Wave Business Continuity Service (BCS) performs automated backups from the primary Wave to a second Wave that is active on the network and available for failover as needed. The failover process supports all Wave applications, including Contact Center, Call Recording, WaveNet and WaveMail, along with Wave IP clients, including supported Edge IP phones, ViewPoint Desktop and ViewPoint Mobile. BCS is a separately licensed add-on to Wave IP.
NOTE: BCS is targeted at IP-only implementations using SIP trunks and IP phones. While the BCS process does retain TDM phone and trunk information, there is no simple way to move the physical wiring connections from the primary to the secondary Wave IP.
BCS requires two identical-model Waves with identical hardware components installed, and both systems must be at the same level of software, including HotFixes. Only one license set is needed that is installed on the primary system.
The primary Wave is your active system, and the secondary Wave is available as a hot spare, ready to immediately take over when needed. When failover occurs, the secondary Wave provides all call processing, call routing, voicemail, and advanced applications, including call center, conference rooms, IVR applications, call recording, and more.
The primary Wave backs up its configuration to the secondary Wave on a scheduled basis, at least once daily. This backup uses the proven Wave System Backup/Restore functionality, but is completely automated. BCS is also designed to support Vertical Updates (VU). Each Wave has its' own VU schedule so the primary can be set to update first and then the Secondary updates after an acceptable interval.
In the event of an outage, the administrator disconnects the failed unit and triggers the secondary Wave to take over. When this occurs:
| • | All of the Wave services become active on the secondary Wave. |
| • | All supported Edge IP phones (9800 series and 5000i) and SIP trunks re-register with the secondary Wave. |
| • | ViewPoint Desktop and ViewPoint Mobile automatically attempt to reconnect to the secondary Wave. |
NOTE: Wave Business Continuity Service is not supported for environments where users run multiple ViewPoint Desktop sessions simultaneously. Terminal server environments are supported by Wave Business Continuity Service, because each user has his or her own separate virtual instance, and is therefore not considered to be running multiple ViewPoint Desktop sessions in the same environment simultaneously.
The failover process will result in a data gap based on the last time the backup schedule was run (see Planning the Business Continuity Service (BCS) backup schedule). This gap should be taken into account during planning. After failover, the Secondary will not have logs, call recordings, voicemails since the last time the backup/restore process was run.
The recovery process after a failover event takes some planning. There are two methods for recovering. Consider carefully which one makes most sense for a given situation (see Choosing BCS Recovery method).