VCSC + VCSE & Lync gateway mandatory ?

[MARK BEDWANI]

Hi everyone, I would like to ask a question as the VCS Lync configuration guide is not clear. Is it "mandatory" to have to install an extra "Lync Gateway VCS" ? I know you can just use the VCS-c as the Lync gateway, however is this TAC supported ?

[Jens Didriksen]

No, it's not mandatory, just "recommended" :) - see page 7 of the deployment guide; http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/telepresence/infrastructure/vcs/config_guide/X8-1/Cisco-VCS-Microsoft-Lync-Deployment-Guide-X8-1.pdf

"The “Lync gateway” VCS is an interface between an existing working video network and the Microsoft Lync environment. Using this gateway minimizes the changes that need to be made in the video network so as to introduce as few artifacts as possible when adding Lync interoperability to the video network."

And this in particular: "Having dedicated VCSs for this “Lync gateway” operation limits the number of VCSs for which the Microsoft Interoperability option key needs to be purchased and enabled."

/jens

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[Wayne DeNardi]

Jens wrote:
And this in particular: "Having dedicated VCSs for this “Lync gateway” operation limits the number of VCSs for which the Microsoft Interoperability option key needs to be purchased and enabled."

This is a key point - as the Microsoft Interop key costs as much as the VCS itself - if you need to buy multiple licences for multiple VCSes, the price adds up quickly, so having a single Lync gateway VCS helps a lot.

Having the Lync Gateway VCS as a Virtual device (if you've got a reliable VMWare back end) can help in a lot of circumstances, but as Martin has indicated, isn't necessarily the complete solution depending on your requirements (size / redundancy / throughput / etc).

Wayne
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[Martin Koch]

It would be good to know your deployment size. If its a small installation with 50 video and 500 lync users or a lab set up you will most likely not run into trouble.

The challenge starts when you have a huge setup and you need either additional keys for the interop

or you have so many presence requests from lync towards the endpoints that one of the components gets in trouble by handling them.

I think its a good question regards the support. On Cisco its often about best practices and

using the standalone lync vcs gw is at least in many scenarios the best practice.

That said, I am located in a country with many small installations, many customers have

just a single vcs setup and I am not aware that Cisco ever refused to give support.

But sure I can not guarantee you that  :-)

Best would be to check with your Cisco Partner or Cisco contact.

If you have more info, please share it here in the forum ;-)

[Patrick Sparkman]

I have one question that comes of this discussion.

Speaking in regards to redundancy, if you have a VCS Control cluster of 2 servers, and you'd like a VCS-Lync Gateway cluster of 2 servers, you'd still be purchasing two Microsoft Interop keys.  So besides the idea of seperating the video network from the Lync network by using a gateway between the two, you're not saving any cost.  What are your guys thoughts on this, or would one just bring up a single VCS-Lync Gateway server to limit the cost and still have that separation of the networks?

[Martin Koch]

I know way larger deployments, so just because you have a 2 vcs cluster requirement, means that this is the max people use. ;-)

There are also some challenges when you have the cluster and use findme on how it should be properly deployed. Like how you handle your call routing and address rewrite, the presence server needs to be active on the lync gw vcs and so on, ...

So, yes, it might be handy and easy to run a single vcs setup, instead of the dedicated one,

but if you would run into trouble, Cisco might point to the deployment guide.

Regards the single GW-VCS, thats might even be easier to deploy, but you lack redundancy.

A virtual VCS might help, but is not the solution for all possible failure issues.

So it will depend on the service level expected for this setup as well as on how many calls you need to scale.

[MARK BEDWANI]

Hi Guys, yes thanks for your replies,

I know the deployment/configuration guide does not say it's "Mandatory", I guess my main question was is it TAC supported. looks like it is.

Thanks.