Maintaining a SwitchVox Cold Spare

A Digium Switchvox “cold spare” is an appliance that is identical (or nearly identical) to your primary Switchvox appliance. In the event your primary appliance is unavailable for any reason, the cold spare is right there on-site to replace the primary appliance and minimize any downtime.

If you don't have a cold spare backup appliance, Ferrum Technology Services can assist you with putting in a SwitchVox disaster recovery plan in place.

This article contains instructions for installing and maintaining your cold spare as well as for putting your cold spare in place if it ever becomes necessary.

Installation
After you have your cold spare, there are a few steps you need to take to make sure that it is ready for use:

1. Install the Switchvox software on the cold spare, using the disk that came with your original Switchvox purchase.
2. Register the Switchvox software on the cold spare. To do this, navigate to Server > Maintenance > Registration, and use the same Registration Code as your original Switchvox purchase (which is enabled for secondary, inactive use on the cold spare).
3. Apply software updates on the cold spare so the Switchvox software versions match on the cold spare and the primary. To do this, navigate to Server > Maintenance > Updates.
4. Load your most recent backup from your primary appliance onto your cold spare.

Maintenance
We strongly recommend you keep your cold spare up to date with your primary appliance. This way, if you need to use the cold spare, you minimize the time it takes to make the swap.

Keeping your cold spare updated involves two primary tasks:

1. When you update your primary appliance, always plan to update your cold spare also. We suggest you update the primary appliance, wait a couple days to make sure you want to remain on the newer version, then update the cold spare.
2. Periodically restore the latest backup from your primary appliance to your cold spare. While this isn’t as important as keeping the software updated, it does help to minimize downtime.

Putting a Cold Spare into Operation
In the event your primary appliance is not available, follow these instructions:

1. If your primary appliance contains any hardware expansion cards that your cold spare does not have, physically move those cards into the cold spare. Do not turn it on yet.
2. Connect the cold spare to all of the necessary external connections: network interface, all incoming lines from your telephone providers, any other physical connections from external devices.
3. Turn on the cold spare.
4. Go to the Switchvox Web Suite on the cold spare and navigate to Server > Networking > IP Configuration.
5. Update the IP address under the eth0 Interface. The cold spare is taking the place of your primary Appliance, so it needs the same IP address that the primary Appliance had. The other Network Settings will be configured when you apply the backup from the primary appliance. Note: You can also configure the network settings using the console interface or the LCD Panel. To use the console interface, connect a VGA monitor and USB keyboard to the appliance. When you save the changes to the network settings, Switchvox restarts.
6. Apply the most recent backup from the primary appliance to the cold spare. To do that, navigate to Server > Maintenance > Backups. After the update is applied, Switchvox restarts.

Switchvox should now be back up and running at full strength on your cold spare.