CUMA and CUMC on Blackberry

[shahedvoicerite]

I am trying to figure out why an ASA is required for a CUMA deployment, if the only CUMC clients are going to be

Blackberry devices.

The ASA acts as a proxy for all communication.

But in the case of a Blackberry deployment, the BES server does exactly the same thing.

However, looking at the docs, it looks like the CUMC on the Blackberry does not communicate via BES/MDS,

but rather the mobile carriers GPRS / data network, thus requiring the ASA....

It seems strange, why the client on the Blackberry cannot just use the BES/MDS/IPPP data channel, and elimanate the

need for an ASA.

Any comments ?

Thanks

[kenchen]

Hello, the current release of Cisco Unified Mobile Communicator 3.0 for BlackBerry (version 3.1.10) and Cisco Unified Mobility Advantage 7.0 allows for communication to take place over the BES/MDS and does not require a Cisco ASA.  This deployment architecture will only work with RIM BlackBerry smartphones due to their unique architecture, requires BES server release 4.1.6 and requires some configuration changes in Cisco Unified Mobility Advantage. You will need to deploy a Cisco ASA if you require support for additional mobile operating systems.

Hope that helps.

-Ken

[mmelvin]

Is there any license needed on the asa if you have CUWL?

[kenchen]

Hi, the Cisco ASA mobility proxy functionality will be in the very near future embedded as a standard feature in the ASA software image. In the meantime Cisco account teams on behalf of customers can request a temp key through the asa-mobility-proxy alias. Note this is not part of CUWL. Also, the ASA has a proxy license called the UC proxy license and there is no (other) change to that license/price/etc.

Hope that helps.

Ken

[shahedvoicerite]

Thanks Ken,

I have just purchased an ASA and am not sure if I have the correct license.

I currently do not see an mobility features, but that is because it has a version 7.x code.

Once I update to 8.0(4), will I see the feature ?

My current license says "base feature" or something like that..

Thanks

[mmelvin]

Thanks for a quick answer Ken.  How have you been?

m2

[shahedvoicerite]

Thanks Ken,

Do you know if this info is publicly available yet ?

I downloaded the latest CUMA docs a few weeks ago, and there is no mention of this option.

Thanks

[kenchen]

Hi, the image and release are posted to CCO. It's part of the 3.62 ES release. Note that I should have stated earlier that the CUMC version in question is 3.1.11. Hope that helps.

-Ken

[shahedvoicerite]

Thanks again Ken,

I have not yet looked at the release notes, but during CUMA install it requires you to enter all the ASA stuff.

(Eg. certificate info, IP address etc as per the install guide)

So even if the CUMC does not require the ASA, is there a new version of CUMA that has a setup wizard that will allow me

to bypass all the ASA questions ?

In summary, can I still install CUMA, without an ASA and use the BB client 3.1.11 ??

I ask only becuase the docs seem to imply that the install will not continue without an ASA (and exchange / Active directory)

I may be mistake though, as I have yet to complete the install of my CUMA server.

Thanks.

[Moderator]

Were you able to answer your question through the course of your install? If you still have any questions, please let me know.

Thank you,

Cisco Moderation Team

[groeg]

Hi Kenchen,

in your reply you stated: "...and requires some configuration changes in Cisco Unified Mobility Advantage."

Is there any documentation available how the whole thing has to be set up for BB handhelds only with a BES 4.1.6 or 5.0, communicating over MDS without ASA?

Best Regards

Groeg

[smvoicerite]

Yes, I too would be very interested in getting hold of any docs which talks about CUMA without ASA for a Blackberry BES environment.

I had given up my attempts to install CUMA/CUMC because of the ASA dependency.

[kenchen]

Hi, Thanks for the question about this. The client version 3.1.11 is what is needed. The BES version comment from earlier is accurate. Could you please create a TAC case for this? Also in the case notes, have the TAC consultant contact me directly for the document if they can't find it. Thanks.

-Ken