significant changes (MACs).