Connecting Applications to a Leaf Cluster in Cisco Unified Communications Manager Session Management Edition Deployment

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The deployment of a Unified CM Session Management Edition enables commonly used applications, such as conferencing or videoconferencing to connect directly to the session management cluster, which reduces the overhead of managing multiple trunks to leaf systems.

Unified CM Session Management Edition supports the following applications: " Unity, Unity Connection " Meeting Place, Meeting Place Express " SIP and H.323-based video conferencing systems " Third Party voice mail systems " Fax servers " Cisco Unified Mobility The following applications must connect to the leaf cluster: " Unified Contact Centre, CUCM, Unified Contact Centre Express " Cisco Unified Presence Server " Attendant Console " Manager Assistant " IP IVR " Cisco Voice Portal References: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/cucm/session_mgmt/deploy/8_5_1/overview.html.

In a Cisco Unified Communications Manager Session Management Edition (SME) deployment, multiple Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) clusters are integrated together to provide a unified communication system. Leaf clusters are CUCM clusters that are connected to a central control cluster through a Session Management Edition (SME) SIP trunk. The central control cluster handles call routing and other administrative tasks for the leaf clusters.

To answer the question, we need to identify which applications need to be connected to a leaf cluster. The applications that require connectivity to a leaf cluster are typically those that require direct access to the CUCM services and resources in the leaf cluster. Here are the two applications that must be connected to a leaf cluster:

1. Cisco Unity: Cisco Unity is a voicemail and unified messaging system that integrates with CUCM to provide advanced messaging features. When Cisco Unity is deployed in a distributed environment with multiple CUCM clusters, it must be connected to a leaf cluster to provide voicemail and messaging services for users in that cluster.

2. Fax servers: Fax servers are used to send and receive faxes over a network. In a CUCM SME deployment, fax servers must be connected to a leaf cluster to provide fax services for users in that cluster. The leaf cluster provides access to the necessary CUCM resources for the fax server to send and receive faxes.

The other options in the question are not required to be connected to a leaf cluster. Here's why:

A. Cisco Unified Meeting Place: Cisco Unified Meeting Place is a web conferencing solution that does not require direct connectivity to a CUCM cluster. It integrates with CUCM through a SIP trunk to provide audio and video conferencing services.

B. Cisco Unified Contact Center Express: Cisco Unified Contact Center Express (UCCX) is a contact center solution that integrates with CUCM to provide call routing and other features. UCCX does not require direct connectivity to a CUCM cluster in a SME deployment. Instead, it uses a SIP trunk to communicate with the central control cluster.

C. H.323-based video conferencing systems: H.323-based video conferencing systems can communicate with CUCM through a SIP trunk or a gatekeeper. They do not require direct connectivity to a leaf cluster.

E. Cisco Unified Communications Manager: CUCM is the central call control component of a SME deployment. It is not required to be connected to a leaf cluster. Instead, it provides call routing and other administrative services to the leaf clusters through the SME SIP trunk.

In summary, the two applications that must be connected to a leaf cluster in a CUCM SME deployment are Cisco Unity and fax servers.