Table Of Contents
An Overview of the Cisco Unified Application Environment
Understanding the Cisco Unified Application Environment
Cisco Unified Application Server
Cisco Unified Media Engine
Cisco Unified Application Designer
Cisco Unified Application Environment Management Console
Understanding the Deployment of the Cisco Unified Application Environment
An Overview of the Cisco Unified Application Environment
The Cisco Unified Application Environment is a development and runtime platform designed for creating, deploying, and executing converged voice and data applications.
This chapter introduces the Cisco Unified Application Environment and includes these sections:
•
Understanding the Cisco Unified Application Environment
• Understanding the Deployment of the Cisco Unified Application Environment
Understanding the Cisco Unified Application Environment
You can use the Cisco Unified Application Environment to create applications supporting these IP telephony functions:
•Mobility
•Recording
•Paging
•Conferencing
•Speech-Enabled applications
•IP Phone Services
•Other voice and data converged applications
The Cisco Unified Application Environment is comprised of the:
•Cisco Unified Application Server—Runs on the Cisco MCS-7845-H1 server and is pre-loaded for shipment
•Cisco Unified Media Engine—Runs on the Cisco MCS-7845-H1 server and is pre-loaded for shipment
•Cisco Unified Application Designer—PC-based client application
The Cisco Unified Application Environment is integrated with Cisco Unified CallManager and supports these application development and deployment technologies:
•Telephony call control: Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), H.323, Skinny Call Control Protocol (SCCP), and Computer Telephony Integration (CTI)
•Java Telephony Application Programming Interface (JTAPI)
•Other telephony protocols: Cisco Unified IP Phone Services, DeviceListX, AXL-SOAP, Extension Mobility, and other Cisco Unified CallManager APIs
•Data services and protocols: Web Services, HTTP, Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), Structured Query Language (SQL), Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)
•Media processing capabilities: Integrated voice response (IVR), conferencing, transcoding, text-to-speech, speech recognition, speaker verification
•Extensible plug-in framework that customers and partners can use to add support for any standards-based or proprietary protocol or interface
The major components of the Cisco Unified Application Environment are described in these sections:
• Cisco Unified Application Server
• Cisco Unified Media Engine
• Cisco Unified Application Designer
All these are administered by the Cisco Unified Application Environment Management Console.
Cisco Unified Application Server
The Cisco Unified Application Server provides the following functions:
•Originates and receives calls over various IP telephony protocols.
•Provides application management.
•Starts, executes, manages, and terminates application scripts that are operating in their own runtime environment on their own virtual machines.
•Hosts protocol providers that provide an interface to applications for systems outside the application environment.
•Controls Cisco Unified Media Engines to process, mix, analyze, and route digital audio data.
Note To serve as an application and runtime platform, each Cisco Unified Application Environment deployment must contain at least one Cisco Unified Application Server with at least one application installed on the server.
You can configure the Cisco Unified Application Server to host any applications created by the Cisco Unified Application Designer (see the "Cisco Unified Application Designer" section). An application includes configuration items that are unique to your deployment and which you must configure after the application is installed.
Cisco Unified Media Engine
The Cisco Unified Media Engine is a software-only media server, which provides media processing capabilities for applications that are built using the Cisco Unified Application Designer.
Note Each Cisco Unified Media Engine is controlled by one or more Cisco Unified Application Servers.
The Cisco Unified Application Environment is designed to allow you to:
•Perform flexible deployment of Cisco Unified Application Servers and Cisco Unified Media Engines, by determining the appropriate number and configuration of servers at the time of deployment.
•Avoid latency and bandwidth issues, by allowing you to distribute media engines closer to the media endpoints used for a particular application, as media engines may generate considerable Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) traffic.
Note If the application does not have any media components, a Cisco Unified Media Engine is not required.
Cisco Unified Application Designer
The Cisco Unified Application Designer is a visual Integrated Development Environment (IDE). The Cisco Unified Application Designer allows application designers to:
•Develop applications that combine voice and video with enterprise applications and data.
•Install applications directly from PC or build an application package file.
•Load applications built with the Cisco Unified Application Designer through the management console.
For information on the Cisco Unified Application Designer, go to http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps7056/index.html.
Cisco Unified Application Environment Management Console
The Cisco Unified Application Environment management console is a web-based interface that you must use to administer the Cisco Unified Application Server and Cisco Unified Media Engine.
The Main Control Panel is divided into sections that correspond to the specific management functions that are required to set up the Cisco Unified Application Environment:
•Environment— Configuring Environment Parameters
•System— Configuring System Parameters
•Components— Configuring Components
•Logs— Viewing Log Information
See these chapters for more information about how to configure and maintain the Cisco Unified Application Environment:
• "Getting Started"
• "Configuring the Cisco Unified Application Server"
• "Configuring the Cisco Unified Media Engine"
• "Maintaining the Cisco Unified Application Environment"
Understanding the Deployment of the Cisco Unified Application Environment
The Cisco Unified Application Environment supports a variety of deployment topologies incorporating varying numbers of Cisco Unified Application Servers and Cisco Unified Media Engines and integrating with one or more Cisco Unified CallManager clusters.
The choice of deployment topology should be based on requirements for scalability, redundancy, and networking. This section describes these common topologies:
• Single Application Server with a Single Cisco Unified CallManager Cluster
• Single Application Server with Multiple Cisco Unified CallManager Clusters
• Single Application Server Controlling Multiple Media Engines with Multiple Cisco Unified CallManager Clusters
• Multiple Application Servers Controlling Multiple Media Engines with Multiple Cisco Unified CallManager Clusters
Single Application Server with a Single Cisco Unified CallManager Cluster
In this topology, a single physical server operates as an application server or combined application server and media engine and is integrated with a single Cisco Unified CallManager cluster. This configuration is appropriate when these conditions apply:
•The Cisco Unified Application Environment must support a single Cisco Unified CallManager cluster.
•Fewer than 240 simultaneous media streams are required and the projected amount of media stream traffic between IP endpoints (IP phones, H.323/MGCP gateways, Music on Hold (MOH) servers, and hardware and software conference bridges) and the media engine is not expected to add excessive network load.
Note The maximum of 240 media streams is an approximation. If multiple applications involve heavy conferencing, recording and playing, low bit-rate codecs, or CPU-intensive activity, fewer simultaneous media streams will be supported.
Note Network traffic concerns are generally an issue only for applications that require media.
•Redundancy is not required for the application server or media engine.
Figure 1-1 shows the IP telephony integration for this topology.
Figure 1-1 Single Application Server, Single Cisco Unified CallManager Cluster
Single Application Server with Multiple Cisco Unified CallManager Clusters
In this topology, a single physical server operates as an application server or combined application server and media engine and is integrated with multiple Cisco Unified CallManager clusters. This configuration is appropriate when these conditions apply:
•The Cisco Unified Application Environment must support multiple Cisco Unified CallManager clusters.
•Fewer than 240 simultaneous media streams are required and the projected amount of media stream traffic between IP endpoints (IP phones, H.323/MGCP gateways, Music on Hold (MOH) servers, and hardware and software conference bridges) and the media engine is not expected to add excessive network load.
Note The maximum of 240 media streams is an approximation. If multiple applications involve heavy conferencing, recording and playing, low bit-rate codecs, or CPU-intensive activity, fewer simultaneous media streams will be supported.
Note Network traffic concerns are an issue only for applications that require media.
•Redundancy is not required for the application server or media engine.
Figure 1-2 shows the IP telephony integration for this topology.
Figure 1-2 Single Application Server, Multiple Cisco Unified CallManager Clusters
Single Application Server Controlling Multiple Media Engines with Multiple Cisco Unified CallManager Clusters
In this topology, a single application server controls multiple media engines and is integrated with multiple Cisco Unified CallManager clusters.
Note To avoid latency and bandwidth issues, it is recommended that you distribute media engines close to the media endpoints used for a particular application.
This configuration is appropriate when these conditions apply:
•The Cisco Unified Application Environment must support multiple Cisco Unified CallManager clusters.
•More than 240 simultaneous media streams are required and the projected amount of media stream traffic between IP endpoints (IP phones, H.323/MGCP gateways, Music on Hold (MOH) servers, and hardware and software conference bridges) and the media engine could potentially add excessive network load across WAN links.
Note The maximum of 240 media streams is an approximation. If multiple applications involve heavy conferencing, recording and playing, low bit-rate codecs, or CPU-intensive activity, fewer simultaneous media streams will be supported.
Note Network traffic concerns are an issue only for applications that require media.
•Redundancy is not required for the application server, but is required for the media engine.
Figure 1-3 shows the IP telephony integration for this topology.
Figure 1-3 Single Application Server, Multiple Media Engines, Multiple Cisco Unified CallManager Clusters
Multiple Application Servers Controlling Multiple Media Engines with Multiple Cisco Unified CallManager Clusters
In this topology, multiple application servers control multiple media engines and are integrated with multiple Cisco Unified CallManager clusters. This configuration is appropriate when these conditions apply:
•The Cisco Unified Application Environment must support multiple Cisco Unified CallManager clusters.
•More than 240 simultaneous media streams are required, or the projected amount of media stream traffic between IP endpoints is expected to add significant network load.
Note The maximum of 240 media streams is an approximation. If multiple applications involve heavy conferencing, recording and playing, low bit-rate codecs, or CPU-intensive activity, fewer simultaneous media streams will be supported.
Note Network traffic concerns are an issue only for applications that require media.
•Redundancy is required for the application server and media engine.
Figure 1-4 shows the IP telephony integration for this topology.
Figure 1-4 Multiple Application Servers, Multiple Media Engines, Multiple Cisco Unified CallManager Clusters
