Before Configuring a High Availability (HA) Pair

Note:

When you configure an HA pair, you must use the same password for both Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controllers.

Before configuring the parameters that support HA, complete the following steps.

Establish the physical connections between the Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controllers. Avoid breaking the physical link (over the rear interfaces) between the Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controllers in an HA node. If the physical link between the Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controllers breaks, they will both attempt to become the active system and HA will not function as designed.
Confirm that both Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controllers are set to the same time. Use the ACLI show clock command to view the system time. If the Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controllers show different times, use the system-timeset command to change the time.

Oracle recommends that you use NTP to synchronize your Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controllers, so that they have a common stratum time source.
HA nodes use specific ports for HA interfaces. See the documentation for the hardware that you use.
For ACLI configuration, you need to know the target names of the Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controllers making up the HA node. The target name of the system is reflected in the ACLI’s system prompt. For example, in the ORACLE# system prompt, ORACLE is the target name.

You can also see and set the target name in the Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller boot parameters.

Note:
The target name is case sensitive.
Devise virtual MAC addresses so that, if a switchover happens, existing sessions are not interrupted.

HA Node Connections

To use HA, you must establish Layer 2 and Layer 3 networks that interconnect two Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controllers and support HA with the required physical network connections. The basic network set-up in the following diagram shows an HA node deployment where each system is connected to its own Layer 2 switch. This set-up provides a measure of added redundancy in the event that one of the switches fails.

Here, the active system is using the virtual MAC and IP addresses.

The HA Node Connection diagram is described above.

In the second diagram, the same network is shown with the HA node having experienced a switchover. The previously standby Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller has taken over the active role in the HA node and is using the virtual IP and MAC addresses.

The HA Node Connections Switchover diagram is described above.

Note:

Switches should never be in master-slave mode. If they are, HA will not work correctly.

The following are hardware set-up and location considerations for placing an HA Node:

You must set up each Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller according to the requirements and safety precautions set out in the Oracle Communications System Hardware Installation Guide.
Each Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller’s media interfaces must be connected to the same switches (or other network entities), as shown in the diagram above.
The length of the shielded crossover 10/100 category 5 Ethernet cable that connects the Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controllers from the rear interfaces must be able to reach from the configured rear interface on one Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller to the configured rear interface on the other.

HA nodes use Oraclerder element redundancy protocol for its tasks. This protocol uses a connection between the rear interfaces of two Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controllers to checkpoint the following information: health, state, media flow, signaling, and configuration.

We recommend that you use shielded category 5 (RJ45) crossover cables for all 10/100 Ethernet connections used for HA.

You can set up either single or multiple rear interface support for your HA node. For single interface support, one cable connects the two Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controllers; for multiple interface support, two cables are used. However, the software configurations for each type of connection mode are different.

When you make these connections, do not use port 0 (wancom0) on the rear interface of the Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller chassis; that port should only be used for Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller management. Instead, use ports 1 and 2 (wancom1 and wancom2).

To cable Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controllers using single rear interface support:

Using a 10/100 category 5 crossover cable, insert one end into either port 1 (wancom1) or port 2 (wancom2) on the rear interface of the first Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller.
Insert the other end of the cable into port 1 or port 2 on the rear interface of the second Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller. We recommend that you use corresponding ports on the two systems. That is, use port 1 on both systems or use port 2 on both systems.
Perform software configuration for these interfaces as described in this chapter.

To cable Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controllers using multiple rear interface support:
Using a 10/100 category 5 crossover cable, insert one end into port 1 on the rear interface of the first Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller.
Insert the other end of that cable into port 1 on the rear interface of the second Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller to complete the first physical connection.
Using a second 10/100 category 5 cable, insert one end into port 2 on the rear interface of the first Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller.
Insert the other end of this second cable in port 2 on the rear interface of the second Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller to complete the second physical connection.
Perform software configuration for these interfaces as described in this chapter.

Virtual MAC Addresses

In order to create the HA node, you need to create virtual MAC addresses for the media interfaces. You enter these addresses in virtual MAC address parameters for phy-interface configurations where the operation type for the interface is media.

The HA node uses shared virtual MAC (media access control) and virtual IP addresses for the media interfaces. When there is a switchover, the standby Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller sends out an ARP message using the virtual MAC address, establishing that MAC on another physical port within the Ethernet switch. Virtual MAC addresses are actually unused MAC addresses that based on the Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller’s root MAC address.

The MAC address is a hardware address that uniquely identifies each Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller. Given that, the virtual MAC address you configure allows the HA node to appear as a single system from the perspective of other network devices. To the upstream router, the MAC and IP are still alive, meaning that existing sessions continue uninterrupted through the standby Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller.

Depending on the type of physical layer cards you have installed, you can create MAC addresses as follows: Four Ethernet (MAC) address for each configured four-port GigE physical interface card.

Virtual MAC Address Configuration

To create a virtual MAC address:

Determine the Ethernet address of the Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller by using the ACLI show interfaces command. This command only works if you have already set up phy-interface configurations. Otherwise, you will get no output.
The example below shows you where the Ethernet address information appears; this sample has been shortened for the sake of brevity. For each type of physical interface card, the Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller displays the following:
```
ORACLE# show interfaces
f00 (media slot 0, port 0)
     Flags: UP BROADCAST MULTICAST ARP RUNNING
     Type: GIGABIT_ETHERNET
     Admin State: enabled
     Auto Negotiation: enabled
     Internet address: 10.10.0.10     Vlan: 0
     Broadcast Address: 10.10.255.255
     Netmask: 0xffff0000
     Gateway: 10.10.0.1
     Ethernet address is 00:08:25:01:07:64
```
Identify the root portion of the Ethernet (MAC) address.

Each Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller has MAC addresses assigned to it according to the following format: 00:08:25:XX:YY:ZN where:
- 00:08:25 refers to Acme Packet
- XX:YY:ZN refers to the specific Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller
- N is a 0-f hexadecimal value available for the Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller
  
  In this example, the root part of this address is 00:08:25:XX:YY:Z.
To create an unused MAC address (that you will use as the virtual MAC address) take the root MAC address you have just identified. Replace this N value with unused hexadecimal values for the Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller: 8, 9, e, or f.

In other words, you change the last digit of the MAC address to either 8, 9, e, or f depending on which of those address are not being used.

For example, for an HA node with MAC address bases of 00:08:25:00:00:00 and 00:08:25:00:00:10, the following addresses would be available for use at virtual MAC addresses:
- 00:08:25:00:00:08
- 00:08:25:00:00:09
- 00:08:25:00:00:0e
- 00:08:25:00:00:0f
- 00:08:25:00:00:18
- 00:08:25:00:00:19
- 00:08:25:00:00:1e
- 00:08:25:00:00:1f
  
  Corresponding media interfaces in HA nodes must have the same virtual MAC addresses. Given that you have various physical interface card options, the following points illustrate how virtual MAC address can be shared:
If you are using a four-port GigE physical interface card, both the active Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controllerand the standby Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller might have the following virtual MAC address scheme for the slots:
- Slot 0 _ 00:08:25:00:00:0e and 00:08:25:00:00:0f
- Slot 1 - 00:08:25:00:00:1e and 00:08:25:00:00:1f
  
  Note:
  Note the virtual MAC addresses you have created so that you can reference them easily when you are configuring the phy-interfaces for HA.

Virtual MAC Addresses for VNFs

Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) rely on their hypervisor environment for MAC address establishment, advertisement and resolution. As such, you cannot derive these addresses using the same method as you do for Acme platforms. For VNFs, Oracle recommends establishing private MAC addressing for virtual MAC address configuration.

To support HA, you configure virtual Ethernet (MAC) address MAC addresses based on the Burned In Addresses (BIA) of the media interfaces. To determine what the virtual MAC addresses should be, you first identify a BIA and then calculate the virtual MACs based on that.

To define the virtual addresses you need to configure for each interface:

Identify the base MAC of eth0/wancom0 physical interface using the show interfaces command. For example, in the following display, you can see the base MAC is 00:50:56:C0:00:08:

eth(unit number 0):
Flags: (0x78843) UP BROADCAST MULTICAST ARP RUNNING INET_UP
Type: ETHERNET_CSMACD
inet: 111.22.0.123
Broadcast address: 111.22.255.255
Netmask 0xffff0000 Subnetmask 0xffff0000
Ethernet address is 00:50:56:C0:00:08

Set the bottom nibble of the first byte to 2 to define the address as locally administered.
Set the top nibble of the first byte to 0 and increment it for each interface.

For example, using the base-MAC for eth0, 00:50:56:C0:00:08, you assign the virtual addresses as follows:

First media interface virtual MAC = 02:50:56:C0:00:08
Second media interface virtual MAC = 12:50:56:C0:00:08
Third media interface virtual MAC = 22:50:56:C0:00:08
Forth media interface virtual MAC = 32:50:56:C0:00:08

HA Node Connections

You can begin software configuration for your HA node after you have:

Completed the steps for physical set-up and connection.
Noted the target name of the Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controllers that make up the HA node.
Configured the virtual MAC addresses that you need, according to the type of physical interface cards installed on your Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller.

HA Node Connection Configuration

If you are using HA, you need to set the phy-interface configuration parameters described in this section to establish successful connections. These parameters are for rear and media interfaces.

To access the phy-interface menu in the ACLI:

In Superuser mode, type configure terminal and press Enter.
```
ORACLE# configure terminal
```
Type system and press Enter to access the system-level configuration elements.
```
ORACLE(configure)# system
```
Type phy-interface and press Enter. The system prompt changes to let you know that you can begin configuring individual parameters.
```
ORACLE(system)# phy-interface
ORACLE(phy-interface)#
```
From this point, you can configure phy-interface parameters. To view all phy-interface parameters, enter a ? at the system prompt.

Rear Interfaces

You can use port 1 (wancom1) or port 2 (wancom2) as interfaces to support HA. Do not use port 0 (wancom 0) as that port is reserved for carrying management traffic.

Make sure that the physical connections you have made on the rear panel of your Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controllers correspond to the configurations you enter for phy-interfaces. You can connect Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controllers through multiple rear interfaces. For multiple rear interface connectivity, cable both port 1 and port 2 (wancom1 and wancom2) on one Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller to port1 and port 2 on the other Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller in the HA node.

The Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller’s HA function depends heavily on health scores to determine the active and standby roles in an HA node. You can set the amount that will be subtracted from a Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller’s health score in the event that a management interface fails for any reason. For example, a connection might become invalid or a cable might be removed inadvertently.

The following example shows how a configured phy-interface will appear in the ACLI for an HA node:

phy-interface
        name                           wancom1
        operation-type                 Control
        port                           1
        slot                           0
        virtual-mac
        wancom-health-score            20

To establish rear interfaces for use in an HA node using the ACLI:

Access the phy-interface menu.
name—Set a name for the interface using any combination of characters entered without spaces. For example: wancom1.
operation-type—Set this parameter to Control.
slot—Set this parameter to 0.
port—Set this parameter to 1 or 2.
wancom-health-score—Enter the number value between 0 and 100. This value will be subtracted from the Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller’s health score in the event that a rear interface link fails. We recommend that you change this value from its default (50), and set it to 20.

This value you set here is compared to the active and emergency health score thresholds you establish in the Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller HA node (redundancy) configuration.

For multiple rear interface support, configure the remaining, unused rear interfaces with the appropriate values.

The following example shows configuration for multiple rear interface support.

ORACLE(system)# phy-interface
ORACLE(phy-interface)# name wancom1
ORACLE(phy-interface)# operation-type control
ORACLE(phy-interface)# port 1
ORACLE(phy-interface)# wancom-health-score 20
ORACLE(phy-interface)# done
ORACLE(phy-interface)# name wancom2
ORACLE(phy-interface)# operation-type control
ORACLE(phy-interface)# port 2
ORACLE(phy-interface)# wancom-health-score 20
ORACLE(phy-interface)# done

Media Interface Virtual MAC Addresses

To configure HA for the media interfaces in an HA node, you must set one or more virtual MAC addresses, according to the type of physical layer cards you have installed on your Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller.

To set a virtual MAC address using the ACLI:

Access the phy-interface configuration.
Configure all relevant parameters as noted in the Phy-Interfaces section of this guide’s System Configuration chapter.

Since virtual MAC addresses are used for media interfaces only, verify that the operation type is set to media.
virtual-mac—Enter the virtual MAC address that you have created using the steps in the Virtual MAC Addresses section.

HA Node Parameters

To establish a pair of Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controllers as an HA node, you need to configure basic parameters that govern how the Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controllers:

Transition on switchover
Share media and call state information
Checkpoint configuration data

The following example shows what an HA configuration might look like in the ACLI.

redundancy-config
        state                          enabled
        log-level                      WARNING
        health-threshold               75
        emergency-threshold            50
        port                           9090
        advertisement-time             500
        percent-drift                  210
        initial-time                   1250
        becoming-standby-time          45000
        becoming-active-time           100

You need to configure the two Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controllers to be HA node peers. To enable configuration checkpointing, you must to configure two peers in the ACLI, one for the primary and one for the secondary Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller. The HA node peers configuration also allows you to configure destinations for where to send health and state information. Unless you create Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller peers and destinations configurations, HA will not work properly.

The following example shows what an HA configuration might look like in the ACLI.

peer
                name                           netnetsd1
                state                          enabled
                type                           Primary
                destination
                        address                        169.254.1.1:9090
network-interface              wancom1:0
peer
                name                           netnetsd2
                state                          enabled
                type                           Secondary
                destination
                        address                        169.254.1.2:9090
                        network-interface              wancom1:0

HA Node Parameter Configuration

To configure general HA node parameters using the ACLI:

In Superuser mode, type configure terminal and press Enter.
```
ORACLE# configure terminal
```
Type system and press Enter to access the system-level configuration elements.
```
ORACLE(configure)# system
```
Type redundancy and press Enter.
```
ORACLE(system)# redundancy
```
From here, you configure basic HA node parameters. To view all basic HA node parameters, enter a ? at the system prompt.
state—Leave this parameter set to enabled for HA to work. To stop HA operation, set this parameter to disabled. The default value is enabled. The valid values are:
- enabled | disabled
log-level—Set the log level you want to use for the HA system process. The value you set in this field overrides any log level value you set for the entire Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller in the system configuration process log level parameter. The default value is INFO which allows you to receive a moderate amount of detail. The valid values are:
- emergency | critical | major | minor | warning | notice | info | trace | debug | detail
health-threshold—Enter a value between 0 and 100 to set the health score at which the Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controllers in the HA node gracefully exchange active-standby roles. The default value is 75. The valid range is:
- Minimum—1
- Maximum—100
  
  For example, if this field is set to 75 and the active Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller’s health score falls below that point, the standby Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller will take over the active role. However, Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller will only take over the active role if its own health score is 75 or better.
emergency-threshold—Enter the health score for the standby Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller to become active immediately. The default value is 50. The valid range is:
- Minimum—0
- Maximum—100
  
  If the standby Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller is initializing and the active Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller’s health score is below the health threshold, the standby Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller will take the active role and there will be a graceful switchover. If the active Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller’s health score is below the emergency threshold, then the switchover will be immediate.
  
  If the standby Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller has a health score below the emergency threshold and the active Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controlleris unhealthy, the active Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller will not give up its active role.
advertisement-time—Enter the number of milliseconds to set how often Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controllers in an HA node inform each other of their health scores.

We recommend you leave this parameter set to it’s default, 500. The valid range is:
- Minimum—50
- Maximum—999999999
percent-drift—Enter the percentage of the advertisement time that you want one member of the HA node to wait before considering the other member to be out of service. For the standby Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller, this is the time it will wait before taking the active role in the HA node. The default value is 210. The valid range is:
- Minimum—100
- Maximum—65535
initial-time—Enter the number of milliseconds to set the longest amount of time the Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller will wait at boot time to change its state from initial to either becoming active or becoming standby. The default value is 1250. The valid range is:
- Minimum—5
- Maximum—999999999
becoming-standby-time—Enter the number of milliseconds the Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller waits before becoming standby, allowing time for synchronization. If it is not fully synchronized within this time, it will be declared out of service.

We recommend that you do not set this parameter below 45000. If a large configuration is being processed, we recommend setting this parameter to 180000 to allow enough time for configuration checkpointing. The default value is 45000. The valid range is:
- Minimum—5
- Maximum—999999999
becoming-active-time—Enter the number of milliseconds that the standby Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller takes to become active in the event that the active Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller fails or has an intolerably decreased health score. The default value is 100. The valid range is:
- Minimum—5
- Maximum—999999999

HA Node Peer Configuration

To configure a Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller as an HA node peer:

From the redundancy menu, type peers and press Enter.

ORACLE(system)# redundancy
ORACLE(redundancy)# peers

state—Enable or disable HA for this Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller. The default value is enabled. The valid values are:
- enabled | disabled
name—Set the name of the HA node peer as it appears in the target name boot parameter.

This is also the name of your system that appears in the system prompt. For example, in the system prompt ORACLE1#, ORACLE1 is the target name for that Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller.
type—These values refer to the primary and secondary utility addresses in the network interface configuration. To determine what utility address to use for configuration checkpointing, set the type of Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller: primary or secondary.

Note:
You must change this field from unknown, its default. The valid values are:
- primary—Set this type if you want the Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller to use the primary utility address.
- secondary—Set this type if you want the Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller to use the secondary utility address.
- unknown—If you leave this parameter set to this default value, configuration checkpointing will not work.

HA Node Health And State Configuration

To configure where to send health and state information within an HA node:

From the peers configuration, type destinations and press Enter.
```
ORACLE(rdncy-peer)# destinations
ORACLE(rdncy-peer-dest)#
```
address—Set the destination IPv4 address and port of the other Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller in the HA node to which this Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller will send HA-related messages. This value is an IPv4 address and port combination that you enter as: IPAddress:Port. For example, 169.254.1.1:9090.
- The IPv4 address portion of this value is the same as the IPv4 address parameter set in a network interface configuration of the other Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller in the HA node.
- The port portion of this value is the port you set in the Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller HA Node/redundancy configuration for the other Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller in the node.
network-interface—Set the name and subport for the network interface where the Oracle® Enterprise Session Border Controller receives HA-related messages. Valid names are wancom1 and wancom2. This name and subport combination must be entered as name:subport; for example, wancom1:0.

The network interface specified in this parameter must be linked to a phy-interface configured with rear interface parameters. The phy-interface’s operation type must be control or maintenance, and so the subport ID portion of this parameter is 0. The subport ID is the VLAN tag.