vicidial cluster mode

[ambiorixg12]

Hi I'm trying to install latest vicbox 8 in cluster mode 2 servers

server 1 : DB and WEB

Server 2 : SIP registration server

Both server has been sucessfully installed , now I would like know how to link both servers as there is not too much information on this document,

http://download.vicidial.com/iso/vicibo ... nstall.pdf

I just need some hints as I have been working for a while with vici and I know how to manage the system correctly

[williamconley]

Clustering is not done after installation. It's done during. Do not use "automatic installation" or "express". Go through the wizard for each new server and it'll get the DB information and set it all up for you.

Note that it is also BEST to have these servers share a local (gigabit) network and use their Local IPs in the Vicidial system even if they also have public IPs. This allows the servers to communicate with each other at full speed and without using any bandwidth or even sending packets through your router, just the local switch.

It's possible to cluster after install, in fact there's a manual written by some idiot named williamconley several years ago. It was originally for Vicidial 2.0 and 2.2, but oddly enough still applies as the clustering portion of Vicidial is still apparently quite the same.

http://www.poundteam.com/downloads/Vici ... Latest.pdf

BUT: It's MUCH better to just reinstall Vicibox and cluster while doing so. For one thing, you'll become more familiar with the installation methods and be less afraid to start over again later if you should. When we train new techs, we make them install 10-20 times in a row until they are very familiar. But a Call Center IT person (or owner) should really install it at least three or four times to be familiar with the process (and lose that fear).

Also: There's a new "restore" feature in the Vicibox install disk, but that generally requires that a successful installation happened previously and your "restore" server is actually replacing that dead server rather than a fresh new server being clustered to a DB that doesn't have a "slot" for the new server to occupy. If there's only the DB server under Admin->Servers, your best bet would be to just reinstall Vicidial from start to finish, OS and everything, on that 2nd server.

And install ALL roles in it except DB (web, dialer, archive ....). They don't have to be used and can be safely ignored, but if you choose (one day) to use one of those roles on the new server ... it's very handy that they are already installed and ready-to-go. Seriously.

[ambiorixg12]

Go through the wizard for each new server and it'll get the DB information and set it all up for you.

Thanks Willi, I used the wizard and installed server 1 as DB, Web and achive server, Then

On server 2 I used as SIP server and specified the DB server address it was added automatically,

are these the only steps necesary for cluster mode ,?


Now the creation of agents and phone and campaing is all done on the web/ db server ?

[williamconley]

Go through the wizard for each new server and it'll get the DB information and set it all up for you.

Thanks Willi, I used the wizard and installed server 1 as DB, Web and achive server, Then

On server 2 I used as SIP server and specified the DB server address it was added automatically,

are these the only steps necesary for cluster mode ,?


Now the creation of agents and phone and campaing is all done on the web/ db server ?

Management and Agent Web Login can be done on any server in the cluster in which you installed the Web role. If you installed it on more than one server, that means you now have more than one serve to use as web. You must "assign" phones to a server and then register the agent's VOIP phone to that server. There are also Phone Aliases for Load Balancing. This would be a good time for you to research what that means.

[ambiorixg12]

Management and Agent Web Login can be done on any server in the cluster in which you installed the Web role.

So all managment is done on the web server

You must "assign" phones to a server and then register the agent's VOIP phone to that server.

When you say assing, I have a quick question when creating agents phone do I do it also on the web server and assing it to the SIP server in some how in the vici configurtion of the web server

[williamconley]

So all managment is done on the web server

"The" is your mistake. Try "Any". Any web server in the Vicidial cluster can be used for management. Management of the server is through changes to the Database. There is only ONE database. All servers (Management Web, Agent Web or Dialer) use that single database.

EG: If you have four servers (A,B,C,D) that have Web and Dialer installed installed and you use Server A to create a phone and assign that phone to server C, then check on server D one second later (ie: at any time after the DB has been updated), you'll see the phone you created an it's assignment to C visible on the interface in server D.

By the same concept: Agents can use any web server in the cluster as their Agent Screen.

But a phone will only succeed in registering to a server which has been selected in the phone modify screen for that phone. Attempting to register to a different server than the one assigned will result in a 404 not found error (bad user/pass) because the sip-vicidial.conf file on that server will have no entry for the phone if it's not assigned to this server.

when creating agents phone do I do it also on the web server and assing it to the SIP server in some how in the vici configurtion of the web server

You create phones under "Admin->Phones". Each phone is assigned to a server by using the dropdown entitled "server" to choose the server that phone is assigned to. Once you've assigned a phone to a server, within 60 seconds that server will reconfigure itself to allow that phone to register. If you removed the phone from another server, that losing server will remove the configuration option for that phone within 60 seconds also.

Not magic though: All that's happening is a rewrite of the "sip-vicidial.conf" file and then a sip reload is executed. Asterisk uses a "sip.conf" file to load it's sip configuration. In Vicidial, the sip-vicidial.conf file is "included" in the sip.conf file ... so asterisk will first load "sip.conf", then see the inclusion and reach out for "sip-vicidial.conf" and load that as well. With the new values in it for the phone you just created. Each Dialer checks every minute to see if it should reload it's configuration files due to a change.