AWS Deployment Guide#

Overview#

VOSS Automate can be deployed onto the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud using private Amazon Machine Image (AMI). Two private AMIs are provided - one for deploying the application node, and the other for deploying the database node. Both AMIs are built as appliances that contain a self-contained operating system, and the required application or database.

Before you Start

The customer should supply the following to enable VOSS to create a private AMI:

  1. AWS Account ID

  2. Deployment Country

  3. Deployment Region

Hardware Requirements#

Note

The AMI’s storage is pre-configured as per below specifications. Max EBS IOPS and Throughput is dependent on the Instance Type, increase if required.

Example:

r6a.xlarge
- Max Throughput (MB/s) = 1250.0
- Max I/O Operations/second (IOPS) = 40000

Application Nodes:

  • Instance Type: r6a.xlarge or equivalent

  • Instance CPU Architecture: x86_64

  • CPU: 4

  • RAM: 32

  • OS Disk: 30GB, GP3 @ 3000 IOPS / 125 throughput

  • Application Disk: 50GB, GP3 @ 3000 IOPS / 125 throughput

  • Total Disk size: 80GB

Database Nodes:

  • Instance Type: r6a.xlarge or equivalent

  • Instance CPU Architecture: x86_64

  • CPU: 4

  • RAM: 32

  • OS Disk: 30GB, gp3 @ 3000 IOPS / 125 throughput

  • Application Disk: 50GB, gp3 @ 3000 IOPS / 125 throughput

  • Backup Disk: 125 GB, sc1

  • DB Disk: 250 GB, io2 @ 750 IOPS

  • Total Disk size: 455GB

Web Proxies:

  • Web Proxies are replaced by an Application 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 (CUCM)

    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 AWS Deployment Topology#

../../../_images/aws-install-image08.png

AWS Application Load Balancer Configuration#

Basic configuration

  • Scheme: Internal

  • IP address type: IPv4

Network mapping

  • VPC: The VPC where the VOSS Automate Application Nodes reside

  • Mappings: The Availability Zones where the VOSS Automate Application Nodes reside

Security groups

  • Create a new security group or select an existing one.

Target group
  • Basic configuration

    • Target type: Application Load Balancer

    • Protocol: TCP/443

    • VPC: The VPC where the VOSS Automate Application Nodes reside

  • Health checks

    • Health check protocol: 443

    • Health check path: /portal

  • Advanced health check settings

    • Health check port: Traffic port

    • Success codes: 200, 202

Listeners and routing

  • Protocol: HTTPS

  • Port: 443

  • Default Action: Forward to (above target group)

AWS Management Console Deployment Procedure#

Prerequisites

  • VPC with 3 subnets across 3 availability zones.

Login to your Account

  • Navigate to EC2 Services.

  • Click on AMIs under Images in the left pane.

  • Select the correct Region from the drop-down at the top right.

  • Select Private Images from the drop-down filter.

  • The VOSS Automate AMIs should appear in the list.

  • Select the VOSS Automate Application/Database AMI in the list, Launch Instance from AMI.

Configuration

  • Name: Give the instance a descriptive name e.g automate-app-node-1

  • Key pair (login): Proceed without a key pair. This is managed by VOSS Automate.

  • Instance Type: As per hardware requirements.

  • Network Settings: Configure the subnet based on the availability zone.

Example:

Subnet 1 - us-east-2a
Application Node 1
Database Node 1

Subnet 2 - us-east-2b
Application Node 2
Database Node 2

Subnet 3 - us-east-2c
Database Node 3

  • Configure storage: As per hardware requirements.

Terraform Deployment Procedure#

Terraform scripts have been provided as a starting point to deploy as per above topology diagram.

This will deploy the following:

  • VOSS Automate Modular Cluster

  • AWS Application Load Balancer

  • Bastion Server (For Automate Remote Administration Access)

VOSS Automate Platform Config and Template Install Procedure#

  1. On each of the newly deployed node(s), log in as the platform user.

    username: platform
password: platform

User will be prompted for a password change.
Enter the current password, new password and confirm the new password.

  2. On each of the newly deployed node(s), log in as the platform user with the newly created password.

    2.1. Run: cluster prepnode --force

    2.2. Obtain the IP address. Run: network interfaces

    Example output:

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

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

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

    cluster add <IP1>, cluster add <IP2>, ...

    3.2. 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.

  4. 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