VCS and MCU

[Svetoslav Simeonov]

Hello friends,

my first question is :

1. Is there any kind of software that i can install on a laptop so that the laptop can connect to a VCS and use it as an Endpoint?

My second question is :

2. How many people can join a few conferences at the same time in a MCU 4501 ? Is there a limit on the Media Ports? If yes can i increase the count of the people joining the conferences ?

Thanks

[Jens Didriksen]

1.If you have TMS and the relevant licences, you can use "enterprise" JabberVideo, however, if you don't, then the "free" version hosted by Cisco would be a viable option, you can get this from

https://www.ciscojabbervideo.com/home

(it is also available from iTunes for iPad2 and later).

2. Maximum 6 HD or 12 SD participants in one conference - this depends on how you configure the MCU, and is upgradable - see http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/ps7060/ps11305/ps11317/ps11562/data_sheet_c78-627487.html

(All depends on how many conferences you need to host at the same time; i.e. if configured for HD, then 6 participants in one conference, or 3 in two conferences etc.)

/jens

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[Wayne DeNardi]

Another answer to question 1, although not a "supported" solution:  If you have SIP configured on your VCS, you can use a software based SIP client (I've had some success with X-Lite before).

Wayne

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[Svetoslav Simeonov]

Hello and thanks a lot for the answers they were very helpful, but can you tell me when i make this connection

X-lite on laptop--> router ---> internet -->ASA 5505 --> Router 3945 series --> VCS --> E20 endpoint the quality is bad on the one side ... the picture shown on the laptop is very bad ... when i call e20 to e20 on the quality is very good pls help !

[Martin Koch]

Sounds a bit like you use a vpn, if not and you can reach your setup via the internet try:

https://www.ciscojabbervideo.com/

I like the simplicity and the great video quality of this client.

Quality issues can have many reasons, wrong (automatic) codec selection or not supported codecs,

packet loss, to few bandwidth, mtu issues over your vpn, ...

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[Martin Koch]

1) define "as an endpoint". If you want to use it as a room system, I think there is nothing really nice,

especially if you need a PTZ camera or external mics and so on.

If its just for a single or two users, sure, you can use it as a soft client.

There is the Cisco way with Jabber Video where there is also a free Jabber Video version if you can connect via the internet.

But you also find 3rd party tools like x-lite, bria or even opensource like linphone but they all might

have their limitations and at least I am way more happy with JabberVideo.

2) see Jens posting

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[Svetoslav Simeonov]

Thanks a lot mr Koch you say the vpn tunnel can be the reason for the bad quality can you give me some advices what should i do to succeed .

Thanks

P.S i will try jabber

[Svetoslav Simeonov]

Can i use JabberVideoSoftware to connect to my VCS ?

[Martin Koch]

You most likely need a VCS-E to use the free Jabber video as signaling and possibly the media

will come from the internet (=Ciscos Free Jabber Video servers).

When you have a TMS you just need additional licenses to get Jabber Video as your own on premise

VPN connection. That will work great via a VPN as well.

If you need public connectivity anyhow you want to investigate to have your own VCS-E anyhow.

Some providers (like where I work) can offer this to you as a service as well.

Regards the VPN, this always adds overhead, processing power, the MTU is lower, ....

Regards the MTU, you would have to know which is the maximum MTU on your VPN link and then see that

the video conferencing system/infrastructure are not trying to send bigger packages as your VPN can handle.

But like I said it can have different reasons, from the software itself, ....

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[Svetoslav Simeonov]

Hello again the thing is that i have to do this with VPN tunnel ... from the one side the ASA from the other a Cisco VPN client on the laptop and a softphone ...

Thanks

[Martin Koch]

Like I said, look at the VPN  and the client and see where you get in trouble, as it can happen

on so many layers it might take some time to see what fails here.

But like I said, myexperance with 3rd party video soft clients was more or less disappointing.

Ask a vpn/network guy to help you to see if MTU/Bandwidth/Jitter/Loss are causing these issues and

what can be done to optimize it.

Contact your local Cisco Partner to help you how you can enable JabberVideo within your organization.

We have other customers using JabberVideo over VPN which works fine for them.

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[Svetoslav Simeonov]

Thanks mr.Koch,

i will try first the jabbervideo, but i have difficulty with singing in... In internal server i put the VCS ip address 10.20.100.x

in domain i put the domain that i have made - svetli.bg and on the username and password i put the registration that i have made in the  outboundconnectioncredentials but there is a message wrong username password or domain ... can you give me some advices. THANKS!

[Jens Didriksen]

Are you using "enterprise version" of JabberVideo, or the "free version" which is hosted by Cisco?

If the "enterprise version", then you need

TMS

JabberVideo licences

Provisioning template(s) in TMS

JabberVideo accounts, either manually created or imported into TMS from AD etc.

Provisioning option key on VCS-C

JabberVideo admin guide:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/telepresence/endpoint/Jabber_Video/4_6/CJAB_BK_C89F6C9E_00_cisco-jabber-video-for-telepresence.pdf

For how to authenticate, see

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/telepresence/infrastructure/vcs/config_guide/Cisco_VCS_Authenticating_Devices_Deployment_Guide_X7-2.pdf

If you are using the "free version" which is hosted by Cisco, then the internal server must be set to

https://boot.ciscojabbervideo.com/endpoint/configuration - external server and sip domain should be blank and you sign in using the username and password you chose when you created the jabber.com account.

/jens

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[Svetoslav Simeonov]

Can you please give me some softphones i can try... i've tryed with x-lite but the quality is not so good and i

couldn't  connect two laptops with x-lite to talk together , there was no video and audio between them... with jabber i have troubles, because i don't have the license for it... THANKS!