Equinox Infrastructure HELP!

[Boulevard999]

(Sorry for the "HELP" part)

I am just not seeing a clear picture here for a site that will work STRICTLY with Equinox as the primary solution with local survivability.

For example:
DID's ---> SIP Trunks ---> Carrier Managed Router ---> PRI Hand-off ----> E1/T1 board in Media GW w/LSP ----> Phones.(Is that right?)

*This set up loses connection over the WAN to the Core, the LSP takes over. (If not the nearest ESS)


With Equinox:
What's the Equivalent example??

DID's ---> SIP Trunks ---> ???
How would Equinox maintain Local survivability if there's a loss of connection to the core?

 

[kyle555]

Branch session manager is a VM that's on the S8300 blade with the LSP.

So, SIP phone registers to BSM. BSM-->LSP. LSP-->gateway

And you if you have a PRI in that gateway, it's the same as H323 survivability with LSP

 

[Boulevard999]

Thank you Kyle555! I get that now. SIP Phones will survive as long as there's a BSM in place..

But, how's it work with an Avaya Equinox Soft Phone application on a Laptop?

To ensure survivability for an Equinox soft phone user, what's the infrastructure?

A DID number would terminate at the office in question. What's required for an Equinox extension user to register at a given location?

Does it go like: SIP DID ---> Carrier Owned Router (Onsite?) ---> SBC (Onsite?) ---> Media Gateway with BSM?

I guess my question is:
I understand (now) what's required for an H.323 setup for IP or SIP phones.
But, how's it set up for a site with just a Soft Phone environment?

 

[kyle555]

same thing. your SIP profile with a primary/secondary/branch session manager can be logged into from a 9600SIP or a Equinox.
Log one in and see if it simultaneously registers to 3 session managers.

There are different settings for equinox vs 9600SIP phones - check the Administering 9600 deskphones 7.1 for SIP vs the Equinox deployment guide. But they all exist to accomplish the same thing.

Ultimately, a H323 phone's alternate gatekeeper list is populated when it registers to CM based on what LSPs are defined in it's IP network region.
Ultimately, a SIP phone's registrars are acquired through Personal Profile Manager data provided from the Session Manager when it registers.
You don't need the LSPs or BSMs in DHCP or settings files. Phones, hard and soft, learn their survivable servers, SIP or H323, when they register to the core for the first time and that data persists through reboots.

Your question is more around SIP trunk failover. That's a discussion you need to have with your carrier. It'd be tough to have 100 sites, 10K sessions on a active/standby dual data center AND have it so only Site 1's DIDs fail over to be routed to something on prem at site 1 if site 1's WAN goes down. Ultimately when you have all your trunking in the core, if a site gets isolated, there's no way to stop calls from coming in to a core PBX with none of those people registered and have the calls not just go to voicemail.

Just think - but what happens if some putz doesn't call before he digs and nicks the fiber to a big building? Odds are it's knocking out WAN and PRI and any other services demultiplexed out of some big boxes!

If you're worried about the WAN failover part, see if you can get the carrier to put a LTE modem for backup that dials up a site-to-site VPN so everyone appears to be on-net anyway.

 

[Boulevard999]

kyle555 - Thank you yet again! I appreciate the help!!

 

[Boulevard999]

Kyle555,

I have yet another question on Equinox.

We have x number of Basic user licenses, which means we can use Equinox onsite on our network without issues for voice calls.
We also have y number of Advanced SBC Licenses (Remote Worker) which means we can use Equinox 'offsite' (Starbucks/Hotel wifi) for voice calls.

Problem:
When we use Equinox offsite 'without' a vpn split tunnel client, we're good. No issues.
When we use Equinox offsite and boot up our vpn split tunnel client, we lose connection briefly as if Equinox switches over to the vpn tunnel connection.

The question is:
Where can I look to correct this option in Equinox to Not use the vpn connection and continue to access the SBC via the public IP over the web?

Is there any documentation for this? All my searches so far came up empty.

 

[kyle555]

Oof. I want to tell you to take a hike! That's a problem? Really?

Avaya's worked to make stuff like seamless handoff between wifi and LTE work. With a VPN, there's nothing you can do. Cisco AnyConnect takes control of my computer and literally rejigs how network connectivity on my machine works. Ain't no way around that.

Even if you split tunnel to route to your public IP via the internet connection of the PC and not your VPN. Even if you rejigged DNS on the VPN to point to the public IP address.
You'd still be able to keep all the users 'outside' remote on the SBC, but you'd be burning licenses for them while they're on VPN and don't need to use the SBC advanced licenses.

Connect VPN = plug in ethernet cable or change wifi networks. For a moment, you don't actually have an IP. Tell your whiners that you need an IP to do Voice Over IP

 

[Boulevard999]

LOL!! Thank you for that!!!

I thought I was the only one thinking this was a paper problem! I appreciate the feedback!!!