CISCO Release 11.5 External Database Requirements User Guide
- June 15, 2024
- Cisco
Table of Contents
User Guide
Release 11.5 External Database Requirements
External Database Requirements
This guide provides information about how to configure an external database
for Cisco Unified Communications Manager IM and Presence Service features. The
following features require an external database:
- Persistent Group Chat
- High Availability for Persistent Chat
- Message Archiver (IM Compliance)
- Managed File Transfer
- How to use this Guide, on page 1
- External Database Setup Requirements, on page 2
- Additional Documentation, on page 4
- External Database Setup Prerequisites, on page 5
- Performance Considerations, on page 5
- About Security Recommendations, on page 6
How to use this Guide
Refer to the following chapters for instructions on how to configure your
external database.
Procedure
| Command or Action| Purpose
---|---|---
Step 1| External Database Requirements, on page 1| Review support information
and other requirements for your external database.
Step 2| Install the external database:
• Install PostgreSQL
• Install Oracle
• Install Microsoft SQL Server| Refer to one of the chapters on the left for
installation information.
Step 3| Configure IM and Presence Service for External Database| Configure the
IM and Presence Service for the external database connection.
What to do next
After setting up the external database, refer to the additional material in
this guide for information on administering your external database.
External Database Setup Requirements
General Requirements
Cisco suggests having a certified PostgreSQL, Oracle, or Microsoft SQL Server
administrator to maintain and retrieve information from the external database.
Hardware and Networking Requirements
- A dedicated server to install the external database.
- See the database documentation for details on supported operating systems and platform requirements.
- IPv4 and IPv6 are supported by IM and Presence Service.
Software Requirements
The following table contains general external database support information for
the IM and Presence Service.
For detailed information specific to IM and Presence features, refer to the
subsequent “Feature Requirements” section.
Table 1: Database Support for the IM and Presence Service
| Database | Supported Versions |
|---|---|
| PostgreSQL | Note |
• The minimum version of PostgreSQL required for the Persistent Chat Rooms
feature is 9.6.x
• PostgreSQL 12.x is compatible only with IM and Presence Service Release,
12.5(1) SU6 and higher.
Testing is performed using versions from 9.6.x through 12.x. It is expected
that all other minor versions of 9.6.x, 10.x, 11.x, and 12.x remain
compatible. It is expected that future major releases and patches remain
compatible, but are not tested at this time.
Oracle| Testing is performed using Oracle 9g, 10g, 11g, 12c, and 19c versions.
Since the IM and Presence features are using common Oracle features such as
basic SQL statements, Stored Procedures, and basic indexing; we expect that
future versions remain compatible and will be supported unless otherwise
specified in this document. Cisco plans to include compatibility testing of
newer major Oracle DB releases during future major IM and Presence releases.
Microsoft SQL Server| Testing is performed using MS SQL 2012, 2014, 2016,
2017, and 2019 versions.
The IM and Presence features use common MS SQL features. The future releases
and patches remain compatible unless otherwise specified in this document.
Cisco plans to include compatibility testing of newer major DB releases during
uture
major IM and Presence releases.
You can:
- Deploy the database on virtualized or non-virtualized platforms.
- Deploy the database on Windows or Linux operating systems, where supported. See the database documentation for details on the supported operating systems and platform requirements.
- IPv4 and IPv6 are supported by IM and Presence connections to external databases.
Feature Requirements
External database requirements differ depending on which features you want to
deploy on the IM and Presence Service. Refer to the following table for
support information for specific IM and Presence features.
Table 2: External Database Requirements for Specific IM and Presence
Features
| Feature | Requirements |
|---|---|
| Persistent Group Chat feature | A minimum of one unique logical external |
database instance (tablespace) is required for the entire IM and Presence
Service intercluster. A unique logical external database instance for each IM
and Presence Service node or redundancy group in an IM and Presence Service
cluster will provide optimum performance and scalability, but is not
mandatory.
Supports:
• Oracle
• PostgreSQL (version 9.1 and above)
• Microsoft SQL Server
High Availability for Persistent Chat feature| Make sure that both presence
redundancy group nodes are assigned to the same unique logical external
database instance.
Oracle, PostgreSQL, and Microsoft SQL Server are supported as external
databases for High Availability for Persistent Chat. However, note that Cisco
does not provide detailed back-end database support. Customers are responsible
for resolving back-end database issues on their own.
Supports:
• Oracle
• PostgreSQL
• Microsoft SQL Server (minimum release is 11.5(1)SU2)
Message Archiver (compliance) feature| We highly recommend that you configure
at least one external database for each IM and Presence Service cluster;
however you may require more than one external database for a cluster
depending on your database server capacity.
Supports:
• Oracle
• PostgreSQL
• Microsoft SQL Server
Managed File Transfer feature| You require one unique logical external
database instance for each IM and Presence Service node in an IM and Presence
Service cluster.
Note
Database table space can be shared across multiple nodes or clusters provided
capacity and performance isn’t overloaded.
Supports:
• Oracle
• PostgreSQL
• Microsoft SQL Server
If you deploy any combination of the persistent group chat, message archiver (compliance), and managed file transfer features on an IM and Presence Service node, the same unique logical external database instance (tablespace) can be shared across the features as each feature uses separate data tables. This is dependent on the capacity of the database instance.
Additional Documentation
This procedure only describes how to configure the external database on the IM and Presence Service. It does not describe how to fully configure the features that require an external database. See the documentation specific to the feature you are deploying for the complete configuration:
- For information on configuring the message archiver (compliance) feature on the IM and Presence Service, see Instant Messaging Compliance for IM and Presence Service.
- For information on configuring the persistent group chat feature on the IM and Presence Service, see Configuration and Administration of the IM and Presence Service.
- For information on configuring the managed file transfer feature on the IM and Presence Service, see Configuration and Administration of the IM and Presence Service .
External Database Setup Prerequisites
Before you install and configure the external database on the IM and Presence Service, perform the following tasks:
- Install the IM and Presence Service nodes as described in Installation Guide for Cisco Unified Communications Manager and the IM and Presence Service.
- Configure the IM and Presence Service nodes as described in Configuration and Administration of IM and Presence Service.
If the IM and Presence Service connects to an external database server using IPv6, ensure that the enterprise parameter is configured for IPv6 and that Eth0 is set for IPv6 on each node in the deployment; otherwise, the connection to the external database server fails. The message archiver and Cisco XCP Text Conference Manager will be unable to connect to the external database and will fail. For information about configuring IPv6 on the IM and Presence Service, see Configuration and Administration of IM and Presence Service.
Performance Considerations
When you configure an external database with the IM and Presence Service, you must consider the following recommendations:
- Reduce the round-trip delay (RTT) between the IM and Presence Service cluster and the external database to avoid performance issues. This is normally accomplished by locating the external database server as close as possible to the IM and Presence Service cluster.
- Do not allow the external database entries to be full which causes performance issues on the IM and Presence Service cluster. Regular maintenance of the external database plays an important role in preventing IM and Presence Service performance degradation.
The external database maintenance further tunes the query execution mechanisms
of the database engine itself when the number of records in the database
reaches certain threshold.
For example, on the MSSQL database by default when you enable the query
execution optimization mechanism that is called Parameter Sniffing, it can
negatively affect the performance of persistent chat service. If this
optimization mechanism does not adjust with plan guides for concrete IM and
Presence Service queries, delay in Instant Messages delivery to persistent
chats will be introduced.
Related Topics
PostgreSQL documentation
Oracle documentation
Microsoft Server documentation
About Security Recommendations
External Database Connection Security
The IM and Presence Service provides a secure TLS/SSL connection to the
external database but only when Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server is chosen as
the database type. We recommend that you consider this security limitation
when you plan your IM and Presence Service deployment, and consider the
security recommendations we provide in this topic.
Maximum Limit Connection Setup
For additional security, you can limit the maximum number of permitted
connections to the external database.
Use the guideline we provide here to calculate the number of database
connections that are appropriate for your deployment. This section is optional
configuration. The guideline infers that:
- You are running the managed file transfer, message archiver (compliance), and persistent group chat features on the IM and Presence Service.
- You configure the default number of connections to the database for the persistent group chat feature on the Cisco Unified CM IM and Presence Administration interface.
Guideline
PostgreSQL — max_connections = (N ×15) + Additional Connections
Oracle — QUEUESIZE = (N ×15) + Additional Connections
Microsoft SQL Server — the maximum number of concurrent connections = (N x15)
-
Additional Connections
- N is the number of nodes in your IM and Presence Service cluster.
- 15 is the default number of connections to the database on the IM and Presence Service, that is, five connections each for the managed file transfer, message archiver, and persistent group chat features.
- Additional Connections represents any independent administration or database administrator (DBA) connections to the database server.
PostgreSQL
To limit the number of PostgreSQL database connections, configure the
max_connections value in the postgresql.conf file located in the
install_dir/data directory. We recommend that you set the value of the
max_connections parameter equal to, or slightly larger than, the above
guideline.
For example, if you have an IM and Presence Service cluster containing six
nodes, and you require an additional
three DBA connections, using the guideline above, you set the max_connections
value to 93.
Oracle
To limit the number of Oracle database connections, configure the QUEUESIZE
parameter in the listener.ora file located in the install_dir/data directory.
We recommend that you set the value of the QUEUESIZE parameter equal to the
above guideline.
For example, if you have an IM and Presence Service cluster containing 4
nodes, and you require one additional DBA connection, using the guideline
above, you set the QUEUESIZE value to 61.
Microsoft SQL Server
To limit the number of MS SQL Server database simultaneous connections carry
out the steps below. We recommend that you set the size of the queue equal to
the above guideline.
- From the SQL Server Configuration Manager, right-click the node you want to configure and click Properties.
- Click Connections.
- In the Connections pane, enter a value from 0 to 32767 in the Max number of concurrent connections dialog box.
- Restart the Microsoft SQL Server.
Default Listener Port Setup
This section is an optional configuration.
For additional security, you may choose to change the default listening port
on the external database:
- For PostgreSQL, see Set Up PostgreSQL Listening Port for details on how to edit the default listener port.
- For Oracle, you can edit the default listener port by editing the listener.ora config file
- For Microsoft SQL Server, you can assign a TCP/IP port number as the default listener port in the SQL Server Configuration Manager. For details, see Default Listener Port Setup for Microsoft SQL Server.
External Database Requirements
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