Table Of Contents

Recovering the PMC Application

Support for Cisco IPICS Recovery

Recovering the PMC

Transparent Recovery Mechanism

System Recovery Caveats

PMC Recovery Scenarios

Cisco IPICS Server Down/PMC Up

Cisco IPICS Server and PMC Up/Communications Down

Cisco IPICS Server and PMC Up/Network Down

PMC Application Recovery

Recovering the PMC Application

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This chapter provides information about recovering the PMC application under specific circumstances.

This chapter includes the following sections:

•Support for Cisco IPICS Recovery

•Recovering the PMC

•PMC Recovery Scenarios

•PMC Application Recovery

Support for Cisco IPICS Recovery

With this release, Cisco IPICS allows the connection of a PMC to only one Cisco IPICS server. Therefore, this release does not include support for load balancing or redundancy functionality.

If a system failure occurs and the PMC application cannot connect to the Cisco IPICS server, the PMC may continue to operate in offline mode, which is a disconnected state.

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Note When the PMC becomes disconnected from the Cisco IPICS server, it continues to operate in its existing state; that is, the PMC can continue with its existing voice channels but it cannot connect to additional, new channels until it reconnects to the server.

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For more information, see the"Server-PMC Login Sequence Interaction" section and the "System Recovery Caveats" section.

After the system recovers and resumes normal operations, the PMC automatically attempts to reconnect to the Cisco IPICS server. The Cisco IPICS server enables recovery of the PMC application by retaining the necessary PMC-related configuration and session information, and by doing so, it provides an efficient recovery mechanism for the PMC.

Related Topics:

•Server-PMC Login Sequence Interaction

•System Recovery Caveats

Recovering the PMC

This section provides information about recovering the PMC application after a system failure occurs. It also provides information about recovery caveats and includes the following topics:

•Transparent Recovery Mechanism

•System Recovery Caveats

Transparent Recovery Mechanism

The Cisco IPICS server provides a transparent recovery mechanism for the PMC end-user by maintaining in its database any PMC-specific session information that the server needs to communicate with the PMC.

The Cisco IPICS PMC login process requires that the PMC end-user log in to the PMC application, which in turn logs in to the Cisco IPICS server. If you attempt to log in to the PMC application and the PMC cannot communicate with the server, you receive notification that the login to the server has failed. When this failure occurs, the system presents you with the option of logging in to the PMC locally.

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Tip You can only login to the PMC locally if you have already successfully logged in to the Cisco IPICS server once before. For more information, see the "Logging In to the PMC Application" section.

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By allowing local login to the PMC application, Cisco IPICS ensures uninterrupted communications by providing the ability for the PMC to continue to operate in its existing state even when the server becomes unreachable.

After you log in to the PMC, the PMC automatically attempts to reconnect to the Cisco IPICS server.

System Recovery Caveats

When a system failure occurs, the PMC maintains functionality by allowing you to continue participation in existing VTGs, even if the PMC cannot connect to the Cisco IPICS server. However, you cannot connect to new, additional VTGs until the system recovers.

When the server recovers from a communications failure and resumes normal operations, the server automatically refreshes the channels that are running on the PMC. For more information about the status checks that Cisco IPICS performs, see the "PMC Updates" section.

Related Topics:

•Logging In to the PMC Application

•Dynamic Configuration

•PMC Updates

PMC Recovery Scenarios

The following information describes how the PMC recovers in certain scenarios:

•Cisco IPICS Server Down/PMC Up

•Cisco IPICS Server and PMC Up/Communications Down

•Cisco IPICS Server and PMC Up/Network Down

Cisco IPICS Server Down/PMC Up

When the Cisco IPICS server fails, the PMC continues to operate in its existing state but no changes to channels or configuration can be made while the server is down. (The PMC continues to poll the server during this time.)

In this scenario, the following activities occur when the server resumes normal operations:

1. When the Cisco IPICS server recovers from a failure, it returns to its last known state and resumes normal operations. The server initializes the PMC sessions and commands by using the information that it has stored in the database.

2. After connectivity is reestablished between the server and the PMC, new sessions may be created on the server. The server checks for concurrent license usage, and if the number of concurrent users exceeds the maximum, the system displays a warning message. For more information about license requirements, see the "License Information" section.

3. The PMC login state is recovered from the server database when the server restarts. If the PMC session had been in an inactive state during the communications interruption, the system may prompt you to log in to the PMC again.

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Note Cisco IPICS does not prevent you from logging in to the PMC application if the connection to the server goes offline.

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Cisco IPICS Server and PMC Up/Communications Down

In this scenario, the Cisco IPICS server is operational but the communications between the server and the PMC is down. The PMC retains the ability to login locally and it continues to operate in its existing state and poll the server.

When communications resume, the server manages the licensing and sessions as shown below:

1. After communications resume, the Cisco IPICS server checks the licenses for the PMC that had been locally logged in.

2. The PMC sessions that were inactive with the server become active and communications with those sessions proceed as normal.

3. If the PMC session became inactive, the Cisco IPICS server may prompt you to log in to the PMC application again.

Cisco IPICS Server and PMC Up/Network Down

When the network fails and communications go offline, you can still log in to the PMC application by using the local login process. When normal operations resume, the same process, as described in the "Cisco IPICS Server and PMC Up/Communications Down" section, occurs.

For more information about logging in to the PMC application, see the "Logging In to the PMC Application" section.

Related Topics:

•Logging In to the PMC Application

•License Information

PMC Application Recovery

The Cisco IPICS server provides the basic PMC configuration, skin, and XML definitions.

If you encounter a configuration, skin, or XML loss, you can quickly recover from this failure by uninstalling and reinstalling the PMC application on your client machine or by choosing another compatible version to run at login.

For information about uninstalling the PMC application, see the "Uninstalling the PMC Application" section.

For information about installing the PMC application, see the "Installing the PMC Application" section.

For information about choosing a compatible version to run at login, see the "Launching the PMC Application" section, the "Managing PMC Version Numbers" section, the "Reverting to a Previous Version of the PMC Application" section, and the "Logging In to the PMC Application" section.

Related Topics

•Installing the PMC Application

•Launching the PMC Application

•Managing PMC Version Numbers

•Reverting to a Previous Version of the PMC Application

•Uninstalling the PMC Application

•Logging In to the PMC Application

Where to Find More Information

•Cisco IPICS Server Administration Guide