Cisco video conference questions

[Bekzod Fakhriddinov]

Hi guys. We have 2 offices : in UK and USA . UK has TMS, MCU  and endpoints , USA has endpoints (codecs, crestrons, jabber) .  Right now videoconferences are managed from UK , endpoints are registered with UK Gatekeeper and  not connected to CUCM (in USA), MPLS  between US and UK.  My plan is to register US endpoints to USA CUCM as sip but leave management in UK TMS and use UK MCU . I appreciate if someone can answer my questions:

1. Can I set up sip trunk directly to UK TMS , we don't have VCS-E/C, and run signaling and rtp on that sip trunk ?

2 I saw docs I can setup codecs with extensions, so can I use dialing by extensions between US and UK conf rooms ?  (all docs I found was with url dialing made on VCS expressway, but I think url we need only to dial trough internet and we'd have direct link  and extension dialing should work ?? ) 

Thank you

[Patrick McCarthy]

Hello, 

Question 1 - no. TMS is not a SIP registrar or gatekeeper, it is for management, scheduling, phonebooks, etc. No call control whatsoever. 

Question 2 - what endpoints are you talking about? Polycom's do (or used to) have extension dialing, but that is not an industry standard. Also what is the GK and MCU?

If you have CUCM in the US - is it relatively recent? You can setup Expressway for MRA, B2B, and you can also register legacy endpoints to them, and you would be able to create SIP/H.323 trunks to your CUCM cluster and should be able to do the same to your UK infrastructure, but that might depend on what it is. 

[Bekzod Fakhriddinov]

I have attached picture of existing network.Right now all video conference goes trough UK v.coference infrastructure. The plan is register USA video endpoints to USA CUCM . Why ? - Voice quality is bad when it goes over UK even link btw USA and UK is MPLS with QoS. So we want to run at least voice part of conference over USA network . 

As I understand during video conferenceall traffic will be mixed and run trough MCU (RTP and signaling), in my case USA---UK---USA .

1. So is it possible to separate voice part (on CUCM 10 OR on Network layer) and route it locally , maybe after video conference will be established (like with voice network - signaling and rtp path are separate)?

2. If not, what are other options available except local MCU  for USA ?

Thank you

[Ammar Saood]

1. So is it possible to separate voice part (on CUCM 10 OR on Network layer) and route it locally , maybe after video conference will be established (like with voice network - signaling and rtp path are separate)?

no it is not possible as conference is happening on UK MCU and RTP (audio+video) has to reach there. you cannot have media(audio only) flowing between clients and Video going to MCU.

if quality is bad check your INTERSITE Audio Codec bandwidth for this region. mostly its 8kbps for each participant. change it to 64 or 128kbps. it will improve the audio quality provided the MPLS has enough bandwith and can QOS it.

2. If not, what are other options available except local MCU  for USA ?

Only option is to use Multisite opiton key on endpoints that support and initiate the conference from them. only limitation is multisite enabled endpoints can only handle max of 3 or 4 extra participants depending on Codec type.

if you had Cisco CMS, you simply had to put a VM in USA and cluster it with UK, so USA participants would be using their local resource for conference and UK people joining their local resource. this concept is called CASCADING. 

HTH

Please mark answered and rate if helpful.

[Bekzod Fakhriddinov]

1. Is it true that is If I will register endpoints on CUCM in USA and in USA I don't have video conf bridges only i have is CUCM soft bridge and bridges for audio conf on routers, because of that I will have only audio conference/calls from those devices (conf initiator in USA )? 

2. But if initiator of call is in  UK , they have MCU , because of they initiate this videoconference, vconf resource will be in UK and (as I remember media resources are chosen by initiator ) we will have video conference.   Is it correct? 

So I'm thinking if I initiate conf in USA it will be only audio conf, if UK initiate videoconf it will be video conf . Correct ? 

[Ammar Saood]

1. Is it true that is If I will register endpoints on CUCM in USA and in USA I don't have video conf bridges only i have is CUCM soft bridge and bridges for audio conf on routers, because of that I will have only audio conference/calls from those devices (conf initiator in USA )? 

yes register the USA endpoint in USA. Make a SIP trunk from USA to MCU in uk. add MCU as Video bridge in USA CUCM. and add it in MRGL and MRG.

Make Video endpoints use this Media resource group. in this way USA video endpoints can also make use of UK's Hardware MCU for Video conference calls.  

2. But if initiator of call is in  UK , they have MCU , because of they initiate this videoconference, vconf resource will be in UK and (as I remember media resources are chosen by initiator ) we will have video conference.   Is it correct? 

picture it as it doesn't matter where your MCU is . Because you have WAN Connectivity. Setup this MCU configuration in USA CUCM like it is locally there (logically the IP doesnt belong to your local subnets.) but its fine.

finish your configuration, in this way both Sites can utilize the centralized conference resource.   

So I'm thinking if I initiate conf in USA it will be only audio conf, if UK initiate videoconf it will be video conf . Correct ? 

If you do add MCU in USA CUCM as confernce bridge and then add it in MRG. then conf. initiated in USA will also have Video.

HTH

AMMAR

[Bekzod Fakhriddinov]

Very good advice , I appreciate Ammar. Honestly, I didn't think about adding that MCU to USA CUCM . And I will try to go this direction.

##But  it may not be possible : I don't manage UK Video Infrastructure, they have their own phone network, and even I don't know how that MCU and to what it's connected (I know they have tms, vcs, mcu ) but do they have their own PBX or use hosting phone service ...##

if that mcu connected to their  PBX as a MRG, am I able to add it to my CUCM too ? Is it possible to have that MCU as MRG on both phone systems ? 

Thank you 

[Ammar Saood]

no problem if they are in different cluster. MCU doesnt know in which cluster it is the part of.

1.all you need is API access on MCU. in short get admin access.

 2.add MCU as conference bridge in USA Cluster. n add a prefix 66.

3. create a sip trunk to MCU. (if not possible then you must have conductor and add an extra IP on conductor to allow this trunk)

4. enable adhoc calling on MCU and allow 66 as prefix.

assign a prefix for your site. say 66  will be prefixed for Conf. calls from USA MCU and 77 will be prefixed from Conf. calls from UK. if you have conductor.

can you please let me know the exact infrastructure you have ?

do you have conductor in UK ??

Which MCU /TPS thy have ?  MCU45xx or MCU 52xx  or TPS ??

How many conference ports they have ? 

[Bekzod Fakhriddinov]

in UK : 

• Cisco TMS
• Cisco VCS
• Cisco TelePresence Server – MSE8710 (6 blades)

[Ammar Saood]

you are in perfect position to have a conductor.

at least install the free VM version. (which doesn't support clustering of Conductor and only support one Conference bridge.)

see the attached snapshot for your scenario.

[Bekzod Fakhriddinov]

Thank you , it's very interesting design . I'll discuss it  with my supervisor . 

[Ammar Saood]

yes you can register Endpoints on USA cucm.i would prefer register them on expresswy C. You can also register Polycom devices as well on EXPC. 

create a sip trunk between USA CUCM and UK MCU And call control. so jabber and all other endpoint in USA can call eachother and also be able to join the meeting rooms hosted in UK MCU.

you can use same TMS to schedule and manage endpoints.

create another IP zone inside TMS for  USA Endpoints and Call control.

You can allow required patterns and URI  on your SIP trunks to reach endpoints and MCU in UK.

HTH

AMMAR

Please remember to rate responses and to mark your question as answered if appropriate.

[Bekzod Fakhriddinov]

Thank you guys for response. It's getting clear now.

If I have MPLS L3 between UK and USA do I relly need SIP trunk between CUCM and UK MCU, mpls make UK as expansion of my LAN, correct ? And I also don't need CUBE to be involved .. 

Only on the other border where I will connect videoconference with Internet for Webex I need VCS-E/C ..

OR SIP trunk required for negotiation/signaling between CUCM and UK MCU?   

[Joe Vallender]

The SIP Trunks are not physical trunks but definitions in your CUCM and MCU for routing calls and will point/route to your physical network trunking (MPLS).

[Bekzod Fakhriddinov]

Joe , I don't know maybe u tried but you didn't answer my questions. I know what is the sip trunk, I don't have experience to connect to videoconferencing infrastructure .

Do you mean I need sip trunk for signaling between CUCM and MCU to  establish connection between endpoints in US and UK ? 

US endpoint will be all on CUCM so I don't need sip trunk definitely.