Cisco TelePresence Management Suite
Provisioning Extension
Why upgrade to Cisco TMSPE?
White Paper
August 2012
This document was written and prepared by Dale Ritchie in Cisco’s Collaboration Infrastructure Business Unit (CIBU),
Oslo, Norway.
Contents
Cisco TMS Agent Legacy—a brief background ............................................................................................................. 1
Cisco TMS Agent Legacy—the challenges .................................................................................................................... 2
Cisco TMSPE—the answer ............................................................................................................................................ 3
Cisco TMSPE—the features ..........................................................................................................................................3
Cisco TMSPE—the big picture .......................................................................................................................................4
Product documentation .................................................................................................................................................. 4
Conclusion .....................................................................................................................................................................4
Document revision history .............................................................................................................................................. 4
Cisco TMS Agent Legacy—a brief background
As shown in the graphic below, the Cisco TMS Agent Legacy model utilized a full mesh, multi-master replication
model using OpenDS as its LDAP database. The Cisco TMS Agent application along with its OpenDS database was
installed to both Cisco TMS (local TMS Agent) and the Cisco VCS or VCSs (remote TMS Agent).
Cisco TMS <=13.2
VCS X7.x
Core TMS
TMS Agent
OpenDS LDAP
Core VCS
OpenDS full-mesh,
multi-master replication
VCS X7.x
TMSAgent
OpenDS LDAP
Cluster
Replication
Core VCS
TMSAgent
OpenDS LDAP
D14969.02
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Cisco TMS Agent Legacy—the challenges
But what does “fully meshed, multi-master replication model” really mean? To best illustrate this, see the slides
below, where as you add more replicating nodes, in particular as you scale in this model, the number of connections
that are required to take place between those nodes increases.
2: +1 = 1
8
1
7
3: +2 = 3
4: +3 = 6
5: +4 = 10
3
6: +5 = 15
4
7: +6 = 21
8: +7 = 28
9: +8 = 36
Connections=
N
( N -1)
2
N2 N
Connection s 

2
2
2
Bi-directional Connections
5
6
10:+9 = 45
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
0
10
20
30
40
50
Nodes
Cisco TMS Agent Legacy—the challenges
As discussed above, Cisco TMS Agent Legacy was severely challenged when it came to scaling as well as becoming
unstable and unpredictable in large networks. For example, some of the reasons for this instability were:

Total number of replicating nodes.

High latency or instability in the network between replicating nodes.

OpenDS replication “collisions” which would create memory stress on the replicating nodes, in some cases
requiring a restart of the OpenDS on some or all the replicating nodes, Cisco TMS or Cisco VCS.

Re-indexing of the OpenDS database on the replicating nodes, which could also cause memory stress on the
replicating nodes and in some cases require restarting OpenDS on some or all the replicating nodes.

Properly identifying and diagnosing problematic replicating nodes.
Another challenge was that Cisco TMS Agent Legacy was embedded in the Cisco TMS core application, which
meant that any problems with the agent on Cisco TMS would also disrupt regular Cisco TMS services, and Cisco
VCS services when Cisco VCS servers were affected.
We have also identified a Java vulnerability on Cisco VCS when running Cisco TMS Agent Legacy mode.
Switching to TMS Provisioning Extension mode turns off the old TMS Agent Legacy mode and deactivates Java
Virtual Machine on the VCS, thus removing the vulnerability. The bug toolkit identifier for this issue is CSCtu21769.
TMS Agent Legacy mode will be completely removed from Cisco VCS in version X8.0 software. In preparation for this
upgrade, we strongly recommend installing Cisco TMSPE.
Cisco TMSPE White Paper
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Cisco TMSPE—the answer
Cisco TMSPE—the answer
As shown on the slide below, and compared to the Cisco TMS Agent Legacy model, the architecture of the solution
was completely redesigned for Cisco TMSPE. Note in particular the numbers of connections as compared to nodes:
Cluster of 6 Nodes
2
24 Nodes
Status Quo: 276 Connections
IPSec
3
Cluster DB Replication
4
New Method: 64 Connections
1
13
HTTPS REST JSON API
5
18
17
16
15
14
+15
6
+15
12
11
10
7
9
HTTPS REST JSON API
19
8
+15
24
23
22
21
20
+15
Looking at the scaling comparison between the two models when it comes to bi-directional connections and nodes,
Cisco TMSPE clearly reduces this challenge as well:
Cisco TMSPE—the features
Cisco TelePresence Management Suite Provisioning Extension 1.0 is an add-on replacement application for the
Cisco TMS Agent Legacy on the Cisco TMS server with the following main features:

Independent installer (only installed to the Cisco TMS server).

SQL database on Cisco TMS server is the single configuration source for replication.

Migration tool for Cisco TMS Agent Legacy to Cisco TMSPE (moving from OpenDS to SQL).

Cisco VCS pulls data from Cisco TMSPE using APIs.

Auto–created phone book includes all provisioning users. Tailored phone books based on groups and subgroups of provisioning user can be created as desired.
Cisco TMSPE White Paper
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Cisco TMSPE—the big picture

Any phone book/corporate directory from Cisco TMS can be provisioned to any supported device.

Import users from Microsoft & generic LDAP sources (AD, LDAP, LDAPS).

User personalization and administrative device configuration control for devices supporting Cisco TMSPE (such
as Jabber Video (Movi), E20, EX60, EX90, MX200, MX300) .

Cisco TMSPE Diagnostics—health checks are run at regular intervals and can also be performed on demand.

End-user FindMe™ portal on Cisco TMS using Microsoft Active Directory login, instead of Cisco VCS web UI.

Increase scale from 10,000 to 100,000 users and devices.
Cisco TMSPE—the big picture
The slide below depicts an overall view of the Cisco TMSPE model:
Cisco TMS 13.2+
Cisco VCS X7.1+
Core TMS
Cisco TMSPE
HTTP(S)
Core VCS
HTTP(S) REST API
Cluster DB
Erlang
Cisco VCS X7.1+
Core VCS
Cluster
Replication
IPSec
Cluster DB
Erlang
Product documentation
The following documents can be found on our website and provide guidance on installation, initial configuration and
operation of the product:

Cisco Telepresence Management Suite Provisioning Extension Software Release Notes

Cisco Telepresence Management Suite Provisioning Extension Deployment Guide

Cisco Telepresence FindMe User Guide
Conclusion
Learning from the Legacy TMS Agent challenges, Cisco TMSPE becomes the next generation product in
architecture, stability and scale when it comes to the large scale provisioning of users and endpoints through the
Cisco Telepresence Video Communication Server (Cisco VCS).
Document revision history
Date
Revision
Description
2012-06-20
01
Initial version.
2012-08-08
02
Added information about Cisco VCS vulnerability in Legacy mode. (ID CSCtu21769)
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Document revision history
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