HCS for Contact Center

Prerequisites

Before you plan the HCS for Contact Center deployment, review the Cisco Hosted Collaboration Solution, Release 10.6(1) Solution Reference Network Design Guide and Installing and Configuring Cisco HCS for Contact Center.

Consider the following carefully:
  1. Initial system requirements and planned growth
  2. Data center requirements
  3. Licensing
  4. Customer premise equipment
  5. Service fulfillment
  6. Service assurance

HCS for Contact Center Workflow

Plan the HCS for Contact Center Deployment

The following sections provide HCS for Contact Center deployment planning details:

Determine the HCS for Contact Center Deployment Model

Procedure
    Step 1   Identify the number of agents that you require: 100 or less, 500, 1000, 4000 or 12,000.
    Step 2   Review the Configuration Limits for agents, supervisors, teams, and reporting users of each deployment model. Consider your initial requirements as well as any planned growth.
    Step 3   Identify any optional Cisco components to include in the deployment.
    • AW-HDS-DDS server (Administration Server, Real-Time and Historical Data Server, and Detail Data server). The AW-HDS-DDS server is a core component for the 4000-agent deployment.
    • SPAN-based monitoring
    • Cisco Unified Web Interaction Manager (WIM) and Unified Email Interaction Manager (EIM)
    • Cisco Remote Silent Monitoring (RMS)
    • Cisco MediaSense
    Step 4   Review the Optional Component Considerations. Consider your initial requirements as well as any planned growth.
    Step 5   Identify any third-party components to include in the deployment.
    • Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) and Text-to-Speech (TTS)
    • Recording
    • Wallboard
    • Workforce Management

    Configuration Limits

    Table 1 Agents, Supervisors, Teams, Reporting Users
    Group Resource 500 Agent Deployment 1000 Agent Deployment 4000 Agent Deployment

    12000 Agent Deployment

    		Small Contact Center Deployment
    Agents

    Active Agents*

    		500 1000 4000 12000 4000

    Configured Agents*

    		3000 6000 24000 72000 24000

    Agents with Trace ON

    		50* 100* 400* 400 400*

    Agent Desk Settings*

    		500 1000 4000 12000 4000

    Active Mobile Agents

    		125 250

    See, Mobile Agent Support

    See, Mobile Agent Support

    See, Mobile Agent Support

    Configured Mobile Agents

    		750 1500 6000 8000 6000

    Outbound Agents

    		500 1000 4000 12000 4000

    Agents per team

    		50* 50* 50* 50 50*

    Queues per Agent (Skill Groups and Precision Queues combined)

    		15* 15* 15* 15 15*

    Agents per skill group

    No limit

    No limit

    No limit

    No limit

    No limit

    Attributes per agent*

    		50 50 50 50 50
    Supervisors

    Active Supervisors*

    		50 100 400 1200 400

    Configured Supervisors*

    		300 600 2400 7200 2400

    Active teams*

    		50 100 400 1200 400

    Configured teams*

    		300 600 2400 7200 2400

    Supervisors per Team

    		10* 10* 10* 10 10*

    Teams per supervisor

    		20* 20* 20* 20 20*

    Agents per supervisor

    		20 20 20 20 20
    Reporting

    Active Reporting users

    		50 100 400 1200 400

    Configured Reporting users

    		300 600 2400 7200 2400
    Access Control Administrator (Users) 100 100 1000 1000 1000

    Mobile Agent Support

    Follow the below calculation to determine mobile agent capacity:

    Each mobile agent for a nailed connection (nailed-up configuration) = two local agents


    Note

    • Total number of agents should be less than deployment limits

    • For 500 and 1000 agent deployments if active mobile agent requirement exceeds the specified limit, use the above formula to determine mobile agent capacity


    Note
    1. Preview, Direct Preview, Progressive and Predictive dialing modes are supported.

    2. For SIP Outbound Dialer in HCS for Contact Center deployment, if CUSP is not used only one gateway can be connected.

      If CUSP is not used in the deployment the maximum configured ports are 500 dialer ports in the ICM and in the IOS gateway . If CUSP is used in the deployment the maximum configured ports are 1500 dialer ports.

    3. The Symbol "*" indicates that the configuration limits for the above resources are enforced through CCDM.

    4. Number of active and configured mobile agents are considered from the total supported active and configured mobile agents.

    5. Number of active and configured outbound agents are considered from the total supported active and configured outbound agents.

    Group Resource 500 Agent Deployment 1000 Agent Deployment 4000 Agent Deployment 12000 Agent Deployment Small Contact Center Deployment
    Outbound Dialer per system 1 1 2 6 32
    Number of Campaigns (Agent/IVR based) 50 300 300 300 300
    Campaign skill groups per campaign 20 20 20 20 20

    Queues per Agent (Skill Groups and Precision Queues combined)

    		15 15 15 15 15
    Total Numbers of Agents 500 1000 4000 12000 4000
    Port Throttle 5 10 10 15 10
    Group Resource 500 Agent Deployment 1000 Agent Deployment 4000 Agent Deployment 12000 Agent Deployment Small Contact Center Deployment
    Precision Queues Precision Queues* 4000 4000 4000 4000 4000
    Precision Queue steps* 10000 10000 10000 10000 10000
    Precision Queue term per Precision Queue* 10 10 10 10 10
    Precision steps per Precision Queue* 10 10 10 10 10
    Unique attributes per Precision Queue* 10 10 10 10 10
    General Attributes* 10000 10000 10000 10000 10000
    Bucket Intervals 500 1000 4000 12000 4000
    Active Call Types 1000 2000 8000 8000 8000
    Configured Call Types* 2000 2000 10000 10000 10000
    Call Type Skill Group per Interval 2000 2000 30000 30000 30000
    Active Routing Scripts 250 500 2000 6000 2000
    Configured Routing Scripts 500 1000 4000 12000 4000
    Network VRU Scripts * 500 1000 4000 12000 4000
    Reason Codes 100 100 100 100 100
    Skill Groups* 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000
    Persistent Enabled Expanded Call Variables * 20 20 5 5 5
    Persistent Enabled Expanded Call Variable Arrays 0 0 0 0 0
    Nonpersistent Expanded Call Variables(Bytes)* 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000
    Bulk Jobs 200 200 200 200 200
    CTI All event Clients 9/PG 9/PG 9/PG 9/PG 9/PG
    Group Resource 500 Agent Deployment 1000 Agent Deployment 4000 Agent Deployment 12000 Agent Deployment Small Contact Center Deployment
    Dialed Number Dialed Number (External Voice) 1000 1000 4000 12000 4000
    Dialed Number (Internal Voice) 1000 1000 4000 12000 4000
    Dialed Number (Multichannel) 500 500 2000 6000 2000
    Dialed Number (Outbound Voice) 500 500 2000 6000 2000
    Load VRU Ports 900 1800 7200 21600 7200
    Calls per second 5 8 35 115 35
    Agent Load 30 BHCA 30 BHCA 30 BHCA 30 BHCA 30 BHCA
    Reskilling Dynamic (operations/hr.) 120 120 120 120 120

    Features & Options in Small Contact Center Deployment

    The following table lists the Features and Optional component Multi tenancy capabilities in a Small Contact Center Deployment.
    Features/Optional Components Notes
    Outbound Dialer A single Outbound Dialer per Sub customer is supported, not exceeding 32 sub customers.
    Outbound Campaigns Each sub-customer supports 30 campaigns and total campaigns supported is 300.
    WIM and EIM A single WIM and EIM instance per sub customer is supported, not exceeding 74 sub customers.
    Remote Silent Monitoring

    A single RSM instance will support up to 6 sub customers and 120 concurrent sessions supported per RSM. A single RSM instance per sub customer is supported.

    Media Sense A single Media Sense instance per sub customer, not exceeding 149 sub customers.

    Optional Component Considerations

    This section describes the capabilities of the following Cisco Optional Components:

    Unified WIM and EIM Considerations

    This section describes the following considerations for Unified WIM and EIM.

    Unified WIM and EIM Deployment Options
    Collocated Deployment

    Due to the modular, component-based nature of the architecture, Cisco WIM and EIM has the ability to cater to the growing demands for concurrent user loads. To provide the flexibility to suit deployments of varied sizes, Cisco WIM and EIM supports various components that may be distributed across various servers in a deployment.

    In Collocated deployment option, the web server is installed on a separate machine and all other components are installed on one machine. The web server may be installed outside the firewall, if required.

    Figure 1. Collocated Deployment



    In this configuration, each component is on a separate machine, with the web server installed outside the firewall. The application, messaging, services, and web servers in this configuration can be restarted without restarting any other servers.
    Figure 2. Distributed-Server Deployment



    Unified WIM and EIM Configuration Limits
    Unified WIM and EIM Configuration Limits
    Table 2 Unified WIM and EIM Configuration Limits
    Group Resource Unified WIM and EIM Distributed server Deployment Unified WIM and EIM Collocated Deployment
    Multimedia

    Agents (any combination of Email, Chat and Web callback activities)

    		1250 # 200 ##

    Maximum Number of Emails per agent per hour

    		5 12

    Maximum Number of chats per agent per hour

    		5 10

    Maximum Number of Web Callback per agents per hour

    		5 5

    Note

    The Symbol "#" indicates that the Unified WIM and EIM Distributed server Deployment allows combination of maximum 600 concurrent Web Callback and for the remaining it allows any combination of Email or Chat activities. The Symbol "##" indicates that the Unified WIM and EIM Collocated Deployment allows combination of maximum 100 concurrent Web Callback and for the remaining it allows any combination of Email or Chat activities.

    HCS Support Matrix for Unified WIM and EIM
    HCS Support Matrix for Unified WIM and EIM
    Table 3 HCS Support Matrix for Unified WIM and EIM
    HCS for CC Deployment Unified WIM and EIM Distributed server Deployment Unified WIM and EIM Collocated Deployment
    HCS for CC 500 Agent Deployment Support can't exceed 500 Multimedia agents Yes
    HCS for CC 1000 Agent Deployment Support can't exceed 1000 Multimedia agents Yes
    HCS for CC 4000 Agent Deployment Yes Yes
    HCS for CC 12000 Agent Deployment Yes Yes
    HCS for CC Small Contact Center Agent Deployment No Yes

    Cisco RSM Capabilities

    Platform Capabilities

    Call Flow

    The Supervisor can only monitor agents who are in talking state.

    Desktop

    CTIOS

    Voice Codec

    Between Agent and RSM: G.729 (RTP)

    Between RSM and VXML Gateway: G.711 (RTSP)

    Concurrent Monitoring Sessions

    120

    Monitored Calls (per minute)

    17

    Maximum Configured Agents per PG

    12000

    SimPhone Start line Number Range

    Four to fifteen digits

    Cisco MediaSense Capabilities

    Platform Capabilities
    Phone All HCS supported Phone. See list of supported phones in Voice Infrastructure section.
    Supported Model 2vCPU, 4vCPU and 7vCPU profiles.
    Voice Codec G.711 and G.729
    Session

    See session related details in http:/​/​docwiki.cisco.com/​wiki/​Virtualization_​for_​Cisco_​MediaSense#Version_​10.x.

    Media Forking CUBE, Phone and TDM
    Network Inter cluster communication over WAN is not supported.
    Voice Infrastructure

    The following table lists the voice infrastructure.



    Table 4 Voice Infrastructure

    Voice Infrastructure

    HCS for Contact Center Deployment

    Notes

    Music on Hold

    Unicast

    Multicast

    Unified CM Subscriber source only

    This sizing applies to agent node only, for both agent and back-office devices, with all agent devices on the same node pair.

    Proxy

    SIP Proxy is optionally supported.

    High Availability (HA) and load balancing are achieved using these solution components:

    • Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) gateway and Unified CM, which use the SIP Options heartbeat mechanism to perform HA.
    • Unified CVP servers, which use the SIP server group and SIP Options heartbeat mechanism to perform HA and load balancing.

    Ingress Gateways

    ISR G2 Cisco Unified Border Element with combination VXML

    3925E and 3945E are the supported GWs.

    For SPAN based Silent Monitoring, the Ingress gateway is spanned.

    You must configure the gateway MTPs to do a codec pass-through because the Mobile Agent in HCS is configured to use G729 and the rest of the components in HCS support all the codecs. See CVP SRND for list of supported gateway models and corresponding sizing.

    Protocol

    Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) over TCP

    SIP over UDP, H323, Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP) are not supported.

    Proxy /Cisco Unified SIP Proxy (CUSP)

    SIP Proxy is optionally supported.

    Outbound Option: The Outbound dialer can connect to only one physical gateway, if SIP proxy is not used. See Configuration Limits

    Codec

    • IVR: G.711ulaw and G.711alaw
    • Agents: G.711ulaw, G.711 alaw, and G729r8

    G.722, iSAC, and iLBC are not supported.

    Media Resources

    Gateway-based:

    • Conference bridges
    • Transcoders and Universal Transcoders
    • Hardware and IOS Software Media Termination Points.

    Unified CM-based (Cisco IP Voice Media Streaming Application) that are not supported:

    • Conference bridges
    • MTPs

    Optional Component Considerations

    This section describes the capabilities of the following Cisco Optional Components:
    Unified WIM and EIM Considerations

    This section describes the following considerations for Unified WIM and EIM.

    Unified WIM and EIM Design Considerations
    Figure 3. Unified WIM and EIM Design Considerations




    Note

    Cisco Media Blender is used only for Web/Scheduled Callback feature.

    Unified WIM and EIM Deployment Options
    Collocated Deployment

    Due to the modular, component-based nature of the architecture, Cisco WIM and EIM has the ability to cater to the growing demands for concurrent user loads. To provide the flexibility to suit deployments of varied sizes, Cisco WIM and EIM supports various components that may be distributed across various servers in a deployment.

    In Collocated deployment option, the web server is installed on a separate machine and all other components are installed on one machine. The web server may be installed outside the firewall, if required.

    Figure 4. Collocated Deployment



    In this configuration, each component is on a separate machine, with the web server installed outside the firewall. The application, messaging, services, and web servers in this configuration can be restarted without restarting any other servers.
    Figure 5. Distributed-Server Deployment



    Unified WIM and EIM Configuration Limits
    Unified WIM and EIM Configuration Limits
    Table 5 Unified WIM and EIM Configuration Limits
    Group Resource Unified WIM and EIM Distributed server Deployment Unified WIM and EIM Collocated Deployment
    Multimedia

    Agents (any combination of Email, Chat and Web callback activities)

    		1250 # 200 ##

    Maximum Number of Emails per agent per hour

    		5 12

    Maximum Number of chats per agent per hour

    		5 10

    Maximum Number of Web Callback per agents per hour

    		5 5

    Note

    The Symbol "#" indicates that the Unified WIM and EIM Distributed server Deployment allows combination of maximum 600 concurrent Web Callback and for the remaining it allows any combination of Email or Chat activities. The Symbol "##" indicates that the Unified WIM and EIM Collocated Deployment allows combination of maximum 100 concurrent Web Callback and for the remaining it allows any combination of Email or Chat activities.

    HCS Support Matrix for Unified WIM and EIM
    HCS Support Matrix for Unified WIM and EIM
    Table 6 HCS Support Matrix for Unified WIM and EIM
    HCS for CC Deployment Unified WIM and EIM Distributed server Deployment Unified WIM and EIM Collocated Deployment
    HCS for CC 500 Agent Deployment Support can't exceed 500 Multimedia agents Yes
    HCS for CC 1000 Agent Deployment Support can't exceed 1000 Multimedia agents Yes
    HCS for CC 4000 Agent Deployment Yes Yes
    HCS for CC 12000 Agent Deployment Yes Yes
    HCS for CC Small Contact Center Agent Deployment No Yes
    Unified WIM and WIM High Availability

    The following table contains the Cisco Unified WIM and EIMhigh availability during the failover of Unified CCE processes.

    Component Failover scenario New session (Web Callback/ Delayed callback/ Chat/ Email) impact Active session (Web Callback/ Delayed callback/ Chat/ Email) impact Post recovery action
    PG Unified Communications Manager PG Failover

    Web Callback - The new call is lost, because there is no Longest Available agent during the failure of PG.

    Delayed Callback - The new call reaches the customer and the agent after the PG on the other side becomes active and the delay that the customer specifies gets complete.

    Chat - The new chat initiated by the customer reaches the agent after the other side of the PG becomes active.

    Email - The new Email sent by the customer reaches the agent.

    		Active Web Callback, Delayed callback, Chat, and Email sessions continue uninterrupted. Agent receives the Call, Chat or Email after the PG becomes active and the agent logins again.
    PG MR PG Failover

    Web Callback - The new call is established between the customer and the agent after the PG becomes active.

    Delayed Callback - The new call reaches the customer and the agent after the PG on the other side becomes active and the delay that the customer specifies gets complete.

    Chat - The new chat initiated by the customer reaches the agent once the other side of the PG becomes active.

    Email - The new Email sent by the customer reaches the agent.

    		 Active Web Callback, Delayed callback, Chat, and Email sessions continue uninterrupted. Agent receives the Call, Chat or Email once the PG becomes active.
    CG CTI Failover

    Web Callback -The new call cannot be placed and the customer receives the message, "System cannot assign an Agent to the request."

    Delayed Callback - The new call reaches the customer and the agent after the CG on the other side becomes active and the delay that the customer specifies gets complete.

    Chat - The new chat initiated by the customer reaches the agent after the other side of the CG process becomes active.

    Email - The new Email sent by the customer reaches the agent.

    		Active Web Callback, Delayed callback, Chat, and Email sessions continue uninterrupted. Agent receives the Call, Chat or Email once the process becomes active.
    CTI OS CTI OS Server Failure

    Web Callback - The new call is established without any impact.

    Delayed Callback - The new call is established without any impact after the delay that the customer specifies gets complete.

    Chat - The new chat reaches the agent without any impact.

    Email - The new Email sent by the customer reaches the agent.

    		Active Web Callback, Delayed callback, Chat, and Email sessions continue uninterrupted. Seamless.
    Router Router fails

    Web Callback - The new call is established through other side of the router process.

    Delayed Callback - The new call is established through other side of the router process and once the delay mentioned by the customer completes.

    Chat - The new chat reaches the agent through other side of the router process.

    Email - The new Email sent by the customer reaches the agent through other side of the router process.

    		 Active Web Callback, Delayed callback, Chat and Email sessions continue uninterrupted. Agent gets the Call, Chat or Email with other side of the router process.
    Cisco WIM and EIM Bandwidth, Latency and QOS Considerations

    The minimum required network bandwidth for an agent connecting to the Cisco Interaction Manager servers on login is 384 kilobits/second or greater. After login in a steady state an average bandwidth of 40 kilobits/second or greater is required.

    An attachment of size up to 50 KB is supported within this required bandwidth. For attachments of size greater than 50 KB, you may experience slow speed temporarily in the agent user interface during download of the attachments.

    Cisco RSM Considerations
    Cisco RSM Design Considerations
    Figure 6. Cisco RSM Design Considerations



    Cisco RSM High Availability

    The following table shows the Cisco RSM High Availability.



    Table 7 Cisco RSM High Availability
    Component Failover/Failure Scenario New Call Impact Active Call Impact Post-recovery Action
    RSM Server RSM server (hardware) fails Attempts to contact the RSM server fail Active monitoring sessions terminate and supervisor is directed to the main menu Supervisor can monitor calls after the RSM server becomes active
    CTI OS Server CTI OS Server Failure Supervisor can monitor new calls without any failure Active monitoring sessions will continue normally Failover is seamless
    CTI Active CTI Gateway process fails Supervisor can establish new monitoring sessions until the secondary CTI process becomes active Active monitoring sessions continue normally After the CTI Gateway becomes active the supervisor can establish new monitoring sessions
    VLEngine VLEngine fails Supervisor can establish new monitoring sessions when VLEngine becomes active Active monitoring sessions terminate and supervisor is directed to the main menu After the VLEngine becomes active the supervisor can establish new monitoring sessions
    PhoneSim PhoneSim fails Supervisor can monitor new calls when PhoneSim becomes active Active monitoring sessions continue normally After the PhoneSim becomes active the supervisor can establish new monitoring sessions
    Unified CM Active Subscriber fails New calls cannot be established until the secondary subscriber becomes active Active monitoring sessions continue normally After the secondary subscriber becomes active the supervisor can establish new monitoring sessions
    JTAPI JTAPI gateway fails Supervisor can establish new calls without any failure Active monitoring sessions continue normally Failover is seamless
    Unified CVP Active CVP fails New calls cannot be established until the Unified CVP becomes active Active monitoring sessions terminate After the Unified CVP becomes active the supervisor can establish new monitoring sessions
    Cisco RSM Capabilities
    Platform Capabilities

    Call Flow

    The Supervisor can only monitor agents who are in talking state.

    Desktop

    CTIOS

    Voice Codec

    Between Agent and RSM: G.729 (RTP)

    Between RSM and VXML Gateway: G.711 (RTSP)

    Concurrent Monitoring Sessions

    120

    Monitored Calls (per minute)

    17

    Maximum Configured Agents per PG

    12000

    SimPhone Start line Number Range

    Four to fifteen digits

    Cisco RSM Bandwidth, Latency and QOS Considerations
    RSM Peer Purpose Protocols Used Data Format Relative Bandwidth Requirements Link Latency Requirements
    VRU Service Requests and Responses TCP (HTTP) Textual Minimal < 500 ms avg.
    VRU Requested Voice Data from PhoneSim to VRU TCP (HTTP) G711, chunked transfer mode encoding High (about 67 to 87 kbps per session) < 400 ms avg.
    Unified CM Issuance of Agent Phone Monitoring TCP (JTAPI) Binary (JTAPI stream) Minimal < 300 ms avg.
    CTI OS Server (PG) Environment Events and Supervisor Logins TCP (CTI OS) Binary (CTI OS stream) Minimal < 300 ms avg.
    Agent Phones Simulated Phone Signaling TCP or UDP (SIP) Textual Minimal < 400 ms avg.
    Agent Phones Monitored Phone Voice Data UDP (RTP) Binary (G.711) High (about 67 to 87 kbps per session) < 400 ms avg
    Cisco MediaSense Considerations
    Cisco MediaSense Design Considerations
    Figure 7. Cisco MediaSense Design Considerations



    Cisco MediaSense Capabilities
    Platform Capabilities
    Phone All HCS supported Phone. See list of supported phones in Voice Infrastructure section.
    Supported Model 2vCPU, 4vCPU and 7vCPU profiles.
    Voice Codec G.711 and G.729
    Session

    See session related details in http:/​/​docwiki.cisco.com/​wiki/​Virtualization_​for_​Cisco_​MediaSense#Version_​10.x.

    Media Forking CUBE, Phone and TDM
    Network Inter cluster communication over WAN is not supported.
    Cisco MediaSense High Availability
    Component Failover/Failure Scenario New Call Impact Active Call Impact Postrecovery Action
    Recording Sever Primary Recording Sever is down Distributes the incoming load across the remaining severs. Unified CM sets a time limit beyond which, if the recording hasn't begun, it will stop trying, and Active calls will not get recorded till CM established the connection with Recording server. Call will get recorded on failed recording sever once it becomes active.
    Secondary Recording Server No Impact No Impact No Impact
    Database Either Primary or Secondary server goes down No Impact No Impact Data Replication begins automatically.
    Cisco MediaSense Bandwidth, Latency and QOS Considerations

    MediaSense requires gigabit LAN connectivity with 2ms or less between servers within a cluster.

    Cisco Unified SIP Proxy Considerations
    • Consists of 2 gateways for redundancy, geographically separated, 1 proxy module each, using SRV priority for redundancy of proxies, no HSRP
    • CUSP can co-reside with VXML or TDM gateways. In earlier versions of Unified CVP due to platform validation restriction co-residency was not supported, and a dedicated ISR was required for proxy functionalities
    • TDM gateways are configured with SRV or with Dial Peer Preferences to use the primary and secondary CUSP proxies
    • CUSP is set with Server Groups to find primary and back up Unified CVP, Unified CM and VXML gateways
    • Unified CVP is set up with Server Group to use the primary and secondary CUSP proxies
    • Cisco Unified CM is set up with a Route Group with multiple SIP Trunks, to use the primary and secondary CUSP proxies
    Performance Matrix for CUSP Deployment
    CUSP baseline tests were done in isolation on the proxy, and capacity numbers (450 TCP transactions per second) should be used as the highest benchmark, and most stressed condition allowable. A CVP call, from the proxy server perspective, entails on average, 4 separate SIP calls:
    • Caller inbound leg
    • VXML outbound leg
    • Ringtone outbound leg
    • Agent outbound leg
    When a consult with CVP queuing occurs, an additional 4 SIP transactions will be incurred for the session, effectively doubling the number of calls.

    Note
    Always turn the Record Route setting off on the proxy server to avoid a single point of failure and allow fault tolerance routing, as well as increase the performance of the Proxy server. Using record route setting on the proxy server doubles the impact to performance, as shown in the CUSP baseline matrix, and also breaks the high availability model since the proxy becomes a single point of failure for the call, if the proxy were to go down.

    Record Route is turned off by default on CUSP.

    Cisco SPAN based Monitoring Considerations
    Silent Monitoring Bandwidth, Latency and QOS Considerations

    With Silent Monitoring supervisors can listen to the agent calls in Unified CCE call centers that use CTI OS. Voice packets sent to and received by the monitored agent's IP hardware phone are captured from the network and sent to the supervisor desktop. At the supervisor desktop, these voice packets are decoded and played on the supervisor's system sound card. Silent Monitoring of an agent consumes approximately the same network bandwidth as an additional voice call. If a single agent requires bandwidth for one voice call, then the same agent being silently monitored requires bandwidth for two concurrent voice calls. To calculate the total network bandwidth required for your call load, multiply the number of calls by the per-call bandwidth figure for your particular codec and network protocol.

    Optional Component Bandwidth, Latency and QOS Considerations

    This section describes the bandwidth and QOS considerations for Cisco HCS for Contact Center Optional components.

    Silent Monitoring Bandwidth, Latency and QOS Considerations

    With Silent Monitoring supervisors can listen to the agent calls in Unified CCE call centers that use CTI OS. Voice packets sent to and received by the monitored agent's IP hardware phone are captured from the network and sent to the supervisor desktop. At the supervisor desktop, these voice packets are decoded and played on the supervisor's system sound card. Silent Monitoring of an agent consumes approximately the same network bandwidth as an additional voice call. If a single agent requires bandwidth for one voice call, then the same agent being silently monitored requires bandwidth for two concurrent voice calls. To calculate the total network bandwidth required for your call load, multiply the number of calls by the per-call bandwidth figure for your particular codec and network protocol.

    Cisco RSM Bandwidth, Latency and QOS Considerations
    RSM Peer Purpose Protocols Used Data Format Relative Bandwidth Requirements Link Latency Requirements
    VRU Service Requests and Responses TCP (HTTP) Textual Minimal < 500 ms avg.
    VRU Requested Voice Data from PhoneSim to VRU TCP (HTTP) G711, chunked transfer mode encoding High (about 67 to 87 kbps per session) < 400 ms avg.
    Unified CM Issuance of Agent Phone Monitoring TCP (JTAPI) Binary (JTAPI stream) Minimal < 300 ms avg.
    CTI OS Server (PG) Environment Events and Supervisor Logins TCP (CTI OS) Binary (CTI OS stream) Minimal < 300 ms avg.
    Agent Phones Simulated Phone Signaling TCP or UDP (SIP) Textual Minimal < 400 ms avg.
    Agent Phones Monitored Phone Voice Data UDP (RTP) Binary (G.711) High (about 67 to 87 kbps per session) < 400 ms avg
    Cisco WIM and EIM Bandwidth, Latency and QOS Considerations

    The minimum required network bandwidth for an agent connecting to the Cisco Interaction Manager servers on login is 384 kilobits/second or greater. After login in a steady state an average bandwidth of 40 kilobits/second or greater is required.

    An attachment of size up to 50 KB is supported within this required bandwidth. For attachments of size greater than 50 KB, you may experience slow speed temporarily in the agent user interface during download of the attachments.

    Cisco MediaSense Bandwidth, Latency and QOS Considerations

    MediaSense requires gigabit LAN connectivity with 2ms or less between servers within a cluster.

    Determine the Hardware Requirements

    Procedure
      Step 1   Determine the hardware requirements by using one of the following hardware configurations:
      Step 2   If the deployment includes optional Cisco or third-party components, determine if you require additional hardware. See the storage and blade placement considerations section in Installing and Configuring Cisco HCS for Contact Center at http:/​/​www.cisco.com/​c/​en/​us/​support/​unified-communications/​hosted-collaboration-solution-contact-center/​products-installation-guides-list.html.

      Tested Reference Configurations

      This section lists the specifications for the UCSB200 M3 Blade server. The source system at the partner or service provider uses one core server for the golden template environment. The customer destination system must run in a duplexed environment using a pair of core Unified Computing System (UCS) UCSB200 M3 blade servers known as Side A and Side B.

      Table 8 B200 M3 Blades

      Server Model

      Cisco UCS B200 M3 Tested Reference Configuration (TRC) blade server

      CPU Type

      Intel(R) Xeon(R) 2.80 GHz E5-2680 v2/15W 10C/25MB Cache

      CPU Cores

      Two 10-core CPUs

      Memory

      16 X [16GB DDR3-1866-MHz-RDIMM/PC-3-14900/dual rank/x4/1.5v]

      Disks

      Diskless

      Virtual Interface

      Cisco UCS VIC 1240 modular LOM for M3 blade servers

      Part Number

      UCS-EZ7-B200-P

      Specification-Based Hardware Support

      Cisco HCS for Contact Center supports specification-based hardware, but limits this support to only UCS B-Series blade hardware. This section provides the supported server hardware, component version, and storage configurations.

      Table 9 Hardware Requirements

      Server

      Component

      Description

      Cisco UCS B2XX Blade Server, such as

      • Cisco UCS-B200M2-VCS1 Blade Server
      • Cisco UCS-B200M3 Blade Server
      • Cisco UCS-B230M2-VCDL1 Blade Server

      CPU Type

      Intel Xeon 5600 family 2.40 GHz physical core speed minimum

      Intel Xeon 7500 family 2.40 GHz physical core speed minimum

      Intel Xeon E5-2600 family 2.4 GHz physical core speed minimum

      Intel Xeon E5-4600 family 2.4 GHz physical core speed minimum

      Intel Xeon E7-2800 family 2.4 GHz physical core speed minimum

      Intel Xeon E7-4800 family 2.4 GHz physical core speed minimum

      Intel Xeon E7-8800 family 2.4 GHz physical core speed minimum

      Memory

      128 GB minimum

      Virtual Interface Card

      In addition to legacy M71KR-Q support, all Cisco Virtual Interface Cards (VICs) are also supported.

      Cisco Unified Border Element Enterprise Gateway

      		 

      ISR G2 with a combination of TDM and VXML.

      Cisco supports ISR G2, which includes 3925E and 3945E gateways.

      Cisco Unified Border Element SP

      		 

      Cisco ASR 1000 series with Unified model

      Cisco Unified SIP Proxy

      		 

      Services Module with Services Ready Engine

      Adaptive Security Appliance

      		  Cisco ASA 5585

      Note

      For specification-based hardware, total CPU reservations must be within 65 percent of the available CPU of the host and total memory reservations must be within 80% of the available memory of the host.

      Determine the Software Requirements

      Before You Begin

      Procedure
        Step 1   Identify the required software for Cisco HCS for Contact Center for the required and optional components.
        Step 2   Identify the requirements for automation software.
        Step 3   Identify any requirements for third-party software.
        Step 4   Identify the requirements for software licenses according to the agent deployment model.
        Step 5   Identify any requirements for configuration software.

        Plan Solution Serviceability

        Procedure
          Step 1   Review the specified limits for the virtual machine performance counters. See Virtual Machine Performance Monitoring.
          Step 2   Review the specified limits for the EXSi performance counters. See ESXi Performance Monitoring.

          Virtual Machine Performance Monitoring

          The virtual machines must operate within the specified limits of the Virtual Machine performance counters listed in the following table.

          Table 10 Virtual Machine Performance Counters

          Category

          Counter

          Description

          Threshold

          CPU

          CPU Usage (Average)

          The CPU usage average in percentage for the VM and for each of the vCPUs.

          60%

          CPU Usage in MHz (Average)

          The CPU usage average in MHz.

          95 percentile is less than 60% of the total MHz available on the VM. 

          Total MHz = vCPUs x (Clock Speed).

          CPU Ready

          The time a virtual machine or other process waits in the queue in a ready-to-run state before it can be scheduled on a CPU.

          150 mSec.

          Memory

          Memory Usage (Average)

          Memory Usage = Active / Granted * 100

          80%

          Memory Active (Average)

          Memory that the guest OS and its applications actively use or reference. The server starts swap when it exceeds the amount of memory on the host.

          95 percentile is less than 80% of the granted memory.

          Memory Balloon (Average)

          ESXi uses balloon driver to recover memory from less memory-intensive VMs so it can be used by those with larger active sets of memory.

          0

          Memory Swap used (Average)

          ESX Server swap usage. Use the disk for RAM swap.

          0

          Disk

          Disk Usage (Average)

          Disk Usage = Disk Read rate + Disk Write rate

          Ensure that your SAN is configured to handle this amount of disk I/O.

          Disk Usage Read rate

          The rate of reading data from the disk.

          Ensure that your SAN is configured to handle this amount of disk I/O.

          Disk Usage Write rate

          The rate of writing data to the disk.

          Ensure that your SAN is configured to handle this amount of disk I/O.

          Disk Commands Issued

          The number of disk commands issued on this disk in the period.

          Disk IO per second

          IOPS = Disk Commands Issued / 20

          Ensure that your SAN is configured to handle this amount of disk I/O.

          Stop Disk Command

          The number of disk commands aborted on this disk in the period. The disk command aborts when the disk array takes too long to respond to the command. (Command timeout).

          0

          Network

          Network Usage (Average)

          Network Usage = Data receive rate + Data transmit rate

          30% of the available network bandwidth.

          Network Data Receive Rate

          The average rate at which data is received on this Ethernet port.

          30% of the available network bandwidth.

          Network Data Transmit Rate

          The average rate at which data is transmitted on this Ethernet port.

          30% of the available network bandwidth.

          ESXi Performance Monitoring

          The virtual machines must operate within the specified limits of the ESXi performance counters listed in the following table. The counters listed apply to all hosts that contain contact center components.

          Table 11 ESXi Performance Counters

          Category

          Counter

          Description

          Threshold

          CPU

          CPU Usage (Average)

          CPU Usage Average in percentage for ESXi Server overall and for each of the CPU processors.

          60%

          CPU Usage in MHz (Average)

          CPU Usage Average in MHz for ESXi server overall and for each of the CPU processors.

          60% of the available CPU clock cycles.

          Memory

          Memory Usage (Average)*

          Memory Usage = Active / Granted * 100

          80%

          Memory Used by VMKernel

          Memory Used by VMKernel

          95 percentile is less than 80% of 2GB.

          Memory Balloon (Average)

          ESX use balloon driver to recover memory from less memory-intensive VMs so it can be used by those with larger active sets of memory.

          0

          SwapUsed

          ESX Server swap usage. Use the disk for RAM swap.

          0

          Disk

          Disk Commands Issued

          Number of disk commands issued on this disk in the period.

          Disk IO per second

          IOPS = Disk Commands Issued / 20

          Disk Commands Aborts

          Number of disk commands aborted on this disk in the period.

          Disk command aborts when the disk array is taking too long to respond to the command. (Command timeout).

          0

          Disk Command Latency

          The average amount of time taken for a command from the perspective of a Guest OS.

          Disk Command Latency = Kernel Command Latency + Physical Device Command Latency.

          20 mSec.

          Kernel Disk Command Latency

          The average time spent in ESX Server VMKernel per command.

          Kernel Command Latency should be very small compared to the Physical Device Command Latency, and it should be close to zero.

          Network

          Network Usage (Average)

          Network Usage = Data receive rate + Data transmit rate

          30% of the available network bandwidth.

          Network Data Receive Rate

          The average rate at which data is received on this Ethernet port.

          30% of the available network bandwidth.

          Network Data Transmit Rate

          The average rate at which data is transmitted on this Ethernet port.

          30% of the available network bandwidth.

          droppedTx

          Number of transmitting packets dropped.

          0

          droppedRx

          Number of receiving packets dropped.

          0

          * The CVP Virtual Machine exceeds the 80% memory usage threshold due to the Java Virtual Machine memory usage.

          Determine the Active Directory Deployment

          Procedure
            Step 1   Review AD at Customer Premises.
            Step 2   Review AD at Service Provider Premises.

            AD at Customer Premises

            In the AD at the customer premises model, the service provider needs to request that the customer add entries into the customer AD to enable the service provider to sign into the system deployed in the domain. The service provider should be a local machine administrator and belong to the setup group for components that need to be installed and managed in the Cisco HCS for Contact Center environment. To run the Domain Manager, the service provider must be a domain administrator or a domain user with domain read and write permissions to create Organizational Units (OU) and groups.

            The end-customer use of the Cisco HCS for Contact Center solution is limited if the customer premises AD is inaccessible to the Cisco HCS for Contact Center Virtual Machines. Cisco strongly advises service providers to work with end customers to ensure that they understand the potential service limitations when they use the AD at the customer premises model.

            Cisco HCS for Contact Center also supports a deployment where the Cisco HCS for Contact Center components are associated with the AD at the service provider premises, and the CTI OS client desktops are part of the customer premises corporate AD. Consider the following for the AD in this deployment:

            • The instance administrator account is created in the service provider domain.

            • The instance administrator uses the Unified CCDM and Unified Intelligence Center to create agents, supervisors, and reporting users in the service provider domain.

            • The instance administrator configures all supervisors and reporting users.

            AD at Service Provider Premises

            In the AD at the service provider premises model, the service provider must have a dedicated AD for each customer instance. Each customer AD needs to be updated with Cisco HCS for Contact Center servers and accounts. The service provider administrator needs to be added to each customer AD to manage the Contact Center environment.

            You can use overlapping IP addresses for each customer deployment. For example, Cisco Unified Border Element — Enterprise, Unified CCE, and Unified CVP should be able to overlap IP addresses across customers. When you use overlapping IP addresses, the static Network Address Translation (NAT) provides access from the management system to each Cisco HCS for Contact Center environment.

            Determine the Blade and Storage Placement Requirements

            Before You Begin

            Review the section on storage and blade placement considerations in Installing and Configuring Cisco HCS for Contact Center at http:/​/​www.cisco.com/​c/​en/​us/​support/​unified-communications/​hosted-collaboration-solution-contact-center/​products-installation-guides-list.html.

            Procedure
              Step 1   Review the storage and blade placement for Cisco HCS shared management components.
              Step 2   Review the storage and blade placement for Cisco HCS core components.
              Step 3   Review the storage and blade placement for Cisco HCS optional components.

              Determine High Availability Requirements

              Before You Begin

              Review the section on high availability considerations in Installing and Configuring Cisco HCS for Contact Center at http:/​/​www.cisco.com/​c/​en/​us/​support/​unified-communications/​hosted-collaboration-solution-contact-center/​products-installation-guides-list.html.

              Procedure
                Step 1   Review the high availability considerations for Cisco HCS for Contact Center core components.
                Step 2   Review the high availability considerations for Cisco HCS for Contact Center optional components.

                Plan the Solution for Handling Congestion Control

                Before You Begin

                Review the section on congestion control considerations in Installing and Configuring Cisco HCS for Contact Center at http:/​/​www.cisco.com/​c/​en/​us/​support/​unified-communications/​hosted-collaboration-solution-contact-center/​products-installation-guides-list.html.

                Procedure
                  Step 1   Determine the supported congestion control deployment types.
                  Step 2   Determine the congestion treatment mode options.
                  Step 3   Determine the congestion control levels and thresholds.

                  Plan the UCS Networking Requirements

                  Before You Begin

                  Review the section on UCS network considerations in Installing and Configuring Cisco HCS for Contact Center at http:/​/​www.cisco.com/​c/​en/​us/​support/​unified-communications/​hosted-collaboration-solution-contact-center/​products-installation-guides-list.html.

                  Procedure
                    Step 1   Determine the deployment model.
                    Step 2   Determine the data center design.

                    Determine the Trunk Design

                    Procedure
                      Step 1   In the data center, review the trunk design for the Cisco Unified Border Element Service Provider edition. In a Cisco HCS for Contact Center deployment, the Cisco Unified Border Element Service Provider edition connects to the Cisco Unified Border Element Enterprise edition.
                      Step 2   Review the considerations for CUBE-Enterprise at Customer Premise. Estimate the number of SIP sessions required in the CUBE-Enterprise. Go to the Ordering Tool at https:/​/​www-gsc.cisco.com/​swc/​cisco/​ciscoAdvisor.action?sfId=CISCO&scFlag=Y.
                      Step 3   Review the considerations for TDM Gateway at Customer Premise.

                      CUBE-Enterprise at Customer Premise

                      Consider the following if you use the Cisco Unified Border Element - Enterprise at the customer premise:

                      • Cisco Unified Border Element - Enterprise gateway and the Cisco VXML gateway reside at the customer premise and calls are queued at the customer premise.

                      • The Cisco Unified Border Element - Enterprise and VXML gateway can be co-located on the same ISR, or located on different ISRs for cases where the number of IVR ports to agent ratio is small.

                      • Cisco Unified Border Element - Enterprise Integrated Services Router (ISR) provides the security, routing, and Digital Signal Processors (DSPs) for transcoders.

                      • Redundant Cisco Unified Border Element - Enterprise and Cisco VXML ISRs for failover and redundancy.

                      • WAN bandwidth must be sized appropriately for calls from CUBE(SP) to CUBE - Enterprise at the customer premise.

                      • Cisco Unified Border Element Enterprise supports flow-through mode. Flow-around mode is not supported.

                      TDM Gateway at Customer Premise

                      You can route PSTN calls using local gateway trunks if you prefer to keep your E1/T1 PSTN.

                      Consider the following if you use the TDM gateway at the customer premise:

                      • Both the Cisco TDM gateway and the Cisco VXML gateway reside at the customer premise.

                      • PSTN delivery is at the local customer premise.

                      • The media stays local at the customer premise for the local PSTN breakout. The IVR call leg is deterministically routed to the local VXML gateway and only uses the centralized resources in spill-over scenarios.

                      • When media is delivered to a different site, Cisco Unified Communications Manager location-based call admission control limits the number of calls over the WAN link.

                      • Calls local to a customer premise use the G.711 codec. Calls going over the WAN link can use the G.729 codec to optimize the WAN bandwidth.

                      • ASR/TTS server for local breakout is at the customer premise and resides on a UCS or bare metal server.

                      • CUBE(E) can also be used as an alternative for both TDM gateway and VXML gateway.

                      • A new call for HCS for Contact Center must originate from the TDM gateway to anchor the call to the survivability service. The Contact Center dialed number to route the calls to Unified Communications Manager must be configured manually.

                        Note
                        You need to manually modify the call routing from TDM gateway for the session target to route the call directly to Unified CVP.

                      Firewall Hardening Considerations

                      This section describes the specific ports required, which should be allowed from the Contact Center and customer networks, but are restricted only to the ports required for the services that need to be exposed, as well as from specific hosts or networks wherever possible. For an inventory of the ports used across the Hosted Collaboration Solutions for Contact Center applications, see the following documentation: