Technical Notes, Zetafax

INFO: Installing Zetafax Server on VMWare

ZTN1719

ID: ZTN1719

This Zetafax technical note applies to:

  • Zetafax v2009
  • VMWare ESX 3.5 or VMWare ESXi
  • Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008

Summary

This technical note provides an overview of Zetafax Server support when installed in a VMWare virtualized environment.

More information

From v2009 onwards, Zetafax Server is supported on VMWare.

Zetafax Server may be installed in standalone mode on a single virtual machine. This provides a similar level of functionality and stability as you would expect to find when installing on a physical machine.

Zetafax Server may also be installed in a configuration where the executable files are installed to a separate location from the data. This would allow you to store the data on a SAN (Storage Area Network) or other similar high-availability storage device and provides an extra level of data protection. This configuration is supported via the optional “Failover” Zetafax licence.

Installing this second type of configuration would allow you to set up an environment similar to the following:

  • Physical machine A
  • Physical machine B
  • SAN
  • Zetafax virtual machine

The two physical machines would be configured in a HA (High Availabilty) mode. This is a VMWare feature and further information can be found on the VWWare web site.

Zetafax Server would be installed on the designated virtual machine with the user data installed on the SAN. This is achieved by installing a primary failover server. The virtual machine image would also be stored on the SAN.

The Zetafax virtual machine would be run, initially, on “Physical machine A”. If “Physical machine A” were to fail, the VMWare HA feature would bring the Zetafax Server virtual machine back up on “Physical machine B” without loss to your Zetafax user data. During this emergency failover procedure, all faxes being sent would be failed and re-queued by Zetafax. Incoming faxes would fail during the failover procedure.

Either of the configurations described above support the VMWare VMotion feature. This allows the Zetafax virtual machine to be migrated at a planned time from “Physical machine A” to “Physical Machine B” with zero downtime. When configured with a Fax-Over-IP solution, Zetafax Server can continue to send and receive faxes without interruption during this process.

Users should refer to the VMWare website for further information on configuring a HA virtualized environment and to the Zetafax Server help files for further information on installing Failover and Fax-Over-IP systems.

Last updated: 3rd March 2009 (GR/MW)