Avaya G3r to Cisco CallManager deployment 1

[GroundRatt]

We are about to embark o installing Cisco CallManager to replace our Avaya G3r switch. My question is they want to run both switch's until the swap is complete. Has anyone done this? just looking for some pointers.

Steve

 

[jneiberger]

You can run QSIG PRI trunks between the two systems during a migration. That's a fairly simple way to do it but that really depends on your requirements and topology.

 

[GroundRatt]

Thanks jneiberger, I have only worked on Avaya Products so This is all new to me. Admin is asking quetions and i am trying to find answers for them so I will probaby be hitting this site quite a bit.

Steve

 

[MassDeployer]

I've done the same. We interfaced the 2 with MGCP/PRI trunks. Avaya G3r - CCM 4.0. Let me know if I can be of any help.

Kind Regards,

MassDeployer

 

[HmmG3]

Unless you can perform the cutover in an evening or weekend, it's best to connect the two systems. That allows you to migrate the users from one system to another at your own pace. Right now I have both a Cisco and Avaya phones running on my desk since I need each to do test calls (most users go straight from one system to another). I also use the Avaya EC500 feature so both phones still share the same extension and both ring on the same incoming call!

 

[ayavauser]

hmmG3
Is right on track as this is the best way to do this and migrate them over in stages as this is the same setup for us going from Avaya to Cisco setup .....how is Cisco's
fail over as I come from an Avaya background as well.

Cheers

ayavauser

 

[HmmG3]

Fail over depends on where the call is going. For H.323 devices, the call is dropped when the CCM the H.323 device is registered to goes down. For devices that use Cisco protocols such as MGCP gateways or SCCP desktop phones, the call will remain in progress. The phone will display the CCM has gone down and all features are disabled, but the call will remain up. Once they hang up, the phone will regester to the backup CCM.

While this sounds nice, keep in mind you will be rebooting each server at least once a month unless you don't want the servers to have the latest Windows hotfixes!

 

[MassDeployer]

HmmG3...How did you do the EC500 thing so that your Avaya and Cisco phone share the same line? Thanks

Kind Regards,

MassDeployer

 

[HmmG3]

Sorry for the late reply. Keep in mind this only works when a call comes in from the Avaya side. If somebody calls my Cisco phone, only it rings. This is why I still have DID calls come in through the Avaya side and only have people call my Avaya extension (not my Cisco extension).

When configuring the XMOBILE station for EC500, I configured the "Mobility Trunk Group" field to the trunk group that goes to Cisco. Then for the "Cell Phone Number" field, I just entered my Cisco extension. Now when a call comes in, Avaya will also call my Cisco extension while it rings my desk phone. If I place a call from my Cisco phone to an Avaya phone, the Avaya system notices my Cisco extension and replaces the caller information with my Avaya extension.

Keep in mind we have QSIG entegration and a uniform dial plan between our Avaya and Cisco systems. We have to migrate 8,000+ users, so it will take some time!

 

[GroundRatt]

O.K. Guy's i have run into a problem. The Avaya switch does not have QSIG turned on and I was informed we could not get it turned on because it is no longer supported. Is there another way or is it going to be a strait cut over? Thanks.

Steve

 

[HmmG3]

One of our sites has an old Definity that doesn't support QSIG either. So we just went with a straight ISDN-PRI between the two. The display information doesn't work perfectly, but at least the calls go back and forth between the two systems. With it being temporary, we didn't consider it worth it to upgrade the Definity just to do a transition. I should also note we are going to a new voice mail system as well. So we didn't need the centralized voice mail feature of QSIG.

 

[frankbil]

We were in the same situation, our switch (G3r v8.4) doesn't have licensing activated for QSIG. We did get the CLID to pass through ok when calling an Avaya extension from a Cisco extension. Go to your Trunk settings, on page 1, midway down, and look for Codeset to Send Display. Set that to 6. On the Cisco side, we've setup an MGCP/PRI trunk back to the Avaya. When a call is placed from Cisco to Avaya, the CLID goes through while the phone is ringing and before the phone goes off-hook. When a call goes from Avaya to Cisco, the CLID simply shows the extension while ringing (minor inconvenience) and shows the full CLID when the Cisco phone goes off-hook.

Hope that helps,
Bill

 

[GroundRatt]

Thanks everyone. I will keep these in mind as we go along the process.

Steve

 

[GroundRatt]

Does anyone have documentation for the avaya to set up connectivity between the two systems (no QSIG)? I have looked on avayas website but can not find any documentation. Thanks in advance.

Steve