Deployment into the Azure Cloud

VOSS Automate can be deployed into the Azure cloud by means of terraform scripts.

Hardware Requirements

For details on Standard and Modular Topologies, refer to the VOSS Automate Architecture and Hardware Specification Guide and Platform Guide.

Unified or Database Nodes:

• VM Size: E4ds_v4 Standard

• CPU: 4

• RAM: 32

• OS disk: 30GB, Premium_LRS

• application disk: 50GB, Standard_LRS

• backup disk: 55 GB, Standard_LRS

• DB disk: 250 GB, Premium_LRS

• Total disk size: 385GB

Application Nodes:

• VM Size: E4ds_v4 Standard

• CPU: 4

• RAM: 32

• OS disk: 30GB, Premium_LRS

• application disk: 50GB, Standard_LRS

• Total disk size: 80GB

Web Proxies:

• Web Proxies are replaced by an Azure Load Balancer

Network Communications External to the Cluster

The following details are all based on the default settings. These can vary depending on the application setup and network design (such as NAT) of the solution, so may need adjustment accordingly. Where a dependent is noted, this is fully dependent on the configuration with no default.

These communications are all related to communications with devices external to the cluster.

• Outbound Communications to Devices from the Application/Unified nodes:

  Communication	Protocol	Port
  Cisco Unified Communications Manager (UCM)	HTTPS	TCP 8443
  Cisco Unity Connection (CUXN)	HTTPS	TCP 443
  Webex	HTTPS	TCP 443
  LDAP directory	LDAP	TCP/UDP 389 and/or 636(TLS/SSL)
  Cisco HCM-F	HTTPS	TCP 8443

• VOSS Automate Communications

The cluster contains multiple nodes which can be contained in separate secured networks. Network ports need to be opened on firewalls and/or network security groups to allow inter-node communication – these are described in more detail in the Platform Guide.

All communication between nodes are encrypted.

Communication	Protocol	Port
Database access	Database	TCP 27020 and 27030 bi-directional
Cluster Communications	HTTPS	TCP 8443
Remote Administration	SSH	TCP 22
Web Server Communication	HTTP/HTTPS	TCP 80/443
Simple Network Management Protocol	SNMP	UDP 161 and 162
Network Time Protocol	NTP	UDP 123
Domain Name System	DNS	UDP 53

VOSS Automate Azure Deployment Procedure

1. The supplied terraform deployment configuration requires the following:

   • Existing resources

     • Resource group

     • Virtual Network

     • Virtual Network Subnet

     • Disk Encryption Set

       • Create an access policy for the “disk encryption set” granting get, wrap and unwrap key permissions on the key vault being used

   • App Registration with a role assignment of “Contributor” on the Resource Group to allow terraform to deploy

     • Record “client_id”

     • Record “client_secret”

   • Ensure that you run terraform from a VM or device with routing to the virtual network subnet

     • Install terraform version 1.3.2 or later

2. Extract the terraform.zip contents

3. Update values.yaml with appropriate information

4. Deployment Type

   The defaults are configured as follows:

   Unified:
      Availibility Zone 1
      1x Unified Node
   
   Modular: 2x Application, 3x Database
      Availibility Zone 1
         App Node 1, Database Node 1
      Availibility Zone 2
         App Node 2, Database Node 2
      Availibility Zone 3
         Database Node 3
   

   If the requirement is to deploy more than the defaulted Unified or Application(Modular) Nodes, edit the terraform/modules/voss-deployment/main.tf file.

   module "voss-unified-node" {
      count = var.deployment_type == "Unified" ? 1 : 0
   }
   
   module "voss-app-node" {
      count = var.deployment_type == "Modular" ? 2 : 0
   }
   

5. Configure the state backend in main.tf (defaults to a local file)

6. Run terraform

   • From the root terraform directory

     • Run: terraform init

     • Run: terraform plan (Validate plan)

       • Default total resources to be created:

         Unified (1 Node):     Plan: 10 to add, 0 to change, 0 to destroy.
         Modular (2 App 3 DB): Plan: 39 to add, 0 to change, 0 to destroy.
         

     • Run: terraform apply

VOSS Automate Platform Config and Template Install Procedure

1. On each of the newly deployed node(s), log in as the platform user, using the password configured in values.yaml (voss_password)

   1.1. Run: system reboot. Alternatively you can reset the Virtual Machine from the Azure Portal. This is to ensure all services are running before proceeding with the cluster configuration.

2. On a unified or application node, log in as the platform user:

   2.1. Run: cluster run all prepnode –force

   2.2. Obtain the IP address. Run: cluster run all network interfaces

   Example output:

   $ network interfaces
      interfaces:
       eth0:
          gateway: 10.0.0.1
          ip: 10.0.0.4
          netmask: 255.255.255.0
   

   2.3. Add the IP addresses obtained in the previous step to the cluster:

   cluster add <IP1>, cluster add <IP2>, …

   2.4. Add database weights to your database nodes ():

   For a single Unified node deployment, this step can be skipped.

   For a Modular deployment:

   Run: cluster run <Database Node IP> database weight add <IP1> <priority> …

   For a Unified deployment:

   database weight add <IP1> <priority>, database weight add <IP2> <priority>, …

   Weights of 30, 20, 10 are recommended for Modular database nodes
   Weights of 40, 30 are recommended for two Unified nodes
   Weights of 40, 30, 20, and 10 are recommended for four Unified nodes
   Weights of 60, 50, 40, 30, 20, and 10 are recommended for six Unified nodes
   

   The higher the value, the higher priority.

3. For the remaining installations over ssh, it is recommended to use a screen session.

   screen - start a new session
   screen -ls - show sessions already available
   screen -r [screen PID] - reconnect to a disconnected session
   

   Determine which node is the primary application node.

   • Run the following command on an Application/Unified node to determine the PRIMARY NODE:

     • Command : cluster run application cluster primary role application

     • Search for node with is_primary: true

   On the primary application node

   4.1. Run cluster provision

   4.2. Run voss cleardown

   4.3. Install the templates.

   app template media/<template file name>.template