How to build a voice lab with GNS3 and VMWare

Is it possible to build a voice lab without actual hardware? The answer is yes and no. You can build a very good lab using GNS3 and VMWare but it is not possible to build a complete lab. The underlying emulation engine for GNS3 (dynamips) does not support digital signal processors (dsps) or voice cards.

Over the next few months, I will show you how to build a very good lab without any hardware. If you want a more complete lab, you will need to obtain at least one router with dsps and voice cards. I have a 2611XM router with DSPs, a vic-2fxs card, a vic-2fxo card and an ATA-186.

Click Here to download LAB visio drawing

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Disclaimer and Due Credit:

This tutorial series is heavily based on by Jayanm of Chicago, IL.  Jaynam has obtained the following Cisco Certifications: CCIE (Voice) – CCVP – CCSP – CCNA – CQS (PIX,VPN,IDS) – VMWare Certified Professional.

I really appreciate the ground breaking research by Jaynam.

Updates and Videos in the series:

I will include future videos in this section as they are created. It is a good idea to bookmark this particular post or subscribe to our RSS Feed if you would like to keep up on all future tutorials.

• How to install Call Manager 4.x in VMWare
• How to install Call Manager 6.x in VMWare
• Basic Call Manager Preparation
• How to run multiple IP Blue softphones on a single PC
• Voice lab – Running GNS3 as root
• Voice Lab – Headquarters build
• Voice Lab – Frame-Relay WAN
• Linux Bridging for GNS3 LAN communications
• Voice Lab – Branch1 and Branch2 Virtual Machine
• Voice Lab – Adding a physical router
• Voice Lab – PSTN Simulation LAB in GNS3 – Part 1
• Voice Lab – PSTN Simulation LAB in GNS3 – Part 2

Hardware

I am using a fairly basic pc with a 3Ghz hyperthreading CPU and 2GB Ram. By today’s standards, it is nothing special.

Update 1/19/09: I have added Dell 750 server with 4GB RAM for virtual servers at the Headquarters location.

Optional Hardware

As I mentioned before, I have a 2611XM router with a couple voice cards and some dsps. This is not manditory but I will include this hardware with the lab series for those that would like to purchase the hardware to follow along.

Emulated Hardware

I will be emulating 3725 routers because they will be seen on the CCIE lab. Although the 3725s call for 256 MB requirements, I have found that they only actually use ~192MB ram on my PC.

Jaynam and others have opted to use 2691′s. You may find this works better for you also.

Software

I have chosen to use Ubuntu Linux for my host operating system due to better performance over XP, stability, availability, ease of use and price.

Host OS: Ubuntu 8.0.4
PC Emulation: VMWare Server v1.0.6 or 2.x
Router Emulation: GNS3 v0.5 / v0.6
IOS: c3725-adventerprisek9_ivs-mz.124-15.T6.bin

What is possible without hardware?

It is possible to test lots of  different Cisco VOIP Technologies. Here is a short list. I am sure I will make mistakes with this list or leave things out. Feel free to email me or make a comment to help me get a more complete list.

Call Manager Features

• Call Routing – Partitions, CSS, Time of Day routing, Route Groups, Route Lists, Route patterns, Translation Patterns, Line Groups, Hunt Lists, Hunt Pilots, 4 digit dialing
• Media Resources – Software Based Media Resources only – Music on Hold, Software Conference Bridge
• IP Phone registration and dialing
• Redundancy – SRST, AAR
• Call Admission Control – Locations based and Gatekeeper
• Unity Integration
• Extension Mobility
• Attendant Console
• IPMA

SIP Trunking

SIP-UA.com offers free SIP trunks for voice labs.

IOS Features

• Call manager Express
• Gatekeeper
• IPIPGW
• Digit manipulation
• Auto Attendant
• TCL Scripts
• Voicemail Integration from CME to Unity
• WAN QOS
• Frame Relay
• Class of Restriction (COR)
• SRST

What is not possible without hardware?

• Xcoder registration and testing
• Hardware based conference bridges
• Router based MOH
• voice port configuration
• t.37 fax store and forward
• Fax relay
• MGCP
• Anything related to hardware not emulated, VG248, ATA, CAT6500, Catalyst 3550 switch.

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Install Cisco IP Communicator on Win7 in VMware

Cisco IP Communicator (CIPC) requires a sound card be installed on a PC in order to install or open. Under normal circumstances, this completely makes sense. However, in other circumstances (demos/labs), PCs are actually virtual machines … and do not have sound cards. In these situations, the engineers/trainers/etc are more concerned with dialing than actually hearing audio.

In order to use CIPC in a virtual machine, install Virtual Audio Streaming – a virtual sound card tool from ShiningMorning.com prior to installing CIPC. This software will install virtual audio drivers on your VM which allow CIPC to install and have dialing capabilities. Unfortunately, CIPC will still only allow one instance to run at a time…unlike IP Blue. I have tested this with VMWare ESXi but it may also work with other VMWare products.

How to run multiple IP Blue phones on a single PC

In this tutorial, you will learn how to use IPBlue’s VTGO Lite softphone to test skinny phone registration and dialing by running multiple instances of emulated Cisco IP Phones.

This is the fourth tutorial in the Virtual Voice Lab Series for CCIE and CCVP studies.

Disclaimer and Due Credit:

This tutorial series is heavily based on CCIE Voice Home lab with Dynamips/VMware by Jayanm of Chicago, IL. Jaynam has obtained the following Cisco Certifications: CCIE (Voice) – CCVP – CCSP – CCNA – CQS (PIX,VPN,IDS) – VMWare Certified Professional.

I really appreciate the ground breaking research by Jaynam.

PC Preparation

1. Install IPBlue on your workstation.  This part really shouldn’t require much of an explanation. You will need to download VTGO Lite. Here is the link.
    
   Watch the Video
2. If your PC does not have multiple NICs, you can use MS Loopback adapters. (If you do have multiple nics, this part is not necessary.)
   • Go to Start > Control Panel
   • Click ‘Add Hardware’
   • Click ‘Next’
   • Select ‘Yes, I already have a connection’
   • Select ‘Add a new hardware device’
   • Select ‘Install from a list’
   • Click ‘Network Adapters’
   • Select Microsoft Loopback
   • Click ‘Next’
   • Click ‘Next’
   • Click ‘Finish’
   • Double-Click ‘Network Connections’
   • Rename the loopback interface to something descriptive.
    
   
   Watch the video
3. Gather the MAC addresses for PC interfaces using the ‘ipconfig /all’ command
    
   Watch the video

Basic Phone configs in Call Manager and IP Blue

1. Configure two ip phones in the CUCM server or turn on auto registration
   • Configure the MAC address
   • Select the default phone button template
   • Select the default device pool
   • Select the default device security profile
   • Add a new dn and give it an extension
    
   Watch the video

Run multiple IPBlue Softphones

1. Create a new IP Blue shortcut with the  ‘/d’ option following the softphone executable.
2. Open the IP Blue Softphone
3. Change the phone options
   • Set the TFTP Server to the ip address of your CUCM server
   • Set the MAC Address with the Network interface option
   • Set the Primary Call Manager
   • Select an IP Phone model to emulate
4. Open the Windows registry editor (Click Start > Run  and type regedit)
5. Export the Phone settings
   • Navigate to the HKEY_LOCAL_USER\Software\IPBlue branch
   • Right-Click on the IPBlue folder and select ‘Export’
   • Give the registry file a descriptive name and click ‘Save’
6. Repeat Steps 3-5 for each virtual phone you would like to use.
7. Double-Click one of the .reg file for one of the softphones saved in steps above.
8. Open the IP Blue Softphone.
9. Double-Click another .reg file for one of the softphones saved in steps above.
10. Open the IP Blue softphone again. (The IPBlue software references the settings in the system registry during startup)

Watch video