Integrating OCS 2007 R2 in Exchange 2010 Architecture

Exchange 2010 UM completes the offering of OCS 2007 R2 with a voice mail solution based on messaging. This requires a tight integration between OCS 2007 R2 and Exchange 2010 UM. Together with the integration of IM in OWA, OCS 2007 R2 can be described as being fully connected to Exchange Server 2010, as shown in Figure 1.

 

Figure 1: OCS 2007 R2 integration in Exchange 2010 architecture

The UM role communicates to the OCS Mediation server using the OCS Pool Name and thus contacts the OCS Front-End server. All signaling communication (SIP) and the voice stream (RTP) pass the OCS Front-End server.

When Office Communicator clients access their voice mail mailbox, they also do not directly contact the Exchange UM server role. Their communication is also handled by the OCS Front-End server.

Note

For more details about the communication between OCS 2007 R2 and UM, you can access the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Workload Architecture Poster athttp://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=af2c17cb-207c-4c52-8811-0aca6dfadc94.

Office Communication Server 2007 R2 Integration

Exchange Server 2010 UM provides OCS 2007 R2 with the voice mail feature, and OCS 2007 R2 can make presence information and instant messaging features available to your OWA users. You can also configure an automatic switchboard for your OCS 2007 R2 voice-enabled users using an UM auto attendant.

UM can also utilize an existing IP PBX that is configured with OCS 2007 R2—you do not need additional hardware to connect UM to your PBX if OCS 2007 R2 is installed already. Thus any PBX configuration can be managed from the OCS 2007 R2 side, and does not need to be configured again in Exchange 2010.

OCS 2007 R2 also provides other features that integrate into UM:

• Instant messaging The OCS 2007 R2 client provides instant messaging (IM) functionality that the OCS hosts. The solution provides IM features, such as group IM, and extends the internal IM infrastructure to external IM providers. You can implement IM directly into OWA.
• Presence information OCS 2007 R2 tracks presence information for all OCS users and provides this information to the OCS 2007 R2 client and other applications, such as Outlook 2007. You can implement presence information directly into OWA.
• Web conferencing OCS 2007 R2 can host on-premise conferences, which you can schedule or reschedule, and they can include IM, audio, video, application sharing, slide presentations, and other forms of data collaboration.
• Audio conferencing Users can join OCS 2007-based audio conferences using any desk or mobile phone. When connecting to an audio conference using a Web browser, users can provide a telephone number that the audio-conferencing services calls.
• VoIP telephony Enterprise Voice enables OCS 2007 R2 users to place calls from their computers by clicking an Outlook or Communicator contact. Users receive calls simultaneously on all their registered user endpoints, which may be a VoIP phone, a mobile phone, or an OCS 2007 R2 client. The OCS 2007 R2 Attendant is an integrated call-management client application that enables a user, such as a receptionist, to manage many conversations simultaneously.
• Response Group service This service enables administrators to create and configure one or more small response groups for routing and queuing incoming phone calls to one or more designated agents. Typical scenarios include an internal help desk or customer-service desks.

Notes from the Field—OCS 2007 R2 Integration: Extension Numbers

Korneel Bullens
Team Coordinator Unified Communications, Wortell, Netherlands

One of the things I am always asked about is when deploying OCS Enterprise Voice as PBX replacement; the users still require an extension number. When you configure the UM dial plan for OCS connectivity, you select SIP dial plan as the URI type and you still need to configure the number of digits in extension numbers for the UM dial plan. Many of the administrators I talk to would not expect to be asked for an extension number in an OCS- and UM-only scenario.

When you think about it, it's quite logical. You need a unique identifier when someone calls his voice mail from outside the company, and needs to select his own voice mail box. This is when the extension number comes into the game. You are free to assign your own extension numbers, just make sure when you create the UM dial plan, the amount of digits suits your needs. If you deploy 120 users for UM, use only three digits. Fewer digits mean fewer numbers to remember for your users.

Testing Unified Messaging Functionality

Testing the UM functionality is a bit trickier than testing other features such as message routing because it involves multiple components in the testing process such as voice, mailbox access, and so on. Only when testing this functionality end-to-end can you make sure it is working as expected. Several tools are available for testing your UM functionality.

UM Troubleshooting Tool

The UM Troubleshooting Tool is available with Exchange 2010 SP1 as a separate download to proactively test the voice mail functionality and identify any issues. The Troubleshooting Tool is able to simulate a call from OCS or IP gateway to your UM server and verifies that the UM communication is working as expected. It verifies that a call can be established, verifies that the audio flow from the UM server works, and prepares quality metrics for recorded audio.

You can install the UM Troubleshooting Tool on a workstation or server. The recommendation is to use an administrative workstation. It is available in x86 and x64 versions and requires the following prerequisites to be installed:

·         Windows PowerShell v2

·         .Net Framework 3.5 SP1

·         Unified Communications Managed API (UCMA) v3.5

The UM Troubleshooting Tool provides you with a shell similar to the EMS and allows you to test UM connectivity with the Test-ExchangeUMCallFlow cmdlet, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Microsoft Exchange UM Troubleshooting Tool

 

If you want to use the UM Troubleshooting Tool to test your UM server, you need to create the following:

·         A UM dial plan with Telephone Extension as the URI type and Unsecured as VoIP security

·         A UM IP gateway that points to the IP address of the workstation you installed the UM Troubleshooting Tool on

·         A UM-enabled mailbox with an extension

After you create the prerequisites, run the Test-ExchangeUMCallFlow -Mode GatewayEmulator -VoIPSecurity Unsecured -NextHopAddress -Diversion cmdlet to verify that the UM server is working correctly.

Note

You can use this tool to run against Exchange 2010 UM SP1 servers only!

Exchange UM Test Phone

The Microsoft Exchange UM Test Phone is a software phone that you can use to connect to your UM server and simulate specific IP gateway settings. It is based on the Exchange Speech Engine and can be used to troubleshoot connectivity.

The UM Test Phone (ExchangeUMTestPhone.exe) is no longer available on the Exchange 2010 DVD, but you can get it from an Exchange 2007 DVD and use it against your Exchange 2010 UM server.

Important

UM uses the Unified Communications Managed API 2.0 Core SDK (UCMA) in Exchange 2010 SP1; the Exchange UM Test Phone cannot connect anymore to run against SP1. You can only use it with Exchange 2010 RTM.

You can install the Exchange UM Test Phone on a workstation or server that includes a microphone and speakers so you can verify that the speech is accurate and correct. Like the Exchange 2007 installation files, it is available in x86 and x64 versions. The UM Test Phone is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Using the UM Test Phone 

Detailed information about how to test your UM server with the UM Test Phone can be found at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa997146(EXCHG.80).aspx.

UM Reporting

For UM reports you required System Center Operations Manager 2007 and the Exchange 2010 Management Pack to be installed in Exchange 2010 RTM.

Exchange 2010 SP1 includes reports that allow you to verify UM quality metrics and see details about the UM IP gateway's specific voice mail calls performed. The call data records for UM reporting are automatically stored after the call to the discovery metadata mailbox found with the fixed name SystemMailbox{e0dc1c29-89c3-4034-b678-e6c29d823ed9} for 90 days. This is enabled by default and cannot be changed. If you want to keep the records for a longer period, you need to export them.

Note

If you're using OCS QmS (Quality of Experience Monitoring Server), the data is automatically also available to OCS.

The UM reports are available in the EMC Toolbox, ECP, or EMS. The following UM tools are available:

• Call Statistics Shows the calls made, the quality of the call, and so on. You also can export a report and use another program such as Microsoft Excel to analyze it. Alternatively, you also can use the Get-UMCallSummaryReport cmdlet in the EMS to receive an aggregated view on calls received and made through your UM environment.

• User Call Logs When users complain about the quality of voice mails, the administrator can verify the UM logs to identify the reason for the issue. For example, you will see a summary of the voice mails the user received and the respective IP gateway of the voice mail, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Viewing User Call Logs

Enabling Mailboxes for Unified Messaging

For most people, enabling a mailbox for UM might seem straightforward, but it is not done in the properties of the mailbox on the Mailbox Features tab, but using Enable Unified Messaging in the Actions pane in the EMC as seen in Figure 1, or by using the Set-Mailbox cmdlet.

Figure 1: Enabling Unified Messaging for a mailbox

When you enable a user account for UM, you must specify a UM mailbox policy and an extension, and you must assign a PIN or configure the system to generate the user's initial PIN. After enabling a user for UM, Exchange Server sends the user an e-mail message indicating that the account is enabled. The message also contains the PIN. The user must use touch tones to input a PIN when accessing the UM-enabled mailbox. Speech recognition is not enabled for PIN input.

Since Exchange 2010 SP1 you can also add a mailbox to a secondary UM dial plan. This is especially helpful if your user has multiple phones that are not part of the same UM dial plan. For example, one of your users might be part of an OCS dial plan as well as an UM dial plan that has a direct connection to an IP gateway using the URI type Telephony Extension. You configure a secondary UM dial plan using the Set-Mailbox -SecondaryAddress -SecondaryDialPlan cmdlet.