HA Node Connections

You can begin software configuration for your HA node after you have:

  • Completed the steps for physical set-up and connection.
  • Noted the target name of the Oracle Communications Session Border Controllers that make up the HA node.
  • Configured the virtual MAC addresses that you need, according to the type of physical interface cards installed on your Oracle Communications Session Border Controller.

HA Node Connection Configuration

If you are using HA, you need to set the phy-interface configuration parameters described in this section to establish successful connections. These parameters are for rear and media interfaces.

To access the phy-interface menu in the ACLI:

  1. In Superuser mode, type configure terminal and press Enter.
    ORACLE# configure terminal
  2. Type system and press Enter to access the system-level configuration elements.
    ORACLE(configure)# system
  3. Type phy-interface and press Enter. The system prompt changes to let you know that you can begin configuring individual parameters.
    ORACLE(system)# phy-interface
    ORACLE(phy-interface)#

    From this point, you can configure phy-interface parameters. To view all phy-interface parameters, enter a ? at the system prompt.

Rear Interfaces

You can use port 1 (wancom1) or port 2 (wancom2) as interfaces to support HA. Do not use port 0 (wancom 0) as that port is reserved for carrying management traffic.

Make sure that the physical connections you have made on the rear panel of your Oracle Communications Session Border Controllers correspond to the configurations you enter for phy-interfaces. You can connect Oracle Communications Session Border Controllers through multiple rear interfaces. For multiple rear interface connectivity, cable both port 1 and port 2 (wancom1 and wancom2) on one Oracle Communications Session Border Controller to port1 and port 2 on the other Oracle Communications Session Border Controller in the HA node.

The Oracle Communications Session Border Controller’s HA function depends heavily on health scores to determine the active and standby roles in an HA node. You can set the amount that will be subtracted from a Oracle Communications Session Border Controller’s health score in the event that a management interface fails for any reason. For example, a connection might become invalid or a cable might be removed inadvertently.

The following example shows how a configured phy-interface will appear in the ACLI for an HA node:

phy-interface
        name                           wancom1
        operation-type                 Control
        port                           1
        slot                           0
        virtual-mac
        wancom-health-score            20

To establish rear interfaces for use in an HA node using the ACLI:

  1. Access the phy-interface menu.
  2. name—Set a name for the interface using any combination of characters entered without spaces. For example: wancom1.
  3. operation-type—Set this parameter to Control.
  4. slot—Set this parameter to 0.
  5. port—Set this parameter to 1 or 2.
  6. wancom-health-score—Enter the number value between 0 and 100. This value will be subtracted from the Oracle Communications Session Border Controller’s health score in the event that a rear interface link fails. We recommend that you change this value from its default (50), and set it to 20.

    This value you set here is compared to the active and emergency health score thresholds you establish in the Oracle Communications Session Border Controller HA node (redundancy) configuration.

  7. For multiple rear interface support, configure the remaining, unused rear interfaces with the appropriate values.

    The following example shows configuration for multiple rear interface support.

    ORACLE(system)# phy-interface
    ORACLE(phy-interface)# name wancom1
    ORACLE(phy-interface)# operation-type control
    ORACLE(phy-interface)# port 1
    ORACLE(phy-interface)# wancom-health-score 20
    ORACLE(phy-interface)# done
    ORACLE(phy-interface)# name wancom2
    ORACLE(phy-interface)# operation-type control
    ORACLE(phy-interface)# port 2
    ORACLE(phy-interface)# wancom-health-score 20
    ORACLE(phy-interface)# done

Media Interface Virtual MAC Addresses

To configure HA for the media interfaces in an HA node, you must set one or more virtual MAC addresses, according to the type of physical layer cards you have installed on your Oracle Communications Session Border Controller.

To set a virtual MAC address using the ACLI:

  1. Access the phy-interface configuration.
  2. Configure all relevant parameters as noted in the Phy-Interfaces section of this guide’s System Configuration chapter.

    Since virtual MAC addresses are used for media interfaces only, verify that the operation type is set to media.

  3. virtual-mac—Enter the virtual MAC address that you have created using the steps in the Virtual MAC Addresses section.

HA Node Parameters

To establish a pair of Oracle Communications Session Border Controllers as an HA node, you need to configure basic parameters that govern how the Oracle Communications Session Border Controllers:

  • Transition on switchover
  • Share media and call state information
  • Checkpoint configuration data

The following example shows what an HA configuration might look like in the ACLI.

redundancy-config
        state                          enabled
        log-level                      WARNING
        health-threshold               75
        emergency-threshold            50
        port                           9090
        advertisement-time             500
        percent-drift                  210
        initial-time                   1250
        becoming-standby-time          45000
        becoming-active-time           100

You need to configure the two Oracle Communications Session Border Controllers to be HA node peers. To enable configuration checkpointing, you must to configure two peers in the ACLI, one for the primary and one for the secondary Oracle Communications Session Border Controller. The HA node peers configuration also allows you to configure destinations for where to send health and state information. Unless you create Oracle Communications Session Border Controller peers and destinations configurations, HA will not work properly.

The following example shows what an HA configuration might look like in the ACLI.

peer
                name                           netnetsd1
                state                          enabled
                type                           Primary
                destination
                        address                        169.254.1.1:9090
network-interface              wancom1:0
peer
                name                           netnetsd2
                state                          enabled
                type                           Secondary
                destination
                        address                        169.254.1.2:9090
                        network-interface              wancom1:0

HA Node Parameter Configuration

To configure general HA node parameters using the ACLI:

  1. In Superuser mode, type configure terminal and press Enter.
    ORACLE# configure terminal
  2. Type system and press Enter to access the system-level configuration elements.
    ORACLE(configure)# system
  3. Type redundancy and press Enter.
    ORACLE(system)# redundancy

    From here, you configure basic HA node parameters. To view all basic HA node parameters, enter a ? at the system prompt.

  4. state—Leave this parameter set to enabled for HA to work. To stop HA operation, set this parameter to disabled. The default value is enabled. The valid values are:
    • enabled | disabled

  5. log-level—Set the log level you want to use for the HA system process. The value you set in this field overrides any log level value you set for the entire Oracle Communications Session Border Controller in the system configuration process log level parameter. The default value is INFO which allows you to receive a moderate amount of detail. The valid values are:
    • emergency | critical | major | minor | warning | notice | info | trace | debug | detail

  6. health-threshold—Enter a value between 0 and 100 to set the health score at which the Oracle Communications Session Border Controllers in the HA node gracefully exchange active-standby roles. The default value is 75. The valid range is:
    • Minimum—1

    • Maximum—100

      For example, if this field is set to 75 and the active Oracle Communications Session Border Controller’s health score falls below that point, the standby Oracle Communications Session Border Controller will take over the active role. However, Oracle Communications Session Border Controller will only take over the active role if its own health score is 75 or better.

  7. emergency-threshold—Enter the health score for the standby Oracle Communications Session Border Controller to become active immediately. The default value is 50. The valid range is:
    • Minimum—0

    • Maximum—100

      If the standby Oracle Communications Session Border Controller is initializing and the active Oracle Communications Session Border Controller’s health score is below the health threshold, the standby Oracle Communications Session Border Controller will take the active role and there will be a graceful switchover. If the active Oracle Communications Session Border Controller’s health score is below the emergency threshold, then the switchover will be immediate.

      If the standby Oracle Communications Session Border Controller has a health score below the emergency threshold and the active Oracle Communications Session Border Controlleris unhealthy, the active Oracle Communications Session Border Controller will not give up its active role.

  8. advertisement-time—Enter the number of milliseconds to set how often Oracle Communications Session Border Controllers in an HA node inform each other of their health scores.

    We recommend you leave this parameter set to it’s default, 500. The valid range is:

    • Minimum—50

    • Maximum—999999999

  9. percent-drift—Enter the percentage of the advertisement time that you want one member of the HA node to wait before considering the other member to be out of service. For the standby Oracle Communications Session Border Controller, this is the time it will wait before taking the active role in the HA node. The default value is 210. The valid range is:
    • Minimum—100

    • Maximum—65535

  10. initial-time—Enter the number of milliseconds to set the longest amount of time the Oracle Communications Session Border Controller will wait at boot time to change its state from initial to either becoming active or becoming standby. The default value is 1250. The valid range is:
    • Minimum—5

    • Maximum—999999999

  11. becoming-standby-time—Enter the number of milliseconds the Oracle Communications Session Border Controller waits before becoming standby, allowing time for synchronization. If it is not fully synchronized within this time, it will be declared out of service.

    We recommend that you do not set this parameter below 45000. If a large configuration is being processed, we recommend setting this parameter to 180000 to allow enough time for configuration checkpointing. The default value is 45000. The valid range is:

    • Minimum—5

    • Maximum—999999999

  12. becoming-active-time—Enter the number of milliseconds that the standby Oracle Communications Session Border Controller takes to become active in the event that the active Oracle Communications Session Border Controller fails or has an intolerably decreased health score. The default value is 100. The valid range is:
    • Minimum—5

    • Maximum—999999999

HA Node Peer Configuration

To configure a Oracle Communications Session Border Controller as an HA node peer:

  1. From the redundancy menu, type peers and press Enter.
    ORACLE(system)# redundancy
    ORACLE(redundancy)# peers
  2. state—Enable or disable HA for this Oracle Communications Session Border Controller. The default value is enabled. The valid values are:
    • enabled | disabled

  3. name—Set the name of the HA node peer as it appears in the target name boot parameter.

    This is also the name of your system that appears in the system prompt. For example, in the system prompt ORACLE1#, ORACLE1 is the target name for that Oracle Communications Session Border Controller.

  4. type—These values refer to the primary and secondary utility addresses in the network interface configuration. To determine what utility address to use for configuration checkpointing, set the type of Oracle Communications Session Border Controller: primary or secondary.

    Note:

    You must change this field from unknown, its default. The valid values are:
    • primary—Set this type if you want the Oracle Communications Session Border Controller to use the primary utility address.

    • secondary—Set this type if you want the Oracle Communications Session Border Controller to use the secondary utility address.

    • unknown—If you leave this parameter set to this default value, configuration checkpointing will not work.

HA Node Health And State Configuration

To configure where to send health and state information within an HA node:

  1. From the peers configuration, type destinations and press Enter.
    ORACLE(rdncy-peer)# destinations
    ORACLE(rdncy-peer-dest)#
  2. address—Set the destination IPv4 address and port of the other Oracle Communications Session Border Controller in the HA node to which this Oracle Communications Session Border Controller will send HA-related messages. This value is an IPv4 address and port combination that you enter as: IPAddress:Port. For example, 169.254.1.1:9090.
    • The IPv4 address portion of this value is the same as the IPv4 address parameter set in a network interface configuration of the other Oracle Communications Session Border Controller in the HA node.

    • The port portion of this value is the port you set in the Oracle Communications Session Border Controller HA Node/redundancy configuration for the other Oracle Communications Session Border Controller in the node.

  3. network-interface—Set the name and subport for the network interface where the Oracle Communications Session Border Controller receives HA-related messages. Valid names are wancom1 and wancom2. This name and subport combination must be entered as name:subport; for example, wancom1:0.

    The network interface specified in this parameter must be linked to a phy-interface configured with rear interface parameters. The phy-interface’s operation type must be control or maintenance, and so the subport ID portion of this parameter is 0. The subport ID is the VLAN tag.