Multicampus Video Stream QOS

[Chris Holub]

Hello all,

I need some direction. I have had several people look at our setup in regards to QOS and have had several Cisco TAC cases opened about it as well and we still have issues during the video stream at the remote locations where the video will glitch now and again. It's not horrible but not acceptable to me either.

Attached is a network diagram of just the part of our network that has anything to do with the video stream.

Info:

The Evertz Encoder at the main campus receives the video and encodes it and puts it on that 3750 on the far left of the map.

From there it connects by fiber to our 4506 with SUP7E. From there is goes to our ISP Century Link 3750 Metro E swicth here at the main campus and then its a 100Meg Metro Ethernet connection to another one of their switches at the remote site and then to our first swicth which is a 3750 in most cases but the last location we got a 3850.

We pay Century Link to trust our DSCP markings and we have 35Meg of QOS on that 100Meg MOE line to each campus.

As you can see one camps is set where the Evertz Decoder is on the first swicth from the MOE and one campus it has to make a hop to the second switch before getting to the decoder and finally at our third campus it has to hop to three switches before making it to the decoder.

The Evertz Encoder is set to send this video stream on port 5000. (something we chose) and it does not have any DSCP markings.

After looking at what all the DSCP markings mean I chose at the time to set the DSCP to CS5 in the switch. So it says if it sees port 5000 traffic mark it as DSCP CS5. Now researching more I think it should be CS4 but I'm not sure about that.

So the quality of the stream only matters on Sat and Sun really because thats when it is really being used. Is there a way to put a timer on it?

We also have a VOIP system. Not CIsco phones but a Swtchvox VOIP PBX and Switchvox and Polycom phones. At this time I dont have any QOS set for VOIP although I should but so far the way it is we dont have any quality issues. That being said I still want to add it to my QOS config.

So from what I have ready recently I need to define my QOS priority like this... VOIP, Video Stream, All other traffic as best effort.

(Video Stream) = CS4?

(VOIP) = EF

(All of ther traffic) = 0

Is that right as far as the way I understand that? What would the config look like?

Cheers,

Chris

[Joseph W. Doherty]

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Posting

The "right" QoS setup is probably what you need.

I don't believe I saw mention of any shaping for the MetroE provider's bandwidth caps.  When there's less bandwidth than what an interface allows for, shaping is often necessary for QoS to trigger.

Also you're using 3750s.  Those switch are notorious for having insufficient buffer resources.  If QoS is enabled on them, they often require some skillful buffer tuning.

Unfortunately, it's unlikely anyone will be able to write, just add these couple of configuration statements.  If TAC doesn't fix the issue, what I would suggest is obtaining a good QoS consultant, budget for a half week to week of their time.

[Chris Holub]

Thanks Joseph you are probably right. I'm not asking for some config assistance for just one switch but I really need a QOS expert to check each config I guess ad see what I am missing.

I dont have any shaping or policing on anything but the 4506.

I'll look into a QOS consultant.

Cheers,

Chris