The purpose of this questionnaire is to help you to collect from the customer the information that you need to design and customize the Cisco Unity voice-mail system in the customer’s network. To obtain the answers to this questionnaire, you can either take this questionnaire and meet with the customer or e-mail the questionnaire to the customer and have the customer complete it. Customers usually provide some part of the information requested in this questionnaire in their Request for Proposal (RFP).
After you obtain from the customer all the information requested in this questionnaire, you can start the design process. Refer to Chapter 7, “Voice-Mail System Design,” to review the example of how the information collected in this questionnaire for XYZ, Inc. was used in its network design.
This questionnaire is divided into the following sections:
Voice-Mail Requirements
Messaging and Directory Architecture
Infrastructure Requirements for Unity Deployment
Sizing the Unity Server
Unity Integration with PBX/CallManager
Unity Networking with Other Voice-Mail Systems
Some sections might not be applicable to the network that you are designing, so skip any such sections.
Use the questions in Table G-1 to obtain the requirements to design the Unity voice-mail system.
Table G-1. Voice-Mail Requirements
No. | Question | Answer |
|---|---|---|
1 | Customer Name | Name: |
2 | Who are the contacts in your enterprise messaging team? | Name: Role: Phone: E-mail: Name: Role: Phone: E-mail: |
3 | Who are the contacts in your enterprise directory team? | Name: Role: Phone: E-mail: Name: Role: Phone: E-mail: |
4 | Who are the contacts in your enterprise security team? | Name: Role: Phone: E-mail:
Name: Role: Phone: E-mail: |
5 | Do you intend to deploy Cisco Unity in a Unified Messaging (UM) configuration or voice mail–only configuration? | □ UM □ Voice mail |
6 | If this is a UM deployment, is it a new installation, a migration, or a partial integration? | □ New installation: Considered a fresh install into an environment where no messaging previously existed. □ Migration: Considered a full deployment of Unity to replace an existing legacy voice-messaging infrastructure. □ Partial integration: Installation of Unity into an existing environment where other messaging systems will continue to operate. |
7 | If this is a voice mail–only deployment, is it a new installation, a migration, or a partial integration? | □ New installation: Considered a fresh install into an environment where no messaging previously existed. □ Migration: Considered a full deployment of Unity to replace an existing legacy voice-messaging infrastructure. □ Partial integration: Installation of Unity into an existing environment where other messaging systems will continue to operate. |
8 | Do you require Unity to integrate with your fax server? If yes, list the type of integreation, the fax server software vendor, and the version number. | □ Yes □ No Vendor: Version: |
9 | Which special features do you want to use in Unity? | □ Auto Attendant □ Text to Speech (TTS)______ sessions □ Cisco Personal Communications Assistant (Cisco PCA) □ License Pooling □ RSA (Rivest, Shamir, and Adelman) □ Dual Switch Integration □ IP PBX Media Gateway (PIMG) □ Voice Profile for Internet Mail (VPIM) □ Unity Bridge □ Others (Specify) |
10 | Do you need Unity support of any language other than U.S. English? If yes, specify the language(s) for each category. | □ Yes □ No
TTS languages: Telephony User Interface (TUI) languages:
Graphical User Interface (GUI) languages: |
The information collected using Table G-1 helps you to understand the scope of the voice-mail deployment.
Table G-2 includes the questions to ask the customer related to the existing messaging and directory architecture. It is critical to understand the existing architecture so that you can decide which Unity deployment model to use and where to locate the Unity servers.
Table G-2. Messaging and Directory Architecture
No. | Question | Answer |
|---|---|---|
1 | What is your messaging platform? | □ Exchange □ Domino |
2 | If Active Directory (AD) is deployed, what is the AD version? | □ AD 2000 □ AD 2003 □ N/A |
3 | If Microsoft Exchange is deployed, what is the version? Give details about installed service packs and hot fixes. If you currently have an older version of Exchange deployed in your network, please provide the time frame to migrate to newer versions of Exchange. | □ 5.5 □ 2000 □ 2003 □ Mixed Mode
Service Pack Level
Hot Fixes
Time Frame for Migration |
4 | If Microsoft Exchange is deployed in a mixed mode, which different Exchange versions are deployed in the messaging network? | □ 5.5 □ 2000 □ 2003 |
5 | Specify the operating system on which you are running the Exchange servers. | □ Windows 2000 □ Windows 2003 |
6 | Do you run the Standard or Enterprise version of Exchange? | □ Standard □ Enterprise |
7 | If you have an existing Exchange/Domino network, do you plan to use the existing servers to store voice mails for Cisco Unity subscribers, or do you plan to have a separate Exchange/Domino server? | □ New □ Existing |
8 | If your message store is Domino, what is the Domino version? If you currently have an older version of Domino installed in your network, please provide the time frame for migrating to a newer version of Domino. | Version number:
Time frame to migrate: |
9 | Is your messaging store centralized or distributed? | □ Centralized □ Distributed |
10 | Provide diagrams that show your existing messaging architecture. The architecture details should have the following information: AD architecture Forests Root domains, child domains Location and details, such as IP addresses and names of domain controllers and global catalog servers Exchange site topology Exchange routing groups Bridgehead servers Locations where Exchange servers are located
For Domino: Domino domains Domino clusters Locations where Domino servers are located | Attach the diagrams that represent the active directory domain topology, exchange/domino topology, and necessary documents describing the overall architecture. |
11 | If you have an existing AD, do you want to deploy Cisco Unity in a separate domain or have it join the existing domain? Sometimes there will be different management groups within the organization that manage the corporate domain and other special domains. Sometimes, for security reasons, no permissions will be given to access the corporate domain. | □ New domain □ Join existing domain |
12 | If you are creating a new domain for Unity servers, are there plans in the future to make this new domain a part of corporate domain? | □ Yes □ No |
13 | How many users currently use the Exchange or Domino messaging system? | Number of users |
14 | What is average number of users per Exchange or Domino server? | Average number of users |
15 | What is the average size of the user’s mailbox in megabytes? | Average size of user’s mailbox ________megabytes |
16 | What is the expected growth in the next 6–12 months? | Growth in terms of number of users |
17 | Provide the total number of Unity subscribers. | Number of Unity subscribers |
18 | Which e-mail clients are used to retrieve e-mail? | □ Outlook □ Eudora □ Others (specify) Version |
19 | Which operating systems do these e-mail clients currently run? | □ Windows 95 □ Windows 98 □ Windows 2000 □ Windows XP □ Macintosh □ UNIX □ Linux □ Others (specify) |
20 | Which client protocol is used to retrieve e-mail? | □ POP3 □ IMAP □ Others (specify) |
21 | Which backup software do you currently use to back up your messaging data? | □ ARCserve □ Legato □ VERITAS □ Others (specify) |
What is your current message store licensing policy? | □ Client access licenses
□ Server-based licenses
□ Others (specify) | |
23 | Which current software packages and utilities monitor the current messaging infrastructure? | List of monitoring tools and utilities: |
24 | What antivirus software does the organization use to protect the messaging servers from viruses? | □ McAfee □ Symantec □ Trend Micro Other vendor (specify)
Version no. |
25 | Provide the DNS server information. | Primary DNS server details Secondary DNS server details
Name:
IP address:
Name:
IP address: |
26 | Provide details on enterprise security policies relative to user account management, service account management, and general access policies. | Attach the details: |
27 | If your message store is Domino, provide the details about Domino deployment. | Domino version
Admin server name |
Is Domino clustering used? | □ Yes □ No | |
Specify the number of nodes per cluster | _______________________ | |
Specify the number of databases per cluster | _______________________ | |
Is Notes installed on the Domino server? | □ Yes □ No | |
Is names.nsf used as the primary directory? | □ Yes □ No | |
Specify the operating system on which Domino servers are installed. |
□ Windows 2000 □ Windows 2003 | |
What is the Lotus Notes version? | _______________________ | |
What is the Lotus Domino version? | _______________________ | |
What is the Domino server operating system version? | _______________________ |
The information collected from Table G-2 is critical to ensure successful integration of the Unity system with the current corporate directory and messaging systems.
Unity uses AD when deployed in the Exchange messaging environment. The corporate directory administrator must understand the implications of this before proceeding with actual deployment. Table G-3 includes the questions to ask the corporate directory administrator to ensure that the customer understands the infrastructure requirements to deploy Unity.
Table G-3. Infrastructure Requirements
No. | Question | Answer |
|---|---|---|
1 | Deploying Unity in the existing AD requires schema extensions. Is your corporate directory team aware of this change and approve it? To see the list of schema extensions that Unity makes to the AD schema, refer to the following URL: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/partner/products/sw/voicesw/ps2237/products_white_paper09186a00800875c5.shtml | □ Yes □ No |
2 | Extending the AD schema increases the size of the AD database. Did you plan for the extra size of the database? Refer to the following URL for information on AD capacity planning: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/partner/products/sw/voicesw/ps2237/products_white_paper09186a00800e4535.shtml | □ Yes □ No |
3 | Who has the schema master right to modify the schema on the directory? | Name: Role: Phone: E-mail: |
4 | Did you integrate the CallManager directory with this AD? | □ Yes □ No |
5 | Will the Unity system be collocated with the Exchange servers? | □ Yes □ No |
6 | How many users require remote access or other special access to Unity via a VPN, a dial-up connection, or another method? For instance, traveling users with laptops generally sync up with their messaging system via remote dialup, which makes streaming an issue because of bandwidth constraints. Indicate the number of mobile users who will use Unity. | VPN
Dial-up
Others |
7 | If you plan to deploy Unity at a central location, do you have remote sites that access Unity at the central site? If yes, what are the typical bandwidths? | □ Yes □ No
Bandwidth __________________ |
8 | Specify on what operating system you want to install Unity. | □ Microsoft Windows 2000 □ Microsoft Windows 2003 |
The Unity server has many features that are licensed. Hence, sizing the Unity server is required so that you can buy the right number of licenses and decide on the right server platform to support the number of users required and the storage requirements. Table G-4 includes the questions to ask the customer to help you size the Unity server.
Table G-4. Sizing the Unity Server
No. | Question | Answer |
|---|---|---|
1 | Has a study been done on traffic patterns for accessing voice mail within the existing system? If not, you should perform the study because this information is helpful in determining the number of ports/sessions required on the Unity system. You need the following information: | □ Yes □ No |
Average calls per hour to the voice-mail system The duration of the call | __________ calls __________ seconds | |
2 | What is the existing policy or the policy to be enforced on the voice-mail system? | Archive voice mail: (days) |
This information, along with the codec selection, is required to size the hard disk space required for Unity. | Record opening greeting: (seconds) | |
Record the message: (seconds) | ||
Keep deleted voice mail? □ Yes □ No | ||
How long do you want to keep the deleted mail? (days) | ||
3 | Do you currently have Outcall notification configured on the voice-mail system? Outcall Notification notifies the user at their cell and home phone numbers about new voice-mail messages they have received. | □ Yes □ No |
4 | What is your choice of codec? To get more information on codecs and the bandwidth used per codec, refer to the following URL: | □ G.711 □ G.729a □ ADPCM 8kbps □ ADPCM 6kbps □ GSM 6.0 □ G.726 |
5 | Do you want redundancy (failover) for Unity servers? | □ Yes □ No |
The user might be notified about new voice-mail messages by receiving a pager message or a call on a configured external phone number. Enabling these features on the Unity system not only uses the Unity ports but also requires you to provide additional infrastructure, such as telephone lines. The requirement for the number of Unity port licenses increases depending on the number of users who need these features.
The selection of codec has a direct impact on the hard disk size and network bandwidth requirements. The information collected in Table G-4 helps you to size the Unity server by determining the hardware and number of ports required. Chapter 7 covers the sizing of hard disks based on the codec selection.
Unity support for dual integration means that it can integrate simultaneously with the existing PBX and with CallManager. Understanding the integration requirements helps you in the design. Table G-5 includes the questions to ask the customer to determine the integration requirements for Unity.
Table G-5. Unity Integration Requirements
No. | Question | Answer |
|---|---|---|
1 | What are the details of the existing PBX systems? | Vendor: Model: Software version:
Vendor: Model: Software version:
Vendor: Model: Software version: |
2 | How will Unity be integrated with PBX? Unity integrates with CallManager using SCCP. | □ DTMF □ Serial (SMDI) □ SCCP |
3 | Do you want to do a dual integration of Cisco Unity? In other words, will Unity integrate with CallManager and PBX system? | □ Yes □ No |
4 | If you want to integrate Unity with PBX, you need to have slots available on the PBX to plug in the interface card required (for example, an analog interface card for DTMF integration and an SMDI interface card for serial integration). Do you have available slots on the PBX system? Do you have the hardware available? | □ Yes □ No |
5 | What voice-mail integration protocols does your PBX system support? | □ SMDI □ SIP □ DTMF |
6 | Does your PBX system require you to purchase additional software licenses to enable the voice-mail integration protocols? | □ Yes □ No |
7 | What is the physical distance between the PBX system and the Unity server? | Distance |
8 | How many CallManager clusters do you have in the network, and what are the version numbers? | Number of clusters:
CallManager version numbers: |
9 | Do you want Unity to integrate with multiple CallManager clusters? | □ Yes □ No |
10 | What are the MWI On/Off numbers? If you have multiple CallManager clusters, you need to have unique numbers for each cluster. | Cluster 1: MWI On: MWI Off:
Cluster 2: MWI On: MWI Off: |
11 | What is the voice-mail pilot number that users dial to check their voice-mail? | Pilot number |
The answers to the questions collected via Table G-5 give you the information required to integrate the Unity system with a legacy PBX system or with CallManager systems.
Unity can network with other voice-mail systems if they coexist in the network. Understanding the existing voice-mail systems and the support of networking protocols helps you to design the system such that it meets the customer requirements. Use Table G-6 to collect information about the existing voice-mail system and networking requirements.
Table G-6. Unity Networking Requirements
No. | Question | Answer |
|---|---|---|
1 | What are your existing voice-mail systems? | Vendor: Model: Software version: Site: License expiration date:
Number of ports/sessions:
Number of subscribers:
Vendor: Model: Software version: Site: License expiration date: |
2 | Are these voice-mail systems currently networked? If yes, what is the protocol used for networking? | □ VPIM Version: □ AMIS Version: □ Analog OctelNet Version: □ Avaya Interchance Version: □ Other: Version: |
3 | If you have an Avaya/Octel voice-mail system, do you want to network between the Unity system and the Avaya/Octel system? | □ Yes □ No |
4 | If you have multiple sites, where will Unity be deployed? In which locations will the Octel system continue to exist? This information helps you to identify the Unity Bridge server location. Unity Bridge is required to enable the networking between the Unity system and an Avaya/Octel system. Having Unity Bridge nearer to Octel reduces the communication costs incurred in transferring the voice-mail messages between the two systems. | Provide the attachment. |
5 | Provide the networking configuration information for the existing voice-mail systems. | VPIM node IDs: AMIS node IDs: OctelNet node IDs: Avaya Interchange node IDs: |
6 | Provide the number of subscribers in each voice-mail node. | VPIM subscribers AMIS subscribers OctelNet subscribers Avaya Interchange subscribers
Internet subscribers |
When you are deploying a new voice-mail system into an existing network, the customer often wants to network the legacy and new voice-mail systems so users from either system can address messages to users on the other system. You can use Table G-7 to capture the Unity networking requirements.