Cisco Webex Video Mesh dynamically finds the optimal mix of on-premises and cloud conferencing resources. On-premises conferences stay on premises when there are enough local resources. When local resources are exhausted, conferences then expand to the cloud.

Cisco Webex Webex Video Mesh Node is software that is installed on a Cisco UCS server and managed in Cisco Webex Control Hub. Cisco Webex Teams meetings, Cisco Webex-powered meetings, and Cisco Webex Teams calls (between two people) can be routed to the local, on-net Webex Video Mesh Node. Video Mesh selects the most efficient way to use the available resources.

Webex Video Mesh provides these benefits:

• Improves quality and reduces latency by allowing you to keep your calls on premises.

• Extends your calls transparently to the cloud when on-premises resources have reached their limit or are unavailable.

• Manage your Webex Video Mesh Node clusters from the cloud with a single interface: Cisco Webex Control Hub (https://admin.webex.com).

• Optimize resources and scale capacity, as needed.

• Combines the features of cloud and on-premises conferencing in one seamless user experience.

• Reduces capacity concerns, because the cloud is always available when additional conferencing resources are needed. No need to do capacity planning for the worst case scenario.

• Provides advanced reporting on capacity and usage in https://admin.webex.com.

• Uses local media processing when users dial in to a Cisco Webex meeting or Cisco Webex Teams meeting from on-premises standards-based SIP endpoints and clients:

  • SIP based endpoints and clients (Cisco endpoints, Jabber, 3rd party SIP), registered to on-premises call control (Cisco Unified Communications Manager or Expressway), that call into a Cisco Webex meeting or Cisco Webex Teams meeting.

  • Cisco Webex Teams app (including paired with room devices) that join a Cisco Webex meeting.

  • Cisco Webex room and desk devices (including Cisco Webex Board) that directly join a Webex meeting.

• Provides optimized audio and video interactive voice response (IVR) to on-net SIP based endpoints and clients.

• Cisco Webex clients (internal and external) continue to join meetings from the cloud.

• H.323, IP dial-in, and Skype for Business (S4B) endpoints continue to join meetings from the cloud.

• Supports 1080p 30fps high definition video as an option for meetings, if meeting participants that can support 1080p are hosted through the local on-premises Video Mesh nodes. (If a participant joins an in-progress meeting from the cloud, on-premises users continue to experience 1080p 30fps on supported endpoints.)

• Enhanced and differentiated Quality of Service (QoS) marking: separate audio (EF) and video (AF41).

We endeavor to make Webex Video Mesh interoperable with relevant clients and device types. Although it is not possible to test all scenarios, the testing on which this data is based covers most common functions of the listed endpoints and infrastructure. The absence of a device or client implies a lack of testing and a lack of official support from Cisco.

_{* It is not possible to guarantee that all on-premises devices and clients have been tested with the Video Mesh solution.}

Webex Video Mesh nodes conforms to recommended quality of service (QoS) best practices by enabling port ranges that allow you to differentiate audio and video streams in all flows to and from the Video Mesh nodes. This change will let you create QoS policies and effectively remark traffic to and from the Video Mesh Nodes.

Accompanying these port changes are QoS changes. Webex Video Mesh nodes automatically mark media traffic from SIP registered endpoints (on-premises Unified CM or VCS Expressway registered) for both audio (EF) and video (AF41) separately with appropriate class of service and use well-known port ranges for specific media types.

The source traffic from the on-premises registered endpoints is always determined by the configuration on the call control (Unified CM or VCS Expressway).

For more information, see the QoS table at Ports and Protocols Used by Webex Video Mesh and the steps to enable or disable QoS in the Video Mesh Deployment Task Flow

Note

Cisco Webex Teams apps continue to connect to Webex Video Mesh nodes over shared port 5004. These ports are also used by Cisco Webex Teams apps and endpoints for STUN reachability tests to Webex Video Mesh nodes. Webex Video Mesh node to Webex Video Mesh node for cascades use a destination shared port of 5004.

Cisco Webex Video Mesh supports explicit, transparent inspecting, and non-inspecting proxies. You can tie these proxies to your Webex Video Mesh deployment so that you can secure and monitor traffic from the enterprise out to the cloud. This feature sends signaling and management https-based traffic to the proxy. For transparent proxies, network requests from Video Mesh nodes are forwarded to a specific proxy through enterprise network routing rules. You can use the Webex Video Mesh admin interface for certificate management and the overall connectivity status after you implement the proxy with the nodes.

Note	Media does not travel through the proxy. You must still open the required ports for media streams to reach the cloud directly.

The following proxy types are supported by Video Mesh:

• Explicit Proxy (inspecting or non-inspecting)—With explicit proxy, you tell the client (Video Mesh nodes) which proxy server to use. This option supports one of the following authentication types:

  • None—No further authentication is required. (For HTTP or HTTPS explicit proxy.)

  • Basic—Used for an HTTP user agent to provide a username and password when making a request, and uses Base64 encoding. (For HTTP or HTTPS explicit proxy.)

  • Digest—Used to confirm the identity of the account before sending sensitive information, and applies a hash function on the username and password before sending over the network. (For HTTPS explicit proxy.)

  • NTLM—Like Digest, NTLM is used to confirm the identity of the account before sending sensitive information. Uses Windows credentials instead of the username and password. This authentication scheme requires multiple exchanges to complete. (For HTTP explicit proxy.)

• Transparent Proxy (non-inspecting)—Video Mesh nodes are not configured to use a specific proxy server address and should not require any changes to work with a non-inspecting proxy.

• Transparent Proxy (inspecting)—Video Mesh nodes are not configured to use a specific proxy server address. No http(s) configuration changes are necessary on Video Mesh, however, the Video Mesh nodes need a root certificate so that they trust the proxy. Inspecting proxies are typically used by IT to enforce policies regarding which websites can be visited and types of content that are not permitted. This type of proxy decrypts all your traffic (even https).

This table covers the supported resolutions and framerates from a a sender-receiver perspective in a meeting that is hosted on a Video Mesh node. The sender client (app or device) is across the top row of the table, whereas the receiver client is on the left side column of the table. The corresponding cell between the two participants captures the negotiated content resolution, frames per section, and audio source.

Note	Resolution affects the call capacity on any Video Mesh node. For more information, see Call Capacity on Webex Video Mesh Node Platforms

The resolution and framerate value is combined as XXXpYY—For example, 720p10 means 720p at 10 frames per second.

The definition abbreviations (SD, HD, and FHD) in the sender row and receiver column refer to the upper resolution of the client or device:

• SD—Standard Definition (576p)

• HD—High Definition (720p)

• FHD—Full High Definition (1080p)

_{* Content Audio refers to the audio that is played from the specific content being shared, such as a streaming video. This audio stream is separate from the regular meeting audio.}

_{** Mixed Audio refers to a mix of the meeting participant audio and audio from the content share.}