5 Understanding Network Controls and Solutions Planning Quality

5 | Understanding Network Controls and Solutions

Planning Quality of Service Planning considerations include the ability to: • Define Qo. S classification: • Different types of network traffic, with port-based and protocol-based traffic are the most common classification methods • Watch Qo. S policies implemented on existing switch infrastructures: • They can help ensure that client DSCP markings are not stripped or reset • Achieve guaranteed Qo. S by enabling DSCP marking of packets as they leave communication endpoints

Configuring Quality of Service Considerations include the ability to: • Verify that the Qo. S markings in place throughout the network are legitimate: • Avoids configuration issues on the switch infrastructure • Review the planning requirements for network port usage • Address common questions about manual port configuration scenarios such as: • Is it possible to assign a dedicated number and range of ports per Skype for Business Server modality? • What are some of scenarios in which you’d recommend this? • Allocate a separate and dedicated range for each

Creating Quality of Service Policies Examples of Qo. S settings for Internal Edge interface Ports Description 4915254000 Used for audio, the client is configured to use 20 ports; for example, ports 53081 -54000. Other servers, such as an A/V Conferencing server, use ports 49152 -54000. 5400160000 Used for video, the Skype for Business Server client is configured to use 20 ports; for example, ports 54001 -54020. Other servers, such as a A/V Conferencing server, use ports 54001 -60000. 6000165000 Used for application sharing, the client is configured to use 20 ports; for example, 60001 -60020. Other servers, such as a Conferencing server, use ports 60001 -65000. 6500065020 Used for file transfer, the client is configured to use 20 ports; for example 65001 -65020. This is a point-to-point file transfer only.

Overview of Call Admission Control Main CAC design attributes in Skype for Business Server 2015: • It is simple to deploy and manage without additional equipment, such as specially configured routers: • Creating a complete CAC configuration depends on network complexity • Maintaining a CAC policy depends on change management processes at the network • It addresses critical unified communication (UC) use cases, such as roaming users and multiple points of presence: • CAC policies are enforced according to where the endpoint is located, not where the user is homed • It can be applied to video calls and audio/video conferencing sessions • It provides the flexibility to enable representation of various kinds of network topologies

Network Regions These include: • Common network region cmdlets: New. Cs. Network. Region. Get-Cs. Network. Region, Set. Cs. Network. Region, and Remove-Cs. Network. Region • Network region routes that determine which linked path the connection will traverse from one region to another • Network region links that are used to review and configure links between two network regions as part of CAC • Network inter-site policies that define bandwidth limitations between sites that are directly linked

Call Admission Control Best Practices These include the ability to: • Ensure that WANs are adequately provisioned for current and anticipated media traffic • Monitor network usage and call detail records so that you can choose optimal CAC settings and update CAC settings as network usage changes • Use CAC bandwidth policies to complement Qo. S settings • If you want to reroute blocked calls onto the PSTN, verify PSTN functionality and capacity

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Call Rerouted Over PSTN 3 1 2 4 5 a 5 b 5 c

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Media Endpoint Requirements • CAC bandwidth policy check is performed by called endpoint. • Call to legacy client will ignore CAC: Will always be established • Bandwidth will not be managed •

Synthetic Transactions In Microsoft Skype for Business Server 2015, synthetic transactions provide rich logging that records: • The time that the activity started • The time that the activity finished • The action that was performed • Informational, verbose, warning, or error messages generated when the activity ran • SIP registration messages • Exception records or diagnostic codes generated when the activity ran • The net result of running the activity

Skype for Business Centralized Logging Service • Centralized Logging Service Agent Cls. Agent runs on every machine with Skype for Business Server deployed. It listens ( on ports TCP 50001 -50003) for commands from Cls. Controller over WCF and sends responses back to the controller. It manages log sessions (start/stop/update), and searches logs. It also performs housekeeping operations like log archiving and purges. • Centralized Logging Service Controller Cmdlets The Skype for Business Server Management Shell sends Start, Stop, Flush, and Search commands to the Cls. Agent. When search commands are sent, the resulting logs are returned to the Cls. Controller. Lib. dll and aggregated. The controller sends commands to the agent, receives the status of those commands and manages the search log file data as it is returned from all agents on any computer in the search scope, and aggregates the log data into a meaningful and ordered output set. The information in the following topics is focused on using the Skype for Business Server Management Shell. • Skype for Business 2015 — Centralized Logging Service (CLS): Start/Stop and Flush trace logging on all servers in a deployment from one place

Centralized Logging Service t, ar St Start, Stop, Search commands St ar t, S top , S ea Sear rch ch re sults co mm an Sea ds rch res ults , op St • Controlled by CLS Controller Se arc hr esu lts • Manages log files CLS Controller: • Manages log files • Controls the agents (Start, Stop, Flush) • Aggregates search results from all agents • Available on every Skype for Business Server • Managed through Skype for Business Management Shell Server ds an m m co • Runs on every Skype for Business Server ch ar Se CLS Agent:

Other Troubleshooting and Diagnostics Tools These include: • Skype for Business Network Monitor with Skype for Business Parsers • Remote Connectivity Analyzer • Snooper • Event logging (CAPI 2) • Nslookup/Telnet • Testing UDP • Lync Connectivity Analyzer

Analyzing Your Network Assessment Results Present and future considerations Present Future Issue Existing issues facing today Planned upgrades Finding s • • • Location and type of issues across the enterprise network Consider the issues in usage modeling Highlight the issues as risks • • • Identify sites with future and parallel upgrade plans Saturated links Highlight the network upgrades as potential risk

Analyzing the Modeling Phase Results Graphical results: • Focus on Skype for Business RTC bandwidth requirements and availability: Helps to quickly identify which sites might be lacking bandwidth for Skype for Business RTC traffic • Useful for creating executive-level reports in a network assessment final report • • You can choose which site results to graph

It Is About Interpretation When analyzing feedback from the data • Look for the unexpected : • Flat graphs = Good results • 0. 5% average packet loss on a managed line is optimal quality, but it should be flagged • Familiarize yourself with the customer’s network before starting to analyze it: • Example: 300 ms delay between the US and India is bad according to the graphical results, but it is to be expected

Guidelines for Analysis These include: • The greater the distance between locations, the higher the delay • Review line characteristics: • On a managed line, packet loss and high jitter should not occur • Try to group results: • If site A to site B, and site A to site C show issues, but site B to site C does not, focus on site A • When in doubt, verify

Developing Recommendations How to make recommendations: • Analysis + Context/Discovery = Recommendations • Overlay simulation data with discovery data • Do not wait until the end of the simulation to discuss data • Remember – the goal is not to solve, but identify

Creating Reports and Documents Include the following: • Present a summary of your results • Document what you learned that influenced the engagement in each phase: • Discovery • Modeling • Simulation • What risks did you uncover that the customer should consider? • Create a slide for each site that you tested

Information to Summarize Include the following: • List of locations, sites, and the number of users • List of defined personas • Completed bandwidth calculations • Documented historical data (WAN metrics) • Qo. S policies completed • Traffic simulation completed