Migrating Your Network to AVVID Technologies • Chapter 3 93 The AMIS standard emerged from a group of voice mail vendors and system users that initially met in 1988 to define a single stan- dard for interoperability. There are actually two separate AMIS pro- tocols defined: AMIS-A (analog) and AMIS-D (digital). The formal standard was issued in February of 1990. Prior to AMIS, there was no way for messaging systems from different vendors to exchange messages. Using AMIS, multiple messaging systems located in the same building, on the same campus, in different cities, or even in dif- ferent countries can be interconnected via the PSTN. A voice mail www.syngress.com Figure 3.3 Voice Mail Integration Using SMDI Legacy Voice Mail CallManager Hub SMDI Voice Gateway (analog) IP Phone IP Phone IP Phone Legacy Voice Mail PBX Telephone Telephone Telephone SMDI Voice Trunks Voice Mail Integration using SMDI in a Legacy System Voice Mail Integration using SMDI in an AVVID Network 94_AVVID_03 1/16/01 12:36 PM Page 93 94 Chapter 3 • Migrating Your Network to AVVID Technologies system that needs to send a message to another simply places a phone call to the receiving system and passes the message as analog voice data. DTMF tones can be used by the sending system to indicate the recipient’s mailbox. AMIS is a relatively easy method of networking VM systems because it simply requires analog voice facilities. As a result, it is has become widely supported by most legacy voice mail system vendors. Voice Profile for Internet Mail (VPIM) VPIM is an international standard for transferring voice and fax messages between different voice mail systems using standard e-mail systems within an intranet or the public Internet. It is based on the Internet e-mail standards, Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) and Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME). Different voice mail systems can exchange messages if they can send and receive e-mail with audio attachments. VPIM can be used in an AVVID network for integrating a voice messaging (VM) or unified messaging (UM) server with a legacy voice mail system, or for net- working multiple VM/UM servers together as a single system. VPIM was developed by a consortium of messaging vendors including AVT, Centigram, Lucent, Nortel, Siemens, and others in conjunction with the Electronic Messaging Association. VPIM ver- sion 1 was formally approved by the IETF and published as RFC 1911 in February 1996. Version 2 was subsequently approved as a proposed standard and was published as RFC 2421 in September 1998. Work is currently underway on version 3, which has been renamed as Internet Voice Mail. The entire history and specifica- tions for VPIM are available from the Electronic Messaging Association at www.ema.org/vpim. There are major benefits of using VPIM for voice message net- working over earlier alternatives such as AMIS. First, VPIM supports digital message formats, which means that it can be used in unified messaging environments that require support for fax messages. AMIS does not provide any support for routing faxes between mes- saging systems. Second, VPIM utilizes an IP network as the trans- mission facility between systems. This is a powerful capability www.syngress.com 94_AVVID_03 1/16/01 12:36 PM Page 94 Migrating Your Network to AVVID Technologies • Chapter 3 95 because it would obviously include the possibility of using the public Internet as a communication path between messaging sys- tems, thus eliminating the need for dedicated digital transmission facilities for networking multiple systems in the WAN. Figure 3.4 illustrates the use of VPIM to pass messages between systems across an IP WAN between multiple locations, and the use of VPIM to connect systems from different vendors at the same location. Third, the quality of the original message is maintained because there is no need to convert the message to analog for transmission because VPIM supports direct transfer of digital message formats. Fourth, most major messaging vendors will be providing support for VPIM, including Lucent, Nortel, Siemens, Centigram, Active Voice, and, of course, Cisco (currently, a limited number of vendors are actually shipping VPIM-capable products). For this reason, VPIM will enable the coexistence of multiple messaging systems during a system migration. Like many of the industry standard protocols used in the Internet, the VPIM standard leverages work that has already been www.syngress.com Figure 3.4 Voice Mail Networking Using VPIM IP WAN/ Internet Legacy Voice Mail vendor Y Voice Mail/ Unified Messaging Server TCP/IP LAN Legacy Voice Mail vendor X GatewayGateway VPIM VPIM VPIM 94_AVVID_03 1/16/01 12:36 PM Page 95 96 Chapter 3 • Migrating Your Network to AVVID Technologies completed in other standards efforts. In the case of VPIM, this includes SMTP [RFC 821] and MIME [RFCs 20452049], which are currently used within many organizations today. In addition to these existing Internet standards, VPIM also specifies that voice messages being forwarded between systems from different vendors will be encoded using G.726 (32 Kbps ADPCM). Using these existing and widely adopted standards as a foundation will help to ensure the acceptance and stability of VPIM and guarantee that it will run on virtually all existing data networks. In short, VPIM formats com- pressed voice or fax messages using the MIME protocol and uses SMTP to send these messages between servers over an IP network. VPIM provides support for basic message transfer functions such as sending, replying, and forwarding of messages between systems. In addition, it also includes the ability to send a message to multiple subscribers (the number of recipients for a single message is actu- ally unlimited), non-delivery notification, and sending priority indi- cations. VPIM actually provides 14 new functions that are not supported by AMIS-A. Below is a summary of the features sup- ported by VPIM: ■ Send/receive/reply/forward voice and fax messages ■ Delivery/non-delivery notification ■ Full-duplex message flow ■ Message privacy ■ Message sending priority ■ Separate originator’s voice name, text subject, spoken sub- ject ■ Service notification ■ Unlimited number of messages/recipients per call ■ Unlimited message length www.syngress.com 94_AVVID_03 1/16/01 12:36 PM Page 96 Migrating Your Network to AVVID Technologies • Chapter 3 97 Voice Mail Migration Strategies Voice mail has become a necessary business tool for most organiza- tions in today’s world. This means that designing an AVVID voice network will require planning for voice messaging services in some fashion. Voice messaging in an AVVID network may be provided from a legacy voice mail system by an AVVID voice mail or unified messaging system. In either case, there are important considera- tions for providing this fundamental service in a converged network environment. Voice mail users have come to expect a certain level of function- ality based on the capabilities of most voice mail systems in place today. Most users will expect that call answer and message retrieval functions are generally automated so that users are faced with a minimum number of prompts when performing these functions. These user expectations lead to several important requirements when implementing voice mail solutions. Call Answer When a calling party dials an IP telephone exten- sion and the call is eventually forwarded to voice mail, the caller should automatically hear the user’s greeting without responding to additional prompts from the system. This can be done only if the called number is made available to the voice mail system when the call is forwarded. Message Retrieval When IP telephone users retrieve their mes- sages by pressing the voice mail speed dial button, they should be automatically prompted for their password without first being prompted for an extension. This can be done only if the calling number is passed to the voice mail system in some fashion to automatically identify the calling user’s voice mail box. Message Waiting Indication (MWI) An IP telephone user’s MWI should be switched on or off based on the status of the user’s voice mail box. As we will see in the scenarios that follow, these requirements are not always simple to implement in an IP telephony environment. www.syngress.com 94_AVVID_03 1/16/01 12:36 PM Page 97 98 Chapter 3 • Migrating Your Network to AVVID Technologies New Installations As with a new installation of a CallManager PBX, a new installation of an AVVID voice messaging system is the simplest case. Assuming that an organization does not have any existing voice mail systems, an AVVID voice messaging system can be added to provide voice messaging for CallManager users. Normal call answering and mes- sage retrieval functions between CallManager IP telephone users and the voice messaging system are easily provided if CallManager and the voice messaging system may both support Cisco’s Skinny Station Protocol (SSP). SSP is the call control signaling protocol used by Cisco’s CallManager to set up calls between the CallManager and other devices, such as IP telephones and voice messaging servers. Immediate Migration The immediate migration (“flash cut”) to an AVVID voice messaging system from a legacy voice messaging platform is also a relatively simple migration strategy that minimizes integration issues. Call answering and message retrieval functions are provided as in the previous scenario when Skinny Station Protocol is used. A “flash cut” strategy is depicted in Figure 3.5. Phased Migration The phased migration strategy is the most challenging of the three possible options. It is inherent in this approach that multiple sys- tems will be active simultaneously; therefore this approach presents the greatest integration challenges of the three possible migration strategies. There are three variations of the phased migration strategy. The first option assumes that voice messaging will continue to be pro- vided for all users by an existing legacy system connected behind the PBX, as depicted in Figure 3.6. Call answer and message retrieval functions for PBX users will remain the same because www.syngress.com 94_AVVID_03 1/16/01 12:36 PM Page 98 Migrating Your Network to AVVID Technologies • Chapter 3 99 nothing will change for those users in the way that they are con- nected to the system. The capabilities of the actual voice message system being used will determine the level of answer/retrieval func- tions available to IP telephone users during the migration. If the existing voice mail system does not have any standard method for integrating with CallManager (namely SMDI), none of the minimum required features described previously will be available to IP tele- phone users. While there are workarounds for passing the called/ calling party information, they involve additional complexity in PBX administration and the need for users to manage multiple DNs. There are no workarounds in this scenario for passing MWI to the IP telephone users. www.syngress.com Figure 3.5 A “Flash Cut” Voice Mail Migration Strategy PSTN Telephone Telephone PSTN LAN Switch Voice Gateway PBX Telephone IP Phone IP Phone IP Phone CallManager Existing legacy PBX and VM system (before migration) CallManager-based IP Telephony and VM/Unified Messaging System (after migration) Voice Mail/ Unified Messaging Server Legacy VM 94_AVVID_03 1/16/01 12:36 PM Page 99 100 Chapter 3 • Migrating Your Network to AVVID Technologies The second option for a phased migration also assumes that the existing voice messaging system will provide services for all users. The key difference in this option is that normal call answer and message retrieval functions will be available to IP telephone users. Tighter integration will be achieved by using an SMDI link and an analog gateway between the voice mail system and the CallManager IP network, as depicted in Figure 3.7. This option overcomes the limitations of the scenario described previously. With separate paths to each system, the voice mail system can treat the PBX and CallManager as individual systems. This means that calls to IP telephones that are forwarded to voice mail can go directly to the voice mail system via a gateway without being routed through the PBX. As long as the selected gateway can pass the required called/calling party information to the voice mail system, normal call answer and message retrieval functions can be provided. Assuming that an SMDI link is available on the legacy voice mail system, MWI information can be passed to the CallManager, which can then be forwarded to individual handsets. www.syngress.com Figure 3.6 Legacy Voice Messaging: Limited Integration PSTN Telephone Telephone LAN Switch Voice Gateway PBX IP Phone IP Phone IP Phone CallManager Legacy VM Telephone 94_AVVID_03 1/16/01 12:36 PM Page 100 Migrating Your Network to AVVID Technologies • Chapter 3 101 In order to provide this level of functionality, there are certain requirements for the voice messaging system. First, it must be capable of supporting multiple simultaneous PBXs in its configura- tion database. This would allow an individual extension to be asso- ciated with a particular PBX, and MWI information could be passed over the correct link. Second, the existing voice messaging system must have sufficient capacity to support simultaneous physical con- nections to the existing PBX and the gateway to the CallManager IP network. Third, the voice message system must have an SMDI inter- face. It is important to note that not all voice messaging systems will meet these requirements and that some may need hardware and software upgrades to meet these requirements. It is beyond the scope of this text to provide a list of such systems that meet these requirements, but note that Cisco has verified and officially sup- ports this configuration with the Octel Aria 250 and 350 systems. A detailed description of the exact configuration for integrating with these systems is available on Cisco’s Web site at www.cisco.com. www.syngress.com Figure 3.7 Legacy Voice Messaging: SMDI Integration PSTN Telephone Telephone LAN Switch Voice Gateway PBX IP Phone IP Phone IP Phone CallManager Legacy VM Telephone Voice Gateway (analog) SMDI 94_AVVID_03 1/16/01 12:36 PM Page 101 102 Chapter 3 • Migrating Your Network to AVVID Technologies Another important restriction worth noting in this scenario is that when an SMDI link is used between the voice messaging system and CallManager, this limits the gateway selection of the voice gateway to the CallManager IP network. Only analog trunks can be used between the gateway and the voice messaging system if an SMDI link is used. Another way to view this restriction is that this scenario will not work for large organizations that have only digital trunk cards available on their voice messaging system. For such an organization to utilize SMDI to pass MWI information from the VMS to CallManager, it would require retrofitting the VMS with analog trunk cards. In many cases, this would be cost-prohibitive. The third option for a phased migration is to deploy a Unified Messaging server for messaging services for IP telephony users, while PBX users continue to utilize the legacy voice mail system. This option is depicted in Figure 3.8. With this migration option, the answer/retrieval features available to IP telephone users will have the same restrictions as the first option discussed for a phased migration. That is, normal answer/retrieval and MWI functions would most likely not be available with this option. www.syngress.com Figure 3.8 Legacy Voice Messaging: Phased Migration PSTN Telephone Telephone LAN Switch Voice Gateway PBX IP Phone IP Phone IP Phone CallManager Legacy VM Telephone Voice Mail/ Unified Messenging Server 94_AVVID_03 1/16/01 12:36 PM Page 102 [...]... telephone system (MLTS) A CallManager telephony system is considered an MLTS and therefore must provide support for E911 services www.syngress.com 94 _AVVID_ 04 1 24 1/16/01 12:25 PM Page 1 24 Chapter 4 • Configuring Cisco CallManager Cisco s CallManager 2 .4 and higher can provide E911 support on par with legacy telephony systems Automatic Number Identification (ANI) information can be delivered to the public... www.syngress.com 94 _AVVID_ 04 110 1/16/01 12:25 PM Page 110 Chapter 4 • Configuring Cisco CallManager CallManager Hardware Platforms CallManager software is available only as a preloaded application on a Cisco Media Convergence Server (MCS) hardware platform The MCS servers available from Cisco are actually PC-based, serverclass, high availability platforms manufactured by Compaq exclusively for Cisco At the... must now be hosted on a separate server since it still requires Windows NT 4. 0 as the operating www.syngress.com 94 _AVVID_ 04 112 1/16/01 12:25 PM Page 112 Chapter 4 • Configuring Cisco CallManager system In short, Cisco CallManager and the uOne messaging application can only be deployed as an “all-in-one” solution with CallManager 2 .4 on the MCS-7830 platform An important consideration when selecting between... Understanding the Packages, Licensing, and Upgrades s What to Expect in the Next Version of Cisco CallManager 107 94 _AVVID_ 04 108 1/16/01 12:25 PM Page 108 Chapter 4 • Configuring Cisco CallManager Introduction Cisco s CallManager software provides the necessary functions of call-processing, signaling, and connection services for an AVVID IP telephony solution Call processing involves the set-up and teardown of... Cisco s recommended design guidelines for determining the number of servers required per cluster are summarized in Table 4. 4 and further information can be found on Cisco s Web site at the following URL: www .cisco. com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/voice/ip_tele/ network/dgclustr.htm Table 4. 4 Cisco Guidelines for CallManager Capacity Planning Required Number Recommended Number of of IP Phones CallManager Servers... the primary database Another limitation of the redundancy services available in the 2.x releases of CallManager was that they were available only for IP www.syngress.com 94 _AVVID_ 04 1 14 1/16/01 12:25 PM Page 1 14 Chapter 4 • Configuring Cisco CallManager phones and gateways Redundancy services were not supported for H.323 devices or plug-in applications such as the conference bridge, media termination point,... the local phone company or an independent agency and may be located on site or at a remote location Figure 4. 1 provides an illustration of the E911 call flow process when using CallManager www.syngress.com 94 _AVVID_ 04 1/16/01 12:25 PM Page 125 Configuring Cisco CallManager • Chapter 4 125 Figure 4. 1 E911 Call Flow Customer Premise Trunk Switching System CallManager Server IP Phone Gateway Access Server... is capable of providing supplementary services Cisco has also incorporated support for H.323 v2 in their IOS-based VoIP gateways Alternatively, the Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP) is now www.syngress.com 94 _AVVID_ 04 1/16/01 12:25 PM Page 127 Configuring Cisco CallManager • Chapter 4 127 supported by CallManager and some of the IOS-based VoIP gateways Cisco VoIP gateways supporting either H.323 v2... migrating toward an AVVID solution Possible migration www.syngress.com 94 _AVVID_ 03 1/16/01 12:36 PM Page 105 Migrating Your Network to AVVID Technologies • Chapter 3 105 strategies include an immediate migration or a phased approach For organizations installing new AVVID systems, integration issues will not be an issue because there are no installed components that must be integrated into the AVVID solution... publisher (1) TFTP server (4) Primary CallManagers (2) backup CallManagers 2500 2500 2500 The maximum number of users currently supported in a single cluster is 10,000 For additional scalability, multiple clusters can be interconnected Initially, this is limited to a maximum of ten clusters; www.syngress.com 94 _AVVID_ 04 1/16/01 12:25 PM Page 117 Configuring Cisco CallManager • Chapter 4 117 however, it is . to Expect in the Next Version of Cisco CallManager Chapter 4 107 94 _AVVID_ 04 1/16/01 12:25 PM Page 107 108 Chapter 4 • Configuring Cisco CallManager Introduction Cisco s CallManager software provides. Windows NT 4. 0 as the operating www.syngress.com Table 4. 1 Continued 7822 7825-800 7835 7835-1000 Hardware Features 94 _AVVID_ 04 1/16/01 12:25 PM Page 111 112 Chapter 4 • Configuring Cisco CallManager system network. 94 _AVVID_ 04 1/16/01 12:25 PM Page 109 110 Chapter 4 • Configuring Cisco CallManager CallManager Hardware Platforms CallManager software is available only as a preloaded application on a Cisco