/
Configuring Stateful Load Balancer for Microsoft Teams

Configuring Stateful Load Balancer for Microsoft Teams

AVAILABLE IN VERSION 10 OR LATER

As load balancers available in Microsoft Azure do not provide stateful load balancing for Microsoft Teams call invites, the Microsoft Teams Bot service offers stateful load balancing as a built-in feature. It is an extension to the existing load balancer configuration and it has to be used in combination with existing Azure-based load balancers.

Prerequisite: Configuring Azure Cache for Redis

Before you enable the stateful load balancer for the Microsoft Teams Bot in VFC, an Azure Cache for Redis service must be created for your application in Azure.

  1. Sign in to the Microsoft Azure Portal.

  2. Click on Create a resource, and under Databases, select Azure Cache for Redis. Alternatively, use the quick filter to find the service.

  1. Open the Basics tab of the cache service and ensure that the following settings are configured as listed below:

    1. Region: The recommended region is the same as where the recording bot instances are deployed. If the deployment is multi-regional, then it is recommended to have a cache for each region. For 2N deployments, both sites must have a dedicated cache.

    2. Cache SKU: The lowest recommended tier is Standard, as it provides an SLA by Microsoft. If a Virtual Network is required for the deployment, it is available from the Premium tier.

    3. Cache Size: For Standard tier, it is recommended to choose the C1 (1 GB Cache) size option, as the service is running as a dedicated service instead of running on a shared infrastructure.

      3.png

  2. Open the Networking tab of the cache service and ensure that the following settings are configured as listed below:

    1. Ensure that the bot instances can reach the cache service.

      4.png

  3. Open the Advanced tab of the cache service and ensure that the following settings are configured as listed below:

    1. Authentication: Ensure that Access Keys Authentication is enabled.

      5.png

  4. Save the changes and create the cache service.

It takes approximately 15 minutes for Azure to deploy the cache service.

Configuring the stateful load balancer for the Microsoft Teams Bot

Follow the steps below to configure stateful load balancing for the Microsoft Teams Bot service:

  1. Sign in to the VFC web application.

  2. Do one of the following:

    1. Under System, go to Servers, and select the Recording Server on which the bot service is deployed.

    2. Under System, go to Configuration Profiles, and select the Configuration Profile applied to the server on which the bot service is deployed. 

  3. Go to the Change Configuration Settings tab and expand the Microsoft Teams Bot > Advanced > Invite Load Balancer section.

  4. Select Enabled to turn on the feature.

  5. Copy the Redis Connection String value from the Azure service:

    1. Open the cache service created in Configuring Azure Cache for Redis.

    2. Go to Settings, and under Authentication, select the Access keys tab.

    3. Copy the value of Primary connection string (StackExchange.Redis).

  6. In the server Change Configuration Settings tab, enter the connection string copied from the Azure Portal in the Redis Connection String field.

Example connection string:
vfc-teams-lb.redis.cache.windows.net:6380,password=<encoded_password>,ssl=True,abortConnect=False

  1. Click Save.

  2. Apply the configuration changes either by following the link in the notification that appears at the top of the screen, or by going to the Configuration Tasks tab and selecting Execute Selected Tasks.

  3. Repeat steps 2-8 on each Recording Server on which the bot service is deployed.