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Planning to Deploy Analog Devices

 

Topic Last Modified: 2012-06-21

Lync Server provides support for analog devices. Specifically, the supported analog devices are analog audio phones and analog fax machines. You can now configure the qualified gateways to support the use of analog devices in Lync Server environment. After you do this, analog devices use Lync Server to make and receive calls, and Lync Server makes routing decisions and logs calls in call detail records (CDRs) for analog devices, just as it does for any device.

Note

To determine whether other types of analog devices are supported, such as a pager, modem, or teletype/telecommunication device for the deaf or hard of hearing (TTY/TDD), contact the qualified gateway vendor to ensure that the specific device is supported on the gateway.

Analog phones that use Lync Server can make and receive calls in the same way that IP and USB phones that use Lync Server with the following exceptions: they cannot park calls using the Call Park application, and do not allow you to transfer calls or set call forwarding options. They can, however, retrieve parked calls by dialing a call-retrieve number.

You must configure the analog gateway to use Lync Server, and the gateway must be one of the following:

  • An analog telephone adapter (ATA)

  • A PSTN analog gateway

  • A Survivable Branch Appliance that includes a PSTN analog gateway

  • A Survivable Branch Appliance that includes a PSTN gateway that communicates with an ATA

Note

Fax calls are not supported through a SIP trunk.

To add analog devices to your deployment, you must configure an ATA to convert a standard analog interface (FXS/telephone jack) to a digital telephone interface (Ethernet interface). Before you can configure the ATA, you must configure the gateway. For details, see PSTN Gateway Deployment Options.

Use the vendor documentation for the gateway and ATA you are using to do any of the following:

  • Configure the gateway with the IP address of the ATA.

  • Provide a mapping between the phone number of the analog device and the IP address of the ATA.

  • Configure the ATA with the IP address of the gateway.

Use the Gateway Management Console to prepare analog devices for use with Lync Server. Use this console to configure analog gateways to enable analog devices to make and receive calls by using Lync Server.

You can perform the following steps in Windows PowerShell command-line interface (independent of the previous steps):

  1. Create a new contact object for each analog device.

  2. (Optional) Create policies, and assign them.

Important

Before you complete the following steps, verify that all of the required components are in place. For details, see Required Lync Server Components for Devices. Also, verify that your deployment meets the requirements described in System and Infrastructure Requirements for Devices. For details about how to set-up an analog device on Lync Server, refer to the documentation for the specific device.

Mediation Server Requirements

If your deployment includes fax machines that interact with Lync Server so that CDR reports are logged for fax calls, you must enable media bypass. This means configuring settings to enable media bypass globally and also on the trunk connection to the gateway to which the fax machines connect. The fax machines need to be correctly configured in the contact object configuration, as described in the “Contact Objects" section later in this topic. The gateway must present fax calls to Lync Server as G.711 audio calls; if presented as image calls, they will be rejected. These calls will be hairpinned to the gateway from which they were received. Bypass causes the hairpin to be moved to the gateway.

Note

When Lync Server detects that a direct inward dial (DID) number is associated with a fax machine, the Mediation Server does not terminate media. Rather, Lync Server routes the call to the destination fax machine, bypassing the Mediation Server. You can use centralized call detail recording and policy management functionality for these types of calls because the signaling for fax machine calls flows through a Front End pool or a Standard Edition server.

Gateway Requirements

Fax devices must be connected to a gateway with PSTN connectivity for inbound and outbound calls.

Note

Fax calls are not supported through a SIP trunk.

Enhanced 9-1-1 Requirements

Analog devices do not receive location information from the Location Information Server or transmit location with emergency calls to the emergency services provider. In order to support Enhanced 9-1-1 (E9-1-1) on analog devices, you must provision the analog device’s location information directly with the PS-ALI service provider. You must update the location with the service provider each time that you move the phone.

Create a New Contact Object

A user cannot sign in on an analog device, so you cannot associate the device with a user account. You can create a new Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) contact object in AD DS for an analog device and then assign policies and voice plans to the contact object in the same way that you assign them to a user.

To create and configure a new contact object

To create a new instance of an analog device that you can manage with Lync Server, use the New-CsAnalogDevice cmdlet. For example:

New-CsAnalogDevice -LineUri tel:+14255556001 -DisplayName "Building 14 Receptionist" -RegistrarPool redmond-Cs-001.litwareinc.com -AnalogFax $False -Gateway 192.168.0.240 -OU "ou=Telecommunications,dc=litwareinc,dc=com"

This command creates a new analog device with the phone number (LineUri) 1-425-555-6001. The phone number must be specified using the E.164 format. In addition to the LineUri parameter, the other parameters used in this cmdlet are as follows:

  • DisplayName   Specifies the AD DS display name of the device.

  • RegistrarPool   Specifies the Registrar pool.

  • AnalogFax   If set to $False, specifies that this is a phone and not a fax machine.

  • Gateway   Specifies the IP address of the gateway or FQDN.

  • OU   Specifies the distinguished name (DN) of the AD DS organizational unit (OU) where the contact object for the device should be created.

For details about creating contact objects for analog devices, run Get-Help New- CsAnalogDevice -Full | more from the Lync Server Management Shell.

If you are deploying many analog devices, you can write a Windows PowerShell script to create multiple new objects at the same time by using a table as an input for batch processing. Include entries for phone number, location, voice policy, and any other applicable policies, such as voice policy and other settings that you want applied.

Important

For details about how to set up an analog device in Lync Server, refer to the documentation for the specific device.

Note

For details about the Lync Server Management Shell and individual cmdlets, see the Lync Server Management Shell documentation.

(Optional) Create and Assign Policies

Creating specific policies for analog devices is optional. If you do not create a new policy for an analog device, the device will automatically use the policy defined for the site that the device contact object is homed on. If no site policy exists, the global policy will be used. If your organization has specific requirements for analog devices, use the Lync Server Management Shell cmdlets described in this section to create the voice and conferencing policies (these policies are most relevant to analog devices) that apply to the analog device account being created. Create a policy for each usage scenario.

If you create a new policy or want to use an existing per-user policy, you must grant that policy to any contact objects (phones) that you want that policy applied to. To do this, you can you can use Lync Server Control Panel, or you can use the appropriate cmdlet for the type of policy you want to assign. For details, see Open Lync Server Administrative Tools and Lync Server 2010 Cmdlets by Category.

Voice Policy

To create a new voice policy, use the New-CSVoicePolicy cmdlet. For example:

New-CsVoicePolicy -Identity ADvoicepolicy -PstnUsages @{add="Internal","Local"} -Name ADvoicepolicy -EnableDelegation $False -EnableTeamCall $FALSE -EnableCallTransfer $FALSE

This example creates a new voice policy with the Identity ADvoicepolicy. This new policy sets several properties that would most likely apply to analog devices. It is important to set up the PstnUsages option.

Note

To see a list of all available voice policy properties and their descriptions, run Get-Help New-CsVoicePolicy –Full from the Lync Server Management Shell.

Conferencing Policy

To create a new conferencing policy, use the New-CSConferencingPolicy cmdlet. For example:

new-csconferencingpolicy -identity ADconferencingpolicy -allowIPAudio $false -allowIPvideo $False -EnableFileTransfer $False -EnableP2PFileTransfer $False -EnableDataCollaboration $False

This is an example of a conferencing policy with settings that could be applicable to an analog device. This example creates a conferencing policy with an Identity ADconferencingpolicy. This new policy disables the following:


  • The ability to use computer audio in a meetings (-AllowIPAudio $False)


  • The ability to use computer video (-AllowIPVideo $False)


  • The ability to transfer files as part of the conference (-EnableFileTransfer $False)


  • Peer-to-peer file transfers during the conference (-EnableP2PFileTransfer)


  • The ability to join the conference over the Internet (-EnableDataCollaboration $False)

Note

The following conferencing policy settings are typically set for analog devices, but these and others can be changed depending on enterprise needs:

  • AllowIPAudio : False

  • AllowIPVideo : False

  • EnableFileTransfer : False

  • EnableP2PFileTransfer : False

  • EnableDataCollaboration : False

To see a list of all available conferencing policy properties and their descriptions, run Get-Help New-CsConferencingPolicy -Full | more from the Lync Server Management Shell.