In Cisco Unified Communications Manager Administration, use the Device > Gatekeeper menu path to configure gatekeepers.

A gatekeeper device, also known as a Cisco Multimedia Conference Manager (MCM), supports the H.225 Registration, Admission, and Status Protocol (RAS) message set that is used for call admission control, bandwidth allocation, and dial pattern resolution (call routing). The gatekeeper provides these services for communications between Cisco Unified Communications Manager clusters and H.323 networks. You can configure multiple gatekeeper devices per Cisco Unified Communications Manager cluster. You can configure alternate gatekeepers for redundancy. See the Cisco Multimedia Conference Manager (MCM) documentation and the Cisco Unified Communications Solution Reference Network Design (SRND) for alternate gatekeeper configuration details.

Gatekeeper configuration comprises components:

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager configuration. Each Cisco Unified Communications Manager cluster can register with one or more gatekeepers. This chapter describes how to configure the gatekeeper in Cisco Unified Communications Manager. You also need to configure trunk devices on the Trunk Configuration window.
• Gatekeeper configuration on the router. This type of configuration applies to a Cisco IOS Multimedia Conference Manager (MCM) that acts as the gatekeeper. Recommended platforms for the gatekeeper include Cisco 2600, 3600, or 7200 routers with Cisco IOS Release 12.1(3)T or higher. See the MCM documentation for information on configuring the gatekeeper. Alternate gatekeeper configuration occurs in the MCM only, so no configuration is necessary in Cisco Unified Communications Manager.

Note	You can configure multiple gatekeeper devices per Cisco Unified Communications Manager cluster.

Gatekeepers configuration tips

You can configure multiple gatekeeper devices per Cisco Unified Communications Manager cluster.

Resetting a gatekeeper does not mean that the physical device is reset; instead, resetting forces the Cisco Unified Communications Manager to reset the logical connection to the gatekeeper and to reregister with the gatekeeper. During this time of reregistering and until successful registration, new calls that are made by using this trunk, which uses this gatekeeper, fail.

When you reset a gatekeeper, the Cisco Unified Communications Manager cluster unregisters (URQ) and then reregisters (RRQ) with the gatekeeper.

For instructions on how to reset a gatekeeper, see the descriptions of the Reset Selected and Reset buttons.

Note	Resetting a gatekeeper does not cause all active calls that this gatekeeper controls to be dropped; however, new call attempts fail.

You cannot delete a gatekeeper that is assigned to one or more trunks. To find out which trunks are using the gatekeeper, choose Dependency Records from the Related Links drop-down list box that is on the Gatekeeper Configuration window. If the dependency records are not enabled for the system, the dependency records summary window displays a message. For more information about dependency records. If you try to delete a gatekeeper that is in use, Cisco Unified Communications Manager displays an error message. Before deleting a gatekeeper that is currently in use, you must perform either or both of the following tasks:

• Assign a different gatekeeper to any trunks that are using the gatekeeper that you want to delete.
• Delete the trunks that are using the gatekeeper that you want to delete.

The following table describes the gatekeeper settings.

To synchronize a gatekeeper with the most recent configuration changes, perform the following procedure, which applies any outstanding configuration settings in the least-intrusive manner possible. (For example, a reset/restart may not be required on some affected devices.)