System Sizes

Systems are identified by the number of concurrent users supported:

• 50 concurrent users (also known as a micro system)

  • Typically supports a company between 500 and 1000 employees

  • Primary system [(without High Availability (HA)] comprises an Admin virtual machine and an optional Internet Reverse Proxy (for public access)

• 250 concurrent users (also known as a small system)

  • Typically supports a company between 2500 and 5000 employees

  • Primary system (without HA) comprises an Admin virtual machine, a Media virtual machine, and an optional Internet Reverse Proxy (for public access)

• 800 concurrent users (also known as a medium system)

  • Typically supports a company between 8000 and 16,000 employees

  • Primary system (without HA) comprises an Admin virtual machine, a Media virtual machine, and an optional Internet Reverse Proxy (for public access)

• 2000 concurrent users (also known as a large system)

  • Typically supports a company between 20,000 and 40,000 employees

  • Primary system (without HA) comprises an Admin virtual machine, 3 Media virtual machines, 2 Web machines, and an optional Internet Reverse Proxy (for public access)

Terms Used During the Deployment

WebEx Site URL—a secure http URL for users to host and attend meetings in a single-data center environment.

WebEx Administration URL—Secure http URL for administrators to configure, monitor, and manage the system in a single-data center environment.

Public VIP—virtual IP address for the WebEx site URL.

Private VIP—virtual IP address for the Administration site URL or the virtual IP address for the WebEx site URL (for internal users only, if you have a split-horizon DNS).

WebEx Common URL—used by the DNS to redirect the user to the data center where the user performs meeting-related tasks, such as scheduling or hosting meetings. Which data center DNS chooses is transparent to the user. The WebEx Common URL is simply a convenient location for a user to enter the system. If a data center goes down, nothing changes for the user, including the URL used to access meetings, because the DNS will redirect the user to the surviving data center.

Administration Common URL—is often referenced as simply the Administration URL. It is used by the DNS to redirect an administrator to the management data center to where the administrator logs into the system. Which data center the DNS chooses is transparent to the administrator (however, the string in the URL bar changes depending on which data center the administrator is using to access the system). The Administration Common URL is simply a convenient target an administrator uses to enter the system.

Administration Local URLs—are specific to each data center in a Multi-data Center (MDC) system. When logging in through the Administration Common URL, the DNS redirects the administrator to the Administration Local URL for the management data center. Any system modifications, such as assigning a license to a user, are performed on the management data center and replicated to all data centers in the MDC system.

An administrator can choose a specific data center to modify from within the CWMS application, but selecting another data center to modify does not change the Administration Local URL, because the administrator's access to the system remains with the data center chosen by the DNS when the administrator logged into the system. The administrator's modifications to another data center in the MDC system pass through the management data center chosen by the DNS to the target data center.

A MDC system will have a minimum of two Administration Local URLs, one for every data center in the system.

Local URLs that are specific to each data center.

System Profile Information

Complete this chart of your system.

Networking Changes

• Public access: whether or not users external to your firewall, can host and access meetings from the Internet or mobile devices.

  Cisco recommends public access as it results in a better user experience for your mobile workforce.

• Type of DNS setup at your company: split-horizon DNS or a non-split horizon DNS (most common DNS configuration). For more information about DNS setup, see the Cisco WebEx Meetings Server Planning Guide.

• Open port 10200 from the administrator desktop to the Admin virtual machine. Port 10200 is used by the web browser during the deployment.

Select the appropriate checklist for your deployment:

• Networking Checklist for a System with Public Access and Non-Split-Horizon DNS

• Networking Checklist for a System With No Public Access

• Networking Checklist for a System with Public Access and Split-Horizon DNS

Required Information

The required information varies if you are doing an automatic deployment (supported for 50 concurrent users, 250 concurrent users, and 800 concurrent users) systems or manual deployment (supported for all system sizes). We recommend that you select an automatic deployment unless you are deploying a 2000-user system that always requires a manual deployment.

Select the appropriate checklist for your deployment type:

• Required Information For an Automatic Deployment

• Required Information For a Manual Deployment

In a manual deployment, you create all the virtual machines for your system using the OVA wizard from your vSphere client. You then install your system using a manual deployment.

You must choose a manual deployment if you are deploying a 2000 user system.

Note

Be sure to add the virtual machine FQDNs, IP addresses, WebEx and Administration site URLs, and VIP addresses to your DNS servers before you start the system deployment. We will use this information to check network connectivity at the end of the deployment. To avoid any DNS issues, you may want to test these URLs and IP addresses before you start the OVA deployment. Otherwise, the system deployment will fail until you correct these errors.

This is the information required for your system, in order.

What To Do Next

With this information, start the system deployment by entering the deployment URL in a browser window. (The deployment URL is written in the console window for the Admin virtual machine.)

Note	If the system is rebooted before the configuration is complete, a new passcode is generated and you must use the deployment URL with the new passcode.

The OVA template creates two virtual NICs for each virtual machine. However, only the Administration virtual machines uses both virtual NICs. All other Cisco WebEx Meetings Server (CWMS) virtual machines, only one virtual NIC is used and the other one is disconnected.

This procedure is provided as a general guidance. The screens you see during the OVA deployment depends upon your vCenter, storage, and networking configuration, and might be different from what is described in this procedure. See your VMware vSphere documentation for complete information on the OVA wizard.

Determine your preferred language for setting up the system.

Note

Do not close this browser window until the system deployment is complete. If you close the browser early, it might be necessary to restart the deployment. CWMS System is the default name of the data center after an upgrade to version 2.5; it is not translated from English in any of the other languages.

To confirm that you are deploying a new system or expanding an existing system, select Next.

You selected the size of your system when you deployed the Admin virtual machine by using the OVA file.

You can choose automatic or manual deployment of the system virtual machines. Your choice of automatic or manual deployment depends upon the following:

• If you have time constraints, an automatic deployment is faster than a manual deployment.

• If you prefer step-by-step guidance, this guidance is provided during an automatic deployment.

• If you are familiar with VMware vCenter and do not want to provide us your vCenter credentials, select manual deployment.

We recommend that you select Automatic unless you are deploying a 2000-user system that always requires a manual deployment.

If you add public access by using IRP, users outside the firewall can host or attend meetings from the Internet or mobile devices. IRP virtual machines can be added to a system at any time on a per-data center basis. Adding IRP to one data center in a Multi-data Center (MDC) environment gives users outside the firewall access to the entire system. To prevent external access, all IRP virtual machines must be removed from a system.

For security reasons, we recommend that you locate the Internet Reverse Proxy on a subnet different from the subnet occupied by the Administration virtual machine. This ensures network level isolation between the Internet Reverse Proxy and your internal (Admin and media, if applicable) virtual machines.

In a Multi-data Center (MDC) environment, the data centers cannot be expanded, upgraded, or updated. Secondary data centers must be removed from the MDC, making it a Single-data Center (SDC) environment. The MDC environment can be restored after the data centers are modified and it is verified that the data center sizes and version match.

• This public VIP address must be visible from both the Internet and the internal network (split-horizon DNS only).

• This public VIP address must be on the same subnet as the Internet Reverse proxy.

• If you do not have a split-horizon DNS, then all users use the Public VIP address to host and attend meetings.

• If you have a split-horizon DNS, and added public access, then external users use the Public VIP address to host and attend meetings.

For more information on non-split horizon and split-horizon DNS, and public access, see the Cisco WebEx Meetings Server Planning Guide.

Note	If you are creating a High Availability (HA) system, you do not need to reenter this information, as we will use the information you entered for the primary system.

Administrators configure, monitor, and maintain the system from the Administration site URL that maps to the private VIP address.

If you have a split-horizon DNS, then internal users also use the Private VIP address to host and attend meetings.

If you are adding a High Availability (HA) system, you do not need to reenter this information; we will use the information you entered for the primary system.

WebEx Site URL

Users access the WebEx site URL to schedule, host, or attend meetings. This URL resolves to either the private VIP address or the public VIP address, depending on whether or not you are using a split-horizon DNS.

• Resolves to the public VIP address for all users, when you do not have split-horizon DNS.

• Resolves to the public VIP address for external users when you have split-horizon DNS.

• Resolves to the private VIP address for internal users when you have split-horizon DNS.

Note	Ports 80 and 443 must be open for the WebEx site URL.

WebEx Administration URL

Administrators access the WebEx Administration URL to configure, manage, and monitor the system. This URL resolves to the private VIP address.

Note	Ports 80 and 443 must be open for the WebEx Administration URL.

Names for the WebEx Site and WebEx Administration URLs

You may choose almost any names for these URLs, comprising all lowercase characters. However, you cannot use the following as the hostname in the URLs:

The Common Site URL allows users to schedule and host meetings, and access meeting recordings. The Administration Site URL provides management of the system. If you are adding a High Availability (HA) system, it is not necessary to reenter this information; the primary system URLs should match the HA system URLs. (See General Concepts for System Deployment for descriptions of the URLs.)

This screen provides links to online help for the networking changes required for your system. The online help provides details on DNS server changes as well as firewall settings.

You must make the DNS server and firewall changes that allow us to test network connectivity.

If you have not done so already, complete the networking configuration and select Next.

If you are testing an automatic deployment, we deploy the virtual machines required for your system when you select Next.

If you are testing a manual deployment, enter the hostnames for your virtual machines and deploy them (if you have not deployed them already).

When the deployment is complete, test them by powering them on and verifying that all the virtual machines powered on successfully.

The system check verifies the configuration parameters of your system. This includes confirming that the virtual machines have the required minimum configuration, and validating the WebEx site and WebEx Administration URLs.

The system check takes several minutes to complete. Do not leave this page until all the checks have been completed successfully, or the system check fails and shows error messages indicating the problem.

If you reload the page before the checks are complete, you are returned to the first page of this system deployment. When the checks are completed successfully, the first page of configuration utility appears.

The Administration site URL used during the deployment process is the Administration virtual machine hostname. During basic configuration, the hostname is replaced with the Administration site URL. As a result, the first time you sign in to the Administration site, the system might prompt you to accept the certificate exception.