Cisco Cisco Process Orchestrator 3.0 User Guide

Virtually all Process Orchestrator state information is stored in the database. Although there are two 
databases, only the configuration database is a hard upstream dependency (see 

) and must be made highly available to prevent a 

database-based Process Orchestrator outage. The reporting database is used for auditing and reporting 
purposes, but Process Orchestrator does not depend on its presence or on it being up and running.

Process Orchestrator supports the following high availability databases:

SQL Server Failover Cluster

Oracle Real Application Clusters (see the Oracle RAC configuration steps in the Cisco Process 
Orchestrator Installation Guide)

Although the bulk of the Process Orchestrator server's state is stored in the database, the following 
important pieces of data are stored in the Process Orchestrator server system:

Process Orchestrator interacts with many different IT technologies and processes (see 

). It is critically dependent on some technologies, such as its 

backend database on an Oracle or SQL Server (a hard upstream dependency), and on other technologies 
such as a DB2 database or VMware vCenter connection (soft upstream dependencies), only to the extent 
that processes interact with those technologies. 

The keys used to encrypt security 
credentials

This key is stored in a controlled space in the Windows security subsystem of the 
Windows server hosting the Process Orchestrator server. 

Process Orchestrator stores runtime user names, passwords, and other credentials in 
the database so that it can connect using those credentials when running an activity 
against a target. Credentials are encrypted with a key specific to the Process 
Orchestrator environment before being stored in the database. 

This environment-specific key, which is stored in the Windows security system of each 
Process Orchestrator server, can be exported as a file, retained for disaster recovery 
purposes, and moved to a standby/backup server for recovery (see 

). In a disaster 

recovery situation, the Process Orchestrator database is useless without the 
corresponding and separately stored encryption keys.

The Process Orchestrator server 
installation

This is core software that can be recreated from the installation media.

The server configuration file

This file configures certain properties of the Process Orchestrator server. For example, 
it tells the Process Orchestrator server which ports to open to talk to the client. It also 
tells the server where the database is and which credentials to use to access it.

Persistent queue files for data to be 
written to the reporting database

These files store reporting data so that it is not lost across server restarts (see