H.323 Beacon Tool Features

* Multithreaded nature of the H.323 Beacon Server:

Allows multiple Beacon Clients to perform tests simultaneously.

* Call Status and Alarms:

Options are: "In Session" (user successfully initiates a test session), "Normal Close" (user hangs up after testing) and "Exception Close" (test session does not initiate or disconnects in the middle of the test). This last option is followed by an "Alarm" (provide possible reasons for failure to initiate a test session or disconnection of a test session in the middle of a test).
Examples of the alarms are: "No Internet connectivity", "Possible firewall/NAT presence obstruction", "Remote H.323 Beacon Server Offline", "Excessive network congestion", "Transport error", "Insufficient bandwidth", "Signaling incompatibility", "Call refused/terminated", "Invalid IP address".

* H.323 Session Statistics:

Parameters monitored are: frame rate, round trip time, throughput, video jitter, audio jitter and packet loss, number of packets, packets late, packets out of order, and call duration. Statistics can be viewed in real-time or offline in a tabular form (Excel format) or as graph plots. E-Model parameters (Id, Ie, R and MOS) data are also captured and displayed as graph plots after end of a test session involving an audio file transfer using the server-to-server test module.

Ability to perform high-bandwidth H.323 sessions tests:

Generation of H.323 traffic (active measurement) in the order of Mbps that is identical to H.323 traffic containing many simultaneous H.323 calls packets over the network. This can be used in network measurement infrastructures to test the network's ability to handle bulk H.323 traffic in both scheduled and on-demand fashions.

* Real-Time Audio/Video Feedback:

Ever wondered how your audio/video was on the remote end? With this feature, the "local" audio/video quality as experienced at the remote end can be seen locally! Local video can be recorded at the Beacon server in Avi, Mpeg or QuickTime formats; local audio can be recorded at the Beacon server in .wav format. The recorded audio/video files can be played back at the client by FTP-ing transparently.

* H.323 Beacon Test Customization:

A user, reasonably adept in H.323 protocol specifications, can conduct customized tests using these options:

a. Configure H.225 and H.245 parameters.

b. Choose the preferred audio/video codec to be used for the test session and set various buffer sizes.

c. Specify range of RTP, UDP and TCP ports used for the call.

d. Set the folder path to save the test session data for later analysis and save test session summary graphs in png and/or bmp formats.

* H.323 Test Session Summary Graphs:

*Graph plots of the various statistics vs. time for each test session showing levels of performance such as: good, acceptable and unacceptable. Also, graph plots of all the H.323 related signaling that occurred during the test session. For server-to-server tests, have the graph plots available using a web interface with flexibility to query data in any form and quantity.

Various client-server tests:

Client-to-client, Client-to-server*, Server-to-server (without central storage server)*, Server-to-server (with central storage server)

* Call Detail Record (CDR) at the H.323 Beacon Server:

Generated for all sessions; contains main parameters about the calls such as date, call originating IP and name, reason for disconnection, etc.

* Call Activities Log tab at the H.323 Beacon Client:

Real-time display of the various activities occurring at the Client during the test session.

* Test Session Summary Report:

A text document generated at the end of a test session that contains detailed summary information of the test. Information such as traceroute from the client to server and reverse traceroute from server to client, ping information from client and server, 50^th and 90^th percentile values of statistics collected, exception information, if any.