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Microsoft Skype for Business configuration for Tesira using the VoIP web interface

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Biamp’s Tesira VoIP products allow Biamp Tesira digital signal processors to make and receive phone calls over a Voice-over-IP (VoIP) system that adheres to the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) standard. Microsoft Skype for Business systems make use of an expanded version of SIP called MS-SIP or Microsoft SIP Extension.  This document details the steps required to configure Biamp’s Tesira VoIP products to connect to a Microsoft Skype for Business (SFB) system.

Preliminary information

System support

The Tesira SVC-2 and TesiraFORTÉ endpoints have been tested against the following versions from Microsoft:

  1. Microsoft Lync 2010
  2. Microsoft Lync 2013
  3. Microsoft Skype for Business (SFB)

It should be noted that the screenshots used in this tech note were take from a SFB server. While older Lync versions use the same setup process the user interface layout may vary slightly. 

Note: Office 365 implementations of Skype for Business are not supported by Tesira VoIP endpoints. 

Microsoft license requirements

While full support for 3rd party endpoints is available in SFB out of the box, using these services requires you to purchase Microsoft license agreements for each line in use.  The following is a list of Client Access Licenses (Cal's) that are required per line of a Tesira VoIP endpoint.  Note that each Tesira VoIP endpoint can support up to two individual lines. Each line being used requires a set of the three licenses listed below: 

  1. Standard User Cal
    • A base license for all SFB clients
  2. Enterprise User Cal
    • A license required for all VoIP endpoints
  3. Plus User Cal
    • A license to access some advanced features of SFB. 

There are no licenses required on the Tesira side of the exchange. 

Microsoft configuration

First, we'll focus on setting up the Microsoft Skype for Business software.

Active Directory settings

A new user must be added to Active Directory for the Tesira VoIP device.  Each Tesira VoIP endpoint supports up to two user identities, and multiple endpoints may be used within a single system.  The steps below will focus on a single user account, however if multiple user are required, simply repeat as necessary.
 
  1. Open Active Directory Users and Computers from Administrative Tools.
 Admin Tools Screenshot
  1. Right Click on Users and create a New User.
 New User Selection
  1. Enter the Name Settings for the new User.
  2. Create a User Logon Name. Note that Tesira uses the username entered into the "User logon name (pre-Windows 2000)" field.

(This name must be 20 characters or less)

  1. Select the Domain that the User will belong to.
  2. Take note of all of these parameters as they will be needed in the Tesira VoIP Endpoint setup.
  3. Click Next.
 New Object - User
  1. Create and confirm a password for the User.
  2. Ensure the "Password never expires" checkbox is selected.
  3. All other settings can be disabled.
  4. Click Next.
 New Object - User Password
 

Skype for Business Server settings

  1. Open the Skype for Business (SFB) server configuration page.
  2. Select Users.
  3. From the Enable Users pull down menu, choose Enable Users. 

Enable User Pulldown
  1. Under the Users dialog click the Add button.
 Add User SFB Server.jpg
  1. Click the Find button in the Select from Active Directory window to display the current users.
  2. Select the user that was created in the Active Directory setup steps above. 
  3. Click OK.
 Select From AD.JPG
  1. Assign the user to a pool
  2. Under "Generate user's SIP URI" select "Specify a SIP URI". 
    • Enter the following: "sip:xxxxx@domain".  In this instance the xxxxx represents the user name of the contact and the domain is the URI it is to be associated with. 
  3. Under the Telephony field select Enterprise Voice. 
  4. Under the Line URI enter "tel:xxxxx" In this instance the xxxxx represents the phone extension number to be assigned to the user. 
  5. Select a Dial Plan Policy.  Note that if you plan on not using a Dial Plan, or if you would like the user account to utilize the Pool, Site, or Global Dial Plan you can leave this setting a the default "Automatic".  If you would like to choose a custom User Dial Plan select that dial plan from the pull down list.  If the intention is that the Tesira VoIP endpoint should use Lync Normalization Rules as part of the Dial Plan settings please visit this article. 
  6. All other user settings may remain at default or be adjusted to align with whatever custom parameters are necessary in the particular system. 
  7. Click Enable at the top of the screen. 
 New User Selection.v2.JPG
  1. The resultant user list should show the new user in an enabled state. 

Result of User Setup

Security

SFB supports three different mechanisms for device authentication, however Tesira supports only one of these three.  The following steps ensure that a mutually support service is enabled. 

  1. In the SFB server select Security.
  2. Select the security scheme that is used for the Registration Pool the User was added to in the SFB user setup steps above. 
  3. Edit the scheme.

Note: In many circumstances the system may be set to only utilize the default "Global" security group. 

 Security List
  1. Ensure that at minimum the "Enable Integrated Windows authentication" box is checked. 
 SFB Security Selections.JPG

Tesira configuration

Next, we'll focus on setting up the Tesira configuration to match the settings that were used in SFB.

WebPage_Login.png

Accessing the VoIP web page

To access the VoIP web page, connect a computer to the VoIP network, open a web browser, and enter the IP address of the VoIP port. If successful, a login page will be displayed.  

Default username: admin

Default password: admin

If you do not see a login screen ensure the following:

  • The Tesira device must be running firmware version 3.8 or newer.
  • The Tesira system must be running a configuration file that includes a VoIP block.
  • This Tesira system must have either HTTP or HTTPS access enabled on the VoIP port, as described here.

Network configuration

  1. Under the Network window, set “VLAN” to “Enabled” if your VoIP network uses a tagged VLAN.  If the network uses an untagged VLAN or no VLAN, leave this value as disabled”.  If VLAN is enabled, enter the correct VLAN ID.
  2. Leave “DHCP” set to “Enabled” if the SVC-2 card will obtain an IP address automatically from a DHCP server.  Otherwise, set “DHCP” to “Disabled”, and manually enter an appropriate static IP Address, Subnet Mask, and Gateway for the Tesira VoIP endpoint

To access the optional advanced network features, click the "Switch to Advanced" button.

To write the settings to the VoIP card click on "Save Changes" and then "Apply Saved Changes". After the changes have been saved, you will be brought back to the login page.

 IPconfig_Webpage.png
  1. Toggle the Advanced settings on your VoIP webpage using the "Switch to Advanced" button
  2. Under the "Line 1 Setup" page, ensure that the Transport Type is set to TLS. TLS is the default transport protocol for SFB and will likely be used because of its encryption support for SIP
    • If you are configuring two lines of a Tesira VoIP endpoint this setting will apply to both lines simultaneously
  3. The default setting for TLS in Tesira will encrypt all SIP data, but accept verification of any server certificate received.  If stricter security is required, Certificates can be uploaded to the Tesira VoIP Endpoint from this webpage. 

advancedSettings.png

SFBAdv_TLS.png

 

Note: TCP is a supported alternative to TLS in SFB, but it must be manually enabled.  If registration issues occur between SFB and Tesira, temporarily configuring the system in TCP mode would allow a Wireshark trace to capture unencrypted data for troubleshooting.  Additional troubleshooting can be done by downloading the Logs and saving them in the default .uccapilog format.  These logs can be sent to Biamp Technical Support for review. 

Protocol information

  1. SFBAdv_Webpage.pngSelect your line, Line 1 Setup and Line 2 Setup are on the left of the page
  2. Set Proxy Vendor to Skype for Business
  3. In the SIP User Name field, enter the SIP User Name portion of the SIP URI  created in SFB User Dialog page.
  4. In the SIP Domain field enter the Domain portion of the SIP URI used in the SFB User Dialog page.  Note that the @ symbol does not need to be entered. 
  5. Enter the "User Log In Name (Pre Windows 2000)" created in the Active Directory User Page. (Note that this field must be 20 characters or less. This is a Windows limitation.)
  6. In the User Logon Password field enter the Password used in the Active Directory Password Page . 
  7. In the NetBIOS field, enter the NetBios Domain located in the Active Directory User Page (the field is located to the left of the "User logon name (pre-Windows 2000)" field). Note that the "\" (backslash) symbol should be omitted from the Tesira configuration.           
                      
           
  8. Enter the Front End Address for the SFB server. There are two methods that can be used to set the Proxy Address:
  • Entering the IP Address of the SFB server in the Front End Server Address field. 

SFBFront_End.png
  • Entering the URI of the SFB server in the Front End Server Address field.  When the domain is used the Tesira endpoint will make use of one of the following three mechanisms to locate the SFB. 
  1. SRV Record lookup
  2. NAPTR Record lookup
  3. DNS Record Lookup

The Tesira device will try each method in order and the first to receive a response will be used.  Note that in order to make use of these settings the Front End Server Port must be set to 0. 

 SFBFront_EndNAPTR.png
  1. If you are configuring a second line, switch to "Line 2 Setup" and repeat steps 2-8
  2. All other settings can remain at their default values in most cases. 
  3. Once all settings have been added, save the changes by clicking "Save Changes".
  4. To send the changes to the Tesira VoIP interface, click "Apply Saved Changes". This will send the new settings to the VoIP interface. The VoIP interface will then briefly reboot, and start working based on the new settings.