User's Manual

Polycom CMA System Redundancy
Polycom, Inc. 433
• The redundant server becomes the active server. Its services start in an
order designed to prevent the new active server from being flooded with
requests from endpoints during startup.
A system failover usually takes approximately 5 minutes, but some system
settings affect how rapidly a redundant system returns to full functionality.
The gatekeeper Registration Refresh period affects how quickly endpoints
re-register with the redundant server after a failover. And if Deny calls
to/from unregistered endpoints is checked, the gatekeeper rejects calls from
endpoints that have not re-registered with the redundant server after a
failover. Therefore, in a redundant system configuration, use a short refresh
period (30 seconds) unless you have many endpoints or a large amount of
network traffic.
Once a failover to a redundant server occurs, the redundant server manages
all system operations until an administrator switches back to the original
primary server via the Switch Server Roles function in the CMA system user
interface.
Redundant Configuration System Administration
Because the two servers share the external CMA system database, most of their
configuration information is shared. However, certain information is not
stored in the database, so an administrator must manually synchronize this
information. This includes:
• Basic network settings such as IP, default gateway, and DNS settings
• External database information
• Time and external NTP server settings
• The current system log level
• Custom CMA system logo--upload the same logo to both servers
• Software Update profiles for scheduled software updates--upload the
same software package to both servers
Whenever you change information in one of these sections on one server you
should also change it on the other server.
Licensing and upgrading a redundant system is slightly more complex. The
primary and redundant server required different licenses.
Notes
• The CMA system does not automatically switch to the primary server when the
primary server becomes available. An administrator must Switch Server
Roles.
• A failover or system restart initiates an encryption routine that changes the
private key for a redundant system. Therefore, after a failover or system restart,
schedulers who use one of the scheduling plug-ins will be prompted to re-enter
their login settings to access the system.