Connecting two Call Managers (different sites)

[data1025]

Hello everyone,

We have two offices which are connected via WAN (w/QOS).

Each of us has a Cisco Call Manager system. Since we are in different geographical areas, what extra hardware would be needed for us to route a few calls to their CM if the call is local to them and vise versa?

I don't think this would be a high volume of calls. Maybe a few calls per day based on our current phone bill. The main reason to do this is to learn more about configuring our system(s).

I had asked our Cisco rep about this a few months ago, and he mentioned a piece of hardware (I think) that was a "mission control" device that checked bandwidth & line availability to guarantee call quality before pushing a call through.

Also, if this could be setup, would there be a way to limit the number of calls out to the 2nd location and vise versa so we don't overload their system? Maybe 2 calls max over VOIP before moving back to ISDN?

Thanks for any assistance,
Eric

 

[whykap]

If you have a connection between the two sites then all you need is an Intercluster trunk between the two clusters. It should take all but 10min to set up.
The "mission critical" device is a gatekeeper and although it would work, I consider it an overkill for two locations.
You can achieve the same by configuring Call Admission Control on each of the call managers which allows a predetermined number of calls to go through (based on bandwidth).
For the question of how many calls it all depends on the WAN Link size between the two sites, the amount of data going through.
You will need to reconfigure QoS to prioritize your voice traffic if that isn't already done.