This deployment guide will provide a technical walkthrough of a typical Grandstream UCM6300 Ecosystem solution [Figure 1]. It will also highlight key features and functions that cater to a hybrid on-site and remote communication and collaboration solution. This guide will provide you with a more detailed understanding of the technical operations and functions that a UCM6300 IP PBX, UCM RemoteConnect, Wave, and GDMS play within a UCM6300 Ecosystem deployment. There will also be adding links to helpful resources throughout the guide that will bring you to additional reference material. Treat this guide as a handy “pocket-guide” as you get used to deploying the UCM6300 Ecosystem.
Example of UCM6300 Ecosystem deployment. A central headquarters with an on-site UCM6300 IP PBX is connected to a satellite office and remote workers from home offices by using UCM Remote Connect and Wave.
The UCM6300 Ecosystem is made up of 4 key components, with the UCM6300 IP PBX being the anchor of the solution within a deployment. Each part of the UCM6300 Ecosystem takes on a unique role in being a solution to the two challenges we mentioned earlier; making multi-site deployments less complicated and having a fully customized communications infrastructure in your control. Following are the parts of the UCM6300 Ecosystem that we’ll be talking about next in this guide.
UCM6300 Series IP PBX: The anchor of the ecosystem that allows businesses to build powerful and scalable unified communication and collaboration solutions. This series of IP PBXs provide a platform that unifies all business communication on one centralized network, including voice, video calling, video conferencing, video surveillance, web meetings, data, analytics, mobility, facility access, intercoms, and more.
UCM RemoteConnect: A cloud platform that provides powerful audio and video collaboration tools to remote users through Grandstream’s Wave mobile and web app, GUV series of USB personal collaboration devices, and SIP endpoints integrated with the UCM6300 series. Through this cloud system, users can also configure and manage their UCM6300 series appliance.
Wave: Ideal for remote workers, Wave offers an easy-to-use platform to remotely join, schedule meetings, calls, and conferences from anywhere. It also allows UCM6300 series users to directly call other extensions, landlines, and mobile numbers.
GDMS: This cloud platform is a centralized interface to provision, manage, monitor, and troubleshoot Grandstream products, including device management, account management, device configuration, firmware upgrades, device monitoring, intelligent alarm, and statistical analysis, individually or in batches of devices by site, group and model.
If the UCM6300 IP PBX is the foundation of our office deployment, UCM RemoteConnect is the support system that connects satellite offices, remote workers, and mobile users back to the central UCM IP PBX. It allows businesses to build a secure, easy-to-manage communications and collaboration solution for remote workers and devices and offers a companion cloud service for managing the UCM6300 series. Without UCM RemoteConnect, a UCM IP PBX is mostly restricted to the LAN and associated IP endpoints that it is deployed within.
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Managing a UCM6300 IP PBX
By accessing UCM RemoteConnect via Grandstream Device Management System, IT teams or an installer can configure and manage a deployed UCM IP PBX by entering the device’s MAC address and S/N number. The UCM6300 must then be connected to a “Site” within GDMS. Once connected to GMDS, the UCM6300 IP PBX can be viewed, troubleshot, and most importantly have its Web UI access remotely. It is also important to set the UCM6300’s public TLS port for remote IP phone access.
IP Endpoint Remote Access
IP endpoints behind NAT in external networks can register to UCM6300 series for remote work purposes by utilizing UCM RemoteConnect’s automated NAT firewall traversal. With our example deployment, IP endpoints in the regional office along with remote workers can leverage RemoteConnect to be connected to the UCM6300 IP PBX. This allows the devices to have an extension assigned to them and operate as if they were an in-network device deployed within the UCM’s LAN. When configuring IP endpoints, either through the web GUI or via GDMS, the SIP server setting field must have the UCM’s Public Address: Public TLS Port information filled in. This can be found in the UCM’s web UI. After this, NAT settings must be set to STUN. Lastly, the STUN Server field within the phone’s General Settings should be configured properly, and the TLS security settings properly set. For more information on this, view our resource document here. Keep in mind, configuration templates set via the GDMS can be pushed in bulk to remote IP endpoints to automate remote access.
For more on UCM RemoteConnect, read our overview and key features blog post.
Wave is a collaboration app for the UCM6300 series that allows users to connect to their extensions at any time from anywhere. Providing both a mobile and web browser option, remote workers within the deployment can easily communicate and collaborate from anywhere. Wave goes beyond a standard softphone however and can schedule, join, and host video conferencing meetings through the UCM6300 IP PBX. Remote workers in at-home offices within the deployment leverage UCM RemoteConnect’s NAT firewall traversal to access the UCM6300 IP PBX no matter where they are.
There are key features of Wave that can help drive employee productivity and collaboration:
Audio and Video Conferencing
Wave supports advanced softphone capabilities but also goes beyond that by giving users the ability to create and hold both audio and video conferences. Once logged into the Wave app via a smartphone or web browser, the “Meeting Room” option can easily be accessed to create virtual meeting spaces where coworkers can collaborate with ease. Meetings rooms can either be scheduled in advance or instantly created. If scheduled in advance, the host can invite participants either through email or through a chosen extension. If the chosen extension has an email associated with it through the UCM6300 series, an invite will automatically be sent to it, if not the email can be entered manually.
Once the meeting has begun, all participants will have access to a variety of collaboration tools to help drive meeting productivity. Screen sharing, host-managed meeting controls, participant list, and meeting chat, are a few examples. The available audio/video conference rooms and participant limit changes based on the UCM6300 IP PBX model, which be found here.
A cloud device management software, Grandstream Device Management System empowers IT teams and installers with the ability to easily manage all of their Grandstream devices and deployments. It is through GDMS that installers and IT teams can also access UCM RemoteConnect, manage UCM6300 IP PBXs from the cloud, and connect remote workers and satellite offices to the central UCM6300 IP PBX via UCM RemoteConnect’s NAT firewall traversal. GDMS allows system administrators to do something with our example deployment that they couldn’t otherwise do, manage the solutions within the entire network despite geographical distance.
The main functions of the GDMS to be familiar with are Sites, Devices, and Templates. These three features are what allows an installer to categorize devices and then push preconfigure provisioning templates to those devices in bulk.
Sites and Devices
Used to organize devices together, the Sites option within GDMS creates categories which devices can be nested under. Sites can be created individually or even imported in bulk via an Excel template that can be downloaded directly from the platform. For more complex deployments, it is possible to create ‘Child Sites’ that are subordinate to ‘Parent Sites’. It is important to note, sites don’t have to be physical locations, they can be used to organize devices however you like. In our deployment, sites may be organized by the main office, satellite offices, and home offices for easier management of IP endpoints. They may also be organized by department, this way device configurations can be pushed to users with similar needs no matter their location.
Configuration Templates
Once the sites and devices for a deployment are created, configuration templates can be customized and created which can be pushed to IP endpoints. These configuration templates can be used to completely customize all the various aspects of an IP endpoint. They can be pushed to devices manually or automatically once the device is brought online if it has already been associated with a specific site or default template. This provides a major benefit of allowing network administrators to create customized networks that can be adjusted and managed from anywhere at any time.
Templates are set up by either device model, device group, or imported CNF templates. When creating a configuration template by model, an installer chooses the model they will configure and associates it with a specific, several, or all sites. Group templates are a great way to bulk similar model types, such as Grandstream’s GRP2600 series, and pushing one configuration template to all of them within any number of sites. Finally, CNF Templates provide the administrator with the ability to import premade XML configuration files and apply them to specific devices. Learn more on using GDMS in our How to Use the GDMS guide.
Together, a UCM6300 IP PBX, UCM RemoteConnect, Wave, and GDMS create a powerful hybrid network deployment. The UCM6300 Ecosystem makes multi-site deployments less complicated and has a fully customized communications infrastructure in your control. Use these additional resources to take a deeper dive into creating an effective UCM6300 Ecosystem Deployment