Authorized Self-Study Guide
Cisco Voice over IP (CVOICE)
Third Edition
Foundation learning for CVOICE exam 642-436
Kevin Wallace, CCIE No. 7945
Cisco Voice over IP (CVOICE), Third Edition, is a Cisco-authorized, self-paced learning tool for CCVP foundation learning. This book provides you with the knowledge and skills required to plan, design, and deploy a Cisco voice-over-IP (VoIP) network and to integrate gateways and gatekeepers into an enterprise VoIP network. By reading this book, you will gain a thorough understanding of converged voice and data networks and also the challenges you will face implementing various network technologies.
Cisco Voice over IP (CVOICE) presents you with information on the foundational elements of VoIP calls, the description of dial plans, and the implementation of gateways, gatekeepers, and Cisco Unified Border Elements (Cisco UBEs). The book gives you the information needed to implement and support data and voice integration solutions at the network-access level.
Whether you are preparing for CCVP certification or simply want to gain a better understanding of VoIP fundamentals, you will benefit from the foundation information presented in this book.
Cisco Voice over IP (CVOICE), Third Edition, is part of a recommended learning path from Cisco that includes simulation and hands-on training from authorized Cisco Learning Partners and self-study products from
Cisco Press. To find out more about instructor-led training, e-learning, and hands-on instruction offered by authorized Cisco Learning Partners worldwide, please visit http://www.cisco.com/go/authorizedtraining.
Kevin Wallace, CCIE No. 7945, is a certified Cisco instructor, and he teaches courses in the Cisco CCSP, CCVP, and CCNP® tracks. With 19 years of Cisco networking experience, Kevin has been a network design specialist for the Walt Disney World Resort and a network manager for Eastern Kentucky University.
- Integrate VoIP into an existing data network
- Design a VoIP network for optimal voice quality
- Examine the various call types in a VoIP network
- Configure analog voice interfaces and dial peers
- Perform call signaling over digital voice ports
- Implement H.323, MGCP, and SIP protocols on Cisco IOS® gateways
- Identify dial plan characteristics
- Configure advanced dial plans
- Deploy H.323 gatekeepers
- Implement a Cisco UBE router to provide protocol interworking
Companion CD-ROM
The CD-ROM contains a bonus 90 minutes of video demonstrations. Watch the author perform fundamental CVoice configuration tasks in a series of six video-on-demand labs.
This volume is in the Certification Self-Study Series offered by Cisco Press. Books in this series provide officially developed self-study solutions to help networking professionals understand technology implementations and prepare for the Cisco Career Certifications examinations.
Category: Voice over IP
Covers: CVoice exam 642-436
Customer Reviews & Comments
This book is very well written and easy to read. It's ideal for those who want to learn the basics of telephony networks and Voice over IP. It is more than just an exam prep book as the name suggests, it actually helps you build up a solid knowledge foundation for Voice over IP.
The author does a wonderful job in the first two chapters going through the fundamental concepts of traditional telephone networks including different call control architectures (distributed vs. centralized model); a variety of analog and digital signaling systems such as loop-start, ground-start, E&M, CAS and CCS; T1 multiplexing and framing; Digital-Analog/Analog-Digital conversion. The in-depth coverage on different signaling systems is especially helpful in understanding how each of them fits into the telephone system.
Before diving straight into VoIP and QoS, the author discusses different VoIP architectures as well as how to baseline voice traffic using traffic theory. A good thing about this book is that rather than simply focusing on the technical details of the three VoIP signaling protocols - H.323; SIP and MGCP, it also gives you a 10000-foot view of VoIP and how these signaling protocols fit into the whole picture. So that you understand the philosophy behind each of them and know how to choose the best one for your real life deployment.
The book does an excellent job in explaining how Erlang B calculation works as well as the bandwidth and packet size calculation for different CODECs. In order to help readers better understand VoIP signaling systems, the author also includes a detailed call flow analysis and basic sample configurations. Although it has some basic configuration examples, this book is not meant to be a configuration guide for Cisco CallManagers and routers.
QoS is covered briefly in the last chapter. Although the book doesn't have an in-depth discussion on congestion management and avoidance, it does provide you an overview of how different QoS mechanisms can be used to improve voice quality on a data network. It also shows you how to use the Cisco AutoQoS feature to simplify QoS configuration for VoIP. The last chapter also talks about how call admission control (CAC) is implemented in H.323; SIP and MGCP.
VoIP Security is not a major focus for this book. Although Chapter 5 talks briefly about the firewall and proxy requirements for VoIP.
The author primarily focuses on the Cisco implementation of H.323, SIP and MGCP in this book, but the fundamental concepts it presents are based on industry standards. All in all, this book is not only a must have for those who are preparing for the CVoice exam but also a great reference for voice network professionals.
