Finisar Surveyor manual Multi-QoS

Chapter 11

Multi-QoS

Multi-QoS is a software plug-in to Surveyor that analyzes multimedia traffic over Ethernet-based networks. Multi-QoS validates Quality of Service (QoS) parameters presented by PSTN/IP Gateways, IP switches, and IPBXs. Multi-QoS provides a rich set of reported and calculated data to validate IP networks that carry the multi- media data.

The transmission of voice and video over traditional “data-only” networks is one of the most active areas in today's telecommunications industry. Voice over IP (VoIP) refers to the transmission of voice that has been compressed and transmitted over an IP (Internet Protocol) network. H.323, SIP, SDP, MGCP, and SCCP are key indus- try standards that enable VoIP communication. These standards address call control, multimedia management, bandwidth management, and interfaces between LANs and other networks.

Given the rapid acceptance of IP as the de facto protocol, QoS has become one of the biggest challenges for network administrators, especially for voice and video applications that require real-time performance. Policy-based systems, gateways, switches, and routers are often configured with a myriad of vendor and protocol combinations to work in unison to provide priority for the real-time demands of multimedia traffic.

Multi-QoS provides full protocol decodes and important QoS metrics in an easy-to- access graphical interface. Given the non-deterministic nature of IP, the measure- ment of the actual call traffic is an essential tool to ensuring network QoS. Multi- QoS provides a distributed solution to measure the QoS of all the existing calls without having to generate a specific “test call”. Measuring real calls eliminates the need to add test traffic to the network, doesn't limit the solution to spot checks, and enables the solving of “real-world” call problems in a deployed environment.

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