Define Media Resources

Media Resource Group Overview

Media resource groups define logical groupings of media servers. You can associate a media resource group with a geographical location or a site, as desired. You can also form media resource groups to control the usage of servers or the type of service (unicast or multicast) that is required.

The system has a two-tiered approach to managing media resources:

  • Media resource groups—A logical grouping a media servers.

  • Media resource group lists—A prioritized list of media resource groups. An application selects the required media resource, such as a music on hold server from the available media resources according to the priority order that you define in a media resource group list. Media resource group lists, which are associated with devices, provide media resource group redundancy.

You can group devices of the following types into a media resource group:

  • Conference Bridge (CFB)

  • Media Termination Point (MTP)

  • Music On Hold Server (MOH)

  • Transcoder (XCODE)

  • Annunciator (ANN)


Note

After you configure media resources and if you have not defined any media resource groups, all media resources belong to the default group, and all media resources are available to all Cisco Unified Communications Managers within a given cluster.

Media Resource Group List

A media resource group list provides a prioritized grouping of media resource groups. An application selects the required media resource, such as a music on hold server from the available media resources according to the priority order that you define in a media resource group List. Media resource group lists, which are associated with devices or device pools, provide media resource group redundancy.

Media Resource Group Prerequisites

Ensure that Cisco Unified Communications Manager has media resources to provide services, such as annunciator, transcoding, conferencing, music on hold, and media termination.

Media Resource Group Task Flow

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

Configure Media Resource Groups.

Configure media resource group to define a logical groupings of media servers.

Step 2

Assign Device to a Media Resource Group.

Assign a device to a media resource group.

Note

 

Order of assigning a device is not significant.

Step 3

Configure Media Resource Group Lists.

Create media resource group list to specify a list of prioritized media resource groups. Media resource group lists, which are associated with devices or device pools, provide media resource group redundancy.

Note

 

Order of assigning a device is significant.

Step 4

Assign Media Resource Group to Media Resource Group List.

Assign the newly created media resource group to the media resource group list.

Step 5

Assign Media Resources to Device or Device Pool.

Assign the existing or newly created media resource group list to a device or a device pool.

Step 6

(Optional) Configure Media Resource Redundancy.

Confirm media resources redundancy for a scenario when a media resource fails.

Configure Media Resource Groups

A media resource group contains a list of media resources that you want to assign to endpoints, or groups of endpoints.

Procedure

Step 1

From Cisco Unified CM Administration, choose Media Resources > Media Resource Group.

Step 2

Do either of the following:

  • Click Find and select an existing media resource group.
  • Click Add New to create a new media resource group.

Step 3

Configure the fields in the Media Resource Group Configuration window. See the online help about the fields and their configuration options.

Step 4

Enter a Name and Description for the group.

Step 5

From Available Media Resources, select the resources you want to add to this group, and use the arrows to move the resources to Selected Media Resources.

Step 6

(Optional) To use multicast for Music On Hold audio, check the Use Multi-cast for MOH Audio check box.

Step 7

Click Save.

Assign Device to a Media Resource Group

You can assign devices, such as annunciators (ANN), interactive voice responses (IVR), conference bridges (CFB), media termination points (MTP), music on hold (MOH) servers and transcoders to a media resource group. The order is which you assign the devices is not significant.

Before you begin

Configure Media Resource Groups.

Procedure

Step 1

From the Cisco Unified CM Administration, choose Media Resources > Media Resource Group.

Step 2

To configure an existing media resource group, Find and List Media Resource Group window, specify the appropriate filters and click Find.

Step 3

To configure new media resource group, click Add New.

Step 4

From the Available Media Resources field, choose the one or multiple devices and click the down-arrow key.

The selected devices appear in the Selected Media Resources field.

Step 5

Click Save.

What to do next

Configure Media Resource Group Lists.

Configure Media Resource Group Lists

Create a prioritized listing of media resource groups. You can assign this list to individual devices or to to a device pool.

Procedure

Step 1

From Cisco Unified CM Administration, choose Media Resources > Media Resource Group List.

Step 2

Do either of the following:

  • Click Find and select an existing list.
  • Click Add New and create a new list.

Step 3

Enter a Name for the media resource group list.

Step 4

From Available Media Resource Groups, select the groups you want to add, and use the arrows to move them to Selected Media Resource Groups.

Step 5

Click Save.

Note

 
For endpoints to use these media resources, you must assign the list to a device pool, gateway port, or to a device.

Assign Media Resource Group to Media Resource Group List

Before you begin

Configure Media Resource Group Lists.

Procedure

Step 1

From the Cisco Unified CM Administration, choose Media Resources > Media Resource Group.

Step 2

To configure an existing media resource group, from the Find and List Media Resource Group window, specify the appropriate filters and click Find.

Step 3

From the Available Media Resources list, select one or multiple media resources and click the down arrow key.

The selected media resources appear in the Selected Media Resources list.

Step 4

Click Save.

What to do next

Assign Media Resources to Device or Device Pool.

Assign Media Resources to Device or Device Pool

Assign media resources to endpoints by associating the prioritized media resource group list to a device pool, or to an individual device.

Procedure

Step 1

From the Cisco Unified CM Administration, choose Devices > Phone.

  • To add media resources to a device pool, choose System > Device Pools.
  • To add media resource directly to an endpoint, choose Device > Phone.

Step 2

Click Find and select the device pool or device to which you want to assign these media resources.

Step 3

From the Media Resource Group List drop-down, select a list.

Step 4

Click Save.

Step 5

Click Apply Config to Selected.

The Apply Configuration window appears showing the device name and the applicable configuration changes.

Configure Media Resource Redundancy

Media resource group lists provide media resource redundancy by specifying a prioritized list of media resource groups. An application can select required media resources from among the available ones according to the priority order that is defined in the media resource list.

To configure media resource groups and media resource group lists for redundancy, perform the Configure Media Resource Groups and Media Resource Group List procedures.

Media Resource Group Interactions and Restrictions

Media Resource Group Interactions

Table 1. Media Resource Group Interactions

Feature

Interaction

Call processing

Call processing uses a media resource group list in the device level if you select the media resource group list. If a resource is not found, call processing may retrieve it from the default allocation.

Call processing uses media resource group list in the device pool only if you do not select a media resource group list in the device level. If a resource is not found, call processing may retrieve it from the default allocation.

Annunciator resource support

Cisco Unified Communications Manager provides annunciator resource support to a conference bridge if the media resource group list that contains the annunciator is assigned to the device pool where the conference bridge exists.

Cisco Unified Communications Manager does not provide annunciator resource support for a conference bridge if the media resource group list is assigned directly to the device that controls the conference.

Video conference

To ensure that only a video conference bridge gets used when a user wants to hold a video conference, add the video conference bridge to a media resource group. Add the media resource group to a media resource group list and assign the media resource group list to the device or device pool that will use the video conference bridge.

Media Resource Group Restrictions

Table 2. Media Resource Group Restrictions

Restriction

Description

Deletion of a media resource group

You cannot delete a media resource group that is assigned to a Media Resource Group List.

Deletion of a transcoder

You cannot delete a transcoder that is assigned to a media resource group.

Deletion of a media resource

You cannot delete a media resource, such as a conference bridge, that is part of a media resource group unless you first remove the resource from the media resource group or you delete the media resource group that contains the media resource.