SBC

Part 5: Connecting the SBC SWe Lite to Teams Direct Routing

After completing the previous two steps:

  • Add the domain that will contain the SBC to Microsoft 365 (for example, add the domain example.com if your SBC name will be SBC1.example.com)
  • Enabling a user in that domain

You can now successfully connect the SBC to Teams Direct Routing

Connecting the SBC using Admin Center

Open “Microsoft Teams admin center”

On the menu on the left side of the portal, expand “Voice”

On the “Voice” menu, select “Direct Routing”

This will take you “Direct Routing” settings page

Click on “SBCs”

Click on the “Add” button

This will take you “Direct Routing\ Add SBC” page where you can define a new SBC with its settings

Type the name of your SBC

Under the SIP signaling port, the port number there is “5067”

I am changing the port to 5061. Which is the default port number that is usually created by the “Easy Setup” wizard of Ribbon SBC when you select the Direct Routing option

Under “Concurrent call capacity”, specify the number of channels you will select in “Easy Setup” wizard.

This number usually equals the maximum number of SIP sessions to your SIP provider.

Don’t forget to turn on the “Enabled” button

Click on the “Save” button at the end of the page

If you haven’t added the domain to Microsoft 365 and enabled a user under that domain, you will get a message similar to the one below

We can’t use the “sbc.domain.com” domain as it hasn’t been set up in the organization. Please try again. If you continue to have problems, contact Microsoft customer support.

As the image below shows

However, if everything is correct, you will get the message “Item was created” as the image below shows

The name of the newly registered SBC will be under the list of SBCs

Note:

The SBC would be shown to have errors because it is not yet configured to work with Direct Routing or the DNS record of type A that should point to its IP has not yet been created

Registering the SBC using PowerShell

Alternatively, you can register the SBC using New-CsOnlinePSTNGateway PowerShell command as the example below shows

New-CsOnlinePSTNGateway -Identity sbc1.jayslab.online -Enabled $true -SIPSignalingPort 5061 -MaxConcurrentSessions 4


Part 4: Adding A User Account to The Domain That Will Be Used for the SBC

After you have registered a domain name, you need to add at least one user with a Phone System license (in my case I am using an E5 license which includes Phone System) and the SIP address of that user should have the FQDN portion of the SIP address matching the created base domain. This is needed to complete the registration of the SBC.

On Microsoft 365 admin center, expand Users > Active users

Click on Add a user

The “Add a user” wizard will be started

Fill in the details of that user, the most important part is that under “Domain” you make sure that you have selected the domain which will be used for registering the SBC

I cleared “Automatically create a password” this allows me to enter the password myself (that is just my personal preference)

I typed the password

I cleared “Require this user to change their password when they first sign in” (that is also my personal preference).

I typed the password and clicked on Next

The user needs to have a Phone System license. In my trial tenant, I have “Office 365 E5”, so I am assigning this type of license to this user

Click on Next

This will take you to Review and finish the page. Where you can check the settings that you have selected

Click on “Finish adding”

The wizard will work on adding the user

The wizard will confirm that the user is added

Click on Close

Now you will be able to see the user in the list of “Active users”. You might need to search the user if you have a big number of users

Part 3: Adding a Domain to Microsoft 365

To Connect the SBC SWe Lite to Teams Direct Routing the following needs to be done:

  • Add the domain that will contain the SBC to Microsoft 365 (for example, add the domain example.com if your SBC name will be SBC1.example.com)
  • Enable a user in that domain (for example enable the user user1@example.com)
  • Finally, you can connect the SBC to Direct Routing: Select a name to the SBC (with the domain part as one of the registered domains on Microsoft 365) and register that name of the SBC (for example, register the SBC with the name SBC1.example.com)

In this part of the series, we will do the first step from the above steps, we will add the domain to Microsoft 365

Adding the domain

On the “Microsoft 365 Admin Center” main page, expand “Settings ”

The “Settings” menu will be expanded. Select “Domain”

This will open Domains’ settings. Click on “Add domain”

The “Add Domain” wizard will be started. Type the name of your domain

Click on “Use this domain” button

This wizard has the capability to detect some well-known DNS registrars and it can automatically do the configuration by adding the needed DNS records.

Note:

If your DNS registrar is not one of the DNS registrars that the wizard can detect and configure, you will need to add the DNS records manually to your domain.

For me, my DNS registrar is GoDaddy (the wizard has detected it) as the image below shows

I clicked on the “Verify” button

The wizard popped up a mini-browser window to “Confirm Access” and to get connected to GoDaddy

I clicked on the “Connect” button

The Wizard will ask you if you want to let to add the needed DNS records

Click on “Continue”

On the “Add DNS records” page, it will explain to you the records needed

For me, I had to scroll down to view all the needed records

I have clicked on “Advanced Options” to view all the records that the wizard is going to add

Below images shows all the records

At the end of the page, click on “Add DNS records”

For me, it showed me the GoDaddy “Confirm Access” mini page again

I clicked on Connect

The wizard started “Configuring domain”

The final page indicates that “Domain setup is complete”

Click on “View all domains” to go back to the “Domains” page

Under the “Domains” page in the admin center, the newly added domain is shown

Viewing The Details of the Added Domain

On the Domains page, click on the domain to view its details

Click on DNS records

This will show the DNS records. The images below show the DNS records of my domain

Viewing DNS records on DNS domain provider

The images below show what the Add domain wizard has added to my DNS on GoDaddy

Part 2: Checking the resulting VM and Accessing the Web Interface of the SBC

On Azure Admin Portal, to access the resulting VM network settings by going to Virtual machine Name > Networking

When you check the networking of the resulting VM, you will see the two network interfaces of the VM

One dedicated to the Management of SBC. And the other is for Signaling and Media traffic

Signaling Network Interface

Below is an image that shows the details of the Signaling network interface (the first interface)

Notice that the Inbound port rules include only the ports of HTTP and HTTPS (also ports to be used by Azure)

Signaling and Media Interface

Click on the interface of Signaling and Media traffic to view its details

The below shows the details of the Signaling and Media interface

Below, I am copying the public IP address for this interface so that I can use it to access the web interface of the SBC

About Accessing the Web Interface

Ideally, to manage the SBC, you will be connected to the SBC VM Web Interface through the IP address of the management interface.

Probably you will connect a machine to the management subnet. Or you will connect the management interface to your usual Azure management network

Note:

Note that although both interfaces have a public IP assigned to them, only the public IP address of the second interface (Signaling and Media Interface) is accessible over the internet. That is because only the second interface (Signaling and Media Interface) is routed to the internet.

To simplify our configuration, I will keep the HTTPS port to the second interface (Signaling and Media Interface) opened and I will access the SBC Web Interface through its public IP

Accessing the Web Interface of SBC

In the browser of your computer, access the public IP of the Signaling and Media Interface

Once you pass the certificate warning, you will get the web interface as shown below

(The public certificate is not yet installed)

Logging On to The Web Interface

Click on the “Enter” button

You will access the login page

Type the User Name and Password you have specified while creating the VM (We have specify them on the “SBC SWe Lite settings” tab)

The credentials are correct, you will be asked to put a different password and to confirm it

Click on the “Apply” button

It will show you a message indicating that the password got changed

It will take you back again to login page

Type the User Name and the new Password and Login

Below is the Web Interface after logging on

Part 1: Creating a Ribbon SBC SWe Lite VM using Quick Launch Template from Azure Marketplace

In this article, I am showing how to create a Ribbon SBC SWe Lite VM on the Azure cloud and make it ready to be integrated with Teams Direct Routing

I am selecting the “Quick Launch” Template of Ribbon SBC SWe Lite from the marketplace

Such setup can be used for production or just simply to learn, test, and practice configuring a Teams Direct Routing with SBC

It might not be feasible to purchase a hardware SBC and to have public IP setup with correct firewall settings just for learning or practicing.

With Azure, you can have it configured with minimum cost and you can even use the Azure pay as you go option or even use the Azure trial to reduce the cost.

The installation will continue to full work until the trial is finished (I think the trial ends within 1 month).

You can contact a Ribbon distributor to purchase permeant licenses if you like to keep using your setup.

Below are the steps to do the deployment.

Selecting the VM from Azure Market Place

Access your Azure Admin Portal

Click on the search bar

In the search bar, search for Ribbon SBC SWe Lite. For example, type “sbc swe”

You will have types of VM Templates available in the Marketplace:

  • SBC SWe Lite
  • SBC SWe Lite Quick Launch

We will use “SBC SWe Lite Quick Launch” Template because it is designed to deploy SWe SBC Lite with the recommended configuration and is suitable for Teams Direct Routing (things like 2 Network Interfaces with the correct range of ports opened)

This will start wizard-like steps to collect the information needed to build the VM

Creating The VM And Selecting the Options

Click on the “Create” button

This will take you to the Basics tab

Basics Tab

The subscription will be automatically selected

If you select an existing Resource Group with resources inside it, it will give you an error

It requires its own Resource Group

For my case, I am creating a new Resource Group to be used for the SBC and named it SBCResourceGroup

Under Region, select the region where you want the VM to be created within

Type the name to be used as a Virtual Machine name inside Azure
Specify the Required # of simultaneous calls (to tell you the truth, I couldn’t find the purpose of this parameter tell this moment)

Virtual Machine Settings Tab

On Virtual Machine Settings, I kept the default settings

Networking Settings Tab

I kept the default settings (where it will create a new virtual network with two subnets)

Each of the two subnets is going to be connected to a network interface of the VM

  • Management subnet (connected to Management interface)
  • Signaling & Media subnet (connected to Signaling & Media interface)

(This way, the VM will be automatically created with the recommended configuration by Ribbon)

Note:

You can select your own existing virtual network and select the subnets to be used

SBC SWe Lite Settings Tab

On the SBC SWe Lite Settings tab, specify the username and the password for the VM

The username cannot be a revers word such as admin

Follow the correct password policy

On the SBC SWe Lite Settings tab, I have typed a temporary hostname and a temporary domain name for the VM. I am planning to change these settings later inside the configuration of the SBC after the deployment is completed.

Review + create Tab

On the last tab “Review + create”. It will validate your settings and will show you “Validation Passed” if everything is acceptable to create the VM

It will also show you the summary of the settings that you

I had to scroll down to check all the settings

If all the settings are acceptable, click on the “Create” button. This will start the deployment of the VM.

Step by Step Walkthrough Creating an Ribbon SBC SWe Lite VM on Azure and fully Deploying it with Teams Direct Routing

In the following series of articles, I will demonstrate how I have created a fully working Ribbon SBC VM (SBC SWe Lite) on Azure. I will also show how to integrate it with Teams Direct Routing and SIP Trunk

Such setup can be used to fully test and practice:

  • Configuring Teams Direct Routing with Ribbon SBC
  • Configuring Ribbon SBC
  • Integrating a SIP Trunk with Ribbon SBC

Also can be used to demonstrate a proof of concept

Or you can even use it as a production. It is a fully working setup

Some of the advantages of such a setup:

  • You don’t need to have a hardware SBC
  • You don’t need to have your own Public IP to have integration with Direct Routing
  • You don’t need to set up a firewall and other network equipment
  • You can easily have integration with any SIP Trunk

The following are the links to the articles:

Part 1: Creating a Ribbon SBC SWe Lite VM using Quick Launch Template from Azure Marketplace – Jay’s Lab (jayslab.online)

Part 2: Checking the resulting VM and Accessing the Web Interface of the SBC – Jay’s Lab (jayslab.online)

Part 3: Adding a Domain to Microsoft 365 – Jay’s Lab (jayslab.online)

Part 4: Adding A User Account to The Domain That Will Be Used for the SBC – Jay’s Lab (jayslab.online)

Part 5: Connecting the SBC SWe Lite to Teams Direct Routing – Jay’s Lab (jayslab.online)

Part 6: Changing the Host Name and Domain Name of SBC – Jay’s Lab (jayslab.online)

Part 7: Installing Certificates on the SBC – Jay’s Lab (jayslab.online)

Part 8: Running Easy Config Wizard – Jay’s Lab (jayslab.online)

Part 9: Teams Direct Routing Call Routing – Jay’s Lab (jayslab.online)

Part 10: Enable users for Direct Routing, voice, and voicemail – Jay’s Lab (jayslab.online)

Part 11: Testing Outgoing and Incoming Calls – Jay’s Lab (jayslab.online)

Using Supplementary Certificate of SBC 1000 / SBC 2000 / SBC SWe Lite for Teams Direct Routing

With the newer firmware versions of SBC 1000 /2000 and even SWe Lite, you can add a supplementary certificate that is different from the main certificate of the device.

This is helpful if you want to keep the main certificate intact while adding an additional certificate to be used with other services. The only thing you need to do after adding the supplementary certificate is to configure the TLS profile that is associated with the service to use that certificate.

You can have multiple supplementary certificates and use each certificate for a different service. All you need to do is to assign each certificate to the TLS profile of that service.

In my experience, this is useful mostly if you have an SBC that is configured and associated to work with Skype for Business (on-premise) and you want to configure the same device to be integrated with Teams Direct Routing.

Importing a supplementary certificate

On the SBC web interface select the Task tab

Under “SBC Easy Setup”, select certificate

Click on “SBC Supplementary Certificates” Tab

Click on “Import” > “PKCS12 Certificate and Key” to import a certificate with its private key

Click on “Choose File”

Select the file that contains the certificate

And click on Open

Supply the password for PFX file (remember that each PFX contains a password to protect the Private Key. The password was set during the export of the certificate to PFX)

And click on OK

A warning about importing a new certificate will appear. Click on OK

The new certificate will appear under the list of supplementary certificates

You can expand it to show the details of the certificate

Configuring TLS profile to use the newly imported certificate.

To utilize the newly imported supplementary certificate, you need to configure the TLS profile of the service that you want to configure it to use the certificate.

In my example below, I am configuring the TLS profile that was used by Teams Direct Routing (to make my device use the new certificate for Teams Direct Routing and keep the main certificate used for other services)

Go to Settings Tab > Security > TLS Profiles > Select the TLS profile that you want to configure it to use the newly imported certificate

The details of the select TLS Profile will be shown

Under TLS Parameter, select the certificate list

From the list of certificate, select the supplementary certificate to be used

The parameter named certificate will show the chosen certificate

Scroll down and click on Apply button

Installing a Certificate (with its private key) on Ribbon SBC 1000 / SBC 2000 / SBC SWe Lite / SBC Edge

The steps below show how to install a certificate with its private key with the *.PFX format on SBC 1000 or SBC 2000

Installing such a certificate is needed when you are configuring your SBC to work with Microsoft Teams Direct Routing

The same steps can be followed in case you want to install a private certificate for example you are configuring the SBC to work with the on-premise version of Skype for Business

Note:

Before you install the certificate, you need of course to install the certificate of the Root CA where you have requested this certificate from and also you need to install an intermediate certificate(s) if that is required by your certificate provider. The procedure of installing certificate of the Root CA and Intermediate CAs are mentioned in a previous article.

The following    are the steps:

On the web interface, go to Tasks Tab


Go to SBC Easy Setup> Certificates


Click on SBC Edge Certificate

This will show the currently installed certificate on the device, and it will also give the option to import a new certificate


To import a new certificate

Click on Import > “PKCS12 Certificate and Key”

(This article only explained how to import a certificate and its key)

 

 A new window will pop up

select a *.pfx file and supply the password that is protecting the file


 Click on OK


 Click on OK


 The new certificate and the private key associated with it will be installed on the device and it will be shown under SBC Edge Certificate

 


Installing Certificates of Public CAs on Ribbon SBC 1000 / SBC 2000 / SBC SWe Lite (SBC Edge)

Before installing the public certificate, you have purchased for your device to make it work with Microsoft Teams Direct Routing, you need to install the certificate(s) of the public CA of your certificate provider (to trust that public CA)

You need to install the certificates in the following order:

  • Root CA cert
  • First Intermediate CA (the one issued by the Root CA)
  • Second Intermediate CA (the one issued by the First Intermediate FCA)

Below are the steps showing how to install the certificate of your CA

Go to Tasks Tab > SBC Easy Setup > Certificate > Trusted Cas Tab


Click on “Import Trusted CA Certificate”


 

The “Import Trusted CA Certificate” pops up


Click on “Mode” and select “File Upload”


It will change to “File Upload” mode


 Click on Browse

 

 Select the Certificate of CA file and click open


 The CA certificate will be uploaded.


Repeat the same steps if there is any intermediate certificate required by your certificate authority.

Installing Baltimore CA Certificate

If you are configuring your device to work with Microsoft Teams Direct Routing, Baltimore CA is required for communication with Microsoft Teams Servers over the internet. The device needs to trust this CA in order to have TLS communications with these servers.

User the same method mentioned above to install this certificate.


Enabling and additional PRI for Ribbon SBC 1000 / SBC 2000 after configuring the first PRI

In this article, I will explain how to setup additional PRI (ISDN) and configure to have the same configuration and behavior as the first PRI (assuming that we already configured the first PRI).

This is useful when you need to have more than 30 channels (concurrent calls) and you need to have the same configured settings and routes as the first the first PRI (each PRI support 30 channels)

Go to the settings tab

Click on the “Create Signaling Group” menu, then select “ISDN Signaling Group”

The “Create ISDN Signaling Group” dialog box will pop up and will be ready for filling

I kept the name of “Description” of the new signaling group same as the first one, but ending with (7.2) instead of (7.1) to indicate that I am using the second ISDN port

I am trying to use the same settings that was used in the first Signaling Group that was created by the wizard

Most important setting is the Call Routing Table, which control where the calls coming from this Signaling Group will be sent to.

Afte filling the dialog box, click on OK

The new Signaling Group will be shown under the list of the Signaling Group

If the PRI cable to connected, the Signaling Group will be up and will be shown as green

Making the new Signaling Group as the destination for the outgoing calls from Microsoft Teams

Expand Settings Tab > Call Routing > Call Routing Table

Select the call routing table that is used for the calls that are going out from Microsoft Teams

Expand the entry on table by clicking the arrow that is next to it

The details of the entry will be shown

Scroll down to “Destination Signaling Groups”

Click on “Add/Edit” button

Select the newly created signaling group and make sure that the original first ISDN Signaling Group is remained selected and click on the OK button

You will be back to Routing Table entry, and you will notice that new Signaling Group is listed as a destination

Click on Apply