Loving CCNA Voice!
wallpaper_01
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I'm around 4 weeks in and I'm loving the voice world! 2 weeks of the 4 was pretty much trial and error setting up buying the right bits. All I need now is a super long cable to plug into my FXO port and I think thats it. I've got an inline power switch coming in 2 days to replace my other switch, just to tidy up some cables really.
I have found the studying to be very rewarding so far. Nothing like getting your first phones registered and ringing, then setting up the IP communicators on different PC's and getting them going. I'm using a R2691 as my voice gateway and DHCP sever and the R2811 as my CME at the moment. Just tonight I have been studying dial peers and got my analog phone plugged into the 2691's FXS to call the 2811's IP phones and call back. Its all pretty exciting stuff! I have scheduled my exam for late June so hopefully I can get the book done in the next few weeks with the CBT nuggets and get troubleshooting labs going towards the end. I also have CUCM up and running on VMWare but that is waiting for next weekend. Anyway thought I'd say hi and post a pic of my lab.
I have found the studying to be very rewarding so far. Nothing like getting your first phones registered and ringing, then setting up the IP communicators on different PC's and getting them going. I'm using a R2691 as my voice gateway and DHCP sever and the R2811 as my CME at the moment. Just tonight I have been studying dial peers and got my analog phone plugged into the 2691's FXS to call the 2811's IP phones and call back. Its all pretty exciting stuff! I have scheduled my exam for late June so hopefully I can get the book done in the next few weeks with the CBT nuggets and get troubleshooting labs going towards the end. I also have CUCM up and running on VMWare but that is waiting for next weekend. Anyway thought I'd say hi and post a pic of my lab.
Comments
Haha yeah, I drew that before I started. Might do a new one as ive changed a few bits on it. You should see my bedroom, wall covered in study notes!
I am also learning the voice track and also signed up for VMware VCP5 at a local college starting in about a month after work. Will be fun!
Routers -
- Cisco 2691 256/128 (DRAM/FLASH) - IOS 12.4T - CME 4.1 (Voice Gateway)
- Cisco 2811 256/128 - IOS 12.4T - CME 7.1 (Call Manager Express Router)
Switch -- Cisco Catalyst 3550 PWR - Inline Power Switch. If you get an Inline Power or POE switch, you do not need plugs for IP Phones, check phone models for support though.
Modules -- NM-2V
- VIC-2FXS (To the Analog Phone/Fax)
- VIC-2FXO (To the PSTN)
Note - These modules only work with my 2691 router not the 2811, which is fine for this setup, but if you want the 2811 to use them, you need to buy newer NM-HD-2V. In the US its easy to find but not the uk by the looks of it. Not Sure about Australia.Phones -
- 2 x Cisco IP Phone 7940 running on P00308000500 firmware (CME 7.1)
- 1 x Analog Phone
- Standard PC Mic
Software- IOS 12.4T on both routers
- CME 4.1 and 7.1
- CUCM 8
- Cisco IP Communication
- CCP
For study I'm using CBT Nuggets and the Official Cert Guide. Really enjoying it so far, the book is pretty good and goes along with the nuggets as its the same guy!I used this post to jump on eBay and buy a 2691, 2811, the modules, 2 7940 phones and a 3550 Inline Power switch. I can't thank you enough for sharing this! Quick question, as a VoIP noob, how did you connect all of this together to get it up and running?
and for another $125.00 you can get your hands on CUCM 8.5/9/10 ... for another $125.00 to $175.00 USD you can get a couple of cheap Supermicro intel servers to run the VMware images of CUCM/Unity/UCCX/CUPS....
Then you can hook up your CME sites to CUCM are remote sites over frame/or VWIC MFT -T1/E1, hook up phones to CUCM as a remote site without CME, call back and forth between sites via extension number only.
with SIP trunk out of CUCM to POTS you can simulate an enterprise voice network with just what you have being able to call out of the system via POTS and call in Via POTS.... and for not very much money...
The problem with voice is...as with anything.... spend life's savings on all the nifty stuff.. Cisco continues to add more and different functionality with each CME/CUCM version including Video conference, and using Jabber....
The Dell PowerEdge servers are too large & too loud!
Studying on again, off again...
Yep, you can even easily run it in your workstation/PC if you have enough RAM and let's say an I5 quad core. Dell 2950s are huge and loud, you can easily build something or upgrade the PC to handle vmware workstation for example.