Tag Archives: LBR

Lync Server 2013 – Location Based Routing: Part II


In part I Lync Server 2013 – Location Based Routing aka LBR, I discussed about the basic fundamentals, benefits, capabilities and routing methodologies. To extend the same, part II will cover implementation steps and test cases. As discussed in part I, LBR is a set of rules which handle your PSTN calls to comply with regulations of specific countries such as India. In telephony terms, it prevents toll bypass by blocking or modifying the routes of PSTN calls. Organizations can define the scope for LBR such as specific region, International calls, specific gateways or PBX and set of users. LBR policies can be based on user’s location or PSTN gateways location. LBR applies rules on different scenarios.

To test the LBR scenario, Single Site is deployed with asterisk PBX to generate voice calls. Test scenario will consider enterprise voice calls which are generated by Lync user located @ office and located @ home

Let’s start with deployment process:

1. Process start with Enterprise Voice deployment

Create dial plans and configure Normalization rules

Create and configure trunks, voice policies and define voice routes

2. Test Enterprise Voice setup

3. Create Network Region and Sites, define subnets based on your Lync infra.

4. Create Voice Routing Policy.

New-CsVoiceRoutingPolicy –Identity “Site1VoiceRoutingpolicy” –Name “Site1 Voice Routing Policy”

5. Set Voice Routing Policy and assign PSTN Usage (In lab scenario PSTN usage is created with name “Asterisk”)

Set-CsVoiceRoutingPolicy –Identity “Site1VoiceRoutingpolicy” –PSTNusages @{add=”Asterisk”}

6. Enable and configure location based routing and voice routing policy for Network Site

Set-CsNetworkSite –Identity Site1 –EnableLocationBasedRouting $true –VoiceRoutingPolicy “Site1 Voice Routing Policy”

7. Trunk configuration

Set-CsTrunkConfiguration –Identity Site1Trunk –EnableLocationRestrictions $true –NetworkSiteID “Site1”

8. Change Voice & Routing Configuration

Set-CsVoicePolicy “Site1VoicePolicy” –PreventPSTNTollBypass $true

Set-CsRoutingConfiguration –Enable locationbasedrouting $true

Follow the same steps for multiple sites carefully.

Test multiple calls scenario such as:

Incoming PSTN call while user @ his home location (Site1)

Outgoing PSTN call while user @ his home location (Site1)

Transfer and Forward while both the users @ their home location (Site1)

Simultaneous ring while both the users/endpoint @ their home location (Site1)

Lync users @ their home location are doing conference

Lync users @ their home location are doing Lync conference and PSTN user is joining conference using “Dial-in Conferencing”

Incoming PSTN call while user is logged in from outside

Outgoing PSTN call while user is logged in from outside

Transfer and Forward while both the users or one of them are not @ their home location (Site1)

Simultaneous ring while both the users/endpoint or one of them are not @ their home location (Site1)

Lync users @ their home location are doing conference and one of the conferencing user is trying to conference any PSTN user

These are few examples related to my Lab design, if you have more than one site then you need to test many other scenarios as well which certify that you are compliant with regulation.

Advertisement

Lync Server 2013 – Location Based Routing


Location Based Routing is an impressive feature of Lync Server 2013 which distinct Lync Server 2013 from other UC solutions. LBR allows full fledge Lync 2013 Enterprise Voice deployment for those enterprises who are doing business in regulated countries such as India, UAE, Egypt etc. Lync enterprise voice deployment with LBR requires well-versed planning and designing as your one wrong step can disturb entire voice setup. Now, questions come to every Lync professional if LBR requires planning & designing; it means LBR is not enabled by default or in other ways, LBR configuration part comes later.

Question: If LBR is not enable by default and needs additional configuration, which methodology Lync Server uses by default?

Answer: LCR

Many Exchange professional who are reading this blog, can assume LCR means Local Continuous Replication which was introduced in Exchange Server 2007.

By default Lync server uses Least Cost Routing methodology. Least cost routing can reduce the call rates by minimizing toll charges and maximizing WAN uses, which can benefit to the enterprises but in another ways it is a revenue loss for PSTN service providers.

LBR Benefits:

  • Comply with regulations that restricts IP-to-PSTN routing in pre-defined cases.
  • Routes PSTN calls based on caller’s location to prevent toll bypass.
  • Scoped to specific locations, gateways, and users based on Network configuration.
  • Route call to the gateway closest to the calling party which increase QoS & QoE.
  • Minimize use of WAN which result in better QoS & QoE.

LBR Capabilities:

  • Route outgoing calls to a PSTN gateway local to the caller’s location.
  • Prevent incoming calls if the Lync client is not in the PSTN gateway’s location.
  • Route outgoing calls through international PSTN gateways when there is no local gateway.
  • Ensures that conferences do not have a mix of users from different locations and PSTN dial-out.

Outbound routing:

Trunk-to-trunk routing:

Inbound routing:


There are many test cases involve in LBR implementation which need to be tested. Implementation steps and test cases is explained in the next part of this article.

Courtesy: Lync Conference 2014.

What’s New in Lync Server 2013…?


Microsoft is playing a major role in Unified Communication market. Lync Server 2013 is a 6th release in last one decade. Enterprise voice was started with OCS 2007 R2 and Lync server 2010 became a major release in Enterprise voice space. Lync 2013 is a major release after Lync 2010 and now cumulative updates are also available to download.

In Lync 2013, Microsoft came up with few tremendous features in terms of voice which changed the overall Lync deployment as well as fit into those countries where government has regulation for VOIP. Now, you are thinking which that tremendous feature is; I am talking about Location based routing (LBR) which can provide room for Lync implementation with Enterprise voice in those countries where government has regulated or they have some specific concerns with regards to VOIP roll out.

I will start with basic features of Lync Server 2013 which differentiate it from previous releases. To start with Lync Server 2013 server roles, I am providing table with comparison which can help you to understand better.

Lync Server 2013 Lync Server 2010
Front End & Back End (A/V is collocated) Front End & Back End
A/V Conferencing (Can be collocated with Front End)
Archiving (Can be deployed separately) Archiving (Can be collocated with Front End)
Monitoring (Can be deployed separately) Monitoring (Can be collocated with Front End)
Mediation (Can be collocated with Front End) Mediation (Can be collocated with Front End)
Director (Optional & Can’t be collocated with Front End) Director (Can’t be collocated with Front End)
Edge (Can’t be collocated with Front End) Edge (Can’t be collocated with Front End)
Persistent Chat (Can’t be collocated with Front End) Group Chat (Can’t be collocated with any Lync Server role)
Standard Edition Server (All above roles combined) Standard Edition Server (All above roles combined except group chat)

 

To get a better understanding, have a look into the images:

For more updates, be in touch with me at www.insidemstech.com