Most Useful Apps for a Cisco UC Engineer

August 30, 2011 in Blog with 4 Comments

It seems that more and more engineers are getting Macs. Why not, really? They’re durable, packed with excellent hardware, and provide a built-in shell for you to play to your heart’s content.

A fully-loaded 15″ MBP, with 8GB RAM and a 250GB SSD outperforms any ThinkPad or Dell PoS that I’ve had at former employers.
In this down and dirty post, I’m post to give you a list of the must-have apps that I use on a daily basis.  This post goes out to a Twitter-friend of mine, Dane DeValcourt (@danedevalcourt) who just got his first Mac. Congrats!
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Question the Guru

August 24, 2011 in Blog, CCIE Voice, Featured with 1 Comment

This week, I received an email from a reader of the blog.  Let’s call him Sergio Flores.

Sergio asked me a lot of great questions. Most of these questions were ones that I asked myself during the long and arduous nine months prior to passing the CCIE lab.

You know, so much time and energy is invested into this endeavor that you hope against hope that once you pass it will be worth it.

Aside from trekking in the Himalayan mountains (which I’ve done), getting married and growing a family (which I’m doing), the CCIE has been the most mentally/physically/emotionally trying experience I’ve ever gone through.

Was it worth it?  Hmm…  Is the Pope Catholic? ;)

Since his letter was so relevant to CCIE preparation, I’m going to share snippets of it in this blog post and answer his questions.  Perhaps more people than just Sergio can benefit from my answers.
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Unified Messaging with Exchange 2003

August 22, 2011 in Blog, Featured, Unity Connection with 2 Comments

Last week, I completed a Unified Messaging integration using Unity Connection 8.5.1 and Exchange 2003 SP2.  Cisco’s documentation on how to setup this integration is thorough, but it can be overwhelming if you’ve never setup such an integration before.  Therefore, I’m going to provide some high level direction and screenshots for those interested.  I’ve also included the applicable Cisco URLs for further consideration.

Once you understand the overall process and requirements needed, it’s actually very easy to configure. Your biggest hindrance will be Exchange and your (a) lack of familiarity with the product (We’re UC guys, not Exchange gurus) or (b) lack of access (Exchange gurus aren’t keen on delving out access to their environment).

From a high level, this is what you’ll need to do:

High-Level Task Summary

  • Understand customer’s Exchange environment, including software versions, patches applies, location of user mailboxes, etc.
  • Request service account from Exchange team, ensuring the account has the proper permissions
  • Request confirmation that WebDAV has been enabled on relevant Exchange mail store servers
  • Receive and upload CA certificates for relevant Exchange mail store servers
  • Configure Unified Messaging Service(s) on Unity Connection servers
  • Provision Unified Messaging Service for end-users
  • Test integration and donate $3 USD to my coffee fund

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Toll-Fraud Prevention in IOS 15.x

August 19, 2011 in Blog, Cisco Reference, sho run with 0 Comments

Toll-fraud prevention…

I’ve seen this new IOS 15.x feature rear its “ugly head” in recent deployments.  Most often, an engineer will take a working configuration example from a router running IOS 12.x and apply it to new 2900/3900 hardware.  When that occurs, this handy little toll-fraud app will kick into high gear.

Read the following snippets from one of Cisco’s tech notes.

A new feature has been introduced in Cisco IOS® Software Release 15.1(2)T to guard against the incidence of toll-fraud on Voice GateWays (VGWs) installed with Cisco IOS. Starting with IOS 15.1(2)T and newer releases of IOS based on this version, the toll-fraud prevention settings are the default behavior of Cisco IOS-based VGWs.

For all IOS releases before 15.1(2)T, the default behavior for IOS voice gateways is to accept call setups from all sources. As long as voice services are running on the router, the default configuration will treat a call setup from any source IP address as a legitimate and trusted source to set a call up for. Also, FXO ports and inbound calls on ISDN circuits will present secondary-dial tone for inbound calls, allowing for two-stage dialing. This assumes a proper inbound dial-peer is being matched.

Starting with 15.1(2)T, the router’s default behavior is to not trust a call setup from a VoIP source. This feature adds an internal application named TOLLFRAUD_APP to the default call control stack, which checks the source IP of the call setup before routing the call. If the source IP does not match an explicit entry in the configuration as a trusted VoIP source, the call is rejected.

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One Year Anniversary: CCIE #26721

August 16, 2011 in Blog, Featured with 3 Comments

One year ago today, I was sitting in the Cisco CCIE lab in San Jose, CA, typing away at a terminal.  It was my first attempt at the lab and, thank God, my last.  I walked out of the building in the afternoon absolutely fried and utterly nervous about the results.

The next afternoon, after having flown back to Minneapolis, I sat in my living room hitting “Refresh” on my web browser every 10 seconds.  Everything hung in the balance.  Would I pass and be done with this season of life?  Would I fail and have to go back to the lab, develop a new plan, and try again in thirty days?

Suddenly, the refresh took a bit longer…  Could it be? Continue Reading…

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