Cisco TMS SERVER REDUNDANCY - CONFIGURATION GUIDE... User manual

Cisco TMS Server
Redundancy
Configuration Guide
D14570.02
December 2010

Cisco Revision Notes
Cisco TMS redundancy configuration and overview Page 2 of 32
Contents
Cisco TMS Server Architecture............................................................................................................... 6
Communication with Cisco TMS ............................................................................................................. 6
Users Communicating with Cisco TMS............................................................................................ 6
Cisco TMS and Devices................................................................................................................... 6
IP Addresses vs. DNS hostnames................................................................................................... 6
Cisco TMS and External Systems....................................................................................................7
Cisco TMS and Database ................................................................................................................ 7
Single Server, Single Database, Redundant Hardware........................................................................12
Recovery Methods: ........................................................................................................................ 12
Installation ...................................................................................................................................... 12
Maintenance................................................................................................................................... 12
Upgrading Cisco TMS ....................................................................................................................12
Model Summary............................................................................................................................. 12
Single Server, Separate Database........................................................................................................13
Recovery Methods: ........................................................................................................................ 13
Installation ...................................................................................................................................... 13
Maintenance................................................................................................................................... 14
Upgrading Cisco TMS ....................................................................................................................14
Model Summary............................................................................................................................. 14
Single Server, Clustered Database....................................................................................................... 14
Recovery Methods ......................................................................................................................... 14
Installation ...................................................................................................................................... 15
Maintenance................................................................................................................................... 15
Upgrading Cisco TMS ....................................................................................................................15
Model Summary............................................................................................................................. 15
Multiple Servers, Manual Cutover ......................................................................................................... 16
Recovery Methods ......................................................................................................................... 16
Installation ...................................................................................................................................... 17
Installing the Cisco TMS servers...........................................................................................................17
Domain Requirements.................................................................................................................... 17
Installing primary TMS application. ................................................................................................ 17
Installing secondary TMS application............................................................................................. 17
Custom file synchronization. .......................................................................................................... 17
Set primary TMS address............................................................................................................... 17
Set web validation key on web servers..........................................................................................18
Maintenance................................................................................................................................... 18
Upgrading TMS .............................................................................................................................. 19
Model Summary............................................................................................................................. 19
Multiple TMS Servers, Load Balancing, and Clustered Database........................................................20
Recovery Methods ......................................................................................................................... 20
Installation ...................................................................................................................................... 20
Maintenance................................................................................................................................... 22
Upgrading TMS .............................................................................................................................. 22
Model Summary............................................................................................................................. 23
Manual Off-Site Fail-Over...................................................................................................................... 23
Recovery Methods ......................................................................................................................... 24
Installation ...................................................................................................................................... 25

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Maintenance................................................................................................................................... 25
Upgrading TMS .............................................................................................................................. 25
Model Summary............................................................................................................................. 26
TMS Customer file synchronization ............................................................................................... 27
Backing up the database.......................................................................................................................29
Restoring the TMS Database................................................................................................................29
Event Execution..................................................................................................................................... 31
Conference Connection and Control.....................................................................................................31
Figures
Figure 1 Multiple Stand-by Server Illustration .......................................................................................16
Figure 2 Network Load Balancing.........................................................................................................20
Figure 3 Balancing Off-Site Cutover...................................................................................................... 24

Cisco Revision Notes
Cisco TMS redundancy configuration and overview Page 4 of 32
Revision Notes
November 2010  Rebranded with Cisco Systems.
September 2010  Applied Cisco template and Cisco product names
Rev 2.1.1  Fixed Bookmarks in PDF Output.
Rev 2.1  Added Validation Key requirements.
 Corrected viewstate comments.
 Added sticky connection recommendation for NLBs.
 Minor formatting changes.
 Updated Cisco TMS version references to 11.7.
October 2009  Updated template.
 New document number. (Old number: D50396).

Cisco Introduction
Cisco TMS redundancy configuration and overview Page 5 of 32
Introduction
The Cisco TelePresence Management Suite (Cisco TMS) supports installation into environments that
can provide fail-over or redundancy for both the Cisco TMS server and Cisco TMS database. This
document describes the requirements, configuration, and limitations when implementing Cisco TMS in
a redundant or fail-over solution. At the time of publication, this document reflects capabilities and
requirements as of Cisco TMS version 11.7. Older versions of Cisco TMS prior to 11.5 will differ from
this information. Newer versions of Cisco TMS are compatible with these requirements and the
document will be revised as necessary to match newer releases of Cisco TMS. Unless stated
otherwise, information in this document should apply to all versions of Cisco TMS v11.5 or newer.
The target audience for this document is the Cisco TMS server administrator who wishes to deploy
redundancy or fail-over in their Cisco TMS installation. This document assumes the reader has an
understanding of Cisco TMS, Cisco TMS installation, Microsoft Windows server operating systems,
and an advanced level of understanding of network protocols and networking.
This document is divided into the following sections:
 Overview of Cisco TMS Structures and Communications
 Redundancy Concepts for Cisco TMS
 Cisco TMS Architecture Requirements for Redundancy
 Redundancy Models
 Customer Specific Cisco TMS Files
 Backup and Recovery of the Cisco TMS Database
 Cisco TMS Redundancy Limitations and Notes

Cisco Overview of Cisco TMS Structures and Communications
Cisco TMS redundancy configuration and overview Page 6 of 32
Overview of Cisco TMS Structures and
Communications
Cisco TMS Server Architecture
Cisco TMS functionality is achieved through the combination of several elements. Users only interact
with Cisco TMS through the website, but the complete Cisco TMS product is actually constructed from
three different logical components:
Cisco TMS Web-Server: The web server used by Cisco TMS is Microsoft’s Internet Information
Server (IIS). This provides an interactive interface for users and external systems to interact with
Cisco TMS.
Cisco TMS Windows Services: Cisco TMS has a set of Windows services running on the server in
the background that handles all background tasks, call set-up, monitoring and application logic. These
services are not directly interfaced by users of Cisco TMS.
Cisco TMS Database: The database engine used by Cisco TMS is a Microsoft SQL Server. The
database stores most information used by Cisco TMS and is designed to be used simultaneously by
multiple agents. The Cisco TMS Website and Cisco TMS Windows Services interact directly with the
Cisco TMS database. The database may run on the same server as the rest of Cisco TMS or on a
separate server. For most redundancy scenarios the database must run on a separate server.
The Cisco TMS Web server and Cisco TMS Windows Services are installed together on a server
when installing Cisco TMS and cannot be installed separately by the installer. The Cisco TMS
installation software allows the administrator to selectively choose to install the Cisco TMS database
and SQL server locally, or point to an existing remote SQL server.
Communication with Cisco TMS
Users Communicating with Cisco TMS
Users only interface directly to the Cisco TMS website. Best practices dictate that users should access
Cisco TMS via a simple DNS name.
Cisco TMS and Devices
Cisco TMS’s Windows services and website communicate directly to managed devices through a
variety of protocols (HTTP, Telnet, FTP, etc) depending on the device type. In addition, for event
reporting and accessing services from Cisco TMS managed devices themselves will initiate
connections to Cisco TMS on their own. As such, managed devices are configured with an IP address
or DNS hostname on where to access Cisco TMS. This requires the managed devices always have
the specific IP address or hostname where Cisco TMS will be reachable.
IP Addresses vs. DNS hostnames
Starting with Cisco TMS v11.5, Cisco TMS specifically is told it’s
 local IP address (including IPv6 if IPv6 is configured)
 what local DNS hostname is used to reach the server
 a public DNS hostname used to reach the server
Systems directly reachable by Cisco TMS may configured to use the local Cisco TMS server IP
address or local DNS hostname but Cisco TMS will automatically configure device types it knows to
support DNS hostnames to use the DNS hostname over IP addresses. For systems that are defined to
be ‘behind firewall’ or ‘reachable on public internet’ the Cisco TMS Server DNS Hostname (Public) is
required and used for those systems. Cisco TMS must explicitly be told which value to use for each of
these settings.

Cisco Overview of Cisco TMS Structures and Communications
Cisco TMS redundancy configuration and overview Page 7 of 32
Cisco TMS and External Systems
External systems such as Exchange Integration or IM integrations always communicate to Cisco TMS
through the HTTP protocol. As such, the installation of these packages must always have the specific
IP address or DNS hostname where Cisco TMS will be reachable. Using the Cisco TMS Server DNS
Hostname (local) value is recommended when using External Integrations with Cisco TMS as it allows
for easier to redirect requests to another Cisco TMS server in the case of fail-over.
Cisco TMS and Database
Cisco TMS’s Windows services and website communicate to the database very frequently and
intensively. While the SQL connection is over IP and could be made over a Wide Area Network, the
impact of increased latency would be quite severe on Cisco TMS due to the amount of transactions
and the resulting negative impact it would have on the responsiveness of the user interface. As such,
the Cisco TMS website and Cisco TMS Services should always be on the same local network as the
Cisco TMS database.

Cisco Redundancy Concepts for Cisco TMS
Cisco TMS redundancy configuration and overview Page 8 of 32
Redundancy Concepts for Cisco TMS
Redundancy for your Cisco TMS application can be achieved in several different ways depending on
your requirements for availability.
 How long can you tolerate the application being unavailable? - Minutes? Hours? Days?
 Tolerance for data loss – How much data can you lose without causing a significant impact? How
much data can you afford to lose in a recovery or fail-over? None? A few minutes? A few hours?
A day?
 Administrative capabilities – What resources and skill sets does your organization have internally
to administer and configure network and server systems
 Budget/Cost – How much is the organization willing to invest to in networking and server
resources to achieve higher availability or fault tolerance for the Cisco TMS application
In general, the higher your demands for accessibility and fault tolerance, the higher the cost and
complexity of the redundancy solution. Each solution has pros and cons and administrators must
choose which model best suits their business needs.
The redundancy models that can be used with Cisco TMS are:
 Single Server, Single Database, Redundant Hardware
 Single Server, Separate Database
 Single Server, Clustered Database
 Multiple Servers, Manual Cutover
 Multiple Cisco TMS Servers, Load Balancing, and Clustered Database
 Manual Off-Site Fail-over
This document will explain the details of each of these scenarios and in addition outline the
requirements of Cisco TMS for any redundancy solution.

Cisco Cisco TMS Architecture Requirements for Redundancy
Cisco TMS redundancy configuration and overview Page 9 of 32
Cisco TMS Architecture Requirements for
Redundancy
Implementation of Cisco TMS in any redundant or fail-over model hinges on maintaining compatibility
with several key concepts from Cisco TMS. The following hold true regardless of which redundancy
model you choose to implement. Keeping these concepts in mind will allow you to consider alternative
redundancy models or combinations of the ones presented in this document. The requirements are as
follows:
 Only one live database per Cisco TMS ‘installation’.
The core of Cisco TMS is its database. You may only have one running copy of the database
active at any time. Multiple copies of the database may exist, but only one copy may be ‘live’ and
used at a time Any redundancy methods used for the database will consist of fail-over or backup
methods for one database. Two Cisco TMS servers pointing at two different live Cisco TMS
databases would be considered two separate installations, not a redundant installation.
 MSDE SQL Server cannot be used.
Earlier versions of Cisco TMS shipped with the freely distributable version of SQL Server, MSDE
2000. This version is only intended for small deployments. MSDE 2000 is feature limited and can
not be used for larger deployments or any deployment that involves multiple Cisco TMS servers
or multiple SQL servers. Any deployment considering a redundant solution should be based on
Microsoft SQL Server 2000 or SQL Server 2005.
 Local File paths used on the Cisco TMS Servers must be the same across all Cisco TMS Servers.
The local file system paths used for Cisco TMS files, such as uploaded software files, should be
the same on all Cisco TMS servers
 Multiple Cisco TMS servers must all be members of the same domain.
When using multiple Cisco TMS servers, all Cisco TMS servers must be a member of the same
domain and all Cisco TMS users must be members of that domain, or a domain trusted by the
Cisco TMS server’s domain. Using workgroups and local user accounts is not supported when
using multiple Cisco TMS servers.
 You must maintain a low latency (sub 10ms) between a Cisco TMS server and the database.
User responsiveness will be severely crippled if there is latency between the Cisco TMS servers
and the database they are attached to.
 All servers must be time synchronized.
All servers making up the redundancy solution must be time synchronized through NTP or the
Windows Domain
 Each actual Cisco TMS server must be addressable by the managed devices.
Because devices communicate unsolicited to Cisco TMS, they must be able to communicate
directly TO each Cisco TMS server (each server must have a unique, reachable IP address)
 Cisco TMS must ‘know’ what specific address is to be used to reach the Cisco TMS servers.
Within Cisco TMS’s configuration the Cisco TMS Server Addresses are used to configure what
addressees are used to identify Cisco TMS to devices it is managing.. (Note: there are now IPv4
and IPv6 values, and local and public values). In a redundant solution, these addresses could be
a Cisco TMS server, or addresses to the load balancer depending on the solution in place. The
Cisco TMS configuration values for it’s addresses must always be the current, valid addresses to
reach Cisco TMS.
 Cisco TMS relies on multiple protocols, not just HTTP.
Whatever distribution or load balancing model is used, both HTTP and SNMP are used from
managed devices for unsolicited connections so both types must be forwarded by a load
balancing solution.
 Cisco TMS is multi-vendor and device methods vary between devices.
Due to difference in vendors and products, not all devices communicate the same to Cisco TMS.
Care must be taken to account for all protocols required between Cisco TMS and the devices to
be managed
 When using multiple web servers, all should have the same validation key and methods.
When using multiple web servers, all Cisco TMS websites should be configured with the same

Cisco Cisco TMS Architecture Requirements for Redundancy
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validation key and method to ensure smooth transition if a user gets redirected between
machines.

Cisco Changes from previous versions
Cisco TMS redundancy configuration and overview Page 11 of 32
Changes from previous versions
Cisco TMS version 11.0 and 11.5 included enhancements to Cisco TMS’s redundancy capabilities.
For readers who were familiar with the previous Cisco TMS version 10.0 capabilities, the new
improvements are outlined below.
 Snapshots now stored in database.
Websnapshots will now be available from any Cisco TMS Server, without having to create a
fileshare to share between servers to share the snapshot jpegs
 Fail-over support for ongoing conferences.
Previously if a Cisco TMS Server failed, any ongoing conferences initiated by that individual Cisco
TMS Server would lose real-time monitoring updates in Conference Control Center on other Cisco
TMS servers. Now, if a Cisco TMS Server fails, the monitoring features of any ongoing
conferences that were initiated by the failed server will fail over to a running Cisco TMS server
within 2 minutes.
 DNS Hostname support for Cisco TMS addresses.
Cisco TMS server addresses now support DNS hostname for system types that support DNS
resolution. This eliminates the need to manually update management settings on managed
devices if a Cisco TMS server IP changes when doing manual fail-over as required in some
deployment scenarios.
 Enforce Now management settings command.
Administrative Tools in Cisco TMS now includes an ‘Enforce Now’ for management settings which
will initiate an immediate update to all systems in Cisco TMS. This eases configuration updates
when doing manual fail-over as required in some deployment scenarios.
 Cisco TMS Service Reporting in Administrative Tools.
The Administrative Tools page in Cisco TMS now includes status reports of services from all
Cisco TMS servers connecting to the Cisco TMS database. This allows an administrator to
monitor the health of all Cisco TMS services across multiple servers directly from Cisco TMS.
 Improved database connection resiliency for services.
The service components of Cisco TMS now include greater resiliency to the database server
failing by including the ability to startup with no database online, and then implementing retries to
wait for the database server to become available.
 Cisco TMS Pages are now stateless bullet removed as some elements will require consistent web
validation keys for pages to operate properly and we will recommend HTTP ‘sticky sessions’.

Cisco Redundancy Models for Cisco TMS
Cisco TMS redundancy configuration and overview Page 12 of 32
Redundancy Models for Cisco TMS
This section will outline each of the redundancy models covered in this document highlighting their
concept, recovery models, advantages, disadvantages, installation, maintenance, and upgrade
requirements.
Single Server, Single Database, Redundant Hardware
The first level of any redundant solution should consist of installing Cisco TMS onto a server-grade
platform that includes:
 ECC Memory – To protect against memory failure.
 RAID Disks – To protect against hard drive failure.
 Redundant Power Supplies – To protect against power supply failure.
These steps provide the first line of defense against an equipment failure and should be part of any
high availability Cisco TMS installation. In this scenario, the Cisco TMS server and SQL server are
installed on the same server, so if this server were to be taken offline due to network or equipment
failure, Cisco TMS would be unavailable. There is no direct fail-over available, but service can be
restored quickly by getting the server back online, or replacing the server with another using the same
IP and configuration.
Recovery Methods:
 Repair the existing server and bring it back online
or
 Replace failed server with new server using same IP address as original Cisco TMS. Install a new
copy of Cisco TMS. Restore customer specific Cisco TMS data files (See Section 0 Customer
specific TMS Files) and restore the SQL database from backup (See Section 0 Backup and
Recovery of the TMS database).
Installation
The Cisco TMS installation program allows selecting where to install the Cisco TMS software on the
local disks as part of the custom installation. Cisco TMS should be installed onto the RAID portion of
the hard disks. Setup and Maintenance of the redundant features of the server platform are provided
by the server vendor.
Maintenance
Users should regularly backup the SQL database. The interval between backups defines the
maximum time window over which data would be lost. Typical installations would perform full nightly
backups of the database. Please see Backup and Recovery of the TMS database section of this
document for additional details on how to perform backups and restores of the Cisco TMS database.
Upgrading Cisco TMS
This installation model requires no additional steps or procedures to the normal upgrade process for
Cisco TMS.
Model Summary
 Immediate fail-over available – No
 Amount of data lost – Call data during outage can be lost for some system types. No system or
configuration data lost if restored from database backup. Call and Scheduling information created
since last backup will be lost if the database is restored from a backup
 Time to restore service – Dependant on time to repair the server or replace with an another server
and restore backups (estimate from a few hours to a day)

Cisco Redundancy Models for Cisco TMS
Cisco TMS redundancy configuration and overview Page 13 of 32
 Administrative capabilities required – Low, only requires basic skills and SQL backup/recovery
procedures
 Cost – Low, cheapest alternative available
Single Server, Separate Database
The first level of any redundant solution should consist of installing Cisco TMS onto a server-grade
platform that includes:
 ECC Memory – To protect against memory failure
 RAID Disks – To protect against hard drive failure
 Redundant Power Supplies – To protect against power supply failure
These steps provide the first line of defense against an equipment failure and should be part of any
high availability Cisco TMS installation. In addition, you can install the SQL database onto an existing,
separate server from Cisco TMS. This is done primarily for performance and manageability from an
administrator’s perspective. From a performance perspective, putting the SQL database on a separate
server reduces the CPU load and significantly reduces the memory load on the Cisco TMS server.
Using an existing SQL server offers the management benefit of not having an additional SQL Server
to maintain on the network for a single application.
In this scenario, the Cisco TMS server and SQL server are installed on separate servers, but if either
server were to be taken offline due to network or equipment failure, Cisco TMS would be unavailable.
There is no direct fail-over available, but service can be restored relatively quickly by getting the
servers back online, or replacing the servers with another using the same IP and configuration.
Recovery Methods:
 Cisco TMS Server Failure
•Repair the existing server and bring it back online
or
•Replace failed server with new server using same IP address and DNS hostname as the
original Cisco TMS. Install a new copy of Cisco TMS from the installation media. During the
install, select custom installation and point the installer at the existing SQL database. The
install will continue as normal and after installation your Cisco TMS server will be have the
configuration used prior to the failure. You should also restore customer specific Cisco TMS
data files (See Section 0 Customer specific TMS Files) if the server is replaced.
 SQL Server Failure.
•Repair the existing server and bring it back online
or
•Replace the failed server with a new server and re-install the SQL server. The user account
previously used to connect Cisco TMS to the SQL server should be re-created (if a custom
one was used) and the password reset to the original password used. Create a new empty
database named tmsng and assign database owner privileges on the database to the SQL
user created. Once the SQL user and database have been recreated, the database can be
restored from a previous backup. Please see Section 0 Backup and Recovery of the TMS
database for details on performing a SQL database recovery.
Installation
The separate SQL Server should be installed and operational prior to installing Cisco TMS. You do not
need to perform any special operations on the SQL server prior to Cisco TMS installation except
‘mixed mode authentication’ must be enabled. Using the ‘custom’ option in the Cisco TMS installer,
you can point the installer to the existing SQL server and the installer will handle creating the database
on the SQL Server as part of the installation process. The database files will be created per the
database defaults of the SQL Server. The Cisco TMS Tools application installed with Cisco TMS
should be used to update SQL connection settings post-install if required.

Cisco Redundancy Models for Cisco TMS
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Maintenance
Users should regularly backup the SQL database. The interval between backups defines the
maximum time window over which data would be lost. Typical installations would perform full nightly
backups of the database. Please see Section 0 Backup and Recovery of the TMS database of this
document for additional details on how to perform backups and restores of the Cisco TMS database.
Upgrading Cisco TMS
This installation model requires no additional steps or procedures to follow when performing upgrades
or patches.
Model Summary
 Immediate fail-over available – No
 Amount of data lost – Call data during outage can be lost for some system types if Cisco TMS
Server is down. No system or configuration data lost if SQL Server does not fail. If SQL Server
fails, Cisco TMS is unavailable until the SQL Server is restored to service. Call and Scheduling
information created since last backup will be lost if database restored from backup
 Time to restore service – For the Cisco TMS Server, it is dependent on time to repair the server or
replace with another server on the same IP address and DNS hostname and perform a recovery.
For the SQL Server, it is dependent on time to repair the server or replace with another server on
the same IP address and perform a recovery. Estimate a few hours to a day.
 Administrative Capabilities Required – Low, only requires basic skills and SQL backup/recovery
procedures
 Cost – Low, only requires a second server which may be tasked with other SQL jobs
Single Server, Clustered Database
This model is identical to the previous Section 0 Single Server, Separate Database
except the remote SQL Server is a part of a SQL Server cluster, rather than a stand-alone server.
SQL Clustering allows multiple servers to operate as a group and provide fail-over for a SQL Server in
case of a failure. A SQL cluster consists of a shared disk array that can be accessed by multiple
nodes. Virtual SQL Servers are created and hosted on a node, with the information for each Virtual
Server being stored on the shared disk array. When a node fails, any Virtual Server being hosted by
the node can automatically fail-over to another node in the cluster and continue operation. The SQL
Cluster itself and the fail-over of the SQL Server is transparent to Cisco TMS as the Cluster serves the
database via a virtual IP address or name. For more information on SQL Clustering requirements,
capabilities, and configuration, please see Microsoft’s SQL Server 2000 documentation.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/sql/2000/maintain/failclus.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/techinfo/administration/2000/availability.mspx
One of the main benefits of using a SQL cluster is you can pool redundancy resources to share
among several servers. An organization may already have a high performance, high availability SQL
Cluster. Using this cluster will provide Cisco TMS redundancy with quick fail-over to prevent failure of
the database component of Cisco TMS.
In this scenario, if the Cisco TMS server were taken offline due to network or equipment failure, Cisco
TMS would be unavailable. If the SQL Server were to fail, the SQL cluster would detect the server
becoming unavailable and would initiate a fail-over to another server in the cluster. The time required
to fail-over is specific to your SQL Cluster configuration, but normally is on the order of seconds to
minutes and can be fully automatic, with no administrative input.
Recovery Methods
 Cisco TMS Server Failure
•Repair the existing server and bring it back online or
•Replace failed server with new server using same IP address and DNS hostname as the
original Cisco TMS. Install a new copy of Cisco TMS from the installation media. During the

Cisco Redundancy Models for Cisco TMS
Cisco TMS redundancy configuration and overview Page 15 of 32
install, select custom installation and point the installer at the existing SQL database. The
install will continue as normal and after installation your Cisco TMS server will be have the
configuration used prior to the failure. You should also restore customer specific Cisco TMS
data files (See Section 0 Customer specific TMS Files) if the server is replaced.
 SQL Server Failure – The SQL Cluster will automatically handle the fail-over of assigning the SQL
Server resources to another node in the cluster. This happens transparently to Cisco TMS. Please
refer to the Microsoft SQL Server documentation for information on restoring a node in a SQL
Cluster.
Installation
Configuring a Microsoft SQL Cluster is outside the scope of this document. Please refer to Microsoft’s
documentation for additional details
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/sql/2000/maintain/failclus.mspx
Prior to installing Cisco TMS, the SQL Cluster should be active and must have the Virtual SQL Server
installed and active that you wish to use for Cisco TMS. The Virtual SQL Server will have an instance
name and IP Address to reach the SQL server.
Once the Virtual SQL Server is configured, Cisco TMS can be installed on the separate Cisco TMS
server. The Cisco TMS installation program allows you to select an existing remote SQL server as part
of the custom installation. Select or enter the instance name or IP address of the Virtual SQL Server.
The installation program will fully handle the configuration of the database on the existing SQL server.
The database files will be created on the Virtual SQL Server per the database defaults of the SQL
Server. The Cisco TMS Tools application installed with Cisco TMS should be used to update SQL
connection settings post-install if required.
Maintenance
Users should regularly backup the SQL database. The interval between backups defines the
maximum time window over which data would be lost. Typical installations would perform full nightly
backups of the database. Please see Section 0 Backup and Recovery of the TMS database of this
document for additional details on how to perform backups and restores of the Cisco TMS database.
Upgrading Cisco TMS
This installation model requires no additional steps or procedures to follow when performing upgrades
or patches.
Model Summary
 Immediate fail-over available.
Yes for SQL Server. No for Cisco TMS Server
 Amount of data lost.
Call data during outage can be lost for some system types if Cisco TMS Server is down. If SQL
Server fails, SQL Cluster will fail-over and Cisco TMS will still be available. No data is lost when
the SQL Server fails over
 Time to restore service.
For SQL Server, recovery is dependent on SQL Server configuration, normally on the order of
seconds to minutes. For the Cisco TMS Server, it is dependent on time to repair the server or
replace with another server on the same IP address and DNS hostname and perform a recovery.
Estimate a few hours to a day.
 Administrative Capabilities Required.
Low for Cisco TMS Server portion, very high for SQL Cluster.
 Cost.
High if the SQL Cluster does not already exist

Cisco Redundancy Models for Cisco TMS
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Multiple Servers, Manual Cutover
While the previous sections have covered redundancy for the SQL database, they do not provide
solutions for quick fail-over for the Cisco TMS Server itself which hosts the Cisco TMS website and the
Cisco TMS Windows Services. To speed recovery time for the Cisco TMS server, you can install
additional ‘warm spares’ of the Cisco TMS server. In this model, there are multiple Cisco TMS servers,
all pointed to the same separate SQL server, but only one Cisco TMS Server is considered the active
server. The secondary machines are configured, but are disabled to remain inactive. Then, if the
primary Cisco TMS server fails, a
secondary Cisco TMS server can
quickly be activated, allowing Cisco
TMS to be available while the primary
server is being worked on. The SQL
database can be redundant as well if
deployed using a SQL Server Cluster.
In this scenario you have multiple
servers on different addresses and
but only one Cisco TMS server can
actively receive events and activity
from users. Theoretically while
individual devices and users could be
directed to different Cisco TMS
servers, this will lead to erroneous
warnings in Cisco TMS for device
configurations. In addition, the Cisco
TMS Services installed on the
secondary machines will be active
and actually process events and call
activity.
Note: To prevent confusion and assist
in troubleshooting, Cisco
TelePresence recommends you not
run the Cisco TMS services on the
secondary servers while they are not
the active Cisco TMS server.
This model can be thought of as a
‘manual’ fail-over between multiple
Cisco TMS servers to reduce
downtime, but at the added cost of
having additional stand-by servers.
Recovery Methods
 Cisco TMS Server Failure.
•Repair the existing server and bring it back online or,
•Free up the IP address normally used by Cisco TMS by changing the primary server’s IP
address to an alternative IP address. Reconfigure one of the secondary Cisco TMS servers
to be the IP Address and DNS hostname of the primary Cisco TMS server which is no longer
online. Activate the Cisco TMS Services (all services whose names start with Cisco TMS and
the WWWPublishingService). This machine is now the primary Cisco TMS server.
Alternatively: If managing only systems that support DNS hostnames for management
settings, you can simply update the DNS hostname record to point to the new server’s IP
address, update the Cisco TMS Server Local IPv4 Address (and IPv6 if in use) configuration
value and start all services on the new Cisco TMS server.
 SQL Server Failure – The SQL Cluster will automatically handle the fail-over of assigning the
Virtual SQL Server resources to another node in the cluster. This happens transparently to Cisco
TMS. Please refer to the Microsoft SQL Server documentation for information on restoring a node
in a SQL Cluster.
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Figure 1 Multiple Stand-by Server Illustration

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Cisco TMS redundancy configuration and overview Page 17 of 32
Installation
Using multiple Cisco TMS Servers requires the use of a separate SQL server, either stand-alone or
clustered.
Stand-alone SQL Server
The separate SQL Server should be installed and operational prior to installing Cisco TMS. You do not
need to perform any special operations on the SQL server prior to Cisco TMS installation except
‘mixed mode authentication’ must be enabled.
Clustered SQL Server
Configuring a Microsoft SQL Cluster is outside the scope of this document. Please refer to Microsoft’s
documentation for additional details
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/sql/2000/maintain/failclus.mspx
Prior to installing Cisco TMS, the SQL Cluster should be active and must have the Virtual SQL Server
installed and active that you wish to use for Cisco TMS. The Virtual SQL Server will have an instance
name and IP Address to reach the SQL server and ‘mixed mode authentication’ must be enabled.
Installing the Cisco TMS servers
Domain Requirements.
Since you will be using multiple Cisco TMS servers, all Cisco TMS servers must be a member of a
domain, and all Cisco TMS users should be a member of that domain or a domain trusted by the
Cisco TMS server’s domain. Using Windows local user accounts is not supported when using multiple
Cisco TMS servers.
Installing primary TMS application.
Once the SQL Server is configured, begin by installing Cisco TMS on what is to be the primary Cisco
TMS server. By choosing custom during installation, the program allows you to select the existing
remote SQL server as part of the installation. Select or enter the instance name or IP address of the
SQL Server (Virtual SQL Server if using clustering). The installation program will fully handle the
configuration of the database on the existing SQL server. The database files will be created per the
database defaults of the SQL Server. The Cisco TMS Tools application installed with Cisco TMS
should be used to update SQL connection settings post-install if required.
Installing secondary TMS application.
Once the primary server is installed, you may install additional Cisco TMS servers to be your inactive
‘warm standby’ servers. Each of the warm stand-by servers will be a separate server, with its own IP
address and machine name. Perform the installation on the secondary servers following the same
steps as used on the primary Cisco TMS server. Each Cisco TMS install must be consistent with the
other servers, so you must use the same local file paths on each server installation (Example: Cisco
TMS installation path and Software Directory). After the Cisco TMS installation completes, you will be
prompted to reboot the server. Reboot the server. After the server restarts, you must make the Cisco
TMS portion of the server inactive by stopping all the Cisco TMS and Web services and setting them
to manual startup. Open the Services tool from Administrative Tools in the Windows smart menu, and
stop all services whose name starts with Cisco TMS and the WWWPublishingService service. Right-
click on each of these services and select Properties. On the General tab of each of the services you
stopped, set startup type to Manual. The server now has Cisco TMS installed, but is not actively
running. Repeat these steps for each additional ‘warm spare’ server you wish to have. When
promoting a server to be the primary Cisco TMS server, you should change these services back to
Automatic so they restart on server power-up. Only the active primary Cisco TMS server should have
it’s services set to Automatic.
Custom file synchronization.
Part of the Cisco TMS installation will consist of files added or customized by users and
administrators. These files must be synchronized to all Cisco TMS servers being used. The setup of
this synchronization should be configured as part of the installation process. Please see Section 0
Customer specific TMS Files for more details on these files and methods to synchronize them
between servers.
Set primary TMS address
After all the warm spares have been installed, log into the primary Cisco TMS server’s website, go to
Administrative Tools>Configuration>Network and change the Cisco TMS Server IPv4 Address (Local):

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Cisco TMS redundancy configuration and overview Page 18 of 32
address to the IP address of the primary Cisco TMS server. This is the IP address Cisco TMS will use
for enforce management settings and to compare for device configuration errors. This setting is stored
in the Cisco TMS database, and therefore will be shared among all servers. This value will be
overwritten anytime you run the Cisco TMS installer on a server connected to the database so it must
be verified to be the primary Cisco TMS server’s IP after running any Cisco TMS installation software.
The Cisco TMS Server DNS hostname values should also be configured to point to the primary Cisco
TMS server, but these will not be overwritten by upgrades or additional installs.
After Cisco TMS is installed, you should configure a DNS hostname record to point to the IP address
of the primary Cisco TMS server. Cisco TelePresence recommends you use the DNS hostname over
IP addresses for user access to Cisco TMS, configuring external integrations with Cisco TMS (such as
Exchange or Lotus) and is required when using the Remote/SOHO support or public/local identity
features of Cisco TMS.
Set web validation key on web servers
When running multiple web servers, each web server must use the same encryption method for the
viewstate information of the pages. This is achieved by specifying the machine key to be used by IIS
rather then letting IIS generate its own which is the default behavior. The machinekey behavior can be
controlled using the web.config file used by the Cisco TMS web application. This file is located in the
wwwCisco TMS directory (default c:\program files\tandberg\tms\wwwCisco TMS) The behavior of this
element is described in the following Microsoft articles
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/w8h3skw9(VS.71).aspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnpag2/html/paght000007.asp
Microsoft provides sample code to generate these keys, but there are several public websites that
simplify the creation of these keys for you. Some example sites are
http://www.orcsweb.com/articles/aspnetmachinekey.aspx
http://www.aspnetresources.com/tools/keycreator.aspx
Example machinekey string:
<configuration>
<system.web>
<machineKey
validationKey='50C6CA92F369A87AB487E3678C7D229119A47F921C8266D9FB0DE2B28829
CDECDD5FEEE7CC534497A90D0AB3B8FB9F81021A7DC00ACC6F39D67EA9036C1F8733'
decryptionKey='52480E9648080C4A87BB434CF281064243E3C09B003C49D0'
validation='SHA1'/>
</system.web>
</configuration>
Create a machinekey element using Microsoft’s supplied methods or from the sample websites listed
above. Open the web.config file under the wwwCisco TMS directory and insert the new machinekey
element text under the existing <system.web> element in the document. You must update the
web.config file on each of the Cisco TMS servers. Be sure to use the same machinekey string on all
servers.
Maintenance
Users should regularly backup the SQL database. The interval between backups defines the
maximum time window over which data would be lost. Typical installations would perform full nightly
backups of the database. Please see Section 0 Backup and Recovery of the TMS database of this
document for additional details on how to perform backups and restores of the Cisco TMS database.
As multiple Cisco TMS servers are being used, administrators should periodically check that their file
synchronization process is still functioning to ensure smooth cut-over in the case of having to use a
warm spare.

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Cisco TMS redundancy configuration and overview Page 19 of 32
Upgrading TMS
All Cisco TMS servers accessing the same database must be running the same Cisco TMS version.
When upgrading between Cisco TMS versions, there will be inconsistencies between different servers
as each is upgraded so extra steps are required when performing Cisco TMS upgrades or patches.
When performing a Cisco TMS upgrade, the following steps must be followed
 Plan an upgrade during a time window when Cisco TMS can be made unavailable to users as
Cisco TMS will be unavailable during the duration of your upgrade.
 On your primary Cisco TMS server, start the installer for the Cisco TMS upgrade as normal.
During this process, any updates to the SQL database will be performed.
 Installation may require a reboot of the server. After the reboot, go into Services component of
Computer Management on the server, manually stop all services whose name starts with Cisco
TMS and the WWWPublishingService service.
 Proceed to the next server, and start the installer for the Cisco TMS upgrade the same as you did
on the primary Cisco TMS server.
 The installer will likely restart the Cisco TMS services and WWWPublishingService and may
require a reboot of the server. After the reboot, go into Services component of Computer
Management on the server, manually stop all services whose name starts with Cisco TMS and
the WWWPublishingSevice. The services may also be configured for automatic startup. Right-
click on each of these services and select Properties. On the General tab of each of the services
you stopped, set startup type to Manual.
 After upgrading all Cisco TMS servers, log into the primary Cisco TMS’s Windows console and
restart all Cisco TMS services and WWWPublishingService. Secondary servers should all still
have their Cisco TMS and WWWPublishingService stopped and set to manual startup.
 Log into the Cisco TMS website, go to Administrative Tools>Configuration>Network and
change the Cisco TMS Server IPv4 Address (Local): address to the IP address of the primary
Cisco TMS server. Your upgrade is now complete.
 Upgrades will erase any changes to the IIS web configuration files, including the viewstate
machine key and method defined during installation. Repeat the viewstate key generation and
installation steps outlined in the Installation section on each of the upgraded web servers.
Model Summary
 Immediate fail-over available.
Yes for SQL Server. No for Cisco TMS Server
 Amount of data lost.
Call data during outage can be lost for some system types if Cisco TMS Server is down. If SQL
Server fails, SQL Cluster will fail-over and Cisco TMS will still be available. No data is lost when
the SQL Server fails over. Please be sure to read Section 0 Cisco TMS Redundancy limitations
and notes for specific notes about processes during a server failure.
 Time to restore service.
For clustered SQL servers, depending on configuration, normally on the order of seconds to
minutes. For a stand-alone SQL Server, it is dependant on time to repair the server or replace
with another server on the same IP address and perform a recovery. Estimate a few hours to a
day. For the Cisco TMS Server, it is dependant on time to repair the server or activate the ‘warm
standby’. Activating the warm stand-by can be done in just a few minutes.
 Administrative Capabilities Required.
Low for Cisco TMS Server portion and stand-alone SQL server, very high if SQL Cluster must be
created
 Cost.
Medium as you must now have a minimum of three servers

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Cisco TMS redundancy configuration and overview Page 20 of 32
Multiple TMS Servers, Load Balancing, and Clustered Database
The highest availability configuration is one that will provide automatic fail-over for both the Cisco TMS
Server and the SQL database. Automatic Fail-over for the SQL database is discussed in Section 0
Single Server, Clustered Database. Combining a SQL Cluster with multiple Cisco TMS Servers being
fronted by a Network Load Balancer (NLB) will provide fully automatic fail-over for both Cisco TMS
and the SQL Server.
Managed devices must be configured with the IP address or DNS hostname of the Cisco TMS server
so those addresses must be ‘shared’ between all the Cisco TMS Servers. Simply pointing a unit to
multiple management servers is not sufficient as the management servers must be performing in
unison to not duplicate tasks and to share information properly. The Network Load Balancer performs
this ‘sharing’ function by forwarding
connections sent to these ‘shared’
addresses to a particular Cisco TMS
server from a pool of Cisco TMS
servers. Depending on the particular
NLB being used, the logic behind which Cisco TMS server the connection gets forwarded to can be
customized. The NLB must be able to forward all HTTP connections and SNMP Traps sent to the
‘shared’ addresses. Due to view state in web functionality, sticky connections should be enabled in the
load balancer to ensure the same web session stays on the same web server.
When the Cisco TMS servers need to initiate connections to managed devices, each server can
initiate the connection directly from the server to the managed device. Therefore it is required that the
individual Cisco TMS servers be directly addressable by their own IP address from the managed
systems, not just through the NLB.
In this deployment scenario, fail-over for Cisco TMS servers is handled by the forwarding logic of the
NLB. The NLB should know not to forward connections to a Cisco TMS server that is not responding.
Fail-over for the Cisco TMS database is handled automatically by the SQL Cluster.
Recovery Methods
 Cisco TMS Server Failure.
The NLB should not forward connections to a failed Cisco TMS server, so fail-over to another
Cisco TMS server is automatic. The Failed server should be repaired and brought back online
when possible.
 SQL Server Failure.
The SQL Cluster will automatically handle the fail-over of assigning the SQL Server resources to
another node in the cluster. This happens transparently to Cisco TMS. Please refer to the
Microsoft SQL Server documentation for information on restoring a node in a SQL Cluster
Installation
 Domain Requirements.
Since you will be using multiple Cisco TMS servers, all Cisco TMS servers must be a member of
a domain, and all Cisco TMS users should be a member of that domain or a domain trusted by
the Cisco TMS server’s domain. Using Windows local user accounts is not supported when using
multiple Cisco TMS servers.
 Setup SQL Cluster.
The SQL Cluster must be configured before installing Cisco TMS. Configuring a Microsoft SQL
Cluster is outside the scope of this document. Please refer to Microsoft’s documentation for
additional details
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/sql/2000/maintain/failclus.mspx
Prior to installing Cisco TMS, the SQL Cluster should be active and must have the Virtual SQL Server
installed and active that you wish to use for Cisco TMS. The Virtual SQL Server will have an instance
name and IP Address to reach the SQL server and ‘mixed mode authentication’ must be enabled.
 Installing primary Cisco TMS application.
Once the Virtual SQL Server is configured, Cisco TMS can be installed on the first Cisco TMS
server. The Cisco TMS installation program allows you to select an existing remote SQL server as
part of the custom installation. Select or enter the instance name or IP address of the Virtual SQL
Server. The installation program will fully handle the configuration of the database on the existing
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Figure 2 Network Load Balancing