All Cisco Finesse servers run on virtual machines (VM) by using the Unified Communications Operating System (Unified OS). For details about supported ESXI versions and VMware requirements, refer to Virtualization for Cisco Finesse.

No Cisco Finesse software is installed on the clients. Agents and Supervisors use a web browser to access the Finesse desktop. Administrators use a web browser to access the Finesse administration console. The following table lists the supported operating systems and browsers for Cisco Finesse clients.

Note

When a new VM is deployed using Cisco provided OVA using thin-client vCenter 6.5, the Check and upgrade Tools during power cycling setting is not enabled. Manually enable this setting to ensure that the performance levels are not affected. Cisco Finesse does not support the use of Compatibility View with Internet Explorer. If the user is on Compatibility View the following banner message is displayed on the Finesse Desktop login screen: The Cisco Finesse Desktop is not supported in compatibility mode. Contact your administrator to change the browser settings to non-compatibility mode and sign in again. If the user tries to change the compatibility mode after logging in to the Finesse Desktop, an error page is displayed and the user must sign in to the Finesse Desktop again.

Important

Requirements, such as processor speed and RAM, for clients that access the Cisco Finesse desktop can vary. Desktops that receive events for more than one agent (such as a supervisor desktop running Team Performance and Queue Statistics gadgets or an agent desktop running Live Data reports that contain information about other agents or skill groups) require more processing power than desktops that receive events for a single agent. Factors that determine how much power is required for the client include, but are not limited to, the following: Contact center traffic Additional integrated gadgets in the desktop (such as Live Data reports or third-party gadgets) Other applications that run on the client and share resources with the Cisco Finesse desktop

For optimal Finesse performance, network characteristics should not exceed the following threshold:

• Latency: 80 ms (round-trip) between Finesse servers and 400 ms (round-trip) from Finesse client to Finesse server

For information about port usage, refer to the Port Utilization Guide for Cisco Unified Contact Center Solutions at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/customer-collaboration/unified-contact-center-enterprise/products-installation-and-configuration-guides-list.html.

For information about bandwidth requirements for Cisco Finesse, refer to the Cisco Finesse Bandwidth Calculator.

During the installation of Cisco Finesse, you must specify credentials for the following:

• Administrator User account: This account is used to access the CLI.

• Application User account: This account is used to access the Finesse administration console.

• Database access security password: This password is required if you replace or add a server in the future or if you want to replace the security password with a new one. Keep a record of this password.

The database security password and the passwords for the Administrator and Application User accounts must be at least six characters long. They can contain alphanumeric characters, hyphens, and underscores.

From Cisco Finesse Release 12.0(1) onwards, Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) and Gadget Source Allowed List are available.

The Cisco Finesse administration console and agent desktop support both HTTP and secure HTTP (HTTPS). Administrators can run a CLI command to enable or disable Cisco Finesse HTTPS Redirect for the administration console and the desktop. When Cisco Finesse HTTPS Redirect is enabled, agents and supervisors who attempt to access the desktop through HTTP are redirected to HTTPS.

Cisco Finesse HTTPS Redirect is enabled by default. After you install Finesse, if you want to use HTTP, you must run the CLI command to disable Cisco Finesse HTTPS Redirect.

When you upgrade Finesse, the setting for Cisco Finesse HTTPS Redirect is maintained. If Cisco Finesse HTTPS Redirect is disabled on your system before you upgrade, it remains disabled after you upgrade.

Note	HTTPS is now supported for large deployments with more than 2000 users.

To eliminate browser security warnings each time you access the administration console or agent desktop through HTTPS, you can obtain and upload a CA certificate or you can use the self-signed certificate provided with Finesse.

This guide uses HTTP for all example URLs.

You can install the Finesse nodes on separate domains as long as the following requirements are met:

• Each Finesse server can perform a DNS lookup of the other using the fully-qualified domain name (FQDN).

• All Finesse clients can perform DNS lookups of the Finesse servers using the FQDN.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager version 12.5 or higher is required to use the Desktop Chat feature.

• You must have access to a Network Time Protocol (NTP) server.

  Note	From Cisco Finesse Release 12.0(1) onwards, the default desktop notification connection type is WebSockets.

• You must have a valid hostname and domain.

• It is recommended that you choose the Cisco Finesse hostname, domain and IP address carefully because changing these configurations after installation requires other steps to be followed, such as: manual verification of certificate validity, cluster restart, invalidation of the existing backups, and running commands through the Command Line Interface (CLI).

  After you install Cisco Finesse, you cannot change these values.

• You must have a preconfigured default router.

• You must have a preconfigured Domain Name Server (DNS) and have set up forward and reverse DNS.

• Cisco Finesse is supported on a Call Manager Peripheral Gateway (PG) and a Generic PG. Finesse does not support a System PG. On a System PG, assuming that a Voice Response Unit (VRU) is also set up for queuing, Finesse would receive queuing events meant for the VRU.

• The Cisco Finesse server uses Windows authentication to access the Administration & Data server database (AWDB). You can set the MS SQL server authentication mode to either Windows Authentication or Mixed.

• Cisco Finesse requires a domain user that is configured with login and read permissions to access the AWDB.

• The Cisco Finesse JDBC driver is configured to use NTLMv2. Therefore, Finesse can connect to the AWDB even if the AWDB is configured to use only NTLMv2.

• The port for the primary and backup Administration & Data Servers must be the same.

• To ensure secure communication between Finesse and CTI Server, enable the secure mode in the PG. Also, in the Cisco Finesse Administration Console, enable the option in the CTI Server Settings.

• If you plan to use Cisco Unified Customer Voice Portal (Unified CVP) for queuing, configure Unified CVP to support warm transfer and conference, as described in the section Using the Warm Transfer feature with SIP Calls in the Configuration and Administration Guide for Cisco Unified Customer Voice Portal and the section Network Transfer in the Cisco Unified Customer Voice Portal Solutions Reference Network Design.

• In Cisco Unified Communications Manager Administration, under Device > Phone, ensure that the Maximum Number of Calls is set to no more than 2 and Busy Trigger is set to 1.

Use this configuration worksheet to record network and password information that is required to install and configure Finesse. Store this worksheet information for future reference.

Note	Many of the values that you enter on the installation configuration screens (such as hostnames, user IDs, and passwords) are case-sensitive.

Before you install Cisco Finesse, you must obtain the OVA file. Cisco Finesse supports a single OVA template with two deployment configurations. Choose the configuration you need based on the size of your deployment.

The filenames for the OVA and associated ReadMe are as follows:

You must purchase the Cisco Finesse media kit to obtain the installer. For more information, see the Ordering Guide for Cisco Customer Contact Solutions (http://www.cisco.com/web/partners/downloads/partner/WWChannels/technology/ipc/downloads/CCBU_ordering_guide.pdf).

You can obtain the Cisco Virtual Server (OVA) files needed to create a virtual machine from Cisco.com at the following URL: http://software.cisco.com/download/type.html?mdfid=283613135&i=rml.