ISDN Q.931 = QSIG

So here's something I didn't know... ISDN Q.931 signalling is often abbreviated as QSIG.

Sufficise to say if you need an interface on an ISRG2 to connect to an ISDN circuit or another device using Q.931 signalling then this is the kind of card you need: VWIC3-1MFT-T1/E1
 There is no information on the datasheet that I can see but here is a support forums reference:

https://supportforums.cisco.com/message/3778089#3778089

A quick post on SIP trunking

SIP trunks are not the circuits themselves. a SIP trunk is the voice channels being delivered over an IP circuit rather than something else like ISDN.

The physical media the SIP trunk is delivered on can vary and is normally specified by the SP, it could be Ethernet, ADSL, a leased line of some kind, or perhaps delivered into an MPLS cloud and then onwards from there.

SIP trunks need to be terminated by a SBC for example Cisco CUBE.

That'll do for now. I'll add later if I find out more.

Here's a link to my previous post:
http://twhittle1.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/cisco-cube-and-sip-trunks.html?view=mosaic

Cisco UC on UCS

So the way things are going Cisco is looking to have all UC applications on UCS servers rather than the existing MCS boxes. This is not new and makes complete sense, it's just a little more complex to size.

I've previously written about BE6K (which is fantastic!):
http://twhittle1.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/cucmbe6k-ucs-bundle.html

However what do you do if you need something bigger? The answer is Cisco TRC - Trusted Reference Configurations.

Here is the link which details what the TRCs actually are, including a Bill of Materials (BoM):
http://docwiki.cisco.com/wiki/UC_Virtualization_Supported_Hardware#UC_on_UCS_Tested_Reference_Configurations
http://docwiki.cisco.com/wiki/UC_Virtualization_Supported_Hardware

And how do you know if your application is supported on these TRCs? Well use these links:
http://docwiki.cisco.com/wiki/Unified_Communications_in_a_Virtualized_Environment
http://docwiki.cisco.com/wiki/Unified_Communications_Virtualization_Supported_Applications
They have the same information on them, I've just included them both for reference.

And how many applications will be supported on your TRC hardware? Well this information can be found here:
http://docwiki.cisco.com/wiki/Unified_Communications_Virtualization_Downloads_(including_OVA/OVF_Templates)

For example, the OVA Capacity for CUCM 7,500 users requires (2) vCPU (vCPU is equal to core on the processor) and it will use 12gig of RAM, (6 being used and 6 as a reserve), and 110Gb of hard drive space.

Looking at TRC 1 it includes (2) quad core processor, 64Gb RAM, and more than 2Tb of hard Drive.

Taking the given System requirements for CUCM 9.0 for 7500 users, that leaves us 6Core, 52Gb of RAM, and at least 2Tb of hard drive on the UCS Server, this could then be used for other UC Applications.

Brilliant!

Other Links:
Datasheet:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/voicesw/ps6790/ps5748/ps378/solution_overview_c22-597556.html