I’d say its possible to do around 80% of the CCVP without any hardware purchase, the other 20% being to do with voice port modules, such as FXO modules, FXS modules, DSP modules and also areas such as MGCP voice gateways. If you do want to get hands on practice in those areas you coud purchase a second hand router that can handle these modules and also act as an MGCP gateway. In my voice lab, I’ve used an old Cisco 3640 router for this purpose. To support the FXO and FXS modules I had to purchase a NM-2V module for the router. The FXO and FXS cards then slot into the NM-2V. I’ll supply a full breakdown of the hardware I’ve used in a later post.

To build the software only part of the lab you are going to need the following:

• A PC with a decent up to date processor. I’d recommend having at least 2Gig of RAM. However you may be able to get away with less. My PC specs are Intel Quad Core Q9450 overclocked to 3Ghz, 4Gig RAM and Vista Home Premium. I have also set up this sort of lab using Ubuntu Linux.
• A copy of Cisco Unified Communications Manager (search on ebay for Cisco Call Manager). There are sellers selling legitimate copies. I paid around £60 for the discs.
• VMware Server 
• GNS3. You could use dynampis/dynagen if you are familiar with the software. However, I find the speed and ease with which you can now set up labs with GNS3 makes it much more useable.
• A copy of a relevant IOS for a Cisco 3725 router. I would recommend getting an IOS that can support a version of Call Manager Express. That way you can get some practice setting up H323 trunks. You can even use a H323 gateway to simulate being your PSTN router. One other benefit is that you can practice CME SRST fallback. Getting an IOS can be a stumbling block for many people and unfortunately I can’t help you there. Please remember that the Cisco IOS is a licensed proprietry piece of software. If you have an appropriate CCO login you should be able to download an IOS to use.
• A copy of Cisco IP Communicator. This is a software phone that you use to register with your CUCM servers and CME routers. Again this is available to download from Cisco if you have an appropriate CCO account.
• I also recommend buying a second-hand hardware Cisco phone as its good to learn how to support the sort of phone that your users will be using. I managed to gt a Cisco 7940 from ebay for about £35 including shipping.

Installing VMare

I am currently using version 1.0.6 on a Windows Vista PC, so my instructions will pertain to that version of VMWare Server. The latest version of VMWare Server is currently 2.0.1 and this should also be fine for running a CUCM server installation.

First of all go to the download section of the VMWare site and download the version of VMWare for your OS. As part of the download process you will have to obtain a serial number. Please take a note of this serial number.

After the installation of VMWare is complete you will need to set up a virtual machine with the correct settings to support a CUCM6.0 server. The specifications for this are:

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 virtual OS
• I used bridge networking so that I could give the CUCM server an address on my home LAN.
• 80Gb disk capactiy. I know this seems a lot but CUCM will only install if the disk is at least 72Gb
• 1GB of RAM, although I tried 512Mb and this seemed to work ok.

Once you have the virtual machine set up then just place your CUCM DVDs in your DVD  tray and boot up the machine. Alternatively, you can use an ISO image and use that to boot from. You can do this by editing the CD ROM settings of your virtual machine.

You should hopefully now hear the wirring noise of your DVD loading and, after seeing some Linuxy type boot messages, you should be presented with the CUCM 6 installation. You should now be able to run through the installation wizard and install CUCM 6.0

There is an excellent post  by Josh on the blindhog site with a video showing a step by step guide on setting up CUMC 6 using VMWare. It even takes you through the CUCM 6 installation wizard. In fact the inspiration for my lab came from doing some reasearch on building a home voice lab and coming across another brilliant post from Josh. This post should give you a good idea of just what is possible using GNS3, VMWare and some hardware.

In the next part of this article I’ll detail how to set up GNS3 and interface this with your physical network and CUCM server.

It’s the first time I’ve used this particular module but setting it up as an MGCP gateway is no different from setting up any other MGCP gateway. First of all to access the CMM module you use the session command from enable mode.

6509#session slot 8 processor 0
The default escape character is Ctrl-^, then x.
You can also type 'exit' at the remote prompt to end the session
Trying 127.0.0.80 ... Open

6509-VGW-CMM>en
6509-VGW-CMM#

The voice module is configured through IOS commands just the same as any other Cisco voice modules or cards. However, in this particular setup the endpoint configuration is controlled via Call Manager via MGCP.

To set up the CMM as an MGCP gateway to be controlled by Call Manager you need to issue the two following commands:

ccm-manager config server call_manager_ip_address
ccm-manager config

You can now add this gateway into Call Manager and start configuring the endpoints (or E1 ports) on the device from there. It’s a fairly straightfoward excercise. Just make sure you use the same name in the Call Manager configuration as you have given your gateway.

To add the Gateway in Call Manager select Device > Gateway from the main menu. You should be presented with the Add a New Gateway configuration screen below. On this screen select Communications Media Module as the Gateway type and MGCP as the Device Protocol.

Click on the Next button and you should be presented with the Communications Media Module configuration page.  In the Domain Name field enter the hostname of the CMM module.

Select the WS-X660 for Module one and then select your particular sort of CMM. For our purposes we are using the WS-SVC-CMM-6E1.  After doing this the six E1 endpoints should appear in the configuration and be available for your to configure.

Here is a copy of the full Communications Media Module configuration once the E1 ports have been configured in Call Manager.

version 12.4
no service pad
service timestamps debug datetime msec
service timestamps log datetime msec
no service password-encryption
!
hostname CMM
!
boot-start-marker
boot-end-marker
!
logging buffered 4096 debugging
!
no aaa new-model
!
resource policy
  policy transcode global
   system
   !
  !
!
clock summer-time bst recurring
mmi polling-interval 60
no mmi auto-configure
no mmi pvc
mmi snmp-timeout 180
!
!
ip cef
no ip domain lookup
!
isdn switch-type primary-net5
!
voice call send-alert
voice call convert-discpi-to-prog
voice rtp send-recv
voice dsp release early
!
voice service voip
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
call-history-mib retain-timer 500
call-history-mib max-size 500
!
!
controller E1 1/0
 clock source line secondary 5
 pri-group timeslots 1-31 service mgcp
!
controller E1 1/1
 clock source internal
 pri-group timeslots 1-31 service mgcp
!
controller E1 1/2
 clock source line primary
 pri-group timeslots 1-31 service mgcp
!
controller E1 1/3
 clock source line secondary 1
 pri-group timeslots 1-31 service mgcp
!
controller E1 1/4
 clock source line secondary 2
 pri-group timeslots 1-31 service mgcp
!
controller E1 1/5
 clock source line secondary 3
 pri-group timeslots 1-31 service mgcp
!
!
!
!
interface GigabitEthernet1/0
 ip address 10.xxx.xxx.xxx 255.255.255.248
 no ip proxy-arp
 no negotiation auto
 no keepalive
!
interface Serial1/0:15
 no ip address
 encapsulation hdlc
 no logging event link-status
 isdn switch-type primary-qsig
 isdn timer T310 120000
 isdn overlap-receiving
 isdn protocol-emulate network
 isdn incoming-voice voice
 isdn bind-l3 ccm-manager
 no cdp enable
!
interface Serial1/1:15
 no ip address
 encapsulation hdlc
 no logging event link-status
 isdn switch-type primary-qsig
 isdn timer T310 120000
 isdn overlap-receiving
 isdn protocol-emulate network
 isdn incoming-voice voice
 isdn bind-l3 ccm-manager
 no cdp enable
!
interface Serial1/2:15
 no ip address
 encapsulation hdlc
 no logging event link-status
 isdn switch-type primary-net5
 isdn incoming-voice voice
 isdn bind-l3 ccm-manager
 no cdp enable
!
interface Serial1/3:15
 no ip address
 encapsulation hdlc
 no logging event link-status
 isdn switch-type primary-net5
 isdn incoming-voice voice
 isdn bind-l3 ccm-manager
 no cdp enable
!
interface Serial1/4:15
 no ip address
 encapsulation hdlc
 no logging event link-status
 isdn switch-type primary-net5
 isdn incoming-voice voice
 isdn bind-l3 ccm-manager
 no cdp enable
!
interface Serial1/5:15
 no ip address
 encapsulation hdlc
 no logging event link-status
 isdn switch-type primary-net5
 isdn incoming-voice voice
 isdn bind-l3 ccm-manager
 no cdp enable
!
interface FastEthernet3/0
 no ip address
 no ip proxy-arp
 shutdown
 full-duplex
!
ip forward-protocol nd
ip route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 GigabitEthernet1/0
!
no ip http server
no ip http secure-server
!
access-list 1 permit 10.xxx.xxx.xxx
snmp-server community ?????????? RO 1
!
control-plane
!
!
voice-port 1/0:15
 cptone GB
!
voice-port 1/1:15
 cptone GB
!
voice-port 1/2:15
 cptone GB
!
voice-port 1/3:15
 cptone GB
!
voice-port 1/4:15
 cptone GB
!
voice-port 1/5:15
 cptone GB
!
ccm-manager redundant-host 10.xxx.xxx.xxx
ccm-manager mgcp
ccm-manager music-on-hold
ccm-manager config server 10.xxx.xxx.xxx 10.xxx.xxx.xxx
ccm-manager config
!
mgcp
mgcp call-agent 10.xxx.xxx.xxx 2427 service-type mgcp version 0.1
mgcp dtmf-relay voip codec all mode out-of-band
mgcp rtp unreachable timeout 1000 action notify
mgcp modem passthrough voip mode nse
mgcp package-capability rtp-package
mgcp package-capability sst-package
mgcp package-capability pre-package
no mgcp package-capability res-package
no mgcp timer receive-rtcp
mgcp sdp simple
mgcp rtp payload-type g726r16 static
!
mgcp profile default
!
mediacard 4
 resource-pool trans dsps 1
 resource-pool transcode dsps 2
!
!
sccp local GigabitEthernet1/0
sccp ccm 10.xxx.xxx.xxx identifier 1 version 4.1
sccp ip precedence 1
sccp
!
sccp ccm group 3
 bind interface GigabitEthernet1/0
 associate ccm 1 priority 1
 associate profile 100 register M08ABC123456789
!
dspfarm
!
dspfarm profile 100 transcode
 rtp timeout 7200
 codec g711ulaw packetization-period 30
 codec g711alaw packetization-period 10
 codec g729r8 packetization-period 30
 codec g729ar8 packetization-period 10
 codec g723r63 packetization-period 30
 codec g723r53 packetization-period 30
 associate resource-pool 100
!

ipexpert today put out a press release announcing it will be the first training company to offer materials for version 3.0 of the Voice track of the CCIE.

Many of my CCIE chums have used their training materials when studying towards their CCIE certification and they come highly recommended. I will certainly be looking at their Routing and Switching resources when I embark on the lab part of the CCIE.

Cisco have just announced the opening of new a online store focussed on providing learning materials for it’s certifications. The Cisco Learning Network Store is still in it’s early days and courses are still thin on the ground at present, but it already contains a few e-learning packages and some software tools for learning.

Let’s hope that as time goes on the cataolgue increases. More official Cisco e-learning courses would be a welcome addition to the currently  available learning resources.

For interest to CCIE candidates is the Cisco 360 Learning Program for CCIE R&S students. Cisco describe the course as follows.

“The Cisco 360 Learning Program: Essentials for CCIE R&S with Mentoring is a suite of e-learning products, authorized by Cisco, that includes an one-year subscription of the Cisco 360 CCIE R&S Lessons on Demand, four independent graded assessment labs, a learner technical reference library, a practice lab exercise workbook, and curriculum-planning services delivered by an authorized Cisco 360 Learning Program Partner.”

At a wopping $5999.00 I doubt there will be a rush to take up this program, especially when there are many proven CCIE learning materials that are already on the block from the likes of IP Expert, Internetwork Expert and NetMaster Class.

If you purchase any of the materials please feel free to give us your feedback on them.

After that it’s on to the written part of the CCIE Routing and Switching Exam.

I started studying towards the CCVP after helping a client roll out some LANs to support IPT and VoIP systems and getting interested in the technology.  I’ve really enjoyed it as its been a step away from always studying about networking. At the moment I’m helping another client to support a Cisco IPT system with over 19,000 users in total, whilst moving over from lots of legacy digital telephone systems, so the learning has been invaluable for that.

In studying towards the CCVP I built myself a voice lab using GNS3, VMWare, an old Cisco 3640 router, some voice modules, a Cisco 3550 and some Cisco hardware and software phones. I’ll hopefully post some articles on how to set up a small lab later.