Synchronizing Configurations

You can synchronize the Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controllers (ESBC) in your High Availability (HA) node in the following ways:

  • Automatically — Set up configuration checkpointing within the HA node.
  • Manually — Check whether or not configurations in the HA node are synchronized, and then copy configuration data from one ESBC to the other.

When you initially configure a new HA node, copy the configuration data manually from one ESBC to the other. When you complete the process, you can configure your HA node to automatically synchronize configurations.

Oracle recommends that you configure the HA node for configuration checkpointing because that is the most reliable way to ensure that both systems have the same configuration.

Using Configuration Checkpointing

The Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller’s primary and secondary utility addresses support configuration checkpointing, allowing the standby Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller to learn configuration changes from the active Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller. This means that you only have to enter configuration changes on the active Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller for the configurations across the HA node to be updated.

Configuration checkpointing uses parameters in the network interface and in the Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller HA Nodes/redundancy configurations.

If you are using configuration checkpointing, you also need to set up two Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller peer configurations: one the primary, and one for the secondary.

HA Configuration Checkpointing

You need to first set applicable network interface configuration parameters, and then establish applicable parameters in the Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller HA node (redundancy) configuration.

We recommend that you do not change the configuration checkpointing parameters in the redundancy configuration. Using the defaults, this feature will function as designed.

Note:

Remember to set the appropriate type parameter in the HA node redundancy peers configuration.

For the network interface, these parameters appear as they do in the following example when you use the ACLI. This example has been shortened for the sake of brevity.

pri-utility-addr               169.254.1.1
sec-utility-addr               169.254.1.2

For the Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller HA node (redundancy) configuration, these parameters appear as they do in the following example when you use the ACLI. This example has been shortened for the sake of brevity. You should not change these values without consultation from Oracle Technical Support or your Oracle Systems Engineer.

cfg-port                       1987
cfg-max-trans                  10000
cfg-sync-start-time            5000
cfg-sync-comp-time             1000

To configure HA configuration checkpointing 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 network-interface and press Enter. The system prompt changes to let you know that you can begin configuring individual parameters.
    ORACLE(system)# network-interface
    ORACLE(network-interface)#

    From here, you can configure network interface parameters. To view all network interfaces parameters, enter a ? at the system prompt.

  4. pri-utility-addr—Enter the utility IP address for the primary HA peer in an HA architecture.

    This address can be any unused IP address within the subnet defined for the network interface. For example, given a network interface of with the IPv4 address 168.0.4.15/24 (identifying the host associated with the network interface), the possible range of unused IPv4 addresses is 168.0.4.1 to 168.0.4.254. Your network administrator will know which IPv4 addresses are available for use.

  5. sec-utility-addr—Enter the utility IP address for the secondary Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller peer in an HA architecture.

    Usually, this IP address is usually the next in the sequence up from the primary utility address. It is also generated from the range of unused IP addresses within the subnet defined for the network interface.

  6. Save your work and exit the network interface configuration.
    ORACLE(network-interface)# done
    ORACLE(network-interface)# exit
    ORACLE(system)#
  7. Access the system HA node/redundancy configuration by typing redundancy at the system prompt and then press Enter.
    ORACLE(system)# redundancy
    ORACLE(redundancy)#

    Note:

    We strongly recommend that you keep the default settings for the parameters Steps 8 through 11.
  8. cfg-port—Enter the port number for sending and receiving configuration checkpointing messages. Setting this to zero (0) disables configuration checkpointing. The default value is 1987. The valid values are:
    • Minimum—0, 1025

    • Maximum—65535

  9. cfg-max-trans—Enter the number of HA configuration checkpointing transactions that you want to store. The active Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller maintains the transaction list, which is acquired by the standby Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller. Then the standby system uses the list to synchronize its configuration with active system. The default value is 10000. The valid range is:
    • Minimum—0

    • Maximum—4294967295

      Transactions include: modifications, additions, and deletions. If the maximum number of stored transactions is reached, the oldest transactions will be deleted as new transactions are added.

  10. cfg-sync-start-time—Enter the number of milliseconds before the Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller tries to synchronize by using configuration checkpointing. On the active Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller, this timer is continually reset as the Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller checks to see that it is still in the active role. If it becomes standby, it waits this amount of time before it tries to synchronize.

    We recommend you leave this field at its default value, 5000, so that configuration checkpointing can function correctly. The valid range is:

    • Minimum—0

    • Maximum—4294967295

  11. cfg-sync-comp-time—Enter the number of milliseconds that the standby Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller waits before checkpointing to obtain configuration transaction information after the initial checkpointing process is complete.

    We recommend you leave this field at its default value, 1000, so that configuration checkpointing can function correctly. The valid range is:

    • Minimum—0

    • Maximum—4294967295

  12. Save your work and exit the redundancy configuration.
    ORACLE(redundancy)# done
    ORACLE(redundancy)# exit
    ORACLE(system)#

Manually Checking Configuration Synchronization

You can check that the current and active configurations are synchronized across the HA node. The current configuration is the one with which you are currently working, and the active configuration is the one active on the system.

To confirm that the systems in the HA node have synchronized configurations:

  1. On the active Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller in the Superuser menu, enter the following ALCI commands and press Enter. Note the configuration version numbers for comparison with those on the standby Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller.
    • display-current-cfg-version—Shows the version number of the configuration you are currently viewing (for editing, updating, etc.).

      ORACLE# display-current-cfg-version
      Current configuration version is 30
    • display-running-cfg-version—Shows the version number of the active configuration running on the Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller.

      ORACLE# display-running-cfg-version
      Running configuration version is 30
  2. On the standby Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller, enter the following ALCI commands and press Enter. Note the configuration version numbers for comparison with those on the active Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller.
    ORACLE# display-current-cfg-version
    Current configuration version is 30
    ORACLE# display-running-cfg-version
    Running configuration version is 30
  3. Compare the configuration numbers. If the version numbers on the active Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller match those on the standby Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller, then the systems are synchronized.

    If the version numbers do not match, you need to synchronize the Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controllers. You can do so using the ACLI acquire-config command.