How does one go about building a standalone ODS? We have a switchover pair separated by several states via WAN link. Formerly, most of our outbound traffic was generated from one end of the WAN, but now both ends are generating a large amount of outbound traffic, about half of which must cross the WAN no matter which server is active. How do I construct an ODS outside of a CIC server installation? How is it licensed, and how do I attach it to our existing CIC environment?

ODS has to be installed on an IC server. there is no other option.

We have ODS installed on both CIC servers and a CCS already on our 3.0 system...in previous releases was it possible to have multiple ODS?

Hi, Yes you instal ODS on the CIC servers, but it would make no difference because if you use SIP as protocol, then you should use Media Servers and Gateways locally on either ends and do all audio on the Media Servers, then there is no need to send your calls across the WAN link, that's the beauty of using 3.0, Media Servers a local gateway and regional dialplan. So which ever CIC server is active, the calls should originate in the best location to place that call, initiated on the gateway and call recording and audio handled by the Media Server. Since your agents should be local to the gateways, I can't see any audio traffic going over the WAN ? I hope that helps a little?

The issues we are having is that we have two endpoints, each with a satellite location. Calls come in through various carriers on DIDs and TFNs and have to reach agents at one or both locations, as we are an outsourcer and have different teams who handle inbound calls, some dedicated, some shared. We do have media servers at each primary endpoint, and audio is dynamic, so the media servers take care of what they can locally...but there are times that a call comes in at one end and the agent is at the other end of the WAN link, so the traffic passes over the WAN to reach the station. The other issue is outbound traffic. Because we are moving our "primary" from one end of the system to our new datacenter at the other end, where the SQL and web servers reside, our greatest outbound call capacity is located where the former primary was, and again we are seeing traffic traverse the WAN to reach the lines that have available capacity. Is there a comprehensive reference for advanced dialplans where I could learn to better manage our calls, and if a campaign is using agents at both sites, how can I control where the Dialer places the outbound call so that it reaches an available agent, or control which calls an agent can pick up based on which media server is carrying the call? We are using Regionalization and all SIP stations and endpoints are properly registered to a location.

Not sure about that, but soon will have to figure that out, as we are setting up a contact center with outbound agents on a remote site, with media servers and gateways on that site, as well a Remote Content Server so we plan to have NO calls going across the WAN, although the IC server will be on a different location. As soon we have figured it out I can give you an update. I hope that will help you later

Originally posted by Vikki P;23006
The issues we are having is that we have two endpoints, each with a satellite location. Calls come in through various carriers on DIDs and TFNs and have to reach agents at one or both locations, as we are an outsourcer and have different teams who handle inbound calls, some dedicated, some shared. We do have media servers at each primary endpoint, and audio is dynamic, so the media servers take care of what they can locally...but there are times that a call comes in at one end and the agent is at the other end of the WAN link, so the traffic passes over the WAN to reach the station. The other issue is outbound traffic. Because we are moving our "primary" from one end of the system to our new datacenter at the other end, where the SQL and web servers reside, our greatest outbound call capacity is located where the former primary was, and again we are seeing traffic traverse the WAN to reach the lines that have available capacity. Is there a comprehensive reference for advanced dialplans where I could learn to better manage our calls, and if a campaign is using agents at both sites, how can I control where the Dialer places the outbound call so that it reaches an available agent, or control which calls an agent can pick up based on which media server is carrying the call? We are using Regionalization and all SIP stations and endpoints are properly registered to a location.

Some things to consider in your system setup:

1. Calls will always need to speak SIP TCP with the primary server, no matter where it resides. You will have some WAN traffic over that.
2. If your incoming lines are regionalized properly, they will confine the majority of the audio to the local media server. There are times, however, when the CIC server may have to generate an audio source for the call, so it will connect to the primary server for that resource. Currently there is nothing you can do about that, once we move to 4.0, and all audio processing is on the media servers, it will make for better WAN call admission control.
3. Make sure your media servers are sized properly for the loads that you want to put on them. If they run out of resources, the system will find the next closest media server to use, even across regions and your WAN.
4. In an ODS setup, the primary server will always be in control of the call. The system will not allow for the backup server to have any call control until a switchover occurs. If you really need to look at call load balancing, you might want to consider breaking your WAN switchover pair, and moving to local switchover servers at each location, and then using Multi-Site. (Your CCS can use multiple servers at the same time, and has rules that you can use to determine which server a call goes out of.)

Just some thoughts. I know that moving to Multi-site would be expensive in a licensing scheme, but for survivability, efficency, and robustness, it might well be worth considering.