General Settings and System Config Settings

Use the General Settings link on the Configuration tab to reach the General Settings and System Config pages, where you can set the following system-wide parameters.

General

Use General Settings to specify the following:

Network Time Protocol (NTP) servers—Add one or more NTP servers.
Denial of Service (DoS)—Set the maximum SIP packet and ARP packet rates.
High Availability (HA)—Enable and disable HA, identify the primary and secondary devices, and specify synchronization.

System Config

Use System Config to specify the following:

System Settings—Set the hostname, location, and default gateway, console timeout, and restart.
SNMP—Enable and disable SNMP, specify the MIB system, and set SNMP traps and notifications.
Syslog Servers—Add one or more Syslog servers, specify the system log level, and specify the process log level.
Communications Monitoring Probe—Enable and disable the Communications Monitor, set the group ID, set the TLS profile, enable and disable QoS, and add one or more Monitor collectors.
Alarm Threshold—Set the thresholds for one or more types of alarms.

Configure an NTP Server

You can specify one or more Network Time Protocol (NTP) servers for the Oracle Enterprise Communications Broker (OECB)on the General Settings page by adding their Fully Qualified Domain Names or addresses in a comma-separated list.

Note:

The OECB media interface does not support management traffic for NTP. When configuring connectivity to these resources, do not configure these resources within a media interface subnet range.

Access the NTP Configuration object.
Configuration tab, General settings, Ntp Config.
On the Modify Servers page, enter the address or FQDN of the NTP server that you want to add.
(Optional) Add another NTP server to the list. (comma-separated in the NTP Servers field)
Click OK.
Save the configuration.

High Availability Settings

You can deploy the Oracle Enterprise Communications Broker (OECB) in pairs to deliver High Availability (HA). Two OECBs operating in this way are called an HA node. In the HA node, one OECB operates in the Active mode and the other one operates in Standby mode. In the event of the Active member of the node losing functionality, the system switches over to the Standby member. In the HA model, the two OECBs share the call state and communicate with each other, which keeps sessions and calls from dropping in the event of a call flow disruption.

Oracle recommends configuring High Availability with the run setup command from the ACLI. The command populates the HA fields, which you can also find within the GUI under General Settings.

The Active OECB checks itself for internal process and IP connectivity issues. If it detects that it is experiencing certain faults, it hands over its role as the Active system to the Standby OECB in the node.
The Standby OECB is the backup system, fully synchronized with the session status of the Active OECB. The Standby OECB monitors the status of the Active system so that, if needed, it can assume the Active role without the Active system instructing it to do so. If the Standby system takes over the Active role, it notifies network management using an SNMP trap.

Refer to the Oracle Enterprise Session Border Controller ACLI Configuration Guide for more detail about High Availability operations, including:

Synchronization
Checkpointing

Overview

To produce seamless switchovers from one Oracle Enterprise Communications Broker to the other, the HA node uses shared virtual MAC and virtual IP addresses for the media interfaces in a way that is similar to VRRP (virtual router redundancy protocol). Sharing addresses eliminates the possibility that the MAC and IPv4 address set on one Oracle Enterprise Communications Broker in an HA node will be a single point of failure. The standby Oracle Enterprise Communications Broker sends ARP requests using a utility IPv4 address and its hard-coded MAC addresses to obtain Layer 2 bindings.

When there is a switchover, the standby Oracle Enterprise Communications Broker issues gratuitous ARP messages using the virtual MAC address, establishing that MAC on another physical port within the Ethernet switch. To the upstream router, the MAC and IP are still alive, meaning that existing sessions continue uninterrupted.

Within the HA node, the Oracle Enterprise Communications Brokers advertise their current state and health to one another in checkpointing messages; each system is apprised of the other’s status. Using Oracle’s HA protocol, the Oracle Enterprise Communications Brokers communicate with UDP messages sent out and received on the interfaces carrying "heartbeat" traffic between the active and standby devices.

The standby Oracle Enterprise Communications Broker assumes the active role when:

It has not received a checkpoint message from the active Oracle Enterprise Communications Broker for a certain period of time.
It determines that the active Oracle Enterprise Communications Broker’s health score has decreased to an unacceptable level.
The active Oracle Enterprise Communications Broker relinquishes the active role.

Establishing Active and Standby Roles

Oracle Enterprise Communications Brokers establish active and standby roles in the following ways.

If a Oracle Enterprise Communications Broker boots up and is alone in the network, it is automatically the active system. If you then pair a second Oracle Enterprise Communications Broker with the first to form an HA node, then the second system to boot up will establish itself as the standby automatically.
If both Oracle Enterprise Communications Brokers in the HA node boot up at the same time, they negotiate with each other for the active role. If both systems have perfect health, then the Oracle Enterprise Communications Broker with the lowest HA interface IPv4 address will become the active Oracle Enterprise Communications Broker. The Oracle Enterprise Communications Broker with the higher HA interface IPv4 address will become the standby Oracle Enterprise Communications Broker.

If the physical link between the two Oracle Enterprise Communications Brokers fails during boot up or operation, both will attempt to become the active Oracle Enterprise Communications Broker. In this case, processing will not work properly.

Configure High Availability

The Oracle Enterprise Communications Broker (OECB) supports configuring a pair of OECBs for High Availability (HA) operations.

Set the following parameters to configure HA operations.

Note:

The OECB automatically populates the Name of primary OECB and Name of secondary OECB fields with the peer names that you entered when you ran the run setup command.

Access the System Settings configuration object.
Configuration tab, System Administration section, General Settings, General Settings.

On the Modify System settings page, expand High Availability Settings, and do the following:

Enable High Availability

Select to enable HA.

Name of primary ECB

Enter the name of the primary peer. Default: <primary peer name>.

IP address of primary ECB

Enter the IP address of the primary peer. Default: 169:254.1.1.

Name of secondary ECB

Enter the name of the secondary peer. Default: blank.

IP address of secondary ECB

Enter the IP address of the secondary peer. Default: 169:254.1.2.

Becoming standby time

Enter the time, in milliseconds, to wait for complete synchronization. Default: 180,000. Range: 5-2147483647.

Sync complete time

Enter the timeout, in milliseconds, for subsequent redundancy configuration synchronization requests. Default: 1,000. Range: 0-4294967295.

Sync number transactions

Enter the maximum number of redundancy synchronization transactions to keep. Default: 10,000. Range: 0-4294967295.

Click OK.
Save the configuration.

Force an HA Switchover

The Oracle Enterprise Communications Broker (OECB) allows you to cause a High Availability (HA) switchover manually. Executing the procedure forces the two OECBs in your HA node to trade roles. The Active system becomes Standby, and the Standby becomes Active.

A successful manual switchover requires the following conditions:

The OECB from which you trigger the switchover must be in one of the following states: Active, Standby, or becoming Standby.
A manual switchover to the Active state is allowed only on a OECB in the Standby or becoming Standby state when it achieves full media, signaling, and configuration synchronization.
A manual switchover to the Active state is allowed only on a OECB in the Standby or becoming Standby state when its health score is above the value you configure for the threshold.

Click the System tab.
Click Force HA Switchover.
The OECB displays the Force HA Switchover dialog, which includes Switch to Standby.
Click Switch to Standby.
The OECB executes the HA role change.

Configure System Config

The Oracle Enterprise Communications Broker (OECB) allows you to specify system identification and global settings by way of the parameters that you specify on the System Config page.

Set the following parameters to configure global system identification information.

Access the System Config configuration object.
Configuration tab, General-settings, System Config.

On the Modify System Config page, do the following.

Hostname

Enter the hostname used to identify the OECB by the software. For example, the IP address for Fully Qualified Domain Name.

Description

Enter a textual description of the OECB for informational purposes.

Location

Enter the location of the OECB for informational purposes. For example, you might include the site name and physical address of the OECB.

Default Gateway

Set the default gateway for this OECB for egress traffic with no explicit destination. Default: 0.0.0.0.

Note:

Changing this parameter can cause you to lose connectivity with the OECB GUI. Be prepared to access the OECB console, if you lose connectivity. See the Oracle Communications Session Border Controller ACLI Configuration Guide for instructions on setting the default gateway using the ACLI.

Restart

Select to cause the system to restart after a service disruption. Default: enabled.

SSH Timeout

Set the length of time, in seconds, that the system waits for the next command before disconnecting. Default: 0. Range: 0-65535.

Console Timeout

Set the length of time, in seconds, that the system waits to terminate an ACLI administrative session due to inactivity. Use 0 to disable console session timeout. Default: 0. Range: 0-65535.

PKO Rate Pkt

Set the rate per second at which the system sends packet data. Default: 0. Range: 0-32768.

PKO Rate Burst

Set the maximum burst rate of packets. Default: 0. Range: 0-0124.

Save the configuration.

SNMP Configuration

Use SNMP to support monitoring of devices attached to the network for conditions that warrant administrative attention on the Oracle Enterprise Communications Broker (OECB).

Use the MIB settings for informational purposes. The remainder of the parameters enable SNMP and the specific OECB events that you want reported to the SNMP system.

Note that you configure the SNMP community and the trap receiver settings by way of the SNMP icon.

Configure SNMP Settings

Use System Config to enable SNMP on the Oracle Enterprise Communications Broker (OECB) and to set global SNMP settings.

Note that neither the MIB system name nor the MIB system location that you enter in the following procedure correlate to the name and location fields in System Configuration.

Access the System Config configuration object.
Configuration tab, System Adminstration section, General Settings, System Config.

On the Modify System Config page, do the following.

MIB System Contact

Set the contact information displayed in the OECB MIB transactions. You can enter a textual identification of your company’s contact person for the OECB and information about how to contact that person.

MIB System Name

Set the identification of this OECB to display in MIB transactions. Use the FQDN.

MIB System Location

Set the physical location of this OECB to report in MIB transactions.

SNMP Enabled

Select to enable SNMP. Note that you must also enable SNMP, and set a snmp-syslog-level. Default: enabled.

Enable SNMP Auth Traps

Select to enable sending an SNMP trap in response to an unsuccessful authentication attempt. Default: disabled.

Enable SNMP Syslog Notify

Select to enable sending SNMP traps when the system generates an alarm. Default: disabled.

Enable SNMP Monitor Traps

Select to generate traps with unique trap-IDs for each syslog event.
Deselect to generate a single trap-ID for all events, with different values in the description string.

Default: disabled.

Enable Env Monitor Traps

Select to enable environment monitor traps for main board PROM temperature, CPU voltage, power supplies, and fan speeds. Default: disabled.

Save the configuration.

Logging (Syslog)

Logging events is a critical part of diagnosing mis-configurations and optimizing operations. Oracle Enterprise Communications Brokers can send both syslog and process log data to appropriate hosts for storage and analysis.

Overview

The Oracle Enterprise Communications Broker generates two types of logs, syslogs and process logs. Syslogs conform to the standard used for logging servers and processes as defined in RFC 3164.

Process logs are Oracle proprietary logs. Process logs are generated on a per-task basis and are used mainly for debugging purposes. Because process logs are more data inclusive than syslogs, their contents encompass syslog log data when they are sent off box. A special application must be run on a remote server to receive process logs. Please contact your Oracle sales representative directly or calling Oracle Customer support for more information about the process log application.

Syslog and process log servers are both identified by an IPv4 address and port pair.

Process Log Messages

Process log messages are sent as UDP packets in the following format:

<file-name>:<log-message>

In this format, <file-name> indicates the log filename and <log-message> indicates the full text of the log message as it would appear if it were written to the normal log file.

Add a Syslog Server

The Oracle Enterprise Communications Broker (OECB) requires a connection to at least one Syslog Server to process the log events that the system can generate for diagnosing mis-configurations and for optimizing operations. The OECB supports adding up to eight Syslog servers.

Access the System Config configuration object.
Configuration tab, System Adminstration section, General Settings, System Config.
On the Modify System config page, under Syslog Servers, click Add.

In the Add Syslog server dialog, do the following:

Address

Set the IP address or FQDN of the server to which you want to send Syslog messages from the OECB. Default: 0.0.0.0.

Port

Enter the port number on the Syslog server to which the OECB sends log messages. Range: 0-65535. Default: 514.

Facility

Enter the user-defined facility value sent in every syslog message from the OECB to the syslog server. This value must conform to IETF RFC 3164. Range: 0-99999999. Default: 4.

Click OK.
Save the configuration.

Configure Syslog Settings

Set the following parameters to configure system-wide Syslog and Process log functionality. Oracle recommends that you configure Debug and Trace levels temporarily and only when required because both log levels are verbose and can adversely impact system performance.

Access the System Config configuration object.
Configuration tab, System Adminstration section, General Settings, System Config.

On the Modify System Config page, do the following.

System Log Level

Select the severity level from the drop-down list that you want to cause the system to send a syslog trap to the Network Management System. Default: Warning.

Process Log Level

Select the severity level from the drop-down list that you want to cause the system to send a process trap to the Network Management System. Default: Notice.

Click OK.
Save the configuration.

Enterprise Operations Monitor

As a proactive call monitoring solution, the Oracle Enterprise Operations Monitor (EOM) captures and analyzes all required signaling messages and media from the network, providing full correlation and quality metrics in real time. The EOM enables you to drill down into the captured data for troubleshooting and root-cause analysis of any reported problem related to a user, user group, trunk, network device, or Internet Protocol (IP) address. The Enterprise Operations Monitor Mediation Engine (ME) is the application that collects SIP, DNS, ENUM and protocol message traffic received from one or more EOM probes.

You can configure the Oracle Enterprise Communications Broker (OECB) to act as an EOM probe, or as an exporter, that can:

Establish an authenticated, persistent, reliable TCP connection between itself and one or more Oracle Enterprise Operations Monitor Mediation Engines.
Send UTC-timestamped, unencrypted copy of a protocol messages to the Oracle Enterprise Operations Monitor Mediation Engine.
Accompany the copied message with related data to include the port or vlan on which the message was sent and received, the local and remote IP:port information, and the transport layer protocol.

Add a Monitor Collector

You can configure the probes embedded in the Oracle Enterprise Communications Broker (OECB) to establish an IPFIX connection with one or more Oracle Enterprise Operations Monitor Mediation Engines (ME) to collect SIP, DNS, ENUM and protocol message traffic for the Enterprise Operations Monitor (EOM) to analyze. You might want to connect the OECB to multiple MEs, for example, to support monitoring continuity in the event of a service disruption.

Configure at least one network interface.
Obtain the IP address and port number of each target Oracle Enterprise Operations Monitor Mediation Engine that you want to connect.

In the following procedure, the Monitor Collector is the ME.

Access the System Config configuration object.
Configuration tab, System Adminstration section, General Settings, System Config.

On the Modify System Settings page, under Monitor Collector, click Add, and do the following:

Address

Set the IP address of the target ME. Default: 0.0.0.0.

Port

Set the port number on which the ME listens. Range: 1025-65535. Default: 4739

Network Interface

Select the local network interface from which to export traffic to the ME from the drop-down list. Default: wancom0:0.

Click OK.
(Optional) Repeat steps 2-3 for each additional monitor collector you want to connect to the OECB.
Click OK.
Save the configuration.

Configure Communications Monitoring Probe Settings

Configuring Communications Monitoring Probe settings allows you to make the Oracle Enterprise Communications Broker (OECB) act as a probe, sending network traffic information to an Oracle Communications Session Monitor Mediation Engine.

The Communications Session Monitor is Oracle's Communication Experience Manager. The manager is powered by the Oracle Communications Session Monitor Mediation Engine, a platform that collects SIP, DNS, ENUM, and protocol message traffic received from Oracle Communications Session Monitor Probes. The mediation engine stores the traffic in an internal database, and analyzes aggregated data to provide comprehensive multi-level monitoring, troubleshooting, and interoperability information.

Acting as a Probe, or as an exporter, the OECB can:

Establish an authenticated, persistent, reliable TCP connection between itself and the Oracle Communications Session Monitor Mediation Engines.
Send UTC time-stamped, unencrypted copy of a protocol messages to the Mediation Engine.
Accompany the copied message with related data to include: the port and VLAN on which the message was sent or received, local and remote IP:port information, and the transport layer protocol.

Access the System Config configuration object.
Configuration tab, System Adminstration section, General Settings, System Config.

Expand Comm Monitor.

State

Select to enable the probe.

SBC Grp ID

Set the SBC group id parameter to assign an integer value to the OECB in its role as an information exporter. Default: 0.

Monitor Collector

Click Add, and do the following:

Address—Enter the collector IP address to specify the IP address of the target Oracle Communications Session Monitor Mediation Engine.
Port—Enter the collector port number of the target Oracle Communications Session Monitor Mediation Engine. Default: 4739. Range: 1025-65535.
Network Interface—Select the network interface from which to export traffic to the Oracle Communications Session Monitor Mediation Engine. Most systems use M00:0.
Click OK.
Optional—Repeat to add another monitor collector.

Do one of the following:
- Configure other settings on the Modify System Config page, and click OK.
- Click Back.
Save the configuration.