Resource Manager HA (Windows)

• Task Summaries and Procedures
• Resource Manager HA IP Address Takeover for Windows

Task Summaries and Procedures

Task Summary: Configuring the RM in HA Active Standby (Windows)

Objective	Related Procedures and Actions
Configure NLB on the Resource Manager hosts.	See Procedure: Configuring Resource Manager HA (Windows 2003) or Procedure: Configuring Resource Manager HA (Windows 2008).
Configure the member IDs and NLB script path in the Resource Manager Applications.	See Procedure: Configuring the Resource Manager HA-Pair.
Configure the virtual IP address of the HA-pair in the INIT and NLB script files.	See Procedure: Configuring the INIT and NLB Script Files (Windows).
Specify the NICs that require monitoring (optional).	See Procedure: Specifying the NICs to Monitor (Windows). Note: In Windows environments, NICs monitoring is optional. If there are only two NICs installed on the host, omit this procedure. For more information about monitoring the NICs, see Monitoring the NICs.
If you are installing Resource Manager HA on Windows 2008, configure a network account with Administrator privileges (not required on Windows 2003).	See Procedure: Configuring the Resource Manager Service (Windows). Note: Windows 2008 does not support the NLB command /PASSW argument for remote procedure calls. Therefore, the Resource Manager Service must run as a network account that has Administrator privileges.
Complete finals steps before starting the Resource Manager HA-pair in NLB mode.	See Start Resource Manager HA-pair in NLB mode.

Task Summary: Configuring the RM in HA Active Active (Windows)

Objective	Related Procedures and Actions
Configure the member IDs in the Resource Manager Applications.	See Procedure: Configuring the Resource Manager HA-Pair.
Configure the virtual IP in the Media Control Platform, Call Control Platform, and CTI Connector Applications.	See Procedure: Integrating Application Objects with Resource Manager and Procedure: Configuring the Call Control Platform. Note: When you use these procedures to configure active active HA mode, the virtual IP is used as the Resource Manager IP.
Configure the external load balancer.	See the vendor documentation for the type of load balancer you are using (for example, F5 or Radware).

You can configure the Resource Manager in HA active standby mode by using the Windows NLB service. Use the procedures in this section to configure the Resource Manager HA-pair on Windows 2003 or 2008.

Procedure: Configuring Resource Manager HA (Windows 2003)

Complete this procedure on each of the Resource Manager hosts in the HA-pair, specifying a unique ID for each host.

[+] Purpose

Configure NLB on the Resource Manager host (Windows 2003).

[+] Steps

1. Make sure that the Resource Manager hosts conform to the prerequisites for Windows. See Prerequisites.
2. From the Windows Start menu, select Control Panel > Network Connections.
3. Right-click the local-area connection that will be used for NLB, and then select Properties.
   The General tab of the Local Area Connection Properties dialog box appears.
4. In the list of services, perform one of the following:
   • Ensure that Network Load Balancing is selected.
   • If Network Load Balancing is not in the list, click Install > Service > Network Load Balancing.
5. With Network Load Balancing selected on the General tab, click Properties.
6. Enter the information on the Cluster Parameters and Host Parameters tabs, as shown in the table below:

Table 48: Properties of NLB Service

Section	Field	Description
Cluster parameters tab
Cluster IP configuration	IP Address	Enter the virtual IP address of this cluster.
	Subnet mask	Enter the subnet mask for your network.
	Full Internet name	Enter the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) that is associated with the virtual IP address.
Cluster operation mode	Unicast	Enable this radio button.
Allow remote control (ensure that this is checked)	Remote password	Enter root1.
	Confirm password	Enter root1.
Host parameters tab
Priority (unique host identifier)		Enter 1 for the first Resource Manager host in the cluster. Enter 2 for the second Resource Manager host in the cluster. This parameter specifies a unique ID for each host.
Dedicated IP configuration	IP address	Enter the IP address that is associated with this local-area connection. (This IP address is different from the virtual IP address that was assigned previously).
	Subnet mask	Enter the subnet mask for the network.
Initial host state	Default state	In the drop-down list, select Stopped.

6. On the Port Rules tab, click Add.
   The Add/Edit Port Rule dialog box appears.
7. Enter the information for the port rules, as shown in the table below:

Table 49: Add/Edit Port Rules

Section	Field	Value and Description
Cluster IP address		Select All.
Port range	From	Accept the default value, 0.
	To	Accept the default value, 65535.
Protocols		Select Both (TCP & UDP).
Filtering mode	Multiple hosts	Enable this radio button.
	Affinity	Select None.
	Load weight	Select Equal.

8. Click OK to save the port rules and then click OK again to save the changes to the NLB properties.
9. On the General tab, select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP).
10. Click Properties.
11. Verify that the settings on the General tab are associated with this local-area connection.
12. On the Advanced tab, in the IP addresses field, verify:
    • The first IP address is the one that is associated with the local-area connection.
    • The second IP address is the virtual IP address.
    Tip

    If the second IP address is not listed, add the virtual IP address as the second IP address. Click the IP Settings tab to add the virtual IP address and the corresponding subnet mask. In the pop-up window, click Add.
13. Click OK to save the settings, and then click OK again to close the Local Area Connection Properties dialog box.
14. Restart the computer.

[+] Next

• Configure the Resource Manager Applications. See Procedure: Configuring the Resource Manager HA-Pair.

Procedure: Configuring Resource Manager HA (Windows 2008)

Perform this procedure on each of the Resource Manager hosts in the NLB cluster, specifying a unique ID for each host.

[+] Purpose

To set up NLB by configuring Windows 2008.

[+] Prerequisites

• The Resource Manager hosts must conform to the prerequisites for Windows. See Prerequisites.

[+] Steps

1. From the Windows Start menu, select Administrative Tools > Server Manager.
2. In the Feature Summary section, click Add Features.
   The Add Features Wizard appears.
3. Click the check box beside Windows Network Load Balancing.
4. Click Install.
   Network Load Balancing is installed on Windows.

   Configuring the Cluster

5. In Administrative Tools, select Network Load Balancing Manager.
6. Right-click Network Load Balancing Clusters, and click New Cluster.
7. In the Host field, enter the name of the Resource Manager host that you are adding to the cluster for example, ResMgr1.
8. Click Connect.
9. Select the interface that will host the HA-pair's virtual IP address, and click Next. The interface selected cannot be used for the private communication between the Resource Manager nodes (for example, the IP address that is associated with this NIC cannot be used in the [cluster] member.[n] configuration parameter). This interface hosts the virtual IP address, which receives and load-balances the client traffic.
10. Enter the information on the Host Parameters and Cluster Parameters section, as shown in the table below:

    Table 50: Properties of NLB Service

    Section	Field	Description
    Host parameters	Priority (unique host identifier)	Enter 1 for the first Resource Manager host in the cluster. Enter 2 for the second Resource Manager host in the cluster. This parameter specifies a unique ID for each host.
    Cluster IP Address		Click Add to enter the IP address that is shared by the hosts in the HA-pair. The shared IP address for the HA-pair must be static. NLB disables DHCP on every interface that it configures, as it does not support DHCP.
    Cluster parameters	IP Address	Enter the virtual IP address of this cluster.
    	Subnet mask	Enter the subnet mask for your network. (The subnet mask is not required for IPv6 addresses.)
    Cluster operation mode	Unicast	Enable this radio button. In Unicast mode, the MAC address of the cluster is assigned to the network adapter for the computer, and the built-in MAC address of the network adapter is not used.

11. In the Port Rules section, click Edit.
12. Configure the port rules as shown in the table below:

    Table 51: Port Rules Configuration

    Section	Field	Value and Description
    Port range	From	Accept the default value, 0.
    	To	Accept the default value, 65535.
    Protocols		Select Both (TCP & UDP).
    Filtering Mode	Multiple hosts	Enable this radio button.
    	Affinity	Set to None.

13. Click Finish. To add another host to the cluster, right-click the new cluster, click Add Host to Cluster, and repeat Steps 8 to 14.

[+] Next

• Configure the Resource Manager Applications for HA. See Procedure: Configuring the Resource Manager HA-Pair.

Tip

The following information applies to NLB configuration on Windows 2003 and 2008:

In active standby mode, when the active Resource Manager nodes NLB-dedicated NIC cannot be reached (due to an unplugged cable, a disabled NIC, or a shutdown host), it can take several seconds to several minutes before the traffic is re-routed to the standby Resource Manager node.

When the active Resource Manager node cannot be reached, the standby node issues the wlbs command (see Procedure: Configuring the INIT and NLB Script Files (Windows)) as part of the failover sequence. If the dedicated NLB NIC of the currently active Resource Manager node cannot be reached, then the wlbs command can hang for several seconds and cause the failover to be delayed.

In addition, if the failover occurred because the Resource Manager machine was shut down, the previously active Resource Manager might temporarily take over the traffic when the machine reboots. To resolve this issue:

1. In the Network Load Balancing Properties on both of the Resource Manager hosts in the cluster, go to the Host Parameters section.
2. In the Initial host state section, select Stopped from the Default state drop-down menu.

Procedure: Configuring the Resource Manager HA-Pair

Complete this procedure for each Resource Manager HA Application in the HA-pair.

[+] Purpose

To configure the member IDs and NLB script path in the Resource Manager HA Applications for active standby mode.

[+] Prerequisites

• For active standby mode only, ensure NLB clustering is set up on each Resource Manager host in the cluster. See Procedure: Configuring Resource Manager HA (Windows 2003), Procedure: Configuring Simple Virtual IP Failover, or Procedure: Configuring Bonding Driver Failover.

[+] Steps

1. Log in to Genesys Administrator.
2. On the Provisioning tab, select Environment > Applications.
3. Select the Resource Manager HA Application you want to configure.
   The Configuration tab appears.
4. On the Options tab, enter the mandatory information in the Cluster section as shown in the table below:

   Table 52: Options Tab Cluster Section

   Option Name	Value
   members	Retain the default value of 1 2.
   member.1	Enter <localhost_IP_add_1>:9801 ...where <localhost_IP_add_1> is the private IP address of the first Resource Manager host, which corresponds to the IP address of the network interface that does not have the virtual IP address assigned (not the IP address that is associated with the NLB cluster).
   member.2	Enter <localhost_IP_add_2>:9801 ...where <localhost_IP_add_2> is the private IP address of the second Resource Manager host, which corresponds to the IP address of the network interface that does not have the virtual IP address assigned (not the IP address that is associated with the NLB cluster).
   hotstandby	Enter true.
   mymemberid	For the Resource Manager HA Application that represents the first Resource Manager host in the HA-pair, enter 1. For the Resource Manager HA Application that represents the second Resource Manager host in the HA-pair, enter 2. The first and second Resource Manager hosts must correspond to the first and second Resource Manager hosts that you specified in Step 5 or the table Properties of NLB Service in Procedure: Configuring the INIT and NLB Script Files (Linux). Also, if both Resource Manager instances are running, memberid 2 will be the active one.
   virtual-ip	Enter <virtual_IP_add>, where <virtual_IP_add> is the designated Virtual IP address that is shared by all of the Resource Manager hosts in the HA-pair.
   virtual-ip-in-via	Retain the default value of true.
   electiontimer	Retain the default value of 3000.
   FailOverScript	Retain the default value, <Installation Directory>\bin\NLB.bat where <Installation Directory> is the directory where the NLB.bat file is installed. Tip Configuration of this option is not required for active active HA mode.
   heartbeattimer	Set to 2000.
   ha-mode	Enter active active or active standby.

   Tip

   Many other options can be configured for the Resource Manager HA-pair. For a complete list of the available options, and descriptions of them, see the GVP 8.5 User's Guide.
5. Click Save.
6. Repeat Steps 3 to 5 for each Resource Manager HA Application in the HA-pair.

[+] Next

• If you have not already done so, configure a connection to the Message Server in each Resource Manager Application in the HA-pair. See Procedure: Creating a Connection to a Server, on page 243.

• Specify the NICs you want to monitor (optional). See Procedure: Specifying the NICs to Monitor (Windows).

Procedure: Specifying the NICs to Monitor (Windows)

[+] Purpose

To specify the NICs that you want the Resource Manager to monitor. If the GVP section in the Resource Manager HA Application is not configured, all of the NICs installed on the host are monitored for network errors.

[+] Prerequisites

• More than two NICs are configured on the same host and are fully functional.

• Two NICs are configured as part of an HA-pair. See Procedure: Configuring Resource Manager HA (Windows 2003), on page 410, and Procedure: Configuring the Resource Manager HA-Pair, on page 416.

[+] Steps

1. Log in to Genesys Administrator.
2. On the Provisioning tab, select Environment > Applications.
3. Select the Resource Manager HA Application that you want to configure.
4. On the Options tab, scroll to the GVP section.
5. For the nic.eth0 option, in the Value field, enter the MAC address of the first NIC that you want to monitor. For example: nic.eth0 = 00-0F-1F-6D-EB-CA.
   Tip

   This value must be provided for IP takeover, even if only a single NIC is used.
6. Repeat Step 5, adding nic.eth1 and the MAC address of the second NIC that you want to monitor. For example: nic.eth1 = 00-0F-1F-6D-EB-CA.
   Tip

   NICs must be configured with a value of 0 (zero) for IP takeover, even though a single NIC is used.
7. If more than two NICs exist, configure the nics option value to 0 1.
   Tip

   The instructions in Steps 5, 6, and 7 are based on the assumption that the chosen network interfaces are numbered 0 and 1. If this configuration does not match the actual interface numbers in your system, change the values accordingly.
8. Click Save.
9. To confirm that you have configured the NICs correctly, use the ipconfig/all command to query the MAC addresses of the NICs.

[+] Next

• Configure the INIT.bat and NLB.bat script files. See Procedure: Configuring the INIT and NLB Script Files (Windows).

Procedure: Configuring the INIT and NLB Script Files (Windows)

Configure the INIT.bat and NLB.bat files on each Resource Manager host in the HA-pair.

[+] Purpose

To configure the INIT.bat and NLB.bat files with the virtual IP address of the HA-pair.

[+] Prerequisites

• NLB clustering has been set up on the hosts. See Procedure: Configuring Resource Manager HA (Windows 2003), on page 410.

[+] Steps

BODY

Configure the INIT.bat file
1. Open the INIT.bat file in a text editor.
   The INIT.bat file is located in <Res_Mgr_Install_Dir>\bin directory.
2. Follow the directions in the script file to change the virtual IP address and the IP address for members 1 and 2 of the HA-pair.
3. Click File > Save. Configure the NLB.bat file
4. Open the NLB.bat file in a text editor. The NLB.bat file is located in the <RM_Install_Dir>\bin directory.
5. Follow the directions in the script file to change the virtual IP address and the IP address for members 1 and 2 of the HA-pair. The private_ip_member1 and private_ip_member2 parameters represent the interfaces that are associated with the NLB interface. (See the example for NIC2 in Figure: IP Address Assignation for active standby HA.)
6. Save the changes.
7. Execute the INIT.bat script on each host to disable NLB functionality on both hosts, enter INIT.bat.
8. Execute the NLB.bat script to re-enable NLB functionality on the host that will act as the master, enter NLB.bat enable X
   ...where X is the member ID of the host on which the virtual IP will accept traffic.
   Tip

   Enter 1 or 2 for the value in the NLB.bat enable command, based on the member ID of the Resource Manager instance on that host.

   After NLB.bat script execution, the virtual IP will be active on the host that is identified as private_ip_member1 in the NLB.bat file. Confirm this by attempting to Remote Desktop into the virtual IP address, and once logged in, check the hostname to confirm it is the correct system.

[+] Next

• If you are installing the cluster on Windows 2008, configure the Resource Manager Service. See Procedure: Configuring the Resource Manager Service (Windows).

• If you are installing the cluster on Windows 2003, execute NLB cluster mode. See Executing NLB Mode .

Procedure: Configuring the Resource Manager Service (Windows)

[+] Purpose

Modify the Resource Manager Service in Window 2008 to run as a network account.
Complete this procedure on both the primary and backup servers in the HA-pair.

[+] Steps

1. At the Start menu, select Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services.
2. Right-click the Genesys VP Resource Manager Service.
3. When the Genesys VP Resource Manager Service Properties dialog box opens, click the Log On tab.
4. Enable the This account radio button, and enter .\Administrator .
5. In the Password and Confirm Password fields, enter the Administrator's password.
6. Click the Enable button.
7. Click OK.

[+] Next

• Start Resource Manager HA-pair in NLB mode (below).

Start Resource Manager HA-pair in NLB mode

[+] Steps

1. Execute the INIT.bat file.
   When you execute this file, load balancing is disabled on both members in the HA-pair. Executing in NLB mode, the Resource Manager checks the status of other Resource Manager instance before it assumes Active Standby status.
2. Start both Resource Manager instances, running as a High Availability pair.

Resource Manager HA IP Address Takeover for Windows

Beginning with release 8.1.6, Resource Manager supports IP Address Takeover for Windows.

Resource Manager (RM) is used with SIP Server for Media Server applications, and with GVP for VoiceXML applications. Resource Manager provides an essential intelligence for GVP and media policy management, resource management and reporting. Resource Manager monitors the availability of media servers and directs SIP Server to connect sessions to the most suitable media server.

Resource Manager High Availability means that the RM function can be deployed as a pair of RM processes. You can configure RM pairs to send updates to each other regarding the status of requests and system states. RM pairs can be deployed in Active Standby or Active Active modes.

If SIP Server is sending requests to an RM Active Active configuration, it requires that a load balancer be placed between SIP Server and the Resource Manager Pairs. F5, NLB, and Radware are examples of third party load balancers that can perform these functions. Active Active designs require load balancing to maintain stickiness of the session between SIP Server and the RM selected.

If SIP Server is sending requests to an RM pair configured in Active Standby, then SIP Server is directing requests only to the active RM, using a Virtual IP. The RMs have an internal selection mechanism to determine which node should be the active one. The standby RM is used to take over the role of the Primary only when the current active RM process fails. There are two ways to accomplish the takeover: you can use Windows NLB for monitoring and switching.

Or, you can use the Genesys Solution Control Server (SCS) to monitor alarms sent to it for RM; if the active RM goes down, then SCS can execute scripts that change the Virtual IP addressing between SIP Server to the formerly-standby-now-active RM. The RM also has its internal mechanism of performing failover using heartbeat monitoring between the pair. The active standby configuration does not require a load balancer, but does need an effective script solution.

Table 53: IP Address Takeover vs. Load Balancing A Comparison

RM Configuration	RM Scripts	RM Load Balancing	Pro	Con
Active Standby (Load Balancing)	—	Windows NLB	Comes with the product, slightly easier config; supports Windows.	—
Active Standby (IP Address Takeover)	IP-Takeover Patch with Scripts	—	Comes with the product, slightly easier configuration; supports Windows & Linux.	Still less reliable than NLB in this configuration for switchover timing; see the Resource Manager Release Note.
Active Active (IP Address Takeover)	—	F5, NLB	Fast takeover.	Complex Config, 3rd Party sw, NLB is windows only.
Active Active (Load Balancing)	—	Genesys SIP Server with internal load balancing	Comes with the product, easy configuration, baked-in function.	—

Procedure: Configure Resource Manager High Availability Using Virtual IP Address Takeover for Windows

[+] Purpose

To configure VP Resource Manager (RM) High Availability (HA) using Virtual IP (VIP) Address Takeover for Windows.

[+] Prerequisites

New script files were added to the Resource Manager IP. Verify that the following four files are present in the installation-bin folder:

• INIT_IPTakeOver.bat
• IPTakeOver.bat
• Ping.vbs
• Check_Ip.vbs

[+] Steps

1. Follow the instructions inside INIT_IPTakeOver.bat to set the parameters VirtualIP and VirtualInterface.
2. Follow the instructions inside IPTakeOver.bat to set the parameters VirtualIP, VirtualInterface, GatewayIP, mymemberid and InterfaceForARPing.
   Tip

   IPTakeOver.bat also contains instructions that you should follow, for using the arping utility and other functions.

   Line 82 in IPTakeOver.bat should be commented out for Installations on Windows 2008 SP1 with the Hot fix installed http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2811463/en-us:

   REM @arping.exe -c 3 -i %InterfaceForArping% -S %VirtualIP% %GatewayIP% >> IPTakeOver.log
3. In the RM's [cluster] section, set the failoverscript parameter to $InstallationRoot$/bin/IPTakeOver.bat.
4. Create alarm-based reaction scripts to execute the failover script which would disable VIP in case of RM crash or shutdown. To create these scripts, follow these steps:
   1. Create a new Third Party Server template.
   2. Create two Reaction Applications.
   3. Create and configure two Alarm Reaction scripts.
   4. Create two Alarm Conditions, to send an alarm when either instance of the RM is stopped intentionally.
   5. Create two Alarm Conditions, to send an alarm when either instance of the RM stops unexpectedly.
5. (Optional) Execute INIT_IPTakeOver.bat manually before starting RM in both HA nodes.

Tip

In some systems, the default heartbeat interval between the two RM nodes (2000 msec) is not suitable for the IP Takeover mechanism. To compensate, Genesys recommends setting the configuration option cluster.heartbeattimer to 8000.

[+] Caution

• Virtual IP (VIP) Address Takeover for Windows is less reliable than a Windows NLB cluster configuration (below).

Virtual IP (VIP) Address Takeover for Windows is less reliable than a Windows NLB cluster configuration

Adding or removing an IP address using VIP Address Takeover is more complicated than enabling or disabling a port in the Windows NLB configuration. VIP Address Takeover fails when either command on the backup or the primary fails. By comparison, in the Windows NLB configuration there is no dependency on a backup command to succeed for most of the failover scenarios.

Netsh (the Microsoft utility used for IP Address Takeover) takes longer to modify the network configuration than it does to enable or disable a port in the NLB configuration. Also, the time may depend upon a particular NIC and its configuration. Normally, modification takes less than 15 seconds to execute, but in this situation it can take as long as 30-45 seconds.

In addition, the Netsh command can fail if the NIC configuration is already being accessed through the Network Properties User Interface.

Virtual IP Interface Takeover Scripts

Find these scripts on your Installation CD or in the IP package that you downloaded over the internet:

Ping.vbs: Ping host and return 1 if the ping is successful, 0 if not, -1 if target not specified.

Check_ip.vbs: Check if the IP address (arg0) can be found on the host (arg1) and return 1 if found, 0 if not, -1 if address and host not specified.

INIT_IPTakeOver.bat: Optional. You can manually execute this batch script, to disable the Virtual IP interface in the RM box before starting the RM process.

IPTakeOver.bat: Enable or disable the Virtual IP interface in the RM box, during RM's own internal election process or when a failover event occurs.

For steps that configure the Resource Manager application, go to Procedure: Configuring the Resource Manager HA-Pair.