UCM630x - 1+N Media Cluster Guide

INTRODUCTION

UCM630X 1+N media cluster feature allows clustering multiple media servers with one UCM to expand the meeting capabilities of the UCM630X Series. Thus, allowing meetings of a larger scale to be hosted on the UCM630X.

The deployment architecture of this feature consists of one main business server that handles signaling, and at least one other server handling the media traffic. Please see the illustration below.

CONFIGURATION STEPS

The configuration of the cluster feature consists of two main parts, one part will be about the configuration of the business server, and the other part will be about the configuration of the media server(s).

Business Server

Step 1: Setting static IP address

To ensure that the connection isn’t lost to the business server, the user must configure a static IP on the business server. This can either done on the DHCP server by reserving an IP address using the MAC address of the network interface of the UCM, or we can set a static IP address on the intended network interface of the UCM. To set the address statically on the UCM, please follow the steps below:

1. Access the UCM’s web UI, navigate to System Settings > Network Settings, and then set a static IP on the network interface which is connected to the network where the media servers are hosted.

2. Click “Save” to save the configuration on the UCM.

Step 2: Configure the Cluster-related settings

To configure the UCM as the business server, please follow the steps below:

1. Navigate to System Settings > Cluster, then tick the option Enable Media Cluster.
2. Choose “Business Server” as the Device Role.
3. Choose the Multicast Network Port. This depends on the networking settings for the UCM (Route mode or Dual mode).
4. Enter a multicast IP address that will be used to send multicast traffic. Please ensure that the IP address used is within the range of multicast IP addresses.
5. Enter a port range start value and end value in the corresponding fields. Please ensure that the range of ports is between 1024 – 65535.
6. Enter the Business Server Listening Port number. Please ensure that the port number is within the range 1024 – 65535.
7. Then, we will enter the media server addresses, we can enter the addresses for now, then assign them later to the media server(s), in this example, we will assign the IP address 192.168.5.171, which will be set as a static IP address for the media server(s) in the following section regarding the configuration steps for the media server(s).
8. Once all the settings mentioned above are configured, please click “Save” to save the configuration.

The availability of the media server is indicated using the icons below:

• : This icon indicates that the server is in use.
• : This icon indicates that the server is not available
• : This icon indicates that the server is available but it is not in use.

Media Server

Step 1: Setting static IP address

Similar to the business server, we also need to set the static IP address for the media server to avoid losing the connection to it.

1. Access the UCM’s web UI, navigate to System Settings > Network Settings, and then set a static IP on the network interface which is connected to the network where the business server is hosted.

2. Click “Save” to save the configuration on the UCM.

Step 2: Configure the Cluster-related settings

To configure the UCM as a media server, please follow the steps below:

1. Please navigate to System Settings > Cluster
2. Tick the option “Enable Media Cluster”
3. Select “Media Server” as the Device Role
4. Enter the IP address of the business server and the listening port configured on the Business server.

5. Then click “Save” to save the configuration.

CONSIDERATIONS

Meeting Settings

Please ensure that the following settings are identical across all the UCMs involved in the cluster deployment. To access the configuration page, please navigate to Call Features > Multimedia Meeting.

SIP Settings

Please ensure that the following ToS SIP settings are identical across all the UCM devices which are involved in the cluster. To access the configuration page please navigate to PBX Settings > SIP Settings > ToS

RTP Settings

In case when the Business Server is behind a NAT router and does not possess a RemoteConnect plan, the user must configure port forwarding on the router and all the UCMs should have different ports ranges for the RTP and BFCP. Assuming that UCM1 has an RTP range of 10000-20000, UCM2 should use 20001-30000, and UCM3 should use 30001-40000 etc… The same logic should apply to BFCP, then port forwarding rules for both RTP and BFCP should be created at the level of the router, each range should correspond with its respective UCM IP address as the destination of the forwarding. If TURN server is used, then the same TURN server can be used for all the media servers.

To access the configuration page of RTP Settings, please navigate to PBX Settings > RTP Settings

CLUSTER CAPABILITIES

The following table mentions the number of calls each business server is capable of processing and the additional calls that each media server will process based on the model of the UCM used.

HIGH AVAILABILITY WITH THE CLUSTER

Local Hot-standby:

If the business server is configured with HA Local Hot-standby, then media server must configure the Business Server IP field with the HA cluster IP address. In case of HA failover, the secondary unit will also be able to take advantage of the existing media cluster.

Remote Disaster Recovery:

Cluster configuration is not synced in Remote Disaster Recovery environments. Users can choose to expand the capacity of only one of the UCMs or both units. In case of the latter, the primary and secondary units must configure their own separate cluster environments.