Cisco IP Communicator : How to define QoS on Laptop

[khanm1977]

Hi,

I've been in the porcess of testing the Cisco IP Communicator version 7X and so far the results have not been encouraging when any other activity happens on the laptop like email received, PPT opened etc the voice quality certainly degrades. I was looking at how to define QoS on the client laptops so that the voice is given preference over data with any third party integration.

I've read lot about it but no solution found so far, we use Cisco VPN concentrator 3030. But nothing we can control regarding QoS even defined defined on the VPNS end and it has to defined on the laptop.

here's the situation i'm on to explain :

A 64k or 128k link may be okay if there is absolutely nothing else on the
line. When you have a user on one of those links and they start checking
email or browsing the web, the call quality will degrade almost completely.

Thanks any help or guidance will be appreciated.

Mohammed

[khanm1977]

Anyone who could atleast direct me to....

[jballari]

Hi Mohammed,

Cisco IPC marks packets with qos values but whether the OS is able to handle those correctly and/or whether the computer IPC is running on has enough resources to route packets out of the network interface as quick as possible is another matter. It's not only the application itself (CIPC) but the surrounding technology that has to work. Think qos as a chain...if one of the links is broken, the whole chain is unusable.

So, for things to work with CIPC:

-the OS needs to be capable of handling qos-marked packets. For windows, check this link out

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2007.02.cableguy.aspx

-the laptop/pc needs to have enough resources (cpu/ram) to handle several applications at once without impacting any of them.

-your network needs to support qos end-to-end. That means your switches and routers need to maintain the qos markings and prioritize accordingly, even more when you have small links in terms of bandwidth.

Hope it helps.

Cheers,

Jose

[khanm1977]

Thank you very much. Your reply makes sense though we cannot have any direct control over the packets when travelled via internet. Will try those suggestions from the link and have much better performance on the client PC or Laptop.

Had it been our own internal network you certainly have full control over QoS, your reply is in good direction atleast enlightened how you can tweak and achieve the end result. Hoping there's some perfect solution available in furture as we move towards mobile users.

Thank you once again.

Cheeers,

Mohammed

[justindunkerley]

I was having issues with poor quality outbound audio; wireshark was showing that outbound voice and signaling was not being marked. The fix for me was the information that in Windows 7 you need to be sure that IPC / Cisco UC for MOC is running with administrator rights, as only it has the rights to mark the packets.

[Sharif Alkatib]

Thanks for the tip. For those wondering what's MOC = Microsoft Office Communicator.

[gilsilva1985]

Hello,

If your switch´s are with Qos Feature activate, you need include command for trusted marking originated of application.

If Qos feature not active in your switch´s the command is not necessary.

The phisical phones mark the packets with DSCP EF. CIPC also mark packets with DSCP EF, but only the user is running the application with privilege admin.

For workaround this problem you can created a police of Qos in windows local machine or default domain police.