The process of moving users from an existing telephony infrastructure to Enterprise Voice consists of the following steps:

  1. Designate primary phone numbers.

  2. Enable users for Enterprise Voice.

  3. Enable users for PBX integration (optional).

  4. Plan user voice policies.

  5. Configure PBX to reroute calls for users enabled for Enterprise Voice.

  6. Move users to Exchange Unified Messaging (optional).

This topic describes the planning that is necessary for each of these steps.

Step 1. Designate primary phone numbers

Enterprise Voice integrates voice with other messaging media, such that when an incoming call arrives at the server, the server maps the number to the user’s SIP-URI and then forks the call to all the client endpoints associated with that SIP-URI. This process requires that each user be associated with a primary phone number.

A primary phone number must be:

  • Globally unique or, in the case of internal extensions, unique in the enterprise.

  • Owned by and routable in the enterprise. Personal numbers should not be used.

Enterprise users can have two or more telephone numbers listed for them in Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS). All the telephone numbers associated with a particular user can be viewed or changed on the property sheet for that user in the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in.

The Telephone numberbox on the Generaltab of the User Propertiesdialog box should contain the user’s main work number. This number will usually be designated as the user's Primary Phone Number.

Some users may have special requirements (for example, an executive who wants all incoming calls routed through an administrative assistant), but such exceptions should be limited only to those where the need is clear and critical.

After a primary number is chosen, it must be:

  • Normalized to E.164 format, wherever possible. (For details about phone number normalization, see Normalization Rules.)

  • Copied to the Active Directory msRTCSIP-lineattribute.

    Note:
    Coexisting with remote call control (RCC)

    RCC is the ability to use Office Communicator to monitor and control a desktop PBX phone. Control is routed through the server, which acts as a gateway to the PBX. RCC first became available with Live Communications Server 2005 with Service Pack 1 (SP1) and Communicator 1.0. Office Communications Server 2007 R2 and Office Communicator 2007 R2 together continue to provide RCC to users who are not enabled for Enterprise Voice.

    If you have enabled RCC in your organization, you know that RCC also uses the msRTCSIP-lineattribute to designate the primary phone number for users. If your organization will have some users enabled for Enterprise Voice and others, perhaps most, still connected to a PBX, you may be concerned about whether Enterprise Voice and RCC can coexist.

There are three methods for populating the msRTCSIP-lineattribute:

  • Microsoft Identity Integration Server (recommended)

  • Advanced settings in the Office Communications Server snap-in for Active Directory Users and Computers

  • Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) scripts

Where many phone numbers must be processed, a script is the obvious choice. Depending on how your organization represents telephone numbers in Active Directory Domain Services, the script may have to normalize primary phone numbers to E.164 format before copying them to the msRTCSIP-lineattribute.

  • If your organization maintains all telephone numbers in Active Directory Domain Services in a single format, and if that format is E.164, your script only needs to write each Primary Telephone Number to the msRTCSIP-lineattribute.

  • If your organization maintains all telephone numbers in Active Directory Domain Services in a single format, but that format is not E.164, your script should define an appropriate normalization rule to convert Primary Telephone Numbers from their existing format to E.164 before writing them to the msRTCSIP-lineattribute.

  • If your organization does not enforce a standard format for telephone numbers in Active Directory Domain Services, your script should define appropriate normalization rules to convert Primary Phone Numbers from their various formats to E.164 compliance before writing the Primary Telephone Numbers to the msRTCSIP-lineattribute.

Your script will also have to insert the prefix Tel:before each primary number before writing it to the msRTCSIP-lineattribute.

The expected format of the number specified in this attribute is:

  • Tel:+14255550100;ext=50100.

  • Tel:5550100 (for unique enterprise wide extensions)

    Important:
    The normalization performed by the Address Book Service (ABS) does not replace or otherwise eliminate the need to normalize each user's primary phone number in Active Directory Domain Services because ABS does not have access to Active Directory Domain Services and therefore cannot copy primary numbers to the msRTCSIP-lineattribute.

Step 2. Enable users for Enterprise Voice

Other than identifying which users are to be enabled, no special planning is required to complete this step.

Step 3. Enable users for PBX integration (optional)

Users who are enabled for Enterprise Voice can also be enabled for PBX integration. If you deploy Office Communications Server by using the PBX integration option, you must enable users for PBX integration for the option to work. If you do not have a PBX enabled for Office Communications Server, enabling users for PBX integration has no effect. Office Communications Server continues to fork calls to all endpoints, but the PBX is unable to fork incoming calls to a user's SIP endpoints.

For details about deploying Office Communications Server with PBX integration, see “Communications Server-PBX Coexistence” in Enterprise Voice Deployment Options.

Step 4. Plan user voice policies

User class-of-service settings on a legacy PBX, such as the right to make long-distance or international calls from company phones, must be reconfigured as VoIP policies for users moved to Enterprise Voice. For details about planning and creating policies for Enterprise Voice, see Voice Policies.

Step 5. Configure PBX to reroute calls for Enterprise Voice users

Users who formerly were hosted on a traditional PBX retain their phone numbers after the move. The only requirement is that after the move, the PBX must be reconfigured to route incoming calls for Enterprise Voice users to the media gateway or the Mediation Server that connects to the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 infrastructure. Contact your PBX vendor for details about how to configure dual forking.

Step 6. Move users to Exchange Unified Messaging (optional)

Moving users to Exchange Unified Messaging consists of the following tasks: