IBM® Sametime® consists of a variety of servers and clients, and can be deployed to suit many different environments. The deployment instructions are organized by feature set, beginning with the minimum components that are necessary to support instant messaging, and then expanding the deployment to include features such as audio and video support, and conferencing.
You can provide failover and load balancing in your deployment by creating a cluster of multiple IBM® Sametime® servers of the same type. All Sametime servers can be clustered except for the Sametime System Console, and the Video MCU and TURN Server components of the Sametime Media Manager.
The IBM® Sametime® Media Manager includes several components. You can install the components separately and optionally cluster some of them.
Configuring a cluster of Sametime® Media Manager SIP Proxy/Registrars involves several tasks, including synchronizing system clocks, configuring one or more WebSphere® proxy server to operate with the cluster.
To best support high availability and provide fail over services, a cluster of IBM® Sametime® Media Manager servers should be fronted with at least two IBM WebSphere® proxy servers and IBM Load Balancer.
Configure load balancing with MAC forwarding.
The installation worksheets are organized according to feature area, such as instant messaging, audio video, and common components. Use the installation worksheets to record DNS-registered host names, database names, IP addresses, ports to open, credentials, and other information. The checklist contains sample tables already filled out, and blank tables for you to fill out.
Install an IBM® Sametime® fix by downloading packages and installing with the Update option.
Many IBM® Sametime® servers use common components to support either an individual server or a server cluster. Installation Manager and WebSphere® Network Deployment are required prerequisites for most Sametime servers. DB2® and Sametime System Console must be installed once for the deployment. IBM Load Balancer is used in a clustered environment. Follow the instructions for each type of deployment to determine which common components you need to install.
Instant messaging features are provided primarily by the IBM® Sametime® Community Server, which supports presence, text chats, and two-way phone calls.
Meeting features are provided primarily by the IBM® Sametime® Meeting Server, which creates online "meeting rooms" where users can present information and share applications. If you deploy the Sametime Media Manager, conferences can include audio and video features as well.
Audio and video features are provided primarily by the IBM® Sametime® Media Manager, which supports point-to-point and multipoint calls. The Sametime Media Manager uses standard audio and video codecs so that it works with products from other audio and video vendors.
SIP trunking allows IBM® Sametime® users to make SIP-based phone calls from their installed Sametime clients.
Deploy the First Party Call Control (FPCC) feature by configuring settings in the IBM® Sametime® Connect and Sametime Embedded client installation packages and then distributing the updated packages to users.
Clients in a local IBM® Sametime® community can communicate with users in other communities through the Sametime Gateway.
The IBM® Sametime® Connect client or Sametime Embedded Client has to be installed on users' computers to use instant messaging and meetings. This section explains how to install these clients.
The Apple iOS client is distributed through the Apple App Store. The Android client is no longer available for download from the IBM® Sametime® Proxy Server. Customers with users who are unable to access the Google Play Store should contact IBM Support to request that a build be provided to them directly.
Expand your Sametime® deployment by clustering servers for performance, scalability, high availability, and failover.
IBM® Sametime® Community Server clusters provide redundancy, load balancing, and failover for community Connections. Sametime Community Servers are clustered as part of an IBM Domino® server cluster. A Sametime Community Server can belong to only one cluster.
Configuring a cluster of IBM® Sametime® Proxy Servers involves several tasks, including synchronizing system clocks, configuring the cluster settings, and optionally deploying an IBM Load Balancer in front of the cluster.
Configuring a cluster of IBM® Sametime® Advanced servers involves several tasks, including synchronizing system clocks, configuring the cluster settings, and deploying a load balancer in front of the cluster, either deploying IBM Load Balancer or another load balancer product.
Cluster the IBM® Sametime® Base Meeting Server prior to clustering the other types of Sametime Meeting Servers.
A cluster of Sametime® servers requires a minimum of two nodes, a primary node and a secondary node, and at least one WebSphere® proxy server to handle routing and caching tasks. To reduce the resource load on product nodes and avoid port conflicts, you can choose to install a stand-alone WebSphere proxy server on a separate computer instead of using the instance that was installed on a Sametime node. If you plan to have both the WebSphere Application Server and the WebSphere proxy server on the same computer, ensure it has been properly sized to handle the multiple workloads.
You have the option to adjust the ports of the Meeting Servers so they are consistent within the cluster. Any port can be used as long as it is available on all of the servers and does not create a conflict if there are multiple servers on the same host. Typically the ports used on the primary node are also set on each of the secondary nodes. The point of this process is not to dictate which port is set on the server, but to guide you through setting each of your servers so the ports are consistent.
Configure a virtual host on the Sametime® Meeting Server to avoid conflicts with other Sametime applications
IBM® Sametime® Meeting Server clusters consist of a minimum of two Sametime Meeting Servers and one or more WebSphere® Proxy Servers and are typically fronted by an intelligent load balancer.
Install a load balancer in front of a cluster of IBM® Sametime® Meeting servers to distribute connections among the servers. The cluster should have at least two IBM WebSphere® HTTP proxy servers deployed in front of it, so that the load balancer can direct connections to those proxy servers for forwarding to the individual Sametime servers in the cluster.
Synchronize the system clocks on the servers to be clustered with an IBM® WebSphere® Application Server network deployment.
Use the IBM® Sametime® System Console to create a cluster of Sametime Servers hosted on IBM WebSphere® Application Server. The Sametime servers must all be running the same type of server; for example, Sametime Meeting Server, Sametime Proxy Server, Sametime Media Manager Conference Manager, Sametime Media Manager SIP Proxy/Registrar, or Sametime Advanced.
Complete the configuration for clustering Sametime® Media Manager SIP Proxy/Registrars using a WebSphere® Application Server network deployment by restarting and synchronizing nodes in the cluster and restarting the application servers in the cluster.
Set up an IBM® WebSphere® proxy server for use with a cluster of IBM Sametime® servers. The proxy server can be hosted on a product node, or on a separate computer; it performs routing and caching tasks for the servers in the cluster.
Install a load balancer in front of a cluster of IBM® Sametime® servers to distribute connections among the servers. The cluster should have at least two IBM WebSphere® SIP proxy servers deployed in front of it, so that the load balancer can direct connections to those proxy servers for forwarding to the individual Sametime servers in the cluster.
If you deployed multiple IBM® WebSphere® proxy servers with a cluster, you will need to configure additional ports for use with IBM Load Balancer so it can distribute connections among the individual proxy servers. Configure the complete set of ports for every WebSphere proxy server used by the cluster.
If you installed multiple IBM® WebSphere® proxy servers for a cluster, you will need to configure additional transport chains for use with a load balancer. Configure the complete set of transport chains on every proxy server in the cluster.
In an IBM® Sametime® Media Manager cluster, configure IBM WebSphere® proxy server to accept both secure and non-secured traffic from the load balancer. Configure these settings on every proxy server in the cluster.
If you installed multiple IBM® WebSphere® proxy servers for a cluster, you will need to create an additional set of custom properties on each proxy server to enable it to work with a load balancer. Create the complete set of properties on each proxy server.
After creating an IBM® Sametime® Media Manager SIP Proxy/Registrar cluster, add the load balancer ports that you created for the cluster's IBM WebSphere® proxy servers to the sip_proxyreg_host alias in the cluster's virtual host
sip_proxyreg_host
Configure load balancing with IP forwarding.
If you have Sametime® 8.5.1 or 8.5.2 clients connecting to a cluster of Sametime 9 SIP Proxy/Registrars, you must take steps to ensure that they can connect successfully. Do this by applying a custom filter to the WebSphere® SIP proxy server in front of the cluster that forces the proxy server to use connections initiated by the older clients rather than creating new connections.
Configuring a cluster of IBM® Sametime® Media Manager "Conference Manager" components involves several tasks, including synchronizing system clocks, configuring one or more WebSphere® proxy servers to operate with the cluster.
Clustering the IBM® Sametime® Video Manager consists of setting up replication and deploying a load balancer in front of the Video Manager servers.
Deploy and cluster IBM® Sametime® Bandwidth Manager servers using IBM WebSphere Application Server 7.
Although IBM® Sametime® TURN Server cannot be clustered for high availability, you can provide some additional service by deploying multiple TURN Servers with a load balancer to distribute the workload.
Install an IP routing load balancer according to the product instructions.
Ensure the security of your IBM® Sametime® deployment by deploying servers in the extranet. Deploying Sametime servers in the extranet allows external clients to access Sametime features without directly connecting to servers deployed in your intranet.
Expand the range of features in your IBM® Sametime® deployment by integrating with other products.