Here's a WebEx meeting I found tucked away and thought I'd put it up.
recording links are below, CCO login required:
WebEx recording: http://tools.cisco.com/pecx/login?URL=searchCourse%3FcourseId%3D00052036
PDF: http://tools.cisco.com/pecx/login?URL=searchCourse%3FcourseId%3D00052035
MP4: http://tools.cisco.com/pecx/login?URL=searchCourse%3FcourseId%3D00052037
Tuesday, 15 October 2013
Webinar: Nexus 7700
Notes from this Webinar
The Fab2 and CB Fab2 are different modules. the Fab2 modules are not interchangeable between the N7k or the N7700. (The CB stand for Crossbow). This is to do with the architecture.
2200 FEX can be used with the N7700:
2248PQ
2232TM-E
NX-OS 6.2 introduces the ability to configure M1, M1-XL, M2, F2e modules in the same VDC
Fabric Path Anycast - multiple active L3 default gateways. L3 ECMP load balancing
Here are the Links to the recording, CCO Login required:
WebEx recording: http://tools.cisco.com/pecx/login?URL=searchCourse%3FcourseId%3D00054194
PDF: http://tools.cisco.com/pecx/login?URL=searchCourse%3FcourseId%3D00054193
MP4: http://tools.cisco.com/pecx/login?URL=searchCourse%3FcourseId%3D00054382
The Fab2 and CB Fab2 are different modules. the Fab2 modules are not interchangeable between the N7k or the N7700. (The CB stand for Crossbow). This is to do with the architecture.
2200 FEX can be used with the N7700:
2248PQ
2232TM-E
NX-OS 6.2 introduces the ability to configure M1, M1-XL, M2, F2e modules in the same VDC
Fabric Path Anycast - multiple active L3 default gateways. L3 ECMP load balancing
Here are the Links to the recording, CCO Login required:
WebEx recording: http://tools.cisco.com/pecx/login?URL=searchCourse%3FcourseId%3D00054194
PDF: http://tools.cisco.com/pecx/login?URL=searchCourse%3FcourseId%3D00054193
MP4: http://tools.cisco.com/pecx/login?URL=searchCourse%3FcourseId%3D00054382
Cisco 3850 Directly Connected APs Only
The 3850 switches are part of the converged access solution by using the embedded controller to terminate CAPWAP tunnels on the switch itself. One note which perhaps is obvious to someone else but wasn't to me is that the AP must be directly connected to the 3850 switch, you cannot have another switch in the way.
I queried this with Cisco and they said it was a software decision not a hardware limitation, so maybe it could change but at this point in time that doesn't look likely.
While I'm on the subject of 3850s, a new release of code is out which brings the features more in line with the 3750X. Still not exactly there but better:
References:
Cisco Unified Access Technology Overview: Converged Access Whitepaper
Cisco WebEx Meetings Server: Scheduled Audio Meetings
Another quick little note.
Conferencing is a great feature and used pretty much by any company using a UC&C solution. With CUCM you get the ability to do Adhoc and Meet me conferences for up to 128 parties, however what you don't get and what a lot of people ask for, is scheduled audio conferencing, the ability do create invites from Outlook, send it to your parties and then have a conference at that specific time.
Scheduled audio conferencing would be best done using WebEx, it integrates brilliantly and you get all the features of full WebEx meetings, one of which is the scheduling. What if you don't want the full WebEx suite though? If you only have CUWL standard and just want to be able to Schedule audio conferences? Well for that you need WebEx meetings server.
References:
WebEx Meetings Server ordering Guide:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/partner/prod/collateral/ps10352/ps10362/ps12732/ordering_guide_c07-719906.html
Conferencing is a great feature and used pretty much by any company using a UC&C solution. With CUCM you get the ability to do Adhoc and Meet me conferences for up to 128 parties, however what you don't get and what a lot of people ask for, is scheduled audio conferencing, the ability do create invites from Outlook, send it to your parties and then have a conference at that specific time.
Scheduled audio conferencing would be best done using WebEx, it integrates brilliantly and you get all the features of full WebEx meetings, one of which is the scheduling. What if you don't want the full WebEx suite though? If you only have CUWL standard and just want to be able to Schedule audio conferences? Well for that you need WebEx meetings server.
References:
WebEx Meetings Server ordering Guide:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/partner/prod/collateral/ps10352/ps10362/ps12732/ordering_guide_c07-719906.html
Cisco Wireless Bits Worth Knowing: Beamforming
Here are a few wireless Tidbits I want to get down so I remember them later:
Beamforming:
Beamforming creates a stronger signal for downstream clients by noticing the client and adjusting the transmitter timing so that the signal appears stronger to the client. This is also known as Cisco clientlink. Clientlink 1.0 is used for abg devices, clientlink 2.0 is for 802.11n devices using 1,2 or 3 spatial streams.
This feature was configurable in pre 7.2 releases of code but from 7.2 onwards it is on by defualt and cannot be disabled as there would be no advantage to doing so.
Clientlink is a Cisco standard, there is an 802.11n enhanced beamforming specification but it is not as mature and feature rich:
This table is taken from the Cisco 166/2600/3600 deployment guide, link below.
References:
1600/2600/3600 deployment guide:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/wireless/technology/apdeploy/7.5/Cisco_Aironet75.pdf
Beamforming:
Beamforming creates a stronger signal for downstream clients by noticing the client and adjusting the transmitter timing so that the signal appears stronger to the client. This is also known as Cisco clientlink. Clientlink 1.0 is used for abg devices, clientlink 2.0 is for 802.11n devices using 1,2 or 3 spatial streams.
This feature was configurable in pre 7.2 releases of code but from 7.2 onwards it is on by defualt and cannot be disabled as there would be no advantage to doing so.
Clientlink is a Cisco standard, there is an 802.11n enhanced beamforming specification but it is not as mature and feature rich:
References:
1600/2600/3600 deployment guide:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/wireless/technology/apdeploy/7.5/Cisco_Aironet75.pdf
CCX Encrypted Calls
Just a quick note here.
A requirement came up recently to encrypt the calls stored recording on the CCX server. This is currently not something which is supported by Cisco, however there is a work around if you are brave:
A requirement came up recently to encrypt the calls stored recording on the CCX server. This is currently not something which is supported by Cisco, however there is a work around if you are brave:
Juniper WLC2 / MXR2 & WLC8 / MX8 different revisions and MSS
Here is an issue I bumped into whilst working on Juniper WLAN implementations. The scenario is that a customer has multiple Juniper WLC2 Wireless LAN Controllers, many of which they purchased before Juniper acquired Trapeze networks. This means they are actually MXR2s and some were quite old.
Now the WLC has now been called EOL (as of 4th October 2013) so it is not the best platform for use going forward, however at the time it was still a current product, and in honesty how many customers do you know who throw away hardware as soon as it's called EOL? Not many that I know, hardware is sweated until the end of support date gets too close for comfort and then the upgrade happens.
Back to the story, the newest Juniper APs, such like the WLA322 require a minimum of MSS 7.7 to work. The WLC2 technically supports MSS up to version 9.0, however the gotcha here, which is stated in the release notes, is that the Hardware revision must be at least "revision P". Here is the note from Juniper:
Warning: This release of MSS no longer supports older MXR-2, MX-8, and MX-8R WLAN controller platforms
that were initially built with 32MB of flash. Newer models support 128MB or 256MB. The best method for
determining if your controller can support MSS 7.7 is by checking the revision label on the unit:
There is a free upgrade program with Juniper, as long as your device has a valid support contract, whereby you can RMA your older revision with Juniper and they will send you a newer version, however this is an RMA so can take a good amount of time, be aware.
To help myself I've put together a quick table showing WLA, WLC and the various MSS version supported:
The Stars here show where minimum software versions or hardware revisions are required. Check the release notes for full details.
References:
Juniper MSS 7.7.4.4 release Notes:
http://www.juniper.net/techpubs/en_US/release-independent/wireless/information-products/topic-collections/wireless-lan/software/7.7/mss-rn-77-mr4.pdf
Now the WLC has now been called EOL (as of 4th October 2013) so it is not the best platform for use going forward, however at the time it was still a current product, and in honesty how many customers do you know who throw away hardware as soon as it's called EOL? Not many that I know, hardware is sweated until the end of support date gets too close for comfort and then the upgrade happens.
Back to the story, the newest Juniper APs, such like the WLA322 require a minimum of MSS 7.7 to work. The WLC2 technically supports MSS up to version 9.0, however the gotcha here, which is stated in the release notes, is that the Hardware revision must be at least "revision P". Here is the note from Juniper:
Warning: This release of MSS no longer supports older MXR-2, MX-8, and MX-8R WLAN controller platforms
that were initially built with 32MB of flash. Newer models support 128MB or 256MB. The best method for
determining if your controller can support MSS 7.7 is by checking the revision label on the unit:
- Models MX-8 and MX-8R controller - Revision "P" and above
- Model MXR-2 controller - Revision "N" and above
- All Juniper-branded equivalents will support MSS 7.7.
There is a free upgrade program with Juniper, as long as your device has a valid support contract, whereby you can RMA your older revision with Juniper and they will send you a newer version, however this is an RMA so can take a good amount of time, be aware.
To help myself I've put together a quick table showing WLA, WLC and the various MSS version supported:
| 7.0 | 7.1 | 7.3 | 7.5 | 7.6 | 7.7 | 8.0 | 9.0 | |
| Access Points | ||||||||
| WLA632 | N | N | Y* | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| WLA532E | N | N | N | N | N | N | Y | Y |
| WLA532 | N | N | N | N | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| WLA522 | N | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| WLA322 | N | N | N | N | N | Y* | Y | Y |
| WLA321 | N | N | N | N | N | Y* | Y | Y |
| MP-432 | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| MP-422B | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| MP-371 | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | N |
| MP-372 | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | N |
| MP-352 | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N |
| MP-341 | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N |
| MP-262 | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N |
| MP-252 | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N |
| MP-241 | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N |
| MP-82 | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| MP-71 | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | N |
| 7.0 | 7.1 | 7.3 | 7.5 | 7.6 | 7.7 | 8.0 | 9.0 |
| WLC | ||||||||
| vWLC | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | Y |
| WLC2800R | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| WLC880R | N | N | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| WLC800R | N | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| WLC200 | N | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| WLC100 | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | Y |
| WLC8 | N | N | Y* | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| WLC2 | N | N | Y* | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| MX8R | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y* | Y* | Y* |
| MXR2 | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y* | Y* | Y* |
The Stars here show where minimum software versions or hardware revisions are required. Check the release notes for full details.
References:
Juniper MSS 7.7.4.4 release Notes:
http://www.juniper.net/techpubs/en_US/release-independent/wireless/information-products/topic-collections/wireless-lan/software/7.7/mss-rn-77-mr4.pdf
CUCM Business Edition, More Scalable than you might think...
So an interesting question came up recently which I've always assumed the answer to be true, but I've never checked it, until now.
CUCM Business Edition 6000 (CUCMBE6K) is a low (ish) end UC&C solution from Cisco. The call processing element scales up to 1000 users and 2500 devices. But what do you do if you purchased and run CUCMBE6K, and need to expand to over 1000 users?
Well, Business Edition 6K is capped at 1000 users, and as I understand there is nothing you can do about that, but the licenses you have are essentially just CUWL standard, and I assume you are running this on a virtualised server? Even better if you purchased one of the BE6K hardware bundles. So you can migrate the CUWL business edition licenses to CUWL standard (because they are the same), which is a process with the GLO team at Cisco, and this entitles you to download the full version of CUCM. You can therefore just install the full blown CUCM, add your new CUWL standard licenses and scale up to your hearts delight, No more 1000 user cap.
Granted there will be some work here, you'll need to be reasonably savy with CUCM, or just utilise your integrator who sold you the solution in the first place. The other thing is if you purchased a CUCMBE6K hardware bundle you'll need to buy a copy of VMware vSphere (the version with the bundle is cut down for BE6K). But these things are still minimal compared to a whole new system.
I think this is a real unsung scalability feature, its such a minimal cost for such a flexible, scalable solution.
CUCM Business Edition 6000 (CUCMBE6K) is a low (ish) end UC&C solution from Cisco. The call processing element scales up to 1000 users and 2500 devices. But what do you do if you purchased and run CUCMBE6K, and need to expand to over 1000 users?
Well, Business Edition 6K is capped at 1000 users, and as I understand there is nothing you can do about that, but the licenses you have are essentially just CUWL standard, and I assume you are running this on a virtualised server? Even better if you purchased one of the BE6K hardware bundles. So you can migrate the CUWL business edition licenses to CUWL standard (because they are the same), which is a process with the GLO team at Cisco, and this entitles you to download the full version of CUCM. You can therefore just install the full blown CUCM, add your new CUWL standard licenses and scale up to your hearts delight, No more 1000 user cap.
Granted there will be some work here, you'll need to be reasonably savy with CUCM, or just utilise your integrator who sold you the solution in the first place. The other thing is if you purchased a CUCMBE6K hardware bundle you'll need to buy a copy of VMware vSphere (the version with the bundle is cut down for BE6K). But these things are still minimal compared to a whole new system.
I think this is a real unsung scalability feature, its such a minimal cost for such a flexible, scalable solution.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)