Media Steam
The IEEE 802.11 wireless multicast delivery mechanism does not provide a reliable way to acknowledge lost or corrupted packets. As a result, if any multicast packet is lost in the air, it is not sent again which may lead to poor quality of IP multicast stream.
The Media Stream (formerly Video Stream) feature makes the IP multicast stream delivery to the wireless clients more reliable over the air and facilitates better usage of wireless bandwidth, by converting the multicast frame to a unicast frame over the air. Each Media Stream client acknowledges receiving a video IP multicast stream.
Configure Media Stream Parameters
Configure the global multicast parameters by the following steps:
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Switch to Expert View by clicking the bidirectional arrow icon on the top right of the home screen in the Web UI of the Primary AP.
A message is displayed to confirm if you want to switch to the expert view.
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Click OK.
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Navigate to Services >Media Stream.
The Media Stream page will be displayed.
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Enable Global Multicast to support multicast traffic on Primary AP. The default value is Disabled.
Note
Global multicast cannot be enabled without configuring IPv4 multicast address in WLAN page.
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Enable Multicast Direct to enhance the video streaming for wireless clients. The default value is Disabled.
Note
Enabling the multicast direct feature does not automatically reset the existing client state. The wireless clients must re-join the multicast stream after enabling the multicast direct feature on the controller.
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IGMP Query Interval - Configure the interval of how often querier sends IGMP host-query messages from an interface. By default, 20 seconds is set. The configurable range is 15-2400 secs.
This option is available only if both Global Multicast and Multicast Direct are enabled.
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Select Session Announcement State toggle button to enable the session announcement mechanism. If the session announcement state is enabled, clients are informed each time a controller is not able to serve the multicast direct data to the client. The following parameters needs to be filled only if Session Announcement State is enabled.
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Session Announcement URL— Enter the URL where the client can find more information when an error occurs during the multicast media stream transmission.
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Session Announcement E-mail— Enter the e-mail address of the person who can be contacted.
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Session Announcement Phone— Enter the phone number of the person who can be contacted.
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Session Announcement Note— Enter a reason as to why a particular client cannot be served with a multicast media.
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Click Apply.
Configuring a New Media Stream
To add a new Media stream switch to Expert View and navigate to Services>Media Stream.
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Click Add New Stream to configure a new media stream. The Add New Media Stream page is displayed.
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Enter the media stream name in the Stream Name text box. The stream name can be up to 64 characters.
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Enter the starting IPv4 address of the multicast media stream in the Multicast Start IP Address text box.
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Enter the ending IPv4 address of the multicast media stream in the Multicast End IP Address text box.
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Enter the maximum expected bandwidth that you want to assign to the media stream into the Maximum Expected Bandwidth (Kbps) text box. The range is 1 to 35000 kbps.
Note
We recommend that you use a template to add a media stream to the Primary AP.
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From the Select from Predefined Templates drop-down list under Resource Reservation Control (RRC) Parameters, choose one of the following options to specify the details about the resource reservation control:
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Very Coarse (below 300 kbps)
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Coarse (below 500 kbps)
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Ordinary (below 750 kbps)
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Low (below 1 Mbps)
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Medium (below 3 Mbps)
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High (below 5 Mbps)
Note
When you select a predefined template from the drop-down list, the following text boxes under the Resource Reservation Control (RRC) Parameters list their default values that are assigned with the template.
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Specify the average packet size in the Average Packet Size field. The value can be in the range of 100 to 1500 bytes. The default value is 1200.
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Enable the RRC (Resource Reservation Control Check) Periodic update in the RRC Periodic update field. By default, this option is enabled.
RRC periodically updates the admission decision on the admitted stream according to the correct channel load. As a result, it may deny certain low priority admitted stream requests.
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Specify the priority bit set in the media stream in the RRC Priority field. The priority can be any number between 1 and 8.
The larger the value means the priority is higher. For example, a priority of 1 is the lowest value and a value of 8 is the highest value. The default priority is 4. The low priority stream may be denied in the RRC periodic update.
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Specify the action to perform in case of a violation after a re-RRC in the Traffic Profile Violation field. Choose an action from the drop-down list. The possible values are as follows:
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Best Effort— Specifies that a stream is set to Best Effort class on periodic revaluation. This is the default value.
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Drop— Specifies that a stream is dropped on periodic revaluation.
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Click Apply.
The newly created Media stream is displayed in the table along with details of Stream Name, Start and End IP Address, and Operation Status.
Viewing Media Stream Clients
Media stream clients will be displayed under this section with the following details:
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Client MAC—Displays the MAC address of the client.
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Stream Name—Shows the Media stream name. The Stream Name will be Null for clients that are connected to WLAN with the Multicast Direct toggle disabled.
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Multicast IP—Displays the Multicast Group Address configured in the WLAN page.
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AP Name—Displays the AP Name connected to the client.
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VLAN—Displays the Client VLAN.
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Type—Displays Multicast Only or Multicast Direct based on the Multicast Direct toggle configured in the WLAN.