Verify CUCM Backups and Monitor Expected Uploads
Call Telemetry's built-in SFTP server gives CUCM DRS a secure destination and keeps the resulting upload outcome visible. Community operators can receive backups and see high-level DRS status. Essentials+ adds component/file verification, expected-upload monitoring, dashboards, alerts, storage controls, cloud actions, and scheduled SFTP backup reports.
CUCM manages the DRS device and schedule. Call Telemetry receives the resulting uploads, validates what arrived, and monitors whether each expected upload arrived on time.
Essentials+ — CUCM Backup Dashboard with component-level verification.
Use Backup Monitoring Across the File Lifecycle
The built-in SFTP service receives files from CUCM and other systems that can deliver to an SFTP destination. Each account can run an entitled combination of actions after a successful upload or when processing fails. This keeps validation, notification, cloud retention, monitoring, and storage control in one auditable workflow instead of separate scripts and scheduled jobs.
Common uses include:
- Validate CUCM DRS backups — Parse the backup metadata, count successful or failed components, and keep incomplete backups visible.
- Detect missed backups — Learn or define the expected delivery schedule, apply a tolerance window, and alert when a file does not arrive.
- Notify the operations team — Send tokenized SMTP or Webex messages that identify the account, file, cluster, and validation result.
- Retain recovery evidence — Send supported backup artifacts to Amazon S3 or Azure Blob Storage.
- Duplicate CDR files to remote SFTP — Use a dedicated account for the supported CDR-duplication workflow.
- Protect appliance storage — Apply per-account quotas and high/low auto-purge watermarks so retained files do not silently consume the disk.
Choose What Happens After an Upload
Open an account's Actions tab and build separate On Success and On Failure workflows. Multiple actions can be attached to the same account.
| UI Action | Outcome |
|---|---|
| CUCM Backup Validation | Community — high-level status; Essentials+ — component/file results |
| Email Notification (No Attachment) | Essentials+ — send an SMTP receipt or failure alert without the uploaded file |
| Email with Attachment | Essentials+ — deliver a small uploaded file with a tokenized SMTP message |
| Webex Teams - Send with Attachment | Essentials+ — post the file and message to a room or direct recipient |
| Upload to Amazon S3 | Essentials+ — store a copy in an S3 bucket and key prefix |
| Upload to Azure Blob Storage | Essentials+ — store a copy in an Azure container and blob prefix |
| Replicate to Remote SFTP | Essentials+ — supported only for the dedicated CDR-duplication workflow, not CUCM DRS backup replication |
Notification editors support file-context substitutions such as {{username}}, {{filename}}, {{filepath}}, and {{timestamp}}. CUCM Backup Validation also provides server, version, status, and component-result substitutions. See Automate Backup Actions for commonly used picker-supported tokens; the in-product picker is authoritative.
Follow Each File Through the Workflow
- Receive the file — CUCM or another source uploads to the account's dedicated SFTP path.
- Dispatch the workflow — Call Telemetry selects the configured success or failure actions for that account.
- Run each action independently — Validation, notification, and cloud-action results appear as separate rows in Run History.
- Monitor and retain evidence — Upload Monitoring detects late deliveries, while Storage Quota and Auto-Purge control retained files.
Use Activity Log when you need the broader account timeline. A successful upload does not prove every later action succeeded, so recovery checks should include every configured validation and cloud-action row.
Understand What the Dashboard Tells You
Open SFTP Server > CUCM Backup Dashboard to answer four operational questions:
- Did each cluster send a recent backup?
- Did validation pass?
- Are any components missing?
- Which account and backup file need investigation?
A successful upload is not the same as a usable backup. The dashboard combines file arrival and component validation so a transferred but incomplete DRS set remains visible as a warning.
Check Feature Availability
Community provides a useful starting point for receiving CUCM DRS uploads and checking high-level status. Essentials+ adds detailed verification and the continuous operational controls used by backup teams.
Beginning with the 0.8.7 release line, email and proactive notification actions are Essentials+ capabilities; Community remains focused on secure receipt and high-level status.
| Capability | Community | Essentials or Higher |
|---|---|---|
| SFTP Action Accounts | Up to 2 | Unlimited unless an organization limit is configured |
| Run history | 7 days | Organization retention policy |
| Secure port-22 SFTP without shell access | Available | Available |
| CUCM DRS status | High-level | Component/file detail |
| Email and proactive notifications | — | Available |
| Webex notification delivery | — | Available |
| Expected-upload monitoring for on-time, late, and missing outcomes | — | Available |
| CUCM Backup Dashboard and backup trends | — | Available |
| Storage quotas, auto-purge, and bundles | — | Available |
| Scheduled SFTP backup reports | — | Available |
| S3 and Azure Blob actions | — | Available |
Before You Begin
You need:
- An authenticated Call Telemetry organization running
0.8.6or later. - Network access from CUCM to the Call Telemetry appliance on SFTP port 22.
- A CUCM DRS backup device and schedule that can use an SFTP username and password.
- An Essentials+ subscription and configured SMTP or Webex delivery when the workflow should alert a team.
- Essentials+ credentials for Amazon S3 or Azure Storage when the workflow should retain an additional cloud copy.
Backup Monitoring accounts are file-transfer accounts only. Appliance administration continues to use the separate SSH management service on port 2222.
Follow the Backup Monitoring Workflow
Use these guides in order when configuring a backup source for the first time.
| Stage | What You Accomplish | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Create a destination | Create an SFTP account and give CUCM a dedicated upload path | Create and Verify SFTP Accounts |
| Automate processing | Choose what runs after a successful upload or a transfer failure | Automate Backup Actions |
| Prove recoverability | Validate DRS metadata and confirm every expected component arrived | Validate CUCM Backups |
| Detect silence | Define when files should arrive and alert after the tolerance window | Monitor Expected Uploads |
| Control retention | Review quota usage and configure safe auto-purge watermarks | Manage Backup Storage |
The complete flow is:
Create account → configure CUCM DRS → add actions → verify the first backup → monitor the schedule → manage storage
Keep the Service Boundaries Clear
| Port | Service | Use |
|---|---|---|
| 22 | SFTP file transfer | Upload files to a Backup Monitoring account; no interactive shell |
| 2222 | SSH management console | Administer and troubleshoot the Call Telemetry appliance |
Start With an Account
Open SFTP Server > SFTP Action Accounts, create a dedicated account for the backup source, and then configure CUCM DRS to upload to that account.
Create and Verify SFTP Accounts →
Related Workflows
- Configure CUCM CDR uploads when Call Telemetry should receive CDR and CMR files.
- Configure SMTP and Webex delivery before enabling team notifications.
- Review CMR reports after CMR files begin arriving.
- Deploy the Call Telemetry appliance when preparing a new SFTP destination.