Cisco Collaboration and Contact Center Solutions - Messages with tag "Cisco MCU"

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This blog is to share our expertise in Cisco UCM, UCCX/UCCE and Cisco Meeting Server

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Guide to Integrate Cisco MCU with Skype for Business. Part 3 – CUCM Configuration


The CUCM configuration consists of two parts: creating a trunk to VCS Control and a trunk the VIS.

In CUCM proceed to CM Administration->System->Security->SIP Trunk Security Profile, select "Non Secure SIP Trunk Profile", and click Copy.

SIP Trunk Security Profile Configuration

Enter the name for the new trunk, for example 'SIP Trunk Profile CUCM video', set the Incoming Port to 5065, check 'Accept unsolicited notification' and 'Accept replaces header', and click Save.

SIP Trunk Security Profile Configuration

Now proceed to Device-> Device Settings-> SIP Profile and configure the Standard SIP Profile For Cisco VCS as the screenshot shows. Depending on the CUCM version this profile may have different parameters.

Standard SIP Profile For Cisco VCS

Create a partition for VCS Control: Call Routing->Class of Control->Partition

Partition Information

And for S4B:

Partition Information

Create a Calling Search Space: Call Routing->Class of Control->Calling Search Space:

Calling Search Space

Create a new trunk: Device -> Trunk. Replace 'CUCM IP' with your VCS Control IP address.

After you save the trunk settings, click Reset.
Then proceed to VCS Control Configuration->Zones to create a new zone.
Replace 'CUCMIP' with your CUCM IP address.

Save the form, create a Dial Plan for calling S4B users. In this case, the domain name suffix is used as a pattern. This rule is configured in such way that if a user user1@test.com is dialed, the CUCM Video trunk is used. You can use a regular expression as a pattern.

Configuration->Dial Plans-> Search Rules

The trunk between the CUCM and VCS Control is configured, now configure the trunk between the CUCM and S4B.

Create a new Calling Search Space: Call Routing->Class of Control->Calling Search Space

Calling Search Space

Create a security profile: SIP System->Security->SIP Trunk Security Profile

SIP Trunk Security Profile

Create a SIP Profile: Device->Device Settings->SIP Profile

SIP Profile

SIP Profile

SIP Profile

After you save the form, click Reset.
Create a trunk to VIS: Device->Trunk, replace 'VIS IP' with the VIS IP address

Device Information

Create a pattern for sending calls to the S4B trunk. It is important to specify the IPv4 pattern: you should give the full domain name, for example, domain1.com, and also select the Route Partition and SIP Trunk.

Proceed to Call Routing->SIP Route Pattern and enter your SIP domain

That's it. It's time to test.

Guide to Integrate Cisco MCU with Skype for Business. Part 2 – the VIS role


You'll need a separate server to setup the VIS role. You can use either a VM or a physical server, depending on how many calls you are planning to handle simultaneously.

Launch the setup from the disc image: \Setup\amd64\setup.exe
Once the prerequisites have been installed, the Skype for Business Server Deployment Wizard will be launched. You should select the Install Administrative Tools option.

After the installation you should launch the Skype for Business Topology Builder and download the current topology:

Topology Builder

A new section called Skype for Business 2015 will appear in the Topology Builder. You should proceed to the Video Interop Server pools folder and define a new pool:

On the first screen, enter the domain name of the VIS or the pool (if necessary):

Create a new Video Interop Server pool

Select the Front End server:

Create a new Video Interop Server pool

On the next screen, select the Edge server. Then the trunk configuration wizard will be launched.
Enter the CUCM IP address or FQDN:

Define new Video gateway

If the VIS uses several IP addresses, you can choose a specific one:

Define new Video gateway

On the next screen, set the Listening port to 5060. Keep the TLS protocol (it will be changed later):

Define new Video gateway

In properties of the created VIS, enable TCP protocol:

Edit Properties

And then select the TCP protocol in the VIS properties:

Edit Properties

Publish the topology.

After the topology was successfully published, install the Local Configuration Store, VIS role, request and install the certificates and launch the services. I won't describe these steps in details; they don't have any parameters to configure. After the services are launched, open PowerShell and enter the following command with the trunk name changed:

New-CsVideoTrunkConfiguration -Identity "Service:VideoGateway:trunk name" -GatewaySendsRtcpForActiveCalls $false -GatewaySendsRtcpForCallsOnHold $false -EnableMediaEncryptionForSipOverTls $false

Now the VIS configuration is over. The TechNet guide from Microsoft suggests creating a Dial Plan and normalization rules. This is necessary for E.164 calls, but I'm going to call using the SIP Address.

Guide to Integrate Cisco MCU with Skype for Business. Part 1 – Prerequisites


This set of articles describes how to integrate Cisco MCU with Skype for Business and make available calls from MCU to S4B users. This is a guest post that we found very useful to our audience.

Let's start with the description of the infrastructure.

MCU1-MCUn – multipoint control units – the hardware to host video audio/video conferences. It is responsible for the connection and encoding. The connection means sending video/audio stream from one endpoint to all the others. Encoding means encoding and decoding video/audio stream between the endpoints.

E1-En – video endpoints: desk endpoints, room endpoint, IP phones, software clients.

VCS Control – provides video call and session control, endpoint registration, call routing. VCS stands for Video Control Server. This is a sip-server and a controller for H.323 zones. Also used for integration with third-party applications: IP PBX, Microsoft OCS, Lync 2010, Lync 2013 (an additional license is required). B2BUA for S4B support hasn't been announced yet.

VCS Express Way – server to connect with external video endpoints. It helps the remote clients to connect from outside the firewall.

CUCM – Call Manager – the Cisco IP PBX.

ME1 – Lync 2013 mediation server used for integration with third-party telephony.

Edge1 – Lync 2013 edge server used for connecting remote clients.

FE1 – front end Lync server used for registering clients, exchanging presence statuses and messages, creating audio and video conferences.

Ei and Li – Cisco and Lync clients respectively on the internet.

VCS Control supports B2BUA role for connecting to a Lync 2013 front end server, but the separate Microsoft Interoperability option key is required. It's also possible to install the Cisco CUCILync plug-in on the Lync clients, but in our case this won't be convenient, and separate licenses are also required.

In April 2015, Microsoft released the next Lync version called Skype for Business. It has the new Video Interop Server role that enables integrating third-party videoconferencing systems with S4B users. Jeff Schertz gives a very detailed description of the new topologies in his blog. Microsoft only supports integration with CUCM starting from the version 10.5, VCS Control support was not announced. MCU and Cisco Telepresence Server support wasn't announced as well, only calls from endpoints to S4B subscribers are supported. The endpoints should be registered on CUCM, and the MCU isn't actually used in this scenario. The list of endpoints is also very limited:

  • Cisco TelePresence Codecs (C40, C60, C90)
  • Cisco TelePresence MX Series (MX200, MX300)
  • Cisco TelePresence EX Series (EX60, EX90)
  • Cisco TelePresence SX Series (SX20)

In our case, the videoconferencing system is one of the crucial business software applications, and in addition to room endpoints we need other clients to connect to meetings.

We have decided not to upgrade all the Lync servers, but to upgrade the topology only and to add the VIS role. The Cisco-S4B topology would look as follows:

The only difference with the previous topology was the VIS role with the trunk to CUCM.

The basic integration aspects are the following:

  • only the calls from MCU to S4B are supported, not the other way around,
  • in Lync/S4B topology a separate server has to be deployed for the VIS,
  • trusted certificates are not required,
  • you won't be able to create a conference with an MCU participant on the S4B side; the meeting has to hosted on the MCU,
  • an S4B user won't be able to share the desktop send documents,
  • the CUCM version should be 10.5 or higher.