User guide

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Release Notes for Cisco 2500 Series for Cisco IOS Release 12.0 T
78-5563-07 Rev.H0
New and Changed Information
Multimedia Conference Manager
Use the Multimedia Conference Manager to enable your current internetwork to route bit-intensive data
such as audio telephony, video and audio telephony, and data conferencing using existing telephone and
ISDN links, without degrading the network’s current level of service. The Multimedia Conference
Manager feature provides H.323 application options previously unavailable. Using Multimedia
Conference Manager, you can implement H.323-compliant applications on existing networks in an
incremental fashion without upgrades. This feature also provides a rich list of networking capability,
including:
• A means to implement Quality of Service (QoS), which is required for the successful deployment
of H.323 applications.
• Inter-zone routing in the E.164 address space. When using H.323-ID format addresses, inter-zone
routing is done through domain names.
The Multimedia Conference Manager feature provides network administration mechanisms to support
H.323 applications without impacting the mission critical applications running on today’s networks.
Multimedia Conference Manager is implemented on Cisco IOS software. Multimedia Conference
Manager provides the network administrator with these abilities:
• Identify H.323 traffic and apply appropriate policies
• Limit H.323 traffic on the local-area network (LAN) and wide-area network (WAN)
• Provide user accounting for records based on service utilization
• Insert QoS for the H.323 traffic generated by applications such as Voice over IP (VoIP), data
conferencing, and video conferencing
• Implement security for H.323 communications
Multimedia Conference Manager has two principal functions: gatekeeper and proxy. This document
describes the value of the Multimedia Conference Manager gatekeeper and proxy functions for
end-to-end implementation of H.323-compliant multimedia applications. These functions are unique to
Multimedia Conference Manager. Similar robust features are currently not available in other vendor
solutions.
Gatekeeper subsystems provide:
• User authorization where authorization, authentication, and accounting (AAA) account holders are
permitted to register and use the services of Multimedia Conference Manager
• Accounting using AAA call detail records
• Zone bandwidth management to limit the number of active sessions
• H.323 call routing
• Address resolution
Starting with Cisco IOS Releases 11.3(6)Q and 11.3(7)NA and later, you can configure Cisco
gatekeepers to use the Cisco Hot Standby Routing Protocol (HSRP), so that when one gatekeeper fails,
the standby gatekeeper assumes its role.
Proxy subsystems provide:
• H.323 traffic consolidation
• Tight bandwidth controls
• QoS mechanisms such as IP Precedence and RSVP
• Secure communication over extranets