Failover options

[Pauliebrisbane]

Hi All,

I have been looking at options to provide a basic failover function without the requirement to double up on licences.

There is a design I am considering, although I would like to see if anyone else has implemented a similar solution or of anyones thoughts on whether this is possible or not.

Customer site requires a 64sc licence to accommodate 80 staff.

Instead of going with the 64sc licence, could I go with 2 x 32sc licences running on 2 separate Windows Servers connected using a 3CX bridge. 40 staff on SystemA and 40 staff on SystemB

I would then configure all 80 extensions on both SystemA and SystemB, therefore half the extensions on each system will be unregistered. If a server fails could the phones then have a backup server configured to register with? (SystemA extensions failover to SystemB and vice versa), obviously with limited functionality such as voicemails, simultaneous calls etc. until the failed server is back online.

This would not be as robust as a VMware HA or FT type failover, but purchasing 2 x 32c licences and 'load balance' between the two systems is cheaper than 2 x 64sc licences purely for the failover scenario.

Any info on past experiences and other failover options are also very welcome.

 

[leejor]

You'd have to have a way for the sets to know the location of the second server. I know some makes of sets have this option available but many do not.

Keep in mind that unless a call is being attempted, a set will no know that a server is down until a re-registration is attempted, which depending on the time options set, could be up to 29 minutes.

If you are going to expense of purchasing two licences and two servers, why not just leave one powered down, or, running but not connected to the LAN. Both could then have identical settings and the off-line unit would just have to be updated as changes were made to the other server. A back-up of the running system applied to the backup system after changes were made. They could be set to take turns running the system to be sure everything is in order.