Kommuniser forent

Finally

2009-06-24T13:20:00.000-07:00

I've moved :D

From now on updates will come at www.codesalot.com

See you there!

Delays

2009-06-24T03:27:00.000-07:00

The transfer of the domain fell through the first time, but the issues should be sorted out now. A couple of days now, and the transfer will hopefully be done.

I'm moving

2009-05-05T03:04:00.000-07:00

I havee finally gotten around to moving my domain to a new registrar, and rented a VPS at slicehost.com.

So now I'm moving this blog where it was meant to be all along.

The new location for this blog is www.codesalot.com.

There will be no more posts at this site. See you there :)

OCS 2007 R2 Bug

2009-03-12T01:19:00.001-07:00

Seems there is a bug in OCS 2007 R2 that makes the edge server behave strangely. You will fail validation, and you might also get a "Limited External calling" message in the OC client.

The solution is posted here:

http://unified-communications.blogspot.com/2009/01/ocs-2007-r2-and-localization.html

Office Communications Server 2007 R2 running on Windows Server 2008 service problems

2009-03-10T03:11:00.000-07:00

I have on a couple of occations now experienced problems with the services on OCS 2007 R2, when running on 2008 server. I seems that the services hang during boot, and this causes all other services to halt startup as well.

The first time i experienced this, the server seemed to hang on "Configuring updates" during boot, though this was not the case.

The solution has been to either set all OCS services to "Automatic (delayed startup)", or to keep the front end service to "Automatic" and all other OCS services to delayed.

I dont know why this happens, and I haven't been able to figure it out. If someone has an idea of why, please let me know.

Office Communications Server 2007 Automatic login

2009-03-10T03:10:00.000-07:00

This guy has described the autologin mechanism in a great way. It basically relies on DNS records.

Chief Architect's Corner: Microsoft Office Communicator Auto-discovery Mechanism

Live Meeting client download

2009-03-02T04:11:00.001-08:00

The new LiveMeeting client can be downloaded from http://communicatorteam.com/archive/2008/02/05/57.aspx

Tandberg TMS install

2009-01-26T05:38:00.000-08:00

If you get a "404 - Not Found" message when trying to access TMS after a fresh install, try enableing ASP 2.0 in IIS. The installation software might not have been able to enable it.

OCS 2007 external access

2008-12-15T01:18:00.000-08:00

When installing the OCS 2007 Enterprise pool/Standard edition front-end server, if you don't configure external user access at once (i.e. OCS is installed and only planned to be an internal service), the external urls for Address book, Live Meeting content and Group Expansion are not configurable from the GUI.

They need to be configured from WMI or LCSCmd, ref

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938288

Upgrading UC 520

2008-11-25T07:19:00.000-08:00

Seems that when you are upgrading the UC520 software via CCA, you need to turn off AAA via tacacs to make the upgrade work. I had problems with an upgrade on an UC520 that uses tacacs+ for level 15 authentication, and I couldn't upgrade the box, even if http auth was set to local, until I had turned off tacacs for level 15 access.

Also CCA needs to be running on an XP box for CUE upgrade to work.

I was running CCA version 1.8 and upgrading to UC520 7.0.1-EA

Cisco UC500 - Music on Hold port

2008-11-11T05:11:00.000-08:00

When configuring music on hold on the Cisco UC 500, CME will use the configured moh file as long as nothing sends signals on the moh jack port. When the UC 500 recieves sound on the moh port, it will change the moh to whatever comes in on the moh port.

Tandberg TCEP Day 2

2008-08-12T00:08:00.000-07:00

Todays topic is Bandwith and call control

There will also be a test today.

To be able to call out on the internet on the VCS, you need to add the DNS Zone. It should only be added on the Express, not on the control. It will not be there by default. On the Gatekeeper/BorderController this is not necessary.

If you are neighboring gatekeepers, you need to use a pattern type to reach the endpoints on another gatekeeper. It will work fine without, but if you plan to use bandwith control the call will not be in the correct link if you don't use a pattern. This is possibly a bug, and will probably be fixed in version X3.

SIP <-> H.323 interworking will also work when contacting an endpoint on the outside, but it will consume 1 ekstra traversal license because of the interworking, so it will use 2 traversal licenses.

And I passed the TCEP as well :)

Tandberg TCEP Day 1

2008-08-11T00:20:00.000-07:00

Todays topic is Call Control Components - GK, VCS-C, VCS-E

When you factory reset these units, all option keys will disappear.

When a CCC is in routed mode, RAS. Q931 and H.245 info will go through the device, as opposed to non-routed mode, where only RAS will pass through the device. In SIP, all calls are in routed mode, but with H.232 this is optional. The VCS is always in routed mode though.

The VCS has a SIP<->H.232 interworking feature. Note that using this interworking feature will count as 1 traversal call.

For the sake of redundancy, there is a possibility to set up alternate Gatekeepers. When using this, the endpoint will recieve a list of alternate gatekeepers. If the gatekeeper the endpoint is registered to goes down, the endpoint will connect to the next endpoint on the list. Be sure to set the H.323 TTL down to something shorter than 1800 seconds if the environment demands faster recovery from an outage. Note that a gatekeeper can only be alternate to another gatekeeper, and a bordercontroller can only be alternate to another bordercontroller, a gatekeeper can not be alternate to another bordercontroller and the other way around. This also applies to VCScontrol/express.

Tandberg TCAP Day 3

2008-08-08T00:06:00.000-07:00

Todays topic is The Tandberg Codian MCU 4500 series

I do not know anything about the codian at all, so today will be purely lecture notes. The references to pages are pages in the course material.

The main difference between the 4500 series and the 4200 series is the amount of DSP chips. Also the 4200 has no support for Tandberg Codian ClearVision and if you want to have a higher resolution than CIF, you need to order an upgrade option.

ClearVision is described on page 16, but allows video media to be enhanced by up to 4 times the original resolution.

The 4200 uses an additional port for streaming. The 4500 does not. See amount of ports on page 22.

The codian MCU has two types of prefixes, a service prefix which is the same as on the MPS, but it also has a prefix that will register the full number on the gatekeeper. This can be used if you have a border controller and are allowing calls from the outside, by denying outside callers to call your internal conferences that are using your service prefix, but allow calls to external conferences which uses the GK registration prefix.

All conferences need to have a unique name, and it cannot be the same as old conferences either. It is therefore important to purge old conferences from time to time.

On versions 2.0 and older, you have to do a factory reset to recover a lost password, see page 88. On version 2.1 and newer, there is a reset password command on the console interface, see page 86.

And I passed the test :D I am now Tandberg TCAP!

Tandberg TCAP Day 2

2008-08-07T00:14:00.000-07:00

Tandberg MPS is the topic of the day

The MPS is a gateway and a MCU in the same box. Comes in two versions, MPS 200 and 800. The 200 is a 3U box with 2 module spaces. The 800 is a 9U box with 8 module spaces.

It supports transcoding, which is translation between different codecs. If one system uses H.264 with G.722 and the other uses H.263+ G.722, the MPS will translate this.

It will also do ratematching, so in a multiconference, users can connect with different speeds. One can be 384kbps, one can be 512kbps and another one can be 768kbps. One conference can only use 2 different speedgroups, so if one user connects with 384kbps, and the next connects with 768kbps, a user that connects with 512kbps will get 384kbps back. He will send with 512kbps though. The two groups of speeds will always be the highest and the lowest of the speeds connected. This means that if you have one group with 768kbps and one with 512kbps, if a user connects with 384kbps, the user with 512kbps will be downgraded to 384kbps.
There is also a third group, but this is reserved for cellular systems.

Use chart on slide 37 for MPS capacity and scaling information.

Installation
Even though the MPS is 10/100 capable and has autosensing, it is smart to force switch and MPS media cards to 100 full duplex. This is due to different implementations of the autosensing feature from different switchmanufacturers. With normal computers, this is normally not noticed, because you seldomly use realtime traffic, but with videoconferencing, more or less all traffic is realtime and because of this duplex mismatch problems are more severe.

Use
When creating a conference where the MPS/MCU will call out to a TCS-4 system, put the main number in the number field, and the extension in the SubAddress field.

It is important to create a good numberplan before implementation begins. You need several prefixes for functions as conferences and outgoing connections, and they cannot crash with each other.

In the gateway settings, do not set the "percent of total bandwith" to zero. This will obviously render the gateway useless.

Troubleshooting

The MPS has two modes on commandline. In addition to the commandline that exists on all Tandberg systems, it has also got a UNIX subsystem that contains files and folders, where the eventlog will be as txtfiles. To enter the UNIX system, use 'root' as a username in stead of 'administrator'.

In an environment where there are a lot of different systems, when users experience problems with the conferencing system, check Fast Update Requests, FUR. The MPS will not handle them very well.

We managed to get in a bit of TMS at the end of the day as well

To manage Tandberg classic endpoints, you need to run version B4 and later.

Fun fact: On an endpoint, press the phonebook key 10 times, and you will get a menu filled with games :D

Tandberg TCAP Day 1

2008-08-06T01:04:00.000-07:00

Day 1 is going through the basics of Tandberg endpoints.

LCS/OCS
If you want to connect to an LCS server, do not upgrade to F6.3. If you want to connect to OCS, tou must upgrade to F6.3

External services
Through the TMS you have the opportunity to create XML services, much like on the Cisco CallManager. There is an API, but you'll have to make all services yourself. There might be partners that have premade services...

Number recognition
The Tandberg endpoints doesn't have any mechanisms to recognize an H.323 number from an H.320 number, so you will have to define this explicitly under net on the callscreen. It prioritizes H.320 before H.323 when using auto. The same applies to SIP vs H.323 URLs. The H.323 is prioritized. It is possible to mark any setting as default.

DuoVideo
The standard is called H.239, but Tandberg also has a proprietary protocol. H.239 is only used when calling non-Tandberg endpoints. Polycom f.ex. also has their own proprietary protocol, so H.239 will have to be enabled on all endpoints that will be using DuoVideo with other types of endpoints.

Upgrading
When upgrading an endpoint, it may be a good idea to view the progress through the telnet interface to view errors and progress that might not be shown via web or the screen on the endpoint. Also, upgrading via ftp is also possible, but you'll have to use the installation key as username. Password will be the administratorpassword on the endpoint.

Use http://egil.frontbase.no/ to check if your DNS SRV records are pointing correctly to your gatekeeper!

Great day 1! Learned a lot, and looking forward to the next two days of TCAP.

Audiocodes MP-1xx Initial IP configuration

2008-07-10T07:09:00.000-07:00

I recently experienced difficulties with the initial ip configuration on an MP-118 FXO.

After I had configured the IP address on the quick install page, the only available button to push is "reset", no "save", "apply" or "submit" buttons are available. In my simple mind this meant that I had to push reset. Did not turn out to be a good idea. I could not make contact with the mediagateway on the new IP or the old. I tried keeping the "reset" button on the back pressed for more than 6 seconds, hoping it would get factory settings, thinking I had messed up the IP-address when I punched it in. But it made no difference. Noticed in that in the manual it said I could set the IP via bootp, so I downloaded a dhcpserver that supported bootp, and like magic I could contact the mediagateway again.

I tried setting the IP again, but the same thing happened when i moved the gateway to its final position in the rack. I then set the IP once more with bootp, and looked through the configuration settings. I discovered the "burn to flash" feature, and thought I had found my mistake. But no. Same thing again.

After yet another round of bootp IP setting, I found the IP settings under the "Advanced Configuration" tab, and this page had a "submit" button. And lo-and-behold! this time it worked.

Probably a bug in the firmware that the IP won't stick when you configure it at the "Quick configuration" page, but at least now I know about it.

Other than that, the Audiocodes gateway seems ideal for OCS voip implementation in SMB's!

PS: I wrote this purely on my recollection of it, so the button names and configuration page names may not be accurate!

Public IM Connectivity LCS2005/OCS2007 non-msn adresses

2008-07-07T02:39:00.000-07:00

If you are adding a contact in MOC that does not have msn.com/hotmail.com e-mail addresses, you need to write them in the format address(domain.com)@msn.com to add them correctly to the list. The reason seems to be that you are not federated to anything other than msn.com/hotmail.com.

If the person with a non-msn account adds you, everything works fine.

Cisco UC 520 PoE

2008-05-13T06:56:00.000-07:00

The Cisco UC 520 has 8 PoE ports out of which you can draw 88 watts of power. This means that with each Cisco IP phone drawing 12 watts of power, you can only have 7 IP phones (= 84 watts) on the 520.

If you don't know this it can be quite hard to troubleshoot, because the phone doesn't get enough power to create a link, so it looks as if the port itself is dead.

If you are planning to implement the UC 520 in an environment with exactly 8 phones, remember to add the companion switch to the solution so that you have enough power to support all phones.

H450

2008-05-09T01:52:00.000-07:00

H.450 is an umbrella protocol to support supplementary services in H.323.

It is subdivided into

H.450.1 Generic functional protocol for the support of supplementary services in H.323.
H.450.2 Call Transfer supplementary service for H.323.
H.450.3 Call diversion supplementary service for H.323.
H.450.4 Call Hold supplementary service.
H.450.5 Call Park supplementary service.
H.450.6 Call Waiting supplementary service.
H.450.7 Message Waiting Indication supplementary service.
H.450.8 Calling Party Name Presentation supplementary service.
H.450.9 Completion of Calls to Busy Subscribers supplementary service.
H.450.10 Call Offer supplementary service.
H.450.11 Call Intrusion supplementary service.
H.450.12 ANF-CMN supplementary service.

In Cisco CME it is important to remember to enable H.450.12 in addition to the default subprotocols for redirection of calls to work.