NBX V3000 MOH

[dlefever]

I have a client that is using a V3000 for their phone system.  It is multicasting to 01:e0:bb:00:00:15 24/7.  The installation guide states that this MAC address refers to the music on hold.  Is this normal? I have not worked with this specific system before, but it seems that it shouldn't flood the network with a few hundred packets per second.

Thank you in advance,

Dale Lefever

[merlin_1]

Multicast broadcasts are all normal for the NBX . We use that mac address to send out our music on hold packets .

[dlefever]

 So it is normal that all my activity lights on 4 switches (connected to phones and PCs) are flashing all the time?

[merlin_1]

Yes . The switches think its a storm but it is not . Known issue with the NBX and Multicast on the network since day 1 (2000 ? ) , or somewhere near that date .

PM me with your email and I will send you a doc that explains the NBX on a data network .

This message was edited by merlin on 3-10-10 @ 2:33 PM

[dig1234]

This never made any sense to me, Why in the world does the MOH need to broadcast to the LAN! Hold music is for the NBX to play to callers on the line cards, makes absolutely no sense to broadcast that all over the LAN.

[merlin_1]

The NBX architecture uses ethernet packets to talk to all devices , including the music portion ( elvis ) of the box . When the NBX sends out music on hold , it is in the form of ethernet packets to other devices like the NCP and the PRI channels . This is accomplished by using 01e0bb000015 type of mac addresses for Multicast in layer 2 traffic . Hence the broadcast out of the NBX into the network  via multicast traffic . Standard IGMP / Multicast network  / settings apply  on the layer 2 network portion as well .

Hope this helps

Send me an email and I'll send you a doc explaining all of this ......

[dig1234]

But can anyone explain why the phones need to recieve MOH? That should be kept at the NBX, not ever sent to the phones.

[merlin_1]

The phones do not receive MOH . When the caller is on hold the NCP sends MOH Multicast to the PRI for MOH . It just happens to be designed for Multicast to work . The pghones do not accept the multicast packets . THe NCP and the PRI channels do  , or whatever device is put on hold accepts the Mcast packets .

The PRI channel plays the Multicast packets after receiving them from the network for the on hold music .

This message was edited by merlin on 3-11-10 @ 8:50 AM

[dig1234]

Doesn't the PRI connect to a digital line card which is inside the chasis and hence no need to multicast the MOH packets all over the LAN?!

(We only have analog line cards.)

[merlin_1]

The design is for a t1/pri card or an analog card to recieve the mcast from the NCP  , so in or out of a chassis they talk the same way , ethernet packets . 

This message was edited by merlin on 3-11-10 @ 2:36 PM