MOH for remote branches

[ichehouri]

Hi,

i have branches gateways connected as H323 to a call manager cluster. i am using centralized call processing for all the users in branches.

i want to configure MOH for the branch phones and wondering what to do. note that my ISP does not support multicast and iam using G729 over the WAN

is there any way to have the MOH server as the local gateway of the users? What is recommended in my scenrio? Is it having the CUCM server support G711 and G729 or what

regards,

[srichardson · Accepted solution]

I don't configure this stuff, but I do some design work.  This guide should help you;

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/iosswrel/ps5207/products_feature_guide09186a00802d1c31.html

[ichehouri]

in this document using multicast over the WAN is a must which is not supported by my ISP (WAN) and G711 is also a must which will utilize my transcoding resources.

is there any other way to do that?

regards,

ibrahim

[Jaime Valencia · Accepted solution]

The way to do this is exactly what has been provided.

SRST as MOH will use the local GW to stream MOH LOCALLY, multicast only LOCALLY. That's the point behind this, multicast traffic will be only within the site.

From the doc

Cisco SRST gateways can be configured to multicast  Real-Time Transport Protocol (RTP) packets from flash memory during  fallback and normal Cisco CallManager operation. To make this happen,  Cisco CallManager must be configured for multicast MOH in such a way  that the audio packets do not cross the WAN. Instead, audio packets are  broadcast from the flash memory of Cisco SRST gateways to the same  multicast MOH IP address and port number configured for  Cisco CallManager multicast MOH. IP phones at remote sites are able to  pick up RTP packets that are multicast from the local branch gateways  instead of from the central Cisco CallManager.

That's the only solution we provide on which MOH is provided by a router.

HTH

java

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[Steven Holl · Accepted solution]

Even if you do g729 across the WAN, the region between your MOH server and this gateway should be set to g711, so that when the call is placed on hold, CM switches the codec to g711.  The reason for this is because the audio file is recorded in g711 format, so the call needs to be in g711 during hold.  Since no MOH traverses the WAN (MOH will be local at this site to the phones or PSTN connection) it doesn't use any more bandwidth.

Set it up like you would to have g711 multicast MOH across your WAN, and then just limit your hop count.  Add a file to flash, configure the moh route to include the IP phone subnet and a loopback interface IP (latter is needed for PSTN call holds).  Apply multicast routing and PIM to the IP phone interface and the loopback interface, and you should be good to go.  Place a call on hold across the PSTN and use 'sh ccm music' and make sure the IP and port match what you have configured in the 'multicast moh' line.

[ichehouri]

hi,

it look like it is what i need. i just have two concern, what if a user from another branch call and he is put on hold will he be able to hear the MOH from the destination user gateway? If yes, then it seems he will use transcoding resources the same way as if he call and forwarded to voice mail since only G711 is supported.

the other concern is when the WAN is down (SRST mode) will the local and PSTN users hear MOH without any issue?

regards,

Ibrahim chehouri

[srichardson · Accepted solution]

MOH source is determined by the user's IP phone device or device pool settings, which usually says to source MOH from a local resource.  So, if Hawaii calls Borneo and Borneo puts tewayHawaii on hold, if configured to best practice, Hawaii would get MOH from his own local gateway (assuming goth gateways have a local MOH configuration per the guide).

Yes to your second question.  The SRST configuration should address this.

[ichehouri]

thanks for all who share in this question. i will test in our lab.

regards,

ibrahim