AG 5500Quick Reference Guide 295Mirroring Billing RecordsMultiple AG 5500 units can send copies of credit card and Property Management System(PMS) billing records to a number of external servers that have been previously defined bysystem administrators. The AG 5500 assumes control of billing transmissions and savingbilling records. By effectively “mirroring” the billing data, the AG 5500 can send copies ofbilling records to predefined “carbon copy” servers.Additionally, if the primary and secondary servers are down, the AG 5500 can store up to2,000 PMS or credit card transaction records. The AG 5500 regularly attempts to connect withthe primary and secondary servers. When a connection is re-established (with either server),the AG 5500 sends the cached information to the server. Customers can be confident that theirbilling information is secure and that no transaction records are lost.This document describes the process used by the AG 5500 for mirroring billing records, and isorganized into the following sections:z “Sending Billing Records” on page 295z “XML Interface” on page 296z Establishing Billing Records “Mirroring” {Bill Record Mirroring}Sending Billing RecordsWhen there is a message (billing record) in the message queue, the system “wakes up” andperforms the following tasks:1. Stores the billing record in the flash2. Create an XML packet, based on the new billing record3. Send the billing record to the carbon copy server(s)4. Transmit the data currently stored in the flash, based on the specified retransmissionmethod (round-robin: A-B-A-B, or fail-over: A-A-B-B)The system stores the billing record in the flash so that the record will not be lost (for example,if the AG 5500 is powered down during transmission attempts.Billing records are sent to the carbon copy server(s) only after the records areplaced in the message queue. Carbon copy servers will not receive the recordsagain if a task for retransmitting to the primary or secondary server needs to beperformed.
