understanding CUBE

[whanson]

    I am trying to understand CUBE from the perspective of when you need it and when you don't.

For example, I  am looking at a configuration that is used by a Avaya PBX that has a pri connection to a router which then has a sip-ua connection to Paetec. Is this CUBE?  I have seen configurations of CME with sip trunks, is this CUBE.

So. here is what I would like to know

a. using CME as the telephony system would there ever be a case of CUBE

b. If using CM  does CUBE only come into play if the connection between CM and the router  is SIP?  What if the connection is H323 to the router  and from the router to a sip provider.

c. Why do some providers used sip-ua (Paetec) and others use straight sip trunks. What is the difference.

thx as always.              

[Gordon Ross]

CUBE can be thought of providing three features for VoIP calls:

- Transcoding (either signalling or media) e.g. G.711 to G7.29

- Protocol ammendment. i.e. adding, removing & modifying SIP headers.

- FIrewalling/Demarcation. (Often referred to as a B2BUA) Providing a boundry for packet flow between two VoIP systems. This can be necesssary because of the often peer-to-peer nature of the audio stream in VoIP systems.

In *theory* SIP is a standard, so there is no need for CUBE. In the real world, however, SIP is a standard with lots of options, and you often need a box to bridge the gap between two systems.

GTG

[Roger Kallberg]

A CUBE can use two protocols, H.323 and/or SIP. In the case of CME, if you use SIP phones you would have a a CUBE, since you would have call routing for IP to IP call legs. That is the definition of a CUBE, on a very high level.

A voice gateway can't normally route calls from a IP call leg to another IP call leg. A traditional TDM PSTN connection, for example ISDN, CAS or FXO is of the pots type. So that wouldn't be a CUBE, regardless of what protocol that is used on the IP call leg.

To activate CUBE you would use the allow connection commands under voice service voip.

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[Chris Deren]

Take a look at the data sheet for list of CUBE features:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/voicesw/ps6790/gatecont/ps5640/product_data_sheet09186a00801da698.html

Answers to your questions:

a. using CME as the telephony system would there ever be a case of CUBE

CME can be CUBE as well, as CUBE is simply IOS config

b.  If using CM  does CUBE only come into play if the connection between CM  and the router  is SIP?  What if the connection is H323 to the router   and from the router to a sip provider.

You can have SIP to provider and H323 to CUCM, but I would not recommend it, I would convert H323 to SIP trunk between CUCM and CUBE for consistency and ease of troubleshooting

c. Why do some providers used sip-ua (Paetec) and others use straight sip trunks. What is the difference.

sip-ua is just a placement for configuration, same parameters go there, but with newer IOS most can go under dial peers, etc, i..e bind sip interface, configure authentication, etc. SO, you may or may not see sip-ua configuration on a deployment

HTH,

Chris

[Robert Thomas]

I would like to add a few comments the sip us is used when the provider ask your trunk to be register, you use dialpeers when the provider trunk is willing to accepy invites without a registration process first.

They both work, and you could configure multiple security mechanisms for both, but generally speaking some telco prefer registration type setups because the equipment they use.

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