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June 2000
This document provides release notes for the following Cisco IP/VC 3500 family products:
The following sections provide information about the MCU that is not included in the Cisco IP/VC 3510 MCU User Guide Version 1.0.
This section provides important information that is not available in the Cisco IP/VC 3510 MCU User Guide.
The total number of participants in all conferences that the Cisco IP/VC 3510 MCU can handle at one time depends on several factors. The factors include the video bit rate reserved by the service prefix, the number of participants reserved by the service prefix, and the amount of bandwidth the MCU is currently using for conferences. The MCU assumes that the parameters set in the service prefix are actually being used whether or not all of the participants specified in the service prefix participate in the conference. (For example, if the service prefix specifies five participants and only three participate, the MCU still allocates bandwidth for five participants.) The MCU uses this information to determine the current bandwidth usage and whether to start a new conference or to expand a conference in progress.
In deciding whether to permit or reject a new conference, the MCU determines how much bandwidth remains available and calculates how much the new conference will use. If the new conference uses more bandwidth than is available, the MCU rejects the request. To ensure that you use your resources efficiently, we suggest that for each video bit rate you use you create several service prefixes representing the range of participants that are most likely to be used. For example, for the video bit rate 384, you can create service prefixes for two, three, and five participants.
We also suggest that you encourage your users to initiate conferences using the service prefix that specifies the exact number of participants expected in the conference. Users can make request for additional participants join the conference after the conference commences.
You can increase the number of participants in a conference beyond what a single Cisco IP/VC 3510 MCU allows by cascading Cisco IP/VC 3510 MCUs. Cascading is a method whereby a conference on one Cisco IP/VC 3510 MCU dials up a conference on another Cisco IP/VC 3510 MCU. The conference of the dialing MCU becomes one of the conference participants of the receiving MCU. In this way, conference members of the dialing MCU can participate in the original conference without taxing MCU resources.
The Cisco IP/VC 3510 MCU allows you to create services that have dynamic bandwidths (video bit rates). You can use the variable "~" to define the video bit rate the call will use. When the variable is used, the MCU negotiates with the conference participants to establish a common bandwidth for the conference. The default dynamic bandwidth is 384 kbps.
Speed matching is supported for WAN terminals that join the videoconference in progress. The MCU will adjust the videoconference transfer rate to the transfer rate of the participant using the lowest transfer rate.
Cascading is a technique that can increase the number of participants in an MCU videoconference beyond the stated capacity of a single MCU. To cascade, a conference is created on MCU 1 for a specific number of participants. A conference created on MCU 2 dials into the MCU 1 conference and becomes one of the participants. Since the MCU 2 conference is an MCU 1 conference participant, all endpoints that join the MCU 2 conference participate in the
MCU 1 conference. In this way, more conferees can participate in the original conference than a single MCU can accommodate, and the conference load can be better distributed. This section describes how to access MCUs in the cascaded conference and how to lock on a video participant.
To monitor the participants of a cascaded conference, you must access the monitoring utility of each cascaded MCU separately. To access the monitoring utility for the MCU, complete the following steps:
Step 2 Enter the IP address or domain name assigned to the MCU in the Location field in the browser window and click Enter. The Cisco IP/VC 3500 Series Video MCU page asking for the conference password (also referred to as the conference id) appears.
Step 3 Enter the conference id of the MCU conference that you want to monitor and click OK. The Cisco IP/VC 3500 Series Video MCU participants page appears. This page shows the participants, including other MCUs that have joined this conference. MCUs that have joined this conference are listed with the conference id that they use to join this conference.
Step 4 Repeat Steps 1 through 3 for all MCUs participating in the cascaded conference that you want to monitor.
To lock the video broadcast on a participant in a cascaded conference, complete the following steps:
Step 2 Locate the conference page of the participant whose view you want to display and click the radio button of that participant.
Step 3 In all other conference pages, click the radio button of the MCU that is linked to the MCU whose conference the selected participant belongs to. Chair Release should appear in all pages.
Step 4 In the conference page of the participant whose view you want to display, click Lock/Unlock. The view of the selected participant appears on all monitors except that of the selected participant.
You can use line commands to exercise additional control over the Cisco IP/VC 3510 MCU. Line commands let you set the video switching mode (which affects who the camera focuses on during a conference), specify the gatekeeper you want the MCU to register with, and set the debug notification level, among other functions. Line commands are described in the Cisco IP/VC 3510 MCU
User Guide in the "Advanced Commands for the MCU" section. Refer to that section for information on how to use line commands in the Cisco IP/VC Configuration Utility for the MCU. Table 1 lists the line commands you can use with the MCU.
Command | Description |
|---|---|
SpeakSlct_Fast: | Voice Switch setting fast switching. |
SpeakSlct_Slow: | Voice Switch setting slow switching. |
CloseConf: <conf> | Close conference. |
CloseCall: <number> | Drop caller. |
CpUseDisp:[DIFFER, RARE, OFTEN, NONE] | Changes the CPU usage notification. |
VdoSwMode:[CUCME, ALLC1] | Changes the Video Switch Mode. |
Unregister:<none> | Unregisters the MCU. |
register: <ip> | Registers the MCU to the gatekeeper specified. |
This section provides information about the limitations and restriction of the Cisco IP/VC 3510 MCU that are not included in the Cisco IP/VC 3510 MCU User Guide.
If your network is subjected to heavy multicast traffic, you may experience degradation in videoconference quality. The MCU may not be able to handle all of the information the switch sends. Try disabling multicast on the switch port where the MCU resides. (Multicast can be disabled on some Cisco Catalyst switches such as the Catalyst 5000 by accessing Interface/Port and applying Block.)
This section lists caveats that were not resolved at the time the Cisco IP/VC 3510 MCU was released.
The following sections provide information about the gateway that is not included in the Cisco IP/VC 3520 Gateway User Guide Version 2.
The Cisco IP/VC 3520 Gateway version 2 release contains the following new features:
This section provides information about the limitations and restriction of
version 2 of the Cisco IP/VC 3520 Gateway that are not included in the Cisco IP/VC 3520 Gateway User Guide Version 2.
LAN endpoints that use NetMeeting, LiveLAN, or VCON-Quick Connect v1.4 cannot initiate T.120 sessions. The endpoints can participate in T.120 sessions that are initiated on the WAN.
The number of incoming call routing methods you have enabled can affect the time required for a call to get through to the recipient.
If you are using a LiveLAN system, you may experience problems due to the inability of the LiveLAN system to tolerate opening and closing of channels.
This section lists caveats that were not resolved at the time version 2 of the Cisco IP/VC 3520 Gateway was released.
CSCdr18747: An gateway registered with a Cisco MCM gatekeeper does not automatically reregister with the gatekeeper after the gatekeeper stops and restarts. You must manually stop and start the gateway for it to register with the gatekeeper.
CSCdp31544: The configuration utility accessed through the terminal emulator does not assume that the option you choose to view or configure has a default value. You must type an option value at the prompt and press Enter.
The following sections provide information about the gateway that is not included in the Cisco IP/VC 3525 Gateway User Guide Version 2.
The Cisco IP/VC 3525 Gateway version 2 release contains the following new features:
This section provides information about the limitations and restriction of
version 2 of the Cisco IP/VC 3525 Gateway that are not included in the Cisco IP/VC 3525 Gateway User Guide Version 2.
The PRI does not support direct connections to ISDN smart jacks.
LAN endpoints that use NetMeeting, LiveLAN, or VCON-Quick Connect v1.4 cannot initiate T.120 sessions. The endpoints can participate in T.120 sessions that are initiated on the WAN.
The number of incoming call routing methods you have enabled can affect the time required for a call to get through to the recipient.
If you are using a LiveLAN system, you may experience problems due to the inability of the LiveLAN system to tolerate opening and closing of channels.
This section lists caveats that were not resolved at the time version 2 of the Cisco IP/VC 3525 Gateway was released.
CSCdr18747: An gateway registered with a Cisco MCM gatekeeper does not automatically reregister with the gatekeeper after the gatekeeper stops and restarts. You must manually stop and start the gateway for it to register with the gatekeeper.
CSCdp31544: The configuration utility accessed through the terminal emulator does not assume that the option you choose to view or configure has a default value. You must type an option value at the prompt and press Enter.
CSCdr38137: Placing an IP videoconference call from a BRI terminal to a PRI terminal through a PRI gateway and using the gateway internal voice response utility to specify parameters of the call can cause the PRI gateway to reboot.
The following sections provide information about the VTA that is not included in the Cisco IP/VC 3530 VTA User Guide Version 2.0.
The Cisco IP/VC 3530 VTA version 2 release contains the following new features:
This section provides information about the limitations and restriction of
version 2 of the Cisco IP/VC 3530 VTA that are not included in the Cisco IP/VC 3530 VTA User Guide Version 2.0.
The Tandberg Vision 2000 version B4.0 and Vision 800/2500/5000 version C1.1 indicate continuous incoming calls after call termination. To work around this problem, change the V.35 cable by clipping off the wire that goes into H (DTR) on the Winchester connector and short the pin H (DTR) to pin C (CTS).
If you encounter video quality problems while using a Tandberg 2500, PictureTel Venue, or CLI room system, we recommend that you disable the VTA T.120 feature. The VTA T.120 feature can be disabled via a terminal emulator session. For instructions on how to establish a terminal emulator session and how to configure the T.120 feature, refer to the "Monitoring the VTA" chapter in the Cisco IP/VC 3530 VTA User Guide.
This section lists caveats that were not resolved at the time version 2 of the Cisco IP/VC 3530 VTA was released.
CSCdr11459: The VTA registered with a Cisco MCM gatekeeper does not respond when a caller from a remote zone dials the zone prefix along with the E.164 address assigned to the VTA.
Workaround: Make the zone prefix part of the E.164 address assigned to the VTA. Attach the zone prefix to the front of the E.164 address. When the VTA registers with the gatekeeper, the E.164 address the VTA registers includes the zone prefix. For example, if the MCM gatekeeper zone prefix is 13 and the E.164 address you want to assign the VTA is 911, then the actual E.164 address that is assigned to the VTA and that it will register with the MCM gatekeeper is 13911.
CSCdp31544: The configuration utility accessed through the terminal emulator does not assume that the option you choose to view or configure has a default value. You must type an option value at the prompt and press Enter.
The following sections provide information pertaining to the Cisco IP/VC 3500 embedded gatekeeper. The version 2.0 embedded gatekeeper is available in the Cisco IP/VC 3520 Gateway version 2.0 and the Cisco IP/VC 3525 Gateway version 2.0 models. Although the gatekeeper resides within the MCU or gateway box, it is an independent entity that can be used with the resident MCU or gateway, independently of the MCU or gateway, or not used.
The information provided here is not included in the Cisco IP/VC 3500 user guides that describe the embedded gatekeeper.
The Cisco IP/VC 3500 version 2 embedded gatekeeper contains the following new features:
This section provides important information about the embedded gatekeeper.
Endpoint phone numbers cannot start with numbers that are used as service prefixes. For example, if 61 is used as an MCU service prefix, you cannot assign endpoints phone numbers that begin with 61 such as 6111 or 6138526.
The Cisco IP/VC Configuration Utility allows you to configure the gatekeeper separately from the MCU or gateway with which it shares the box. This section describes how to save embedded gatekeeper configuration parameters.
The embedded gatekeeper configuration tables are set and saved independently of each other. To save a configuration table, complete the following steps:
Step 2 Log in to the Cisco IP/VC 3500 Series unit that has the gatekeeper parameters you want to save.
Step 3 Click Gatekeeper in the Configuration Source window.
Step 4 Click the application parameter configuration you want to save.
Step 5 Set the parameters as you want to save them in the table.
Step 6 Click Save. The Save As window appears.
Step 7 In the File name field, enter a name for the file you want to save. A predefined file extension is automatically applied for the gatekeeper parameter table you are saving. The extension for each gatekeeper parameter table is as follows:
Step 8 Click Save.
The Cisco IP/VC Configuration Utility recognizes that the embedded gatekeeper shares the box with an MCU or gateway, and allows you to configure the gatekeeper separately. This section describes how to load embedded gatekeeper parameters you have saved into the Cisco IP/VC Configuration Utility to use to restore the gatekeeper parameters or to configure another embedded gatekeeper.
To load embedded gatekeeper table configuration parameters you have saved into the configuration utility, complete the following steps:
Step 2 Log in to the Cisco IP/VC 3500 Series unit that has the parameters you want to load.
Step 3 Select Gatekeeper in the Configuation Source window.
Step 4 Click the application parameter into which you want to load the saved parameters.
Step 5 Click Load. The Open dialog box appears.
The Open dialog box lists files in the appropriate Cisco IP/VC directory that you can load. The file type is preselected. The file types are as follows:
Step 6 Select the file you want to load.
Step 7 Click OK. The parameters are loaded into the Cisco IP/VC Configuration Utility.
You can use the file as is or modify the parameters for the current embedded gatekeeper. The parameters can be written to Flash memory when you exit the definition table.
This section provides information about the limitations and restriction of embedded gatekeeper that are not included in the Cisco IP/VC user guide.
You must manually register endpoints that use NetMeeting version 2.x and earlier with the gatekeeper because these versions of NetMeeting do not support automatic gatekeeper registration.
NetMeeting users can only participate in conferences that use QCIF. If you anticipate NetMeeting clients to participate in conferences, be sure to create MCU services that use the QCIF format.
If you want to improve the audio quality of a NetMeeting endpoint, we recommend that you set the endpoint bandwidth by completing the following steps:
Step 2 Click the General tab.
Step 3 In the Network Bandwidth section, choose the field to display the drop-down list and select ISDN.
Step 4 Click OK.
This section lists caveats that were not resolved at the time version 2 of the Cisco IP/VC 3500 embedded gatekeeper was released.
This section lists caveats to version 1 of the embedded gatekeeper that are resolved in version 2 of the embedded gatekeeper.
CSCdp21042: The embedded gatekeeper in Cisco IP/VC 3520 Gateway 2.0 and the Cisco IP/VC 3525 Gateway 2.0 can be configured to use the Cisco MCM proxy.
Use this release note in conjunction with the following documents:
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Posted: Tue Sep 26 08:00:25 PDT 2000
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