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ViDeNet is a project of ViDe, the Video Development Initiative, exploring issues associated with globally scalable video and voice over IP. ViDeNet is a test bed, where dialing plans, directory services, authentication, network management, measurement and related issues can be explored. ViDeNet is also a community of people, the zone administrators themselves, who share experiences, test and ask questions about multimedia conferencing issues. <back to top>
ViDeNet is not a videoconferencing service. Those services are provided by the individual zones themselves.
ViDeNet Version 3 offers several new tools:
These tools will all be accessible via the web interface at www.vide.net. <back to top>
GDS is a dial plan and gatekeeper architecture developed by h.323 experts in the TERENA European research networking community. It is a hierarchical structure with a global root level gatekeeper. Under the global root, there is a gatekeeper for each country, whose prefix is the same as that country's E.164 telephone country code. Institutional gatekeepers operated by universities or research networks connect to their respective country gatekeeper. For a detailed discussion, see the original document.
All addresses start with 00, as the international prefix. That is followed by the country code. The country code is followed by the particular address space assigned by the country level administrator. In most cases, those assignments are made based on valid telephone numbers already assigned to the institution. For example, in the US (country code = 1), the University of North Carolina has a range of telephone numbers from +1 (919) 226-6100 through +1 (919) 226-6499. Therefore, that institution is entitled to prefixes 00191922661, 00191922662, 00191922663, and 00191922664. Multiple prefixes are supported. In this way, GDS numbers can be the same as actual telephone numbers. This helps prepare the way for an an eventual move to ENUM and demonstrates working with IP/PSTN gateways.
If you don't have a range of telephone numbers allotted for video / voice over IP, you can use a single full telephone number and append endpoint numbers to the end of that. For example, if you only had the telephone number +1(919) 226-6100, your prefix would be 0019192266100 and endpoints would be named 0019192266100001, 0019192266100002, 0019192266100003, etc. <back to top>
The Numerical Address Space Management Team (NASM) is a ViDe working group charged with the architecture and operational maintenance of the Global Dialing Scheme as it relates to ViDeNet. Working group members from several nations ensure that address assignments are made appropriately. For more information on GDS or NASM see the NASM working group home page. <back to top>
You will definitely have to change your zone prefix. You should only have to renumber your endpoints if you have chosen an endpoint numbering scheme that overlaps with existing telephone number assignments already in place for you. You will need to work with the zone administrator of the gatekeeper that is your parent to determine whether or not you need to strip zone prefixes. <back to top>
When you register you will choose a gatekeeper that will be your parent. For example, if you are a US institution, you will choose the two US gatekeepers as redundant parents. The gatekeeper that is your parent gatekeeper should have specific instructions right on the ViDeNet web space. Use the ViDeNet tool to 'View A Zone' selecting your parent gatekeeper to see those instructions. <back to top>
Maybe. This feature is not officially supported by the hierarchy, but is possible to do given newer gatekeepers that support this feature and a thorough review of the prefixes and routing involved. Don't try this unless you are an advanced zone administrator. Please contact your parent zone administrator to discuss before implementing. <back to top>
Yes. Since the ViDeNet toolset is used to manage the GDS hierarchy, you still need to register with ViDeNet. However, you can choose to have your zone not show up in the list of zones that users select for accounts. You may also choose not to use ViDeNet's directory services. Further, all ViDeNet zone administrators are considered ViDe members, but you may also choose to opt out of that membership. <back to top>
All Internet2 Commons sites operating gatekeepers are ViDeNet sites and will be required to make this transition. Internet2 Commons staff are actively participating in this process to ensure a smooth migration. <back to top>
After you create your zone, you will setup routing for it using the ViDeNet toolset. Selecting a parent or child automatically triggers the appropriate zone administrator to provide address space for you. <back to top>
You should first talk to your parent zone administrator, or contact NASM directly. <back to top>
Redundant gatekeepers have been put in place at the global level in the United States, Wales, Ireland, and Australia. The same redundancy has been put in place for Internet2 in the US. Should a parent gatekeeper crash or its network become physically unavailable your call should be handled by one of the redundant gatekeepers located elsewhere in the hierarchy.
Keep in mind that ViDeNet is a test bed, and not a commercial service. No particular level of performance is guaranteed or implied. Therefore you should think carefully before putting mission critical applications on the network. <back to top>
Zone administrators can define any resources they want, such as MCUs, gateways, account management, directories, dialing instructions or custom help pages. These custom resources will then show up on each end user's customized view of ViDeNet. This is called My ViDeNet and works by setting a cookie on the user's browser. <back to top>
We have found that many institutions lack the resources to manage directories for their h.323 networks. As a test of the new directory services architecture, ViDeNet will offer a central directory server, based on LDAP, that allows users to manage their own accounts and request new video accounts or make changes to existing ones. These requests are forwarded to the zone administrator for review and final processing. The directory can be searched using the web interface or using LDAP. It is also possible to search for MCUs and gateways.
The directory is part of a larger effort to build a distributed directory architecture based on commObject. We expect that the distributed architecture will be complete by summer of 2003. At that time, ViDeNet will stop offering centrallized management tools and directory services and instead work directly with zones to share the new distributed toolset that will run at each institution. <back to top>
ViDe and Internet2 jointly sponsor the VidMid working group. VidMid has produced a distributed directory architecture called 'commObject' which is based on LDAP. This architecture has been submitted to the ITU-T for ratification as a standard. It is currently document AVD-2199. Once ratified, ViDeNet will take down the central directory and each institution will provide their own directory, to be automatically discovered and searched by the ViDeNet portal. <back to top>
Send email to VidMid VC, the videoconferencing subcommittee of VidMid. <back to top>
Yes. You simply delete the resources that are the ones provided centrally by ViDeNet, and create new ones that point to your existing services. <back to top>
page maintained by Tyler Miller Johnson
last updated June 28, 2002