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Deploying a Conferencing Node using a generic VM template and configuration file

Pexip also provide the Conferencing Node VM template and the ability to generate a Conferencing Node-specific configuration file for you to deploy yourself using non-supported hypervisors or orchestration layers.

Creating a new generic Conferencing Node is a two-step process:

  1. A generic instance of a Conferencing Node VM is created using a template provided by Pexip.
  2. The VM is configured with the details of the specific Conferencing Node being deployed.

Prerequisites

  • The Conferencing Node must be deployed in a VM environment that supports address assignment by DHCP.
  • You must know the IP address that will initially be assigned to the Conferencing Node. You will use this IP address to connect to the VM in order to upload the configuration file, but this configuration file may then assign a new IP address to the Conferencing Node.

Deployment process

To create a new Conferencing Node using the VM template:

  1. Within your chosen environment, go to https://download.pexip.com/infinity/, select the appropriate directory for your software version, and then download one of the following files and use it to create a generic instance of a Conferencing Node:

    • Pexip_Infinity_v13_generic_ConfNode_<build>.ova in environments that take .ova or .ovf files as input.
    • Pexip_Infinity_v13_HyperV_ConfNode_<build>.zip for Hyper-V in cloud-based environments or other orchestration layers where standard manual deployment is problematic.

    Ensure you are using a VM template with the same Pexip Infinity software version as that which is currently running on the Management Node. This includes dot releases — so for example, for a v12.1 Management Node you must install a v12.1 Conferencing Node rather than a v12 Conferencing Node. If the Management Node has been upgraded, you will need to download the Conferencing Node VM template corresponding to that software version. For more information, see Upgrading configuration-only deployments.

  2. Go to Platform configuration > Conferencing Nodes and select Add Conferencing Node.
  3. From the Deployment type field, select Generic (configuration only).
  4. Select Next.
  5. You are now asked to provide the network configuration to be applied to the Conferencing Node, by completing the following fields:

    Option Description
    Name Enter the name that will be used to refer to this Conferencing Node in the Pexip Infinity Administrator interface.
    Description An optional field where you can provide more information about the Conferencing Node.
    IPv4 address Enter the IP address to be assigned to this Conferencing Node when it is created.
    Network mask Enter the IP network mask to be assigned to this Conferencing Node.
    Gateway IPv4 address Enter the IP address of the default gateway to be assigned to this Conferencing Node.
    Hostname

    Domain

    Enter the hostname and domain to be assigned to this Conferencing Node. Each Conferencing Node and Management Node must have a unique hostname.

    The Hostname and Domain together make up the Conferencing Node's DNS name or FQDN. We recommend you assign valid DNS names to all your Conferencing Nodes. For more information, see Assigning hostnames and FQDNs.

    System location

    Select the physical location of this Conferencing Node.

    If the system location does not already exist, you can create a new one here by clicking to the right of the field. This will open up a new window showing the Add system location page. For further information see About system locations.

    SIP TLS FQDN A unique identity for this Conferencing Node, used in signaling SIP TLS Contact addresses. For more information, see SIP TLS FQDN.
    TLS certificate The TLS certificate to use on this node. This must be a certificate that contains the above SIP TLS FQDN. Each certificate is shown in the format <subject name> (<issuer>).
    IPv6 address The IPv6 address for this Conferencing Node. Each Conferencing Node must have a unique IPv6 address.
    Gateway IPv6 address The IPv6 address of the default gateway.
    IPv4 static NAT address

    The public IPv4 address used by this Conferencing Node when it is located behind a NAT device. Note that if you are using NAT, you must also configure your NAT device to route the Conferencing Node's IPv4 static NAT address to its IPv4 address.

    For more information, see Configuring Pexip Infinity nodes to work behind a static NAT device.

    Static routes From the list of Available Static routes, select the routes to assign to the node, and then use the right arrow to move the selected routes into the Chosen Static routes list. For more information, see Managing static routes.
    Enable distributed database

    This should usually be enabled (checked) for all Conferencing Nodes that are expected to be "always on", and disabled (unchecked) for nodes that are expected to only be powered on some of the time (e.g. cloud bursting nodes that are likely to only be operational during peak times).

    SSH password

    Enter the password to be used when logging in to this Conferencing Node's Linux operating system over SSH. The username will always be admin.

    Logging in to the operating system is required when changing passwords or for diagnostic purposes only, and should generally be done under the guidance of your Pexip authorized support representative. In particular, do not change any configuration using SSH — all changes should be made using the Pexip Infinity Administrator interface.

  6. Select Finish.

    You will be taken to the Manually Deploy Conferencing Node page.

  7. Select Download Conferencing Node Configuration.

    A zip file with the name pexip-<hostname>.<domain>.xml will be downloaded.

  8. Browse to https://<conferencing-node-ip>:8443/ and use the form provided to upload the configuration file to the Conferencing Node VM.

    The Conferencing Node will apply the configuration and then reboot. When it has rebooted, it will connect to the Management Node in the usual way.

  9. Within your hypervisor, configure the Conferencing Node VM with information regarding the CPUs and memory to be assigned to it, as follows:

    Option Description
    Number of virtual CPUs to assign Enter the number of CPUs to assign to the Conferencing Node. We do not recommend that you assign more virtual CPUs than there are physical cores on a single processor on the host server. For example, if the host server has 2 processors each with 12 physical cores, we recommend that you assign no more than 12 virtual CPUs.
    System memory (in megabytes) to assign

    Enter the amount of RAM (in megabytes) to assign to the Conferencing Node. The number entered must be a multiple of 4.

    We recommend 1024 MB (1 GB) RAM for each CPU.

After deploying a new Conferencing Node, it takes approximately 5 minutes before the node is available for conference hosting and for its status to be updated on the Management Node. (Until it is available, the Management Node will report the status of the Conferencing Node as having a last contacted and last updated date of "Never".)

Enabling automatic startup

We recommend that all virtual machines are configured to restart automatically if they were running when the host server was shut down or powered off.

Next steps

See Next steps after initial installation.