Tandberg TMS SERVER User Manual
Cisco TMS Server
Redundancy
Configuration Guide
D14570.02
December 2010
Cisco Revision Notes
Contents
Cisco TMS Server Architecture ............................................................................................................... 6
Communication with Cisco TMS ............................................................................................................. 6
Users Communicating with Cisco TMS ............................................................................................ 6
Cisco TMS and Devices ................................................................................................................... 6
IP Addresses vs. DNS hostnames ................................................................................................... 6
Cisco TMS and External Systems .................................................................................................... 7
Cisco TMS and Database ................................................................................................................ 7
Single Server, Single Database, Redundant Hardware ........................................................................ 12
Recovery Methods: ........................................................................................................................ 12
Installation ...................................................................................................................................... 12
Maintenance ................................................................................................................................... 12
Upgrading Cisco TMS .................................................................................................................... 12
Model Summary ............................................................................................................................. 12
Single Server, Separate Database ........................................................................................................ 13
Recovery Methods: ........................................................................................................................ 13
Installation ...................................................................................................................................... 13
Maintenance ................................................................................................................................... 14
Upgrading Cisco TMS .................................................................................................................... 14
Model Summary ............................................................................................................................. 14
Single Server, Clustered Database ....................................................................................................... 14
Recovery Methods ......................................................................................................................... 14
Installation ...................................................................................................................................... 15
Maintenance ................................................................................................................................... 15
Upgrading Cisco TMS .................................................................................................................... 15
Model Summary ............................................................................................................................. 15
Multiple Servers, Manual Cutover ......................................................................................................... 16
Recovery Methods ......................................................................................................................... 16
Installation ...................................................................................................................................... 17
Installing the Cisco TMS servers ........................................................................................................... 17
Domain Requirements. ................................................................................................................... 17
Installing primary TMS application. ................................................................................................ 17
Installing secondary TMS application. ............................................................................................ 17
Custom file synchronization. .......................................................................................................... 17
Set primary TMS address ............................................................................................................... 17
Set web validation key on web servers .......................................................................................... 18
Maintenance ................................................................................................................................... 18
Upgrading TMS .............................................................................................................................. 19
Model Summary ............................................................................................................................. 19
Multiple TMS Servers, Load Balancing, and Clustered Database ........................................................ 20
Recovery Methods ......................................................................................................................... 20
Installation ...................................................................................................................................... 20
Maintenance ................................................................................................................................... 22
Upgrading TMS .............................................................................................................................. 22
Model Summary ............................................................................................................................. 23
Manual Off-Site Fail-Over ...................................................................................................................... 23
Recovery Methods ......................................................................................................................... 24
Installation ...................................................................................................................................... 25
Cisco TMS redundancy configuration and overview Page 2 of 32
Cisco Revision Notes
Maintenance ................................................................................................................................... 25
Upgrading TMS .............................................................................................................................. 25
Model Summary ............................................................................................................................. 26
TMS Customer file synchronization ............................................................................................... 27
Backing up the database ....................................................................................................................... 29
Restoring the TMS Database ................................................................................................................ 29
Event Execution ..................................................................................................................................... 31
Conference Connection and Control ..................................................................................................... 31
Figures
Figure 1 Multiple Stand-by Server Illustration ....................................................................................... 16
Figure 2 Network Load Balancing ......................................................................................................... 20
Figure 3 Balancing Off-Site Cutover ...................................................................................................... 24
Cisco TMS redundancy configuration and overview Page 3 of 32
Cisco Revision Notes
Revision Notes
November 2010
Rebranded with Cisco Systems.
September 2010
Rev 2.1.1
Rev 2.1
October 2009
Applied Cisco template and Cisco product names
Fixed Bookmarks in PDF Output.
Added Validation Key requirements.
Corrected viewstate comments.
Added sticky connection recommendation for NLBs.
Minor formatting changes.
Updated Cisco TMS version references to 11.7.
Updated template.
New document number. (Old number: D50396).
Cisco TMS redundancy configuration and overview Page 4 of 32
Cisco Introduction
Introduction
The Cisco TelePresence Management Suite (Cisco TMS) supports installation into environments that
can provide fail-over or redundancy for both the Cisco TMS server and Cisco TMS database. This
document describes the requirements, configuration, and limitations when implementing Cisco TMS in
a redundant or fail-over solution. At the time of publication, this document reflects capabilities and
requirements as of Cisco TMS version 11.7. Older versions of Cisco TMS prior to 11.5 will differ from
this information. Newer versions of Cisco TMS are compatible with these requirements and the
document will be revised as necessary to match newer releases of Cisco TMS. Unless stated
otherwise, information in this document should apply to all versions of Cisco TMS v11.5 or newer.
The target audience for this document is the Cisco TMS server administrator who wishes to deploy
redundancy or fail-over in their Cisco TMS installation. This document assumes the reader has an
understanding of Cisco TMS, Cisco TMS installation, Microsoft Windows server operating systems,
and an advanced level of understanding of network protocols and networking.
This document is divided into the following sections:
Overview of Cisco TMS Structures and Communications
Redundancy Concepts for Cisco TMS
Cisco TMS Architecture Requirements for Redundancy
Redundancy Models
Customer Specific Cisco TMS Files
Backup and Recovery of the Cisco TMS Database
Cisco TMS Redundancy Limitations and Notes
Cisco TMS redundancy configuration and overview Page 5 of 32
Cisco Overview of Cisco TMS Structures and Communications
Overview of Cisco TMS Structures and
Communications
Cisco TMS Server Architecture
Cisco TMS functionality is achieved through the combination of several elements. Users only interact
with Cisco TMS through the website, but the complete Cisco TMS product is actually constructed from
three different logical components:
Cisco TMS Web-Server: The web server used by Cisco TMS is Microsoft’s Internet Information
Server (IIS). This provides an interactive interface for users and external systems to interact with
Cisco TMS.
Cisco TMS Windows Services: Cisco TMS has a set of Windows services running on the server in
the background that handles all background tasks, call set-up, monitoring and application logic. These
services are not directly interfaced by users of Cisco TMS.
Cisco TMS Database: The database engine used by Cisco TMS is a Microsoft SQL Server. The
database stores most information used by Cisco TMS and is designed to be used simultaneously by
multiple agents. The Cisco TMS Website and Cisco TMS Windows Services interact directly with the
Cisco TMS database. The database may run on the same server as the rest of Cisco TMS or on a
separate server. For most redundancy scenarios the database must run on a separate server.
The Cisco TMS Web server and Cisco TMS Windows Services are installed together on a server
when installing Cisco TMS and cannot be installed separately by the installer. The Cisco TMS
installation software allows the administrator to selectively choose to install the Cisco TMS database
and SQL server locally, or point to an existing remote SQL server.
Communication with Cisco TMS
Users Communicating with Cisco TMS
Users only interface directly to the Cisco TMS website. Best practices dictate that users should access
Cisco TMS via a simple DNS name.
Cisco TMS and Devices
Cisco TMS’s Windows services and website communicate directly to managed devices through a
variety of protocols (HTTP, Telnet, FTP, etc) depending on the device type. In addition, for event
reporting and accessing services from Cisco TMS managed devices themselves will initiate
connections to Cisco TMS on their own. As such, managed devices are configured with an IP address
or DNS hostname on where to access Cisco TMS. This requires the managed devices always have
the specific IP address or hostname where Cisco TMS will be reachable.
IP Addresses vs. DNS hostnames
Starting with Cisco TMS v11.5, Cisco TMS specifically is told it’s
local IP address (including IPv6 if IPv6 is configured)
what local DNS hostname is used to reach the server
a public DNS hostname used to reach the server
Systems directly reachable by Cisco TMS may configured to use the local Cisco TMS server IP
address or local DNS hostname but Cisco TMS will automatically configure device types it knows to
support DNS hostnames to use the DNS hostname over IP addresses. For systems that are defined to
be ‘behind firewall’ or ‘reachable on public internet’ the Cisco TMS Server DNS Hostname (Public) is
required and used for those systems. Cisco TMS must explicitly be told which value to use for each of
these settings.
Cisco TMS redundancy configuration and overview Page 6 of 32
Cisco Overview of Cisco TMS Structures and Communications
Cisco TMS and External Systems
External systems such as Exchange Integration or IM integrations always communicate to Cisco TMS
through the HTTP protocol. As such, the installation of these packages must always have the specific
IP address or DNS hostname where Cisco TMS will be reachable. Using the Cisco TMS Server DNS
Hostname (local) value is recommended when using External Integrations with Cisco TMS as it allows
for easier to redirect requests to another Cisco TMS server in the case of fail-over.
Cisco TMS and Database
Cisco TMS’s Windows services and website communicate to the database very frequently and
intensively. While the SQL connection is over IP and could be made over a Wide Area Network, the
impact of increased latency would be quite severe on Cisco TMS due to the amount of transactions
and the resulting negative impact it would have on the responsiveness of the user interface. As such,
the Cisco TMS website and Cisco TMS Services should always be on the same local network as the
Cisco TMS database.
Cisco TMS redundancy configuration and overview Page 7 of 32
Cisco Redundancy Concepts for Cisco TMS
Redundancy Concepts for Cisco TMS
Redundancy for your Cisco TMS application can be achieved in several different ways depending on
your requirements for availability.
How long can you tolerate the application being unavailable? - Minutes? Hours? Days?
Tolerance for data loss – How much data can you lose without causing a significant impact? How
much data can you afford to lose in a recovery or fail-over? None? A few minutes? A few hours?
A day?
Administrative capabilities – What resources and skill sets does your organization have internally
to administer and configure network and server systems
Budget/Cost – How much is the organization willing to invest to in networking and server
resources to achieve higher availability or fault tolerance for the Cisco TMS application
In general, the higher your demands for accessibility and fault tolerance, the higher the cost and
complexity of the redundancy solution. Each solution has pros and cons and administrators must
choose which model best suits their business needs.
The redundancy models that can be used with Cisco TMS are:
Single Server, Single Database, Redundant Hardware
Single Server, Separate Database
Single Server, Clustered Database
Multiple Servers, Manual Cutover
Multiple Cisco TMS Servers, Load Balancing, and Clustered Database
Manual Off-Site Fail-over
This document will explain the details of each of these scenarios and in addition outline the
requirements of Cisco TMS for any redundancy solution.
Cisco TMS redundancy configuration and overview Page 8 of 32
Cisco Cisco TMS Architecture Requirements for Redundancy
Cisco TMS Architecture Requirements for
Redundancy
Implementation of Cisco TMS in any redundant or fail-over model hinges on maintaining compatibility
with several key concepts from Cisco TMS. The following hold true regardless of which redundancy
model you choose to implement. Keeping these concepts in mind will allow you to consider alternative
redundancy models or combinations of the ones presented in this document. The requirements are as
follows:
Only one live database per Cisco TMS ‘installation’.
The core of Cisco TMS is its database. You may only have one running copy of the database
active at any time. Multiple copies of the database may exist, but only one copy may be ‘live’ and
used at a time Any redundancy methods used for the database will consist of fail-over or backup
methods for one database. Two Cisco TMS servers pointing at two different live Cisco TMS
databases would be considered two separate installations, not a redundant installation.
MSDE SQL Server cannot be used.
Earlier versions of Cisco TMS shipped with the freely distributable version of SQL Server, MSDE
2000. This version is only intended for small deployments. MSDE 2000 is feature limited and can
not be used for larger deployments or any deployment that involves multiple Cisco TMS servers
or multiple SQL servers. Any deployment considering a redundant solution should be based on
Microsoft SQL Server 2000 or SQL Server 2005.
Local File paths used on the Cisco TMS Servers must be the same across all Cisco TMS Servers.
The local file system paths used for Cisco TMS files, such as uploaded software files, should be
the same on all Cisco TMS servers
Multiple Cisco TMS servers must all be members of the same domain.
When using multiple Cisco TMS servers, all Cisco TMS servers must be a member of the same
domain and all Cisco TMS users must be members of that domain, or a domain trusted by the
Cisco TMS server’s domain. Using workgroups and local user accounts is not supported when
using multiple Cisco TMS servers.
You must maintain a low latency (sub 10ms) between a Cisco TMS server and the database.
User responsiveness will be severely crippled if there is latency between the Cisco TMS servers
and the database they are attached to.
All servers must be time synchronized.
All servers making up the redundancy solution must be time synchronized through NTP or the
Windows Domain
Each actual Cisco TMS server must be addressable by the managed devices.
Because devices communicate unsolicited to Cisco TMS, they must be able to communicate
directly TO each Cisco TMS server (each server must have a unique, reachable IP address)
Cisco TMS must ‘know’ what specific address is to be used to reach the Cisco TMS servers.
Within Cisco TMS’s configuration the Cisco TMS Server Addresses are used to configure what
addressees are used to identify Cisco TMS to devices it is managing.. (Note: there are now IPv4
and IPv6 values, and local and public values). In a redundant solution, these addresses could be
a Cisco TMS server, or addresses to the load balancer depending on the solution in place. The
Cisco TMS configuration values for it’s addresses must always be the current, valid addresses to
reach Cisco TMS.
Cisco TMS relies on multiple protocols, not just HTTP.
Whatever distribution or load balancing model is used, both HTTP and SNMP are used from
managed devices for unsolicited connections so both types must be forwarded by a load
balancing solution.
Cisco TMS is multi-vendor and device methods vary between devices.
Due to difference in vendors and products, not all devices communicate the same to Cisco TMS.
Care must be taken to account for all protocols required between Cisco TMS and the devices to
be managed
When using multiple web servers, all should have the same validation key and methods.
When using multiple web servers, all Cisco TMS websites should be configured with the same
Cisco TMS redundancy configuration and overview Page 9 of 32
Cisco Cisco TMS Architecture Requirements for Redundancy
validation key and method to ensure smooth transition if a user gets redirected between
machines.
Cisco TMS redundancy configuration and overview Page 10 of 32
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