New CCNA Voice exam is out! So you think about beginning adventure in the VoIP world.

Besides books and videos (CBT Nuggets and INE.com have already released new videos), you will need gear, lab gear. Here is what you need for Real Lab: Exam is based on new ISR G2 routers (2900 and 3900) but those are too $ $$, so I recommend to get ISR 1 like a 2800 or 1861 or from 3800. IOS 15 for your router. 1 AIM-CUE-1GB (Voice Mail Module) for router (goes inside so match the model of your router) 1 CME 8 as the exam is based on v.8, which requires IOS 15. If you cannot get IOS 15 stay with IOS 12 and get CME 7 or 4.3. There might not be significant difference between 8 and previous versions (not for exam purpose anyway) 1 Cisco switch. Any switch will do, more recent model is better. You need switch with POE if you don't have power adapters for IP phones. 2 x IP phones like 7940 (at least one with 4 buttons), and Soft-phones like Cisco IP Communicator and Blue phone from Vertigo.

IOS 12.x to 15 upgrade might be tricky; keep reading... Useful but not critical Additional stuff: FXO and FXS cards or modules. FXO is the one that will connect router to phone line (goes into the wall jack). With FXO u will be able to dial into your CME router from outside line or from cell-phone (u dial home). FXS is less useful; FXS connects analog stations like regular phones or fax machines.

Optional configuration (and gear): Some basics IP Telephony can be done on Packet tracer. PT comes with IP phones and IP telephony service. GNS3 is still good. You won't be able to connect your home line to GNS router but it works with CME 4.3. Just get IOS that supports IP telephony (most of

2600XM and 3725 Advanced IOS 12.4 do). Since GNS3 does not support IOS 15, you do not need CME 8; People have passed previous exam using GNS3 and Vmware machines loaded with Cisco IP Communicators. Potential issues/problems: You might need license for CME 8 (PAK or product key) just to activate CME 8 on your router (not sure as some say you don't). So, it is likely you will need to pay extra for that! When Upgrading IOS to IOS 15, you may need more Flash and RAM. IOS 15 for 2801 is 56MB and full CME 8 is 80MB (you can remove some CME files). Check Cisco Feature Navigator for requirements and this links: http://tools.cisco.com/ITDIT/CFN/jsp/index.jsp http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/voicesw/ps4625/products_device_su pport_tables_list.html

BUILDING SIMPLE VOICE LAB IN GNS3 Virtual Lab SETUP Part 1

You need IOS image that supports VoIP or CME like ipvoice (smallest) to Enterprise and Advanced Enterprise (largest) images for 2600XM or c3725. You can use Cisco Feature Navigator to find image or to check whether tour images supports CME. Go to http://tools.cisco.com/ITDIT/CFN/jsp/index.jsp and use appropriate links from there. You can select By Feature and add VoIP to search table; Select Platform (your router model and skipping all other options) to the list on the next page; After few seconds, you should see list of IOS images that support VoIP with RAM and Flash requirements; For 3725 Adv. Router use 256 MB and 32 MD Flash in GNS3. Your image comes with build-in Call Manager Express, if you select the right image of course. Connected to Dynamips VM "R1" (ID 0, type c3725) - Console port Press ENTER to get the prompt.
R1#sh ver

Cisco IOS Software, 3700 Software (C3725-ADVENTERPRISEK9-M), Version 12.4(15)T5, RELEASE SOFTWARE (fc4) Technical Support: http://www.cisco.com/techsupport Copyright (c) 1986-2008 by Cisco Systems, Inc. Compiled Wed 30-Apr-08 18:27 by prod_rel_team ROM: ROMMON Emulation Microcode ROM: 3700 Software (C3725-ADVENTERPRISEK9-M), Version 12.4(15)T5, RELEASE SOFTWARE (fc4) R1 uptime is 2 minutes System returned to ROM by unknown reload cause - suspect boot_data[BOOT_COUNT] 0x0, BOOT_COUNT 0, BOOTDATA 19 System image file is "tftp://255.255.255.255/unknown" Cisco 3725 (R7000) processor (revision 0.1) with 249856K/12288K bytes of memory. Processor board ID FTX0945W0MY R7000 CPU at 240MHz, Implementation 39, Rev 2.1, 256KB L2, 512KB L3 Cache 2 FastEthernet interfaces 3 Serial(sync/async) interfaces DRAM configuration is 64 bits wide with parity enabled. 55K bytes of NVRAM. 36864K bytes of ATA System CompactFlash (Read/Write) Check if your image supports CME R1#sh telephony-service telephony-service is not enabled R1#conf t Enter configuration commands, one per line. End with CNTL/Z. R1(config)#telephony-service ? setup Start setup for Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express. Please refer to www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/access/ip_ph/ip_ks/index.htm for full documentation. <cr> *Mar 1 00:02:57.391: %SYS-5-CONFIG_I: Configured from console by console R1#sh telephony-service CONFIG (Version=4.1(0)) ===================== Version 4.1(0) Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express For on-line documentation please see: www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/access/ip_ph/ip_ks/index.htm ip source-address 0.0.0.0 port 2000 max-ephones 0 max-dn 0 max-conferences 8 gain -6

dspfarm units 0 dspfarm transcode sessions 0 conference software hunt-group report delay 1 hours hunt-group logout DND max-redirect 5 cnf-file location: system: cnf-file option: PER-PHONE-TYPE network-locale[0] US (This is the default network locale for this box) network-locale[1] US network-locale[2] US network-locale[3] US network-locale[4] US user-locale[0] US (This is the default user locale for this box) user-locale[1] US user-locale[2] US user-locale[3] US user-locale[4] US srst mode auto-provision is OFF srst ephone template is 0 srst dn template is 0 srst dn line mode is single time-format 12 date-format mm-dd-yy timezone 0 Greenwich Standard Time no transfer-pattern is configured, transfer is restricted to local SCCP phones only. keepalive 30 auxiliary 30 timeout interdigit 10 timeout busy 10 timeout ringing 180 timeout ringin-callerid 8 timeout night-service-bell 12 caller-id name-only: enable web admin system name Admin web admin customer name Customer edit DN through Web: disabled. edit TIME through web: disabled. Log (table parameters): max-size: 150 retain-timer: 15 transfer-system full-consult local directory service: enabled. Extension-assigner tag-type ephone-tag. R1# It is all in the image, here is the proof, flash is empty! R1#sh flash System Compact Flash directory:

No files in System CompactFlash [0 bytes used, 37748732 available, 37748732 total] 36864K bytes of ATA System CompactFlash (Read/Write) R1#dir Directory of flash:/ No files in directory 37748732 bytes total (37748732 bytes free) R1# Drag a GNS Cloud and select MS Loopback interface; Connect that Cloud to one of Ethernet or Fast Ethernet interfaces on the router. Set up IP address of the MS loopback on the PC without default gateway. Set up IP address of router interface connected to MS loopback. Of course, both interfaces must be on the same network (subnet). Test it with a Ping. If ping fails, check Firewalls and configuration again. Install Cisco Configuration Professional on PC. Save Flash space for phones and other files. CCP is free from http://www.cisco.com/cisco/software/release.html? mdfid=281795035&softwareid=282159854&release=2.5&rellifecycle=&relind=AVAILA BLE&reltype=latest CCP Express is the one that goes onto Flash. You may get it but do not install it. Install CCP on PC and start it. To be able to connect CCP to your GNS3 router (via MS loopback) set it following: 1. Level-15 Username and Password: Use this administrative account to manage the CME router. username Martin privilege 15 secret cisco 2. Integrated HTTP Services: HTTP services enable the CCP utility to discover the CME router. ip http server ip http authentication local If you want use HTTPS (secure connection) also add ip http-secure server 3 . Local Authentication for Telnet/SSH: This means under line vty 0 4 you need to apply login local transport input telnet ssh

Lunch CCP and fill in Discovery info page with IP address of routers interface connected to MS Loopback, username Martin and password cisco. Click on Discover now button. You will be able to discover your router but likely with some warrings, like this: Hardware platform 3725 is not supported by Cisco CP. Some functionalities may not function as expected. Click on Confiugre. From here you can use CCP to set up your router. Click on Unified Communications and on Unified Communications Features; You should see empty page. Click on Edit and select IP Telephony. Here, we do not have an option of selecting CUCME out of 3 options given; THIS IS BIG PROBLEM. AND could be major issue. I think the exam will have some elements of using CCP to set up CUCME (not 100% sure as I did not take new exam).

Well, lets me figure out what to do with this OTHER NOTES/PROBLEMS: CCP needs Java as it runs on Java, so make sure you have Java installed;