Pureconnect Server Parameters
Billy Cromer
CIC includes several pre-configured server parameters that are used in the default handlers and by various modules on the CIC server. In addition, there are several optional server parameters that modify the default behavior of the email tools and the CIC and Exchange interface.
The server parameters for the Automated Switchover System affect how interactions are handled when a switchover occurs. The following table lists the optional Switchover System server parameters that you can set. For information about the required Switchover System server parameters, see Packaged Server Parameters. For more information about the Automated Switchover System, see the Automated Switchover System Technical Reference in the PureConnect Documentation Library on the CIC server.
The administrator can add or modify optional server parameters in the Interaction Administrator Server Parameters container to customize the Switchover subsystem behavior. None of these parameters are required. If you do not add these parameters, CIC uses the default values. The default values define monitoring practices that are adequate for most installations.
Any time a file is added, removed, or modified in one of these directories, the change is mirrored in the corresponding directory on the backup server. Separate each directory in the list with a semicolon (;).
This parameter enables the Switchover system to override the system-generated names for the switchover pair, which it automatically resolves. When this parameter is set to Yes or 1, the Switchover system instead uses the names that the system administrator specifies in the SwitchoverServerFQDN A and SwitchoverServerFQDN B server parameters.
This parameter specifies one or more directories on the active server that are mirrored on the backup server when the CIC server starts, in addition to the default mirrored directories. Separate each directory in the list with a semicolon (;).
The recovery of SMS generic objects requires that you also configure the IonNotifier parameter. For information, see Call Recovery Feature Technical Reference in the PureConnect Documentation Library.
To specify the timeout length (in seconds) for DS requests that are sent by the backup server to the primary server, add this parameter. The requests can be sent during either the initial startup of the backup server or the resynchronization with the primary server.
The Interaction Director server install automatically creates this server parameter. Genesys recommends that you review this server parameter in Interaction Administrator on the Interaction Director server to confirm the setting.
The Interaction Director server install automatically creates this server parameter. It sets up an IP ping process in Interaction Director configurations, which are similar to the TS ping process in CIC configurations. The default value is TsServer.
Switchover NetTest A specifies the name or IP address of a computer on the same network segment as SwitchoverServer B. The Switchover system uses the IP address on SwitchoverServer A when SwitchoverServer A is the backup server.
Whenever a failure condition is detected, the Switchover system on the backup server uses ICMP echo to ping this IP endpoint. It must find the IP endpoint on the same network segment as the active server. If the Switchover system cannot ping this endpoint, it assumes that the active server is still operable and doesn't switch because there a WAN failure.
This parameter specifies the name or IP address of a computer on the same network segment as SwitchoverServer A. The Switchover process on SwitchoverServer B uses the IP address when SwitchoverServer B is the backup server.
Specifies the interval in seconds that the Notifier connections will wait to re-establish a new connection after a loss. Lower values can improve reconnection response during short periods of connection los with the primary monitor.
Specifies the timeout value in seconds for a ping from the primary monitor on the backup to the notifier on the primary. If a ping is not received in this time frame, the primary monitor will then begin its retry mode.
When Switchover Use QoS For Ping parameter is enabled, add this parameter to set the value in the QoS byte. Differentiated Services Code Point (DSCP) is the 6 most significant bits of a packet. You can use DSCP to prioritize QoS traffic on Switchover.
Specifies the duration in seconds that switchover on the backup will attempt to reconnect with the primary. This timeout begins once the primary monitor has diagnosed the connection and signaled the appropriate event to the switchover state machine. Therefore, the actual duration from the time connections issues were first detected to the time the backup gives up and switches over will be longer than this because there is the interval where the retry pings are sent and then the network checks all made by the primary monitor. This can take around 15 seconds if the backup is not connected to the network or 70 seconds if the primary is not connected to the network.
A value of 0 indicates an immediate switchover when a connection is lost. A value greater than 0 indicates the number of seconds that the timer will be set to expire. The default value is 30. The minimum value is 0. There is no maximum value.
To specify the number of seconds that the Switchover system waits, after marking a TS failure, before sending the second ping, add this parameter. The system switches once the failure count exceeds the value stored in the Switchover Max TS Failures parameter, which defaults to 2.
Specifies the number of times that a ping set is sent to the primary before switching over. A ping set consists of one or more pings sent during a single attempt to detect the primary's system on the network. Pings will be sent until the primary responds or the maximum number of ping attempts is reached.
If you enter a value of -1, it results in unlimited attempts until the primary server is reached. In this case, if the connection issue is determined to be an unreachable primary server, switchover will not occur since the backup server will keep waiting for the primary server to be reachable again.
Specifies the interval in seconds between sending ping sets to the primary monitor when it is unreachable. See the Switchover Unreachable Primary Ping Count parameter for the definition of a ping set.
When the ForceSwitchoverFQDNs server parameter is enabled, then the SwitchoverServerFQDN A server parameter contains the fully qualified domain name of the Switchover Server A. For more information, see ForceSwitchoverFQDNs and Win32 CIC client machines outside the LAN cannot re-connect in Problems with the Switchover system running improperly.
When the ForceSwitchoverFQDNs server parameter is enabled, then the SwitchoverServerFQDN B server parameter contains the fully qualified domain name of the Switchover Server B.
Back in the old days of PureConnect and manual manipulation of Polycom provisioning/config files, it was possible to load a default directory by dropping an XML formatted file into the firmware directory (tftp root) called 000000000000-directory.xml. A user could also create a directory on their phone and it would be saved as -directory.xml.
Today I have a PureCloud customer that wants this directory on their phone, more than they want their next breath for a couple different reasons. One is to facilitate an unattended lobby phone, the other is for executives that refuse to use the desktop UI,
We've already done the heavy lift of writing code that will automatically pull the needed fields from the PureCloud directory via the API, parse it out, and generate the XML tags for the directory.xml file. What we're stuck on at the moment is trying to find some way to get PureCloud phones to consume the file we've created.
There is extraordinarily little information on the under-the-hood process of phone provisioning and phone configuration parameters aside from what is exposed through the UI. (I'm sure that is intentional and I understand all the reasons why.) However there are a few things that ARE exposed with no context or documentation that I think may lead me to resolution of my challenge.
For example, in a phones base settings, there is a custom parameter called "phone_configExpressions" which is a list of AWS URLs pointing to *.i3exp files. More specifically things like phone.cfg.i3exp. I'd like to know more about what these files are and what functional purpose they serve. I'd also like to know what other custom parameters are avaialble for use?
Things I've tried:
1.) RTFM
2.) Adding the url of my directory.xml file to the phone_configExpressions parameter value list.
3.) Adding CONTACTS_DIRECTORY as a custom parameter on the phone configuration in PureCloud with a text value of " " in the hopes it would go there and pick up "00000000000-directory.xml" (This is a polycom parameter)
4.) Used PolycomSimulator to try to see what files were being pulled and parameters that were configured but I think the picture I'm being presented from that is incomplete at best as there is no registration information in the parameters that came down. My PolycomSim tool is also older than dirt and was originally built to troubleshoot PureConnect provisioning issues. It is not, how shall we say, a reliable test.
5.) Opened a support ticket some months ago on this resulting in an enhancement request that has not been roadmapped. (Even provided our code to help shortcut the process and entice Genesys to throw in some functionality)
6.) This.
Other steps to be tried:
1.) Taking a PCAP from a Polycom during startup to determine if it ever tries to download a directory.xml file, or if it ever does a PUT for one on a graceful reboot, and if so, to/from where, in an attempt to see where it's being told to put/pull the file to/from.