Refer to this table for assistance configuring the gatekeeper settings. After making any configuration changes, clickApply changes.
Field Field description Usage tips H.323
gatekeeper usage
Enables the MCU to use an H.323 gatekeeper for registration of numeric identifiers for its
conferences and/or auto attendants.
When set toDisabledthen no gatekeeper registrations are attempted (and existing registrations are torn down), regardless of other gatekeeper or per-conference settings.
When set toEnabledregistrations with the gatekeeper are attempted, and the gatekeeper is contacted for incoming and outgoing calls. If the gatekeeper does not respond, calls are still connected if possible. When set toRequiredregistrations with the gatekeeper are attempted but calls are not connected if the gatekeeper cannot be contacted.
H.323 gatekeeper address
Identifies the network address of the gatekeeper to which MCU registrations should be made.
This can be specified either as a host name or as an IP address. This field will have no effect ifH.323 Gatekeeper usage(see above) is set toDisabled.
Gatekeeper registration type
Controls how the MCU identifies itself when registering with its configured gatekeeper.
Cisco recommends that you use theTerminal / gatewayoption unless you are using a service prefix (in this case, useGateway). Only use a different option if you are:
n having specific problems
n using the VCS as a gatekeeper (with or without a service prefix),
in which case useMCU (standard)
n using the Cisco Gatekeeper (with or without a service prefix), in
which case useGateway (Cisco GK compatible)
n using the VCON MXM Gatekeeper (with or without a service
prefix), in which case useMCU (compatible)
Refer to the Knowledge Base in the Support section of the web site for more details about interoperability with gatekeepers.
Ethernet port association
Whether a call involves consultation with the configured gatekeeper also depends on thePort Aand
Port Bsettings. For all incoming calls, and outgoing calls dialed by IP address rather than by E.164 phone number, the gatekeeper will be used to validate the connection only if the network port over which the connection is made is selected here.
The check boxes that are available here depend on which interfaces are enabled. Check the boxes of the interface(s) and IP version(s) that you want to be registered to the gatekeeper. In the case of an incoming call to an address of the form<numeric ID>@<domain>, the admission query will use just the<numeric ID>to validate the connection.
(Mandatory) H.323 ID to register
Specifies an identifier that the MCU can use to register itself with the H.323
gatekeeper.
Before the MCU can register any IDs with the H.323 gatekeeper, it must make an MCU-wide registration.
This field is required for the gatekeeper registration.
This will have no effect ifH.323 gatekeeper usageis disabled.
Use password
If the configured gatekeeper required password
authentication from registrants, select theUse passwordcheck box and type the password.
Note that where password authentication is used, the(Mandatory) H.323 ID to registerwill be used as the username.
Prefix for MCU
registrations
Specifies an optional group of digits that are added to the beginning of each conference or auto attendant's numeric identifier before registering it with the H.323
gatekeeper.
Conferences and auto attendants registered with a gatekeeper have anumeric identifier. The numeric identifier is a unique sequence of digits entered from a video-conferencing endpoint to connect directly to the conference or auto attendant. This
eliminates the need for users to navigate additional menus or to know the IP address of the MCU.
To usefully partition the dialing space, you might need to ensure that all registrations from a single MCU start with the same sequence of digits.
Using registration prefixes also can benefit large-scale dial plan changes. For example, you can change all MCU registrations to begin with "121" instead of "11" by changing a single MCU configuration field rather than individually amending every conference or auto attendant's associated numeric identifier. IfH.323 gatekeeper usageis disabled, this field will have no effect.
Note that if you are also intending to use the MCU service prefix (see below), Cisco recommends that you set both prefixes to the same number.
MCU service prefix
If required, specify a group of digits which the H.323 gatekeeper may use to identify calls to be routed to the MCU.
This field is optional. If set, users dialing any number beginning with this prefix will have their call directed to the MCU. This might be useful if you want to create conferences in response to unknown E.164 numbers.
Any numbers following the prefix will be identified by the MCU as a conference or auto attendant number. For example, if a conference has Numeric ID "3333" and you have set the service prefix to be "121", then a user dialing "1213333" will be connected to that conference.
This field will have no effect ifH.323 gatekeeper usageis disabled.
Note that if you are also intending to use thePrefix for MCU registrations(see above), Cisco recommends that you set both prefixes to the same number.
If the MCU is unable to match a call to a conference or auto attendant, the action forIncoming calls to unknown E.164 numberwill be applied. This is a setting on theSettings > Conferencespage (seeConfiguring global conference settings). This action can be set toCreate new ad hoc conference.
Allow numeric ID registration for
conferences
This setting controls whether conferences' configured numeric IDs are allowed to be registered with the gatekeeper. This setting is the global control thatallowsor
disallowsconferences to be registered with the
gatekeeper.
Individual conferences will be registered or not depending on the per- conferenceNumeric ID registration setting which is on theAdd conference
page for scheduled conferences and for ad hoc conferences it is in the ad hoc conference template.
This would normally beEnabled; by setting it toDisabled, an administrator can prevent users from adding to the set of IDs registered with the configured gatekeeper, even if those users enable the gatekeeperNumeric ID registrationsetting for conferences they control. This may be desired when working with certain types of H.323 gatekeeper whose behavior in some modes is to disconnect active calls when the set of registered IDs
changes.
This setting affects both the registration of numeric IDs configured for scheduled conferences and the registration of ad hoc
conferences.
This field will have no effect ifH.323 Gatekeeper usageis set to
Send resource availability indications
Select this option if you want the MCU to inform the gatekeeper about its availability or non-
availability. This information will be used by the
gatekeeper when it is selecting where to place ad hoc conferences.
Only use this option where multiple MCUs are registered with thesame
MCU service prefix on the same gatekeeper.
If you select this option, you must configure the
thresholds for conferences and/or video ports. Thresholds:
n Conferences: Enter any
number of conferences between 0 and 200. (A value of 0 will mean that the MCU will always indicate 'unavailable'.)
n Video ports: Enter a
number between 0 and the number of video ports on your MCU; for
example, on an MCU 4205, there are 12 video ports, so enter a number between 0 and 12. (A value of 0 will mean that the MCU will always indicate 'unavailable'.)
The ability of the MCU to send resource availability messages is useful in a network where there are multiple MCUs or where there are several media blades in an MSE.
In an environment with multiple conferencing devices registered with the same gatekeeper, that gatekeeper should favor devices in the available state when choosing where to place new calls. For example, when one MCU sends the gatekeeper a message indicating that it is not available, the gatekeeper will then attempt to use a different MCU for new ad hoc conferences.
Resource availability indications are most useful where the thresholds are configured such that the MCU informs the gatekeeper that it is unavailable when its resources are nearly used up.
Conferences without any active participants do not contribute to the conference count; any video port in use is added to the video port count.
When either threshold is equaled or exceeded, the MCU sends a message to indicate that it is not available; when the resource usage drops such that neither threshold is equaled or exceeded, the MCU sends a message indicating that it is available.
You might choose to only configure one of the thresholds. You are probably aware of how your video conferencing resources tend to be used by participants and you need to consider this when configuring the thresholds. For example, you could have four people who have each started an ad hoc conference; you might know that it is usual for such conferences to end up having ten participants. In this case, on a 40-port MCU you could set the conference threshold to 4 to indicate that it will be out-of-resources very soon. On the same MCU if you set the video port threshold to 35 and left the conference threshold empty, another four or more people could begin ad hoc conferences on this MCU before the participants expected in the original four conferences had dialed in.
When switching from Standard to High Definition mode on an HD- capable MCU, if theVideo portsthreshold is higher than the number of available video ports, the MCU will change the threshold value down to the number of video ports.