Mitel 3300 clustering

[Mitelpassion]

Hi,

What excately does clustering of MITEL controllers comprise of and what does it allow you to do as opposed to not having the elements clustered?

Will it make multiple controllers "look" like one?

Thanks,
Eugene

 

[Mitelpassion]

sorry just one more bit to this question.

Would I be able to, in a clustered environment, specify different options 128,129 and 130 for various phones to register to various controllers?

If this sounds a bit clumsy, I will explain the scenarion.
Regards,

 

[phones1]

i was under the impression that you clustered controllers for redundancy, (thats what I've did) + in a large install they share resources so your not to nackered if one goes tits up.

 

[MitelTech]

phones1, that's one thing you get out of a cluster (if you buy resliency), now here's the rest...
Useable features across the cluster: if I want to direct page on the other pbx you can (transparent to the user)
Portable Directory Numbers: you can move a number from one pbx to the other without worrying about ARS and conflicts in dialing
Telephone Directory: both directories are on both pbx's (as controlled by OpsMan)
Automated time sync, data saves and not sure if it's supported yet but auto software installs (works on 2K, not on 3300 I think)

There is probably more I have forgotten then I have remembered here. One dependant of clustering is Opsman, it's required. Once you have Ops, things really open up. You can have it integrated to your IDS, adding users is as simple as clicking a tab within your AD, pretty slick. Basically a cluster makes 2 (or more) pbx's appear as 1 to the users. In the 3300 world it also provides resilency when purchased, and makes fail over tranparent to the user.
Speaking of the DHCP options, when clustered, if a set gets a RTC of the pbx it is not a member of, that pbx will tell the set where the controller is that it "resides" on. This lets users move phones on their own, sometimes that's a good thing, sometimes bad...

 

[MitelInMyBlood]

Yes, OPSMAN is required for clustering 3300s (and for resiliency), but OPSMAN is about to go away (Manufacture Discontinue). It is being replaced with Enterprise Manager, which is already available now.

OPSMAN is already at release 6.10.x and my understanding is the final release will be version 6.11

 

[MitelTech]

Not entirely true as I understand it. Opsman is now a component of Enterprise Manager. If you want Ops, ya gotta buy EM 1st. If you are an existing user of Ops, it'll still be available to you (including upgrades I think). Ops now relies on Enterprise Manager for it's Network Nodes programming, other then that OpsMan has not changed. It may be renamed but it's still the software package we are used to. Enterprise Manager on the other hand, it's a front end that allows a network admin to see the overall health of his (or her!) SNMP enabled devices, focusing particularily on Mitel equipment of course.

 

[Mitelpassion]

Thanks for the answers guys.

I really think I should be clustering these controllers instead of just using it the way I have. I have 4 controllers all for one company. Two are just TDM gateways (and does a few other things) and two for users.

It's a nightmare to set up dial plans and routing between them. I knew that there had to be a way hence I started investigating clustering. I think clustering is the answer.

Do I have to have resilliency when I use clustering?

E

 

[MitelTech]

No, you do not *have* to buy resilliency with clustering, but it sure is a damn nice option if you can buy the licensing to support it.