[cisco-voip] Maximum Ad Hoc Conference with 6608 and 4.1(2)

Wed Feb 16 20:04:13 EST 2005

Actually we don't use Cisco meet-me conferencing feature. We use our own
product. We make a product called WAVE which runs on two servers
associated to our CallManager cluster. One server is in our Amsterdam
office and our other office is in Seattle. The way we've got it set up
each location calls into their local WAVE server and the two WAVE
servers connect to each other with a single, mixed audio stream. This
audio stream looks like a single for bandwidth purposes. To our users at
each location it looks like a single conference bridge. We can get two
hundred people in a conference call on each server at the same time but
it only takes up the bandwidth of a single call over the WAN. Also WAVE
performs automatic transcoding for G711, G729a, GSM, and others that
Cisco IP Phones don't understand. 

Cisco's hardware DSPs are somewhat brain dead when they are used for
conferencing. That's not what they were designed for. It's kind of a "it
can also do conferencing thing". 

--Scott

Sent: Wednesday, February 16, 2005 4:27 PM
To: Scott Crosby; cisco-voip at puck.nether.net
Subject: Re: [cisco-voip] Maximum Ad Hoc Conference with 6608 and 4.1(2)

I hear you about the crossing ports. From my discussions with the TAC,
before a conference call is assigned to a DSP, it has to have X number
of conference streams available where X is the Maximum Ad Hoc Conf
parameter value. So, if it is set to six, chances are pretty high that
you may have 5 unused channels on the DSP at any time.

Thanks for your comments.

-----
-----
Lelio Fulgenzi, B.A.
lelio at uoguelph.ca.eh
Network Analyst (CCS)
University of Guelph                             FAX:(519) 767-1060 JNHN
Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1                          TEL:(519) 824-4120
x56354
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^
     remove the 1st letter of the canadian alphabet from my email, eh!

	----- Original Message ----- 

	From: Scott Crosby <mailto:scott.crosby at twistpair.com>  

	To: Lelio Fulgenzi <mailto:lelio at uoguelph.ca>  ;
cisco-voip at puck.nether.net 

	Sent: Wednesday, February 16, 2005 6:31 PM

	Subject: RE: [cisco-voip] Maximum Ad Hoc Conference with 6608
and 4.1(2)

	The conferencing capabilities of CallManager along with their
hardware DSP resources haven't expanded much. Supposedly, you can set
parameters higher than 6 but Cisco TAC doesn't support it. I believe the
issue with the hardware DSP resources of the 6608 or an HDV-DSP farm
module in a IOS router is that audio mixing can't cross DSP modules
inside the platforms. That's what limits the max conference users. When
the conference parameter is upped on the software conference bridge on
CallManager it can mix more than six but the higher you set the value
the more processing impact it has on that CallManager. Hence the lack of
TAC support for it, from what I understand. Also the software conference
bridge only supports the G711 codecs without a hardware transcoding
resource. Also the software conference bridge on CallManager can't cross
servers to provide additional mixing so the conference has to live on
one server or the other at the time it starts.

	I believe the parameter you are looking are in Service>>Service
Parameters>> Cisco CallManager>> Maximum Ad Hoc Conference. The default
value is four. 

	Cisco does offer a full fledged enterprise conferencing solution
to meet the needs of your users. It's called Meeting Place, it's the
Ferrari of conferencing but it's got a Ferrari price.

	Meeting Place

	http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/ps5664/ps5669/

	I think Cisco also still sells Cisco Conferencing Connection.
It's between CallManager native conferencing and Meeting Place. It very
limited, only supports G711 and in my opinion very buggy with poor
support from the TAC. I used to work for a premier integrator of Cisco
IP Telephony solutions who deployed this for a customer. We didn't
deploy it ever again.

	Cisco Conferencing Connection

	http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/voicesw/ps752/

	--Scott

	From: cisco-voip-bounces at puck.nether.net
[mailto:cisco-voip-bounces at puck.nether.net] On Behalf Of Lelio Fulgenzi
	Sent: Wednesday, February 16, 2005 1:45 PM
	To: cisco-voip at puck.nether.net
	Subject: [cisco-voip] Maximum Ad Hoc Conference with 6608 and
4.1(2)

	I can see plain and simple from this link
<http://www.cisco.com/en/US/customer/products/sw/voicesw/ps556/products_
administration_guide_chapter09186a008013937b.html#xtocid10>  , that the
maximum number of conference participants per conference call is six for
v3.3(2).

				Conferencing Design Details

				The following points summarize the
design capabilities and requirements of the CiscoCatalyst voice modules:

				*	Support exists for a maximum of
six participants per conference call. 

	However, the documentation for 4.1(2) is not as clear.

	Does anyone have any idea what the maximum number of
participants for a 6608 DSP is with 4.1(2)? Can you point me to the
documentation that helps you come to this number?

	According to this link
<http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/voicesw/ps556/products_administr
ation_guide_chapter09186a00802e0692.html#wp1023249> , it seems the
maximum is 16.

	*	For a G.711 or G.723 conference-32 conferencing
participants per physical port; maximum conference size of 16
participants 

	I am looking for the maximum value to enter in theMaximum Ad Hoc
Conference CallManager service parameter.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------
	Lelio Fulgenzi, B.A.
	Network Analyst (CCS) * University of Guelph * Guelph, Ontario
N1G 2W1
	(519) 824-4120 x56354 (519) 767-1060 FAX (JNHN)

	"That's a UNIX book. Cool!" -- Garth 

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