VPIM Networking Questions?

tony.hanson · ‎10-06-2005

I have a customer who is setting VPIM networking to network a Unity VM only and a Unified Messaging together. They are in different AD's and do not want to change this. First I was wondering how many VPIM license's are needed? one for each server or does the license include both of the Unity server. Second, I noticed that they setup the Unity VM domain as voice.ABC.com and the Unified is in there existing domain ABC.com, they do not share any information between these AD, I was reading the VPIM document and ran accross a section that said that this will not work, is the correct? I was also wondering were to install the voice connector, should it be the Unity VM Exchange server or the Exchange server. There main voice mail and call handler server is the Unity VM server, it has 800 users and the Unified server will only have 50 users.

Any input would be great!

Thanks

Hin Lee · ‎10-06-2005

The way to look at this config is that they have two separate systems that are going to "talk" to each other using vpim networking.

>>how many VPIM license's are needed

Two separate systems so one for each system

>> that this will not work, is the correct?

My only concern is that voice.ABC.com might appear as a child domain of ABC.com. I am pretty sure it will work because VPIM depends on MX records to send the messages. So the dns server for abc.com must be able to resolve the MX record for voice.abc.com and vice versa. You can do this by setting up Secondary Zones - so on the dns server for abc.com, you will setup a secondary zone for voice.abc.com, and you will have to allow the dns server for abc.com to pull the records from voice.abc.com; and vice versa.

>> voice connector

The job of voice connector is to format the outgoing mail in a format that can be understood by all vpim-based-servers. Two separate voicemail-vpim systems will have two separate voice connectors.

tony.hanson · ‎10-07-2005

I was wondering instead of using DNS, could I have do this with host files?

baldwinj · ‎10-07-2005

You will need a VPIM bridgehead server (licensed for VPIM) and an Exchange server with the Voice Connector and Event Sink for VPIM installed in each of your Unity networks.

And you can use a host file or DNS to define the mail routing between your two systems. However you found the correct information about your domain names. http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/voicesw/ps2237/products_feature_guide_chapter09186a0080449aa1.html#wp1129559. The domains you listed will not work, the reason for this has to do with the way the Event Sink catches inbound VPIM messages. Please follow the documentation on this point and define 2 distinct domain names for your systems to use VPIM networking.

tony.hanson · ‎10-07-2005

So what your saying is break out DIRT and reload? Or is there a way to change the name of the Domain(I kind of already know the answer)

Thanks!

baldwinj · ‎10-07-2005

No, you do not need to reinstall to change the domain name for VPIM networking. The Windows domain is not what it used here. It is the SMTP domain name that is used in VPIM networking. The VPIM chapter outlines the places where the SMTP domain name needs to be configured in Unity and Exchange:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/voicesw/ps2237/products_feature_guide_chapter09186a0080449aa1.html

tony.hanson · ‎10-07-2005

To claify what your saying and I'm understanding correctly, the customer has a SMTP domain and AD domain abc.com which we installed Unified messaging so they will recieve messages to abc.com when they recieve a voice mail on the Unified. They installed Unity voice mail only and named the AD domain voice.abc.com. So all I would need to do is make sure that the SMTP Domain name is something different than voice.abc.com to voice.def.com?

Thanks for the input and clarification!

baldwinj · ‎10-13-2005

Right, you can change the SMTP domain on one network to something that is not a subset of the other domain (your example is correct). And this involves changing recipient policies and Unity domain settings, not the AD/Windows domain of the system.

rduric · ‎12-01-2005

Hi Tony,

I have almost an identical situation. A university, 2 AD domains, vm.abc.ca and um.abc.ca (they don't share any information). I also want to use VPIM to connect my 3 VM digitally networked Unity servers (6,000 subscribers) in one domain with one UM server (100 subscribers). Have you been able to implement VPIM between your VM and UM servers? What about licenses? Your experience? Thanks.