Telepresense Server Register to VCS

[joeharb]

We have installed a virtual instance of both VCS and Telepresense server for a "proof" of concept migration from our legacy video solution.  Our Cisco team has provided temp keys.  I am having issues getting the Telepresense server to register to the VCS.  Most documentation I have found gives the option of H.323 or SIP, H.323 doesn't even appear to be an option.  Can anyone provide any information or insight to what I might be doing wrong?

Thanks,

Joe

[Acevirgil de Ocampo]

The Cisco VCS can be both a H.323 gatekeeper and a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) registrar for a TelePresence Server (appliance version only and not supported for Telepresence Server as virtual machine) . You can register the TelePresence Server's H.323 ID with one Cisco VCS and its SIP address with another. It is also possible to register both with the same VCS, dependent upon your network setup and VCS configuration. 

If you could tell more details, what are the things you want to achieve during the PoC?

regards,

Acevirgil

[James Hodgson]

Hi,

By the sounds of it you are using a virtual TelePresence Server which supports remotely managed mode operation only and requires a TelePresence Conductor to act as a 'front end' when it comes to managing conference URIs etc. There is no SIP URI registration directly with any virtual TelePresence Server.

I would recommend adding a virtual TelePresence Conductor and taking a look at the different VCS-centric deployments in this guide: http://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/td/docs/telepresence/infrastructure/solutions/cmrpremises/cmr-premises-solution-guide-r4-0.pdf

Regards,

James

[joeharb]

Thanks for all the responses, they have been very helpful and I am now have a SX10 and Polycom HDX registered to the VCS and I am able to do a conference call without issue.  I am now working with TMS and I have the conductor added to the TMS as well as the SX10 as an endpoint.  The Polycom seems to having an issue with SNMP, although it is enabled on the actual unit, the TMS responds NO SNMP.....  I added the VCS to the TMS but still had to add the endpoints that are registered to the VCS as well, is this expected?  I can create a conference and add the conductor and the SX10 as participants, which allows to me utilized the alias I created for the TMS to conductor connection.  The conference is created on the Telepresense server in an idle state.  The SX10 shows it is scheduled for a call but the call fails.  I am confused on the direction that this setup is flowing.  Does the Conductor tell the unit to call the alias of the meeting or is the unit dialed directly.

The conductor's call logs have the following:  Souce sip: Telepresence Server IP , Destination URI and Destination to are blank, Bride URI is sip:10445@VCS IP, status is 486 Busy Here.

From that it appear the Telepresense Server is calling the SX10 but is not able to reach it...is that correct?  I have also verified that the Polycom can call the SX10 by dialing 10445@VCS IP.

Again you all have been great and I am only where I am now because of your assistance, any further help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Joe

[Acevirgil de Ocampo]

"The Polycom seems to having an issue with SNMP, although it is enabled on the actual unit, the TMS responds NO SNMP"

- What TMS version are you running? HDX software version?

- Check and verify if configuration requirements are met when adding Plycom HDX endpoint to TMS. Take a look a the link under page 15. 

http://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/td/docs/telepresence/infrastructure/tms/interoperability/Cisco_TMS_Product_Support.pdf

"I added the VCS to the TMS but still had to add the endpoints that are registered to the VCS as well, is this expected?"

- Yes. Adding the endpoint directly to Cisco TMS provides the most extensive control of the system. 

"I can create a conference and add the conductor and the SX10 as participants, which allows to me utilized the alias I created for the TMS to conductor connection.  The conference is created on the Telepresense server in an idle state.  The SX10 shows it is scheduled for a call but the call fails.  I am confused on the direction that this setup is flowing.  Does the Conductor tell the unit to call the alias of the meeting or is the unit dialed directly."

- To understand more on how the call flow, you can refer on the guide under page 7-9 and Troubleshooting procedures on page 60:

http://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/td/docs/telepresence/infrastructure/conductor/config_guide/xc3-0_docs/TelePresence-Conductor-Cisco-VCS-B2BUA-Deployment-Guide-XC3-0.pdf

regards,

Acevirgil

[joeharb]

Again thanks for you help on this, we are in the process of upgrading the Polycom HDX to a new version.  I found your link on the call flow to be helpful and it explained how the endpoints can call into a meeting/bridge.  I am still confused on what the call flow is if the Meeting is Scheduled via TMS.  I can see the conference is created and the endpoint is "scheduled" to call but the call fails.  Does the bridge call the endpoint or is the endpoint told to dial the alias of the scheduled conference.

Thanks,

Joe

[Acevirgil de Ocampo]

For TMS scheduled conference once conference is booked on the TMS with selected endpoints as participants, the TMS will generate call alias (created alias on Conductor) that will tell the TMS to endpoints to dial in (One Button to Push). The endpoints were told by the TMS which conference alias to dial in.

The call flow will goes as illustrated below. This applies to ad-hoc and scheduled calls:

Take a look at these documents and would be helpful for you.

http://ciscovideolab.com/docs/TelePresence%20Lab%202014/Lab%204%20-%20Scheduling%20Conductor%20with%20TMS.pdf

http://ciscovideolab.com/docs/TelePresence%20Lab%202013/Lab%204%20-%20Conductor%20and%20TMS.pdf

regards,

Acevirgil

[joeharb]

The lab was very informative, I have changed my config to match it, although some of the options are different due to version difference.  The unit I am testing with doesn't have a Touch device connected to it so I am not sure the OBTP will work.  I do get a message when I set it to Automatic that the device is attempting to call, after a few "try's" it gives a message that it failed.  The odd part about this is I don't see these calls logged in the VCS at all, no do I see any evidence that the device attempted the call from its history.  I have attempted to "manually" dial the 3000.1000@csi.corp from the device while the meeting is active and I do see this call in the vcs but it gets a 486 busy here.  The VCS has a search rule with expression (3000\.[^@]*@csi\.corp).* that has the Conductor Policy Service as the target, is this correct?  There is also a 3000. that is pointing to the Telepresense Server with a higher priority value.

The SX10 shows that it has a meeting to attend and "acts" like it is trying to call but I never see the call on the VCS or any other logs...

Again thanks for your help...

Thanks,

Joe

[Acevirgil de Ocampo]

Make sure the root and admin passwords for the Conductor are changed from its default. Retaining the default passwords on Conductor would cause the calls to fail.

If you have a conference alias 3000.1000@csi.corp created, try this search rule on your VCS:

For any call to conference alias with prefix 3000 and containing domain csi.corp will be routed to Conductor as NeighborZone:

Rule Name: <rule name>
Description: <description>
Priority: 10
Protocol: Any
Source: Any
Request must be authenticated: No
Mode: Alias pattern match
Pattern type: Regex
Pattern string: (3000)\.*@csi\.corp
Pattern behavior: Leave
On successful match: Stop
Target: <NeighborZone for Conductor>
State: Enabled

regards,

Acevirgil

[joeharb]

Passwords have been changed.  I do have a search rule that is similar to what you have but it is

(3000\.[^@]*@csi\.corp).*

And it points to the Policy service that I created that points to conductor.

[Acevirgil de Ocampo]

"The conductor's call logs have the following:  Souce sip: Telepresence Server IP , Destination URI and Destination to are blank, Bride URI is sip:10445@VCS IP, status is 486 Busy Here.

From that it appear the Telepresense Server is calling the SX10 but is not able to reach it...is that correct?  I have also verified that the Polycom can call the SX10 by dialing 10445@VCS IP."

• Start troubleshooting on your VCS (dial plan and search rules) are properly configured targeting the Conductor as NeighborZone. The created zone should be in Active state.
• Search history on VCS will be helpful in identifying why the call fails.

regards,

Acevirgil

[joeharb]

Sorry for the duplicate post. The goal of the PoC is to have our legacy endpoints (Polycom) register to the VCS and join a conference bridge as well as the new Cisco Endpoints that are registered to the CUCM.

On the Telepresense Server under Configuration there are no H.323 options only SIP.

I tried to get a screenshot but not able to capture the menu options.

We have VCS, Telepresense Server, Conductor and TMS installed.

Thanks,

Joe

[Acevirgil de Ocampo]

For virtualized Telepresence Server which only support remotely managed, you don't have options for H323/SIP for direct registration to any call control (VCS/CUCM). The Conductor will come in place for this kind of environment. The Conductor will be the front-end for integration as James mentioned.

Take a look at this guide on how you will integrate Telepresence Server managed by Conductor and integrated to CUCM for SIP trunk for the registered endpoints to be able communicate with Telepresence Server. 

http://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/td/docs/telepresence/infrastructure/conductor/config_guide/xc3-0_docs/TelePresence-Conductor-Unified-CM-Deployment-Guide-XC3-0.pdf

In your deployment if you have VCS registered endpoints, to be able to join to Telepresense Server managed by Conductor:

http://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/td/docs/telepresence/infrastructure/conductor/config_guide/xc3-0_docs/TelePresence-Conductor-Cisco-VCS-B2BUA-Deployment-Guide-XC3-0.pdf 

Then for the VCS registered endpoints to communicate with CUCM registered endpoints, you will create a SIP trunk between VCS and CUCM:

http://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/expressway/config_guide/X8-1/Cisco-Expressway-SIP-Trunk-to-Unified-CM-Deployment-Guide-CUCM-8-9-and-X8-1.pdf

And as a suggestion, to make the deployment simpler and easier, there should be only one call control for all the video endpoints. If could it be possible the CUCM will only responsible for all the endpoints registration and call control. 

regards,

Acevirgil