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November 1999
These release notes cover information relating to the Cisco IP/VC 3510 Multipoint Control Unit (MCU) Release 1.0.
These release notes summarize the following topics:
The Cisco IP/VC 3510 Multipoint Control Unit (MCU) is part of the Cisco IP/V 3500 Series product family. The entire product family consists of:
The Cisco IP/VC 3510 MCU includes an MCU and a gatekeeper integrated in one box. The MCU can also be used with an external gatekeeper.
The MCU is designed to have a simple user interface and to allow conferencing with H.323 and non-H.323 clients (H.320, POTS as so on) via gateways. There is no need for a per-conference configuration.
The MCU enables voice only and multimedia conference calls between H.323 entities and non-H.323 entities. Non-H.323 devices such as telephones orH.320 terminals can join the conference via a gateway.
The MCU supports LAN and WAN terminals that can send and receive video streams, as well as those that can only receive video streams. This means that terminals without a video camera or video capturing capabilities can participate in a conference as "voice only" participants while benefiting from seeing the other participants.
The Cisco IP/VC 3510 MCU includes the following features:
This section discusses IP/VC performance issues, using NetMeeting endpoints, and saving configuration parameters.
If you are experiencing performance issues with your IPVC product, we suggest that you force your Ethernet port setting to half-duplex.
Endpoints using versions of NetMeeting earlier than version 3 must be predefined because these versions do not support automatic Gatekeeper registration. Endpoint phone numbers cannot start with the same numeric string as a serviceprefix. For example, phone number 6111 is not allowed when you define a service prefix of 61. However, phone number 6111 is allowed if you define an MCU prefix of 61*.
To improve the quality of mixed conferences with LAN and WAN participants, it is recommended to use an audio transcoder in the Gateway.
If you want to improve the audio quality of a NetMeeting endpoint, we recommend to set the endpoint bandwidth by performing the following steps:
Step 1 On the NetMeeting main window, click Tools>Options.
Step 2 Select the General tab and select ISDN from the Network Bandwidth drop-down list.
To monitor the participants of a cascaded conference, perform the following steps:
Step 1 Open a browser window for each conference participating in the cascaded conference.
Step 2 Enter the IP address or domain name of the MCU managing the conference in the Location field on the browser window and click Enter. The Conference Password window is displayed.
Step 3 Enter the conference password and click OK. The monitoring screen appears displaying details of the participants.
Step 4 Repeat Steps 2 and 3 for all the conferences participating in the cascaded conference. The conferences that joined the cascaded conference appear as MCUs in the Participant field of the managing MCU monitoring screens. The cascaded conference appears as an MCU in the Participant field of the cascaded MCUs' monitoring screens.
To lock the video broadcast on a participant in a cascaded conference, perform the following steps:
Step 1 From the monitoring screens of the conference that the participant has joined, click Chair Control. You are granted chair control and can lock the video broadcast on a participant.
Step 2 Select the participant on whom you want to lock the conference video broadcast, and click Lock.
Step 3 From the conference monitoring screens of the other conferences participating in the cascaded conference, click Chair Control.
Step 4 Select the MCU representing the conference hosting the locked participant, and click Lock. Repeat this step for all the participating conferences.
To upgrade an MP Dedicated or an MCU Distributed, perform the following steps:
Step 1 Refer to Appendix D in the Cisco IP/VC 3510 MCU User Guide for instructions for upgrading the MCU.
Step 2 Reconfigure the upgraded unit to be an MP Dedicated or an MCU Distributed, as it was prior to the upgrade.
If you need to upgrade your IP/VC 3510 MCU, you may want to save your latest configuration (the one you used prior to the upload). When the upgrading process has finished, you may reload the saved configuration file. Follow these steps to save the configuration parameters:
Step 1 Install and launch the new Cisco IPVC Configuration Utility.
Step 2 Select the desired MCU unit. Enter the password (Factory default is: cisco).
Step 3 If you are using the gatekeeper in the unit, continue to Step 4, otherwise skip to step 10.
Step 4 On the Configuration Source window, click Gatekeeper SetUp.
Step 5 On the Application Parameters windows, click Services Definition.
Step 6 On the Services Definition Table, click Save.
Step 7 Enter a filename and click OK.
Step 8 Click OK to exit the Services Definition window.
Step 9 Repeat Steps 5 through 8 for each Application Parameter window (Zone Definition, Neighbor Gatekeepers, Network Topology and/or Network Control), where you have customized any configuration variables. For example, you only need to save the Zone Definition Table if you have predefined any endpoints.
Step 10 Click Exit to exit the Gatekeeper setup.
Step 11 On the Configuration Source window, be sure CURRENT is selected under Source, then click Unit Setup.
Step 12 On the Services Definition Table window, click Finish.
Step 13 On the Save Setup window, in the Save As field, Enter a configuration filename. Select Yes.
Step 14 In the Confirm window, select No to exit the Cisco IP/VC Configuration Utility.
Step 15 Write down the filenames and directory paths of your following saved configuration parameters files:
Use these release notes in conjunction with the following documents:
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Posted: Tue Nov 16 11:08:07 PST 1999
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