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Student Feedback from IBM Training
Below are student comments regarding IBM Instructor Paul Tomlinson from Spectrum Consulting…
- “VERY VERY satisfied with the instructor and he is very much capable of being an perfect trainer”
Quotation from student on AU61 HACMP System Administration II: Administration and Problem Determination – Bangalore India - “The instructor is excellent in delivering the concepts. It really helped a lot to understand the contents of the course. Very satisfied with the instructors presentation of the course”
Quotation from student on AU61 HACMP System Administration II: Administration and Problem Determination – Bangalore India - “An enjoyable and interesting course, very well presented by the instructor.”
Quotation from student on AU78AU System p LPAR and Virtualization II: Implementing Advanced Configurations – Sydney November 2008 - “The instructor was very possibly the best that I have ever had and this comment is from someone who was an IBM trainer for 7 years in Canada (IBM instructor code MACHAFRA), well done and don’t lose this guy!!!!”
Quotation from student on AU75 System p LPAR and Virtualization III: Virtualization Performance Management course – Melbourne Jun 2008 - “The course and delivery is excellent. Thank you”
Quotation from Student on AU54 HACMP System Administration I: Planning and Implementation – Malaysia August 2008 - “The presenter was very good”
Quotation from Student on AU78 System p LPAR and Virtualization II: Implementing Advanced Configurations – Sydney December 2007 - “Paul is very knowledgeable on AIX course and very helpful to provide very good training for us”
Quotation from Student on Customized Course combining AU73 and AU78 – Japan December 2007 - “Instructor was really technical with lots of practical and theoretical experience”
Quotation from Student on Customized Course combining AU73 and AU78 – Japan December 2007 - “Paul was a great instructor, his knowledge of the subject matter was exceptionally high. I thoroughly enjoyed the course.”
Quotation from Student on AU73 System p LPAR and Virtualization I: Planning and Configuration Sydney November 2007 - “Paul provided an excellent environment and delivered the course content very well”“I think Paul demonstrated excellent knowledge of the subject matter and conveyed it well to us.”“The instructor is very skilful and experienced on AIX platform. He had answered all of the technical questions.”
Quotations from Students on AU73 System p LPAR and Virtualization I: Planning and Configuration Sydney August 2007
GPFS V3.3.0.4 now available
Announcing the availability of the service level 3.3.0-4 for all GPFS V3.3 products.
The service level is available at: GPFS download site
This service level addresses the below issues. This is not a definitive list as other minor corrections have been made which are not listed here.
* Fix problem where mmrestripe command might not correctly detect I/O errors during the first phase of restripe.
* Correct the resetting of config parameters to default on a subset of the nodes.
* Replace usage of the lsvg command with getlvodm.
* Fix function checkIntRange error message when checking negative numbers.
* Clear the tiebreaker disk parameter after mmexportfs all.
* Fix ioctl opcode conflict with FIGETBSZ on Linux kernel 2.6.31 and later.
* Fix fsck to avoid incorrectly reporting and fixing of filesystem corruptions in a heterogeneous cluster.
* If the file system is internally forced to unmount (file system panic), invoke the preunmount user exit if one is installed.
* Avoid confusion when using a local fcntl lock versus an NLM one.
* Give customers using mmbackup more flexibility by allowing alternate install location for TSM.
* Fix determining filename length when filename contains invalid UTF8 characters.
* Fix data corruption when using mmap.
* Fix assert due to invalid fcntl acquire sleep element found on the kernel queue.
* Keep FS descriptors off of excluded disks even if they come online.
* Fixed a race condition by serializing the xattr object in inode properly.
* Fix hang between node failure thread and events exporter request handler thread.
* Fix mmapplypolicy to estimate correctly the number of GPFS storage pool bytes freed by migrating to an external/HSM pool. Introduce MM_POLICY_MIGRATION_STUBSIZE environment variable to allow users to directly control size for migration.
* Fix mmbackup to avoid giving file name length and file size to TSM for inclusion in backup list.
* Fix async recovery to let mounts succeed while also processing deffered deletions.
* Fix assert failure on FS manager node when unmountOnDiskFailure=yes and a disk fails after 3.2.1.14-16 installed.
* Prevent HSM and NFS from asking to open inodes that are system metadata nodes.
* Don’t let socket get stuck in reconn_cleanup state following repeated breaks that occur just after connection handshake completes.
* Reduce the pagepool usage by inode allocation segments during FS manager initialization or recovery.
* Fix a problem with cutting traces in a CNFS setup.
* Fix filesystem panic when a failed disk holds a FS descriptor and returns unexpected error codes.
* Fix problem with mmlsfileset when expanding inodes is running concurrently.
* Ignore un-supported permission flags passed to gpfs_i_permission on SLES11.
* Fix for a SIGSEGV on Windows caused by a race in accessing the ACL file.
* Fix a condition where mm commands can exit with errors if CWD is unavailable.
* Fix for a rare failed assert in the main process thread on Linux.
* Fix a race condition where node may be deleted right after it started up.
* Fix code to correct backward compatibility of non-blocking token request between gpfs 3.2 and gpfs 3.3.
* Make trace recycle timeout message more descriptive and avoid recycle file being overwritten when trace recycles next time (Linux nodes only).
* Succedent tscrfs command will unset some flags unexpectedly even if it cannot get the permission to run. It will cause a daemon assert. Clear flags only if the command has set it before.
* When open of the directory fails and not all fields are set, don’t call back into GPFS to do close (release). This may cause an invalid assert due to attempting to reference uninitialized fields.
* Fix signal 11 due to bad RDMA index and cookie received from the TcpConn in verbs::verbsClient_i.
* Fix remote startup on Windows.
* Fix a race condition between an mmexpelnode and mmchmgr.
* Correctly cleanup tmp files on remote nodes.
* Fix a problem in mmdf where number of free inodes may become negative.
* Fix race condition that occurs due to disk failure during clmgr election while using tiebreaker disks.
* Fixed inode expansion code which can cause restripe to fail with an assert. This problem only happens when restripe and inode expansion run concurrently.
* Several sample script and configuration files are now included with the GPFS for Windows installation. These can be found in %SystemRoot%\SUA\usr\lpp\mmfs\samples. Only the files appropriate for use on Windows are included; additional samples are available with UNIX installations.
* Fix assert “offset < ddbP->mappedLen” when reading dirs.
* Fix allocation manager problem that caused pool to not be deleted when it should have been.
* Initialize allocSize variable during the initialization phase of file repair to prevent assert.
* Fix a rare bug that occurs during nsd config change along with earlier disk issues to another deleted nsd.
* Fixed a GPFS on Windows failure that can occur on systems with a large number of cores (e.g. 8 or more) running a workload with thousands of threads. When this error occurs, /var/adm/ras/mmfs.log.* shows “logAssertFailed: tid >= 0 && tid <= MAX_GPFS_KERNEL_TID”. The fix for this problem removes any assumption on the maximum thread ID.
* Fix a problem that can lead to loss of an intermediate SSL key file.
* Fix mmbackup to accurately reflect the error encountered on the TSM server.
* Fix a problem with interpreting the syncnfs mount option.
* Fix fsck so that it reports duplicate fragments and its count correctly and also prevent a possible fsck crash due to count overflow.
* Added %myNode as callback parameters.
* Fix an assertion during mount that could happen when quota management is enabled and snapshot is being used.
* Fix fsck so that it detects problems and fixes them without encountering struct assert errors even if the ‘assertOnStructureError’ config option is turned on.
* This update addresses the following APARs: IZ67659 IZ67660 IZ67661 IZ67662 IZ67663 IZ67664 IZ67665 IZ67666 IZ67667 IZ67723 IZ67746 IZ68028.
Doc number: 4931 Published date: 20100130
Spectrum passes another 2 IBM Power Certifications
Congratulations to Paul Tomlinson on successfully passing the following exams:
IBM Certified Systems Expert – High Availability for AIX Technical Support and Administration (PowerHA)
IBM Certified Specialist – System p Administration
IBM PowerHA SystemMirror for AIX – Spectrum certified by IBM
Highlights of PowerHA SystemMirror for AIX 6.1
* Introducing PowerHA SystemMirror for AIX Standard Edition and PowerHA SystemMirror for AIX Enterprise Edition.
* PowerHA SystemMirror for AIX Standard Edition is the IBM Power Systems data center solution that helps protect critical business applications from outages; planned or unplanned.
* PowerHA SystemMirror for AIX Enterprise Edition includes the Standard Edition plus advanced capabilities such as failover to backup resources at remote locations.
* PowerHA SystemMirror Enterprise Edition supports High Availability and Disaster Recovery with EMC SRDF (Symmetrix Remote Data Facility) deployments.
* GLVM configuration wizard enables PowerHA SystemMirror Enterprise Edition clients to set up a two-node cross site configuration for disaster recovery.
* PowerHA SystemMirror deployed in DLPAR (dynamic logical partitioning) environments enables managed utilization of resources on a secondary node in the PowerHA SystemMirror cluster for POWER5™ and later processors.
* PowerHA SystemMirror product is compliant for IPv6 environments.
Other enhancements include: Improved SMIT interfaces and File Collections enhancements
The need for robust high availability and disaster recovery solutions
High Availability is a key component of Business Resiliency. It’s widely documented that outages increase the total cost of IT ownership as well as causing potential damage to client relationships and loss of revenue. Although hardware has become very reliable, research shows that unplanned outages occur and typically result from operator error, software bugs, environmental conditions and other non hardware related situations—problems that reliable hardware cannot prevent. Planned outages for application and system maintenance also impact business performance and businesses are aggressively shrinking the time allotted for this type of activity. Increasingly IT shops are moving away from outsourced DR operations to in-sourced DR operations based on continuous data replication between geographically dispersed locations. Modern DR solutions require both geographic dispersion and recovery point objectives as close to zero as possible. Increasingly, IT shops are being asked to prove that they can indeed recover operations at a remote facility. The simple fact is that owning your own DR solution is not only economically sensible but it gives you greater control over your environment. Finally, the IBM Power Systems™ strategy is to not only deliver more advanced functional capabilities for business resiliency but to enhance product usability and robustness through deep integration with AIX® and affiliated software stack technologies. PowerHA™ SystemMirror™ is architected by, developed by, integrated by, tested and supported by, IBM top to bottom.
IBM’s premier availability solution
PowerHA™ SystemMirror™ for AIX® V6.1 is the next generation of the popular PowerHA for AIX V5.5 and is available in one of two packages; the PowerHA SystemMirror for AIX Standard Edition, and the PowerHA SystemMirror for AIX Enterprise Edition. This offering approach was developed to give more price/value granularity as well as to enable clients to choose between a solution with a data center focus or a more advanced solution capability that includes the Standard Edition function plus extensions that enable cross site deployments.
The IBM PowerHA SystemMirror for AIX Standard Edition helps you to protect your critical business applications from outages in the data center (single site solution), planned or unplanned. The Standard Edition provides reliable monitoring, failure detection and automated recovery of business application environments to backup resources, exploiting IBM’s suite of disk storage solutions which provide the core data resiliency foundation. IBM developers continuously invent, deploy, integrate and test to refine the usability and robustness of PowerHA SystemMirror for AIX.
PowerHA SystemMirror for AIX Enterprise Edition
The PowerHA™ SystemMirror™ for AIX® Enterprise Edition includes all of the capabilities of the Standard Edition and more. The Enterprise Edition package enables you to extend your data center solution across multiple sites and with V6.1 of PowerHA SystemMirror, the Enterprise Edition expands the HA/DR support to EMC SRDF replication environments. V6.1 also provides for many usability enhancements including a “wizard” to configure and deploy host based mirroring solutions (GLVM configuration wizard).
The Enterprise Edition supports ESS/Metro-Mirror and Storage System DS6000™/DS8000® Metro-Mirror, enabling automatic failover of disks that are Metro-Mirror pairs and creating a powerful solution for clients using storage subsystems with Metro-Mirror. By automating the management of Metro-Mirror, recovery time is minimized after an outage, regardless of whether the clustered environment is local or geographically dispersed. The Enterprise Edition, in combination with Metro-Mirror, manages a clustered environment to allow mirroring of critical data to be maintained at all times.
PowerHA SystemMirror Enterprise Edition supports IBM System Storage™ Metro-Mirror for SVC, which enables true high availability within the campus or city environment, and with V5.5.0 Global Mirror for SVC is also supported for unlimited geographic dispersion. Metro Mirror deployed solutions are completely synchronous and are therefore optimized for high availability operations while Global Mirror is asynchronous and is therefore optimized for geographic dispersion.
IBM AIX Power Systems™ customers who deploy their storage via EMC SRDF are now able to take advantage of the V6.1 PowerHA SystemMirror solution to manage and automate their HA/DR operations. Most common SRDF replication configurations are supported. PowerHA SystemMirror Enterprise Edition V6.1 uses the EMC SRDF interfaces to discover and manage the replication the Symmetrix SRDF volumes in multi site HA deployments. Customers can use the PowerHA SystemMirror SMIT or WebSMIT interfaces to specify the EMC SRDF volumes as cluster resources and manage them as part of failover operations. The PowerHA SystemMirror Enterprise Edition supports EMC device groups, composite groups, SRDF Synchronous and Asynchronous replication and consistency groups (SRDF/CG) for both. You will need to refer to PowerHA SystemMirror and EMC documentation to ensure that you have the necessary EMC software components for EMC SRDF to be deployed in the PowerHA SystemMirror cluster.
GLVM (geographic logical volume manager) is the AIX host based mirroring over IP network solution that enables clients to set up geographically dispersed PowerHA SystemMirror clusters. The PowerHA SystemMirror host based mirroring solution could lower your total cost of acquisition by eliminating the need to purchase high end storage solutions. The introduction of GLVM async mode support with PowerHA SystemMirror V5.5 enabled clients to extend the PowerHA SystemMirror cluster in cross site configurations with virtually unlimited distance between the primary and secondary nodes. With V6.1, Enterprise Edition clients will be able to set up two-node cross site configurations on their own via the GLVM configuration wizard (included in the Enterprise Edition package).
PowerHA FAQ
Question: What hardware and software is supported by PowerHA?
Answer: All PowerHA supported hardware and software is listed in the Sales Manual. Hardware requirements are located under the Technical Description topic.
Question: Does PowerHA SystemMirror work on different operating systems?
Answer: PowerHA SystemMirror is tightly integrated with the AIX operating system and Power Systems servers allowing for a rich set of features which are not available with any other combination of operating system and hardware.
Question: On which AIX levels is PowerHA SystemMirror supported?
Answer: PowerHA requires one of:
AIX V5.3
AIX V6.1
PowerHA will support future releases of AIX as they become available. To find the latest fixes available for PowerHA and AIX, refer to the TechSupport web site.
Question: What applications work with PowerHA?
Answer: All popular applications work with PowerHA including DB2, Oracle, SAP, WebSphere, etc. PowerHA provides Smart Assist agents to let you quickly and easily configure PowerHA with specific applications. PowerHA includes flexible configuration parameters that let you easily set it up for just about any application there is. If you are interested in using PowerHA with a new application, you can find out more under the topic What kinds of applications are best suited for a high availability environment?
Question: Does PowerHA support dynamic LPAR, CUoD, On/Off CoD, or CBU?
Answer: PowerHA supports Dynamic Logical Partitioning, Capacity Upgrade on Demand, On/Off Capacity on Demand and Capacity Backup Upgrade. See Announcement Letters 204-298 and 105-056.
Question: If a server has LPAR capability, can two or more LPARs be configured with unique instances of PowerHA running on them without incurring additional license charges?
Answer: Yes. PowerHA is a server product that has one charge unit: number of processors on which PowerHA will be installed or run. Regardless of how many LPARs or instances of AIX that run in the server, you are charged based on the number of active processors in the server that is running PowerHA. Note that PowerHA configurations containing multiple LPARs within a single server may represent a potential single point-of-failure. To avoid this, it is recommended that the backup for an LPAR be an LPAR on a different server or a standalone server.
Question: Does PowerHA support non-IBM hardware or operating systems?
Answer: Yes. PowerHA SystemMirror for AIX supports the hardware and operating systems as specified in the Sales Manual. For more information about non-IBM storage attachment, see EMC and Hitachi storage subsystems.
Question: Does PowerHA support EMC or Hitachi storage subsystems when connected to Power Systems servers?
Answer: The storage subsystems supported by PowerHA are those documented in the Sales Manual. New additions are announced via Flash. Current information can be retrieved from the online Sales Manual for PowerHA on AIX. PowerHA supports those IBM devices that have passed IBM qualification efforts, and for which IBM development and service are prepared to provide support.
With the PowerHA SystemMirror Enterprise Edition, clients using EMC storage with SRDF can take advantage of the PowerHA SystemMirror capabilities for HA/DR operations. EMC clients may also deploy PowerHA SystemMirror Standard Edition for data center operations.
There is a group, associated with development, that tests non-IBM storage subsystems for attachment to AIX systems and PowerHA. There are also cooperative service agreements in place with certain non-IBM storage vendors.
If a client has an PowerHA cluster containing storage hardware other than that supported by PowerHA, and they report a problem, IBM Service will address the problem as follows:
* If the problem is unrelated to that hardware, it will be addressed the same as any other problem.
* If the problem is related to that hardware, and the hardware is covered by a cooperative service agreement with the storage vendor, the problem will be forwarded to the storage vendor.
* If the problem is related to hardware for which no cooperative service agreement is in place, the client will be asked to refer the problem to the hardware manufacturer.
Question: Where do I find out about hardware or software not listed in the Sales Manual?
Answer: Inquiries related to non-IBM products should be directed to the specific vendor. For more information on newly announced IBM hardware and software products that are not listed in the Sales Manual, see Why does PowerHA support often come out after the hardware or software announcement?
Question: Why does PowerHA support often come out after the hardware or software announce?
Answer: PowerHA tests all new hardware and software in an PowerHA environment prior to announcing support. We do this because PowerHA exercises features and interfaces in unique and stressful ways which may not be exposed outside of an PowerHA environment. We don’t simply assume new hardware or software works—we bring it into our lab and run it through a qualification test. Sometimes problems are found or take time to resolve which means PowerHA cannot announce support at the same time as the hardware is announced.
Question: What is PowerHA SystemMirror for AIX? How does it differ from HACMP?
Answer: IBM PowerHA SystemMirror represents a new name for the IBM High Availability Cluster Multiprocessing (HACMP) product. The renaming is to align HACMP with the new IBM Power Systems Software initiative. PowerHA for AIX V5.5 is the follow-on release to HACMP 5.4. And PowerHA SystemMirror is the follow-on release to PowerHA for AIX 5.5.
WebSphere Voice Response for AIX
IBM® WebSphere® Voice Response for AIX® offers an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system for enterprises and telcos
It is one of the preferred telephony platform connection environments for WebSphere Voice Server-software resources for developing and deploying speech solutions.
* Supports speech recognition technologies that can replace traditional telephone keypad input with more natural voice responses and is highly scalable to support thousands of Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) connections
* Complements WebSphere Voice Server V4.2 and V5.1, making it possible to create integrated Web and telephone self-service access to your business data and processes
* Enables Java™ and VoiceXML service creation environments for developing Web and telephone self-service applications that are easy to integrate when combined with the IBM Rational® Software Development Platform or WebSphere Studio
* Includes VoiceXML and Call Control XML industry-standard programming environments for telephony channel handling and voice call processing when integrated with WebSphere Portal Server, for a Business Portal Multichannel access point for voice-enabled e-business solutions
* Allows inclusion of WebSphere Voice Server for speech-enabled applications such as speech recognition or text-to-speech, and if required, WebSphere Voice Response and WebSphere Voice Server can be used together for non-IBM application server solutions
* Provides the self-service channel in many contact/call center solutions and can be deployed between the telephone network and the call center switch, either behind the call center switch, or in front of the PBX or automatic call distribution (ACD) switch
* Can be used in IP contact/call center solutions with VoIP SIP support, and with products from the main Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) suppliers to enable self-service applications to support conversational speech for more natural and friendly customer interaction
At a glance
WebSphere Voice Response for AIX, V4.2 features:
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Network Equipment Building Standards (NEBS) compliant
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BladeCenter® support
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Enhanced Telephony Protocol support for next-generation voice networks — Voice over Internet Telephony using Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)
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Service provider networks: SS7 (Signalling System #7) T1 (ANSI Signalling System #7) and E1 (ITU-ISUP Generic)
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Enterprise networks — QSig, R2MFC Korean
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Call Control XML (CCXML), V1.0 support
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Enhanced VoiceXML, V2.1 scalability to 480 channels/system
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Interoperability with WebSphere Voice Server, V4.2 and V5.1 (Voice XML only) — for conversational speech applications
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Interoperability with WebSphere Voice Application Access, V5.0 for Voice Portal applications.
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Improved echo cancellation for speech recognition-enabled applications
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In-site migration from WebSphere Voice Response for AIX, V3.1
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New fax card compatible with the latest IBM pSeries™ machines
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Fully accessible WebSphere Voice Response when running CCXML and VoiceXML, V2.1 applications
WebSphere Voice Response is a proven platform for delivering solutions to service providers:
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An open platform running UNIX with CCXML and VoiceXML industry-standard programming environments as well as IVR programming environments for its existing customers.
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Resilient and highly scalable, with its pSeries, PCI telephony adapters, and AIX industrial strength support meeting NEBS compliance.
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Highly scalable to 480 channels per pSeries system. Such systems can be clustered for large installs.
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Improved highly scalable and redundant SS7 software is also provided in this release when connected to Telco switches.
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Supports next-generation SIP networks with existing applications and services. Access to new signalling information allows development of new and enhanced services.
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Mass-calling applications are supported.
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Scalable, redundant, and resilient centralized application management using application servers.
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IBM HACMP and WebSphere Voice Response Single System Image (SSI) clusters for state table and custom server applications.
What’s new in V4.2:
Support for Network Equipment Building Standards (NEBS) compliant BladeCenter
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WebSphere Voice Response for AIX Version 4.2 can be used on a NEBS compliant BladeCenter computer for Voice Over Internet (VoIP) Telephony capability using Session Initiation Protocol (SIP).
Additional hardware adapter cards are no longer required to run WebSphere Voice Response for AIX
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WebSphere Voice Response for AIX Version 4.2 can be used without the need for any adapter card on a BladeCenter or System p5™ computer for Voice Over Internet (VoIP) Telephony capability using Session Initiation Protocol (SIP).
AIX support upgraded to Version 5.3
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WebSphere Voice Response for AIX Version 4.2 supports the use of AIX Version 5.3 as its operating system. AIX Version 5.2 is the minimum level that can be used when using an adapter card.
Significant enhancements in VoIP telephony using SIP are incorporated in WebSphere Voice Response for AIX, V4.2. V4.2 uses the DTNA software adapter implementation to connect to a VoIP network.
VoIP features include:
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BladeCenter or System p5 computers can handle eight trunks and simulate up to 240 SIP endpoints
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DTNA software adapter implementation supports Real Time Protocol/Real Time Control Protocol (RTP/RTCP) over 100 Mbit/s Ethernet for User Datagram Protocol (UDP) packetized voice data
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DTNA can coexist with Digital Trunk Extended Adapter (DTXA) or DTTA in the same system unit allowing hybrid PSTN/VoIP configurations in, for example, IP Call Centers
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DTNA supports uncompressed G.711
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DTMF send/receive keys using RTP payload packets — RFC2833 (telephone event)
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SIP protocol signaling support using system Ethernet port
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SIP protocol support over TCP or UDP as per RFC 3261
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Inbound call, outbound call, and blind and supervised call transfer supported
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SIP connections to Soft phones, Hard phones, and proxies which conform to SIP RFC 3261
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Existing and new state tables, Java and VoiceXML, CCXML applications can be programmed to handle SIP calls
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Calls can be tromboned between DTNA channels using Trombone Custom Server. Tromboning between PSTN and SIP channels is not supported
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Additional interface between SIP and applications using “Tagged Strings” (Diversion Header, From Header, To Header, Request Header, Alang Header, Final Response, Subject Header)
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Reinvite from remote party allowing mid-call codec changes
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Subject Header on Bye supported for end-of-call application to gateway information transfer
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Blind notify for Message Waiting Indication (MWI) control
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MWI manual table-driven DNS SRV support for MWI allowing configuration of primary and secondary proxies, and proxy pooling
Service Provider Networks: SS7 features
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Reuse of E1 hardware adapters from previous solutions.
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Improved scalability from 1400 to 2304 (T1) or 2880 (E1) channels.
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Support for previous SS7 function with ITU-ISUP Generic as main switch connection.
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Support for T1 ANSI (generic and MCI variant) networks.
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Support for E1 ITU 1997, ITU White Book (1992, 1993), CCITT Blue Book (1988).
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Standard T1 or E1 link is for signaling; no support the for the older serial V35, with insufficient bandwidth for 2000 channels. Newer VoIP transports are not supported.
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The SS8 D7 product has a different redundancy strategy from the previous version. Two links, SS8 cards, and D7 stacks are both active (load-sharing) at all times so if one is lost, the other is ready with no loss of calls.
Enterprise-based signalling extensions: QSig: WebSphere Voice Response, V4.2 supports inbound and outbound calls and message waiting indicator using the QSig protocol.
CCXML, V1.0 support
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Use of CCXML is optional. Existing applications not using CCXML do not need to change.
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CCXML enables XML-based call control for Enterprise and service provider applications and enables all applications to be stored on central Web/application server for reliability and redundancy.
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CCXML enables the routing of incoming calls to specific applications based on ANI, DNIS simplifying the configuration on base Voice Response platform.
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CCXML can be used with VoiceXML, V2.1 and Java applications with basic inbound and outbound calls handled by CCXML.
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The CCXML Browser will parse all tags according to the level to W3C standards it supports.
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The WebSphere Voice Response signalling process can pass extra protocol data, such as ISDN and SS7 information elements and SIP Web sites (in tags using ECMA script) on incoming calls to CCXML applications.
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The WebSphere Voice Response signalling process can present calls in alerting to CCXML application where protocol permits, enabling playing of announcement messages to caller without the caller being connected and caller being charged (including early media support).
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CCXML enables specification of a channel group on an outbound call to select which protocol to make the outbound call, that is, PSTN like ISDN, SS7, or on VOIP like SIP.
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Use with CTI products for contact center, call center applications, and solutions.
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CCXML is responsible for call handling within an application with the ability to call out to CTI products.
The WebSphere Voice Toolkit provides a CCXML editor as the recommended method of creating CCXML applications. It enables CCXML to be developed using the same tooling as VoiceXML and Speech Grammar development.
Enhanced echo cancellation: Echo cancellation is on the DTTA adapter improving capability and reducing cost, without the need for external echo canceller boxes. Enhancements include the following:
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Continuous convergence and cancellation, instead of initial convergence required by the previous canceller
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Removes the need for an initial force play convergence prompt
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Improved echo cancellation during the call on account of the continuous convergence up to 32 msec echo delays
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Removes possibility of failure of initial calibration due to excessive echo (currently, echo cancellation within the call is unusable if the initial calibration fails)
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Improved overall echo cancellation (smaller echo residual signal means improved voice recognition and more reliable barge-in)
Enhanced scalability of VoiceXML to 480 channels with DTTA adapters
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Simple VoiceXML V2.0/2.1 applications, with no speech recognition or text to speech, can be supported on a single server with four 1.5 GHz processors.
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More complex applications with speech recognition or text to speech can be supported with 480 channels of telephony on a single server but with VoiceXML V2.0/2.1 browsers and WebSphere Voice Server systems distributed across other servers.
Additional on-demand feature: Customer-owned licenses can be managed using License Use Management (LUM) tools. Licenses can be shared across multiple servers and sites. This allows customers to be responsive to immediate demands on their systems and allocate channels on systems which need them. The licenses are enabled when the channels are enabled.
The Voice Toolkit is no longer included on CD in the WVR 4.2.3 Media Pack. You can download the latest version from the WebSphere Voice Toolkit Web site:
http://www.ibm.com/software/pervasive/voice_toolkit
The toolkit supports the CCXML 1.0 and the VoiceXML 2.1 specifications, and includes a grammar editor, pronunciation builder, and an audio recorder. You can configure a development environment to create, test, and debug custom voice portlets using VoiceXML 2.0 or 2.1. Other features of the toolkit include:
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The ability to debug your portlets using the local debugging environment
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The ability to create VoiceXML applications using the new Communication Flow Builder
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An editor that can handle both CCXML and VoiceXML source code
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A conversion wizard to assist you in migrating any VoiceXML 1.0 applications to 2.0 or 2.1
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An integrated VoiceXML 2.1 Application Simulator and Debugger
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Integrated concatenative text-to-speech (CTTS) and speech recognition engines
The toolkit editor also includes a wizard that allows you to select and customize Reusable Dialog Components (RDC) written to the VoiceXML 2.0 or 2.1 specification. These RDCs contain pretested code for commonly used functions such as credit card type, currency, date information, and so on.
The WebSphere Voice Toolkit V6.0 is enhanced to support the latest VoiceXML V2.1 specification.
Contact Spectrum for further information (09) 826 5588
