[Shefflea-broadband] BT switch configuration and Video Conferencing

[Andy Wynne]

Colleagues,

I have been in discussion with BT in the last couple fo days trying to
resolve some issues that arose out of the Video Conferencing project. One of
the problems we have been trying to resolve is that some VC end points
(cameras) could not be dialled directly using E164 numbers or ip addresses,
and it has become evident that the cause was related to the fact that the VC
cameras had been put on the admin range in order to bypass local firewalls.

This email is aimed at clarifying the situation regarding configuration of
the BT Cisco 2950 switches and the use of admin and curriculum ip ranges.
The guidance below has been agreed with BT.

If a school is using a combined LAN, i.e. using the curriculum ip range for
all network devices, (i.e. not separating admin and curriculum), then ports
1 and 2 on the Cisco 2950 switch are available. Port 1 is assumed to be the
primary, port 2 is a spare. Where the LANs are split, ports 11 and 12 are
available for curriculum and ports 1 and 2 are reserved for the admin
range. If your switch is configured for a split LAN, then you will have been
specifically advised of this and BT will have configured the ports as above.
Most cases are combined LAN.

Some have used other ports (e.g. the  gigabit ports) where they have
arranged this with BT for local reasons.

A consequence of this is that port 2 is available for use as a spare port,
and can be used, for example, to create a bypass of a local firewall to
enable video conferencing to work effectively. The VC end point should be
given an ip address from within the curriculum (combined) ip range.

Hope this helps to lift some of the fog. If you do have any queries
regarding the information below, please contact me by email.

best regards,
 
Andy Wynne
=========
Andy Wynne
Sheffield South CLC & Sheffield Schools Broadband Project
awynne at ssclc.net
www.ssclc.net
T: 0114 258 7728
F: 0114 258 7592
M: 07771 578234
E164: 0044 02176 3 4444 005


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