Introduction to VRC

This topic provides a brief overview of the Cisco Voice Routing Center (VRC). The Cisco VRC is a graphical user interface (GUI) based network management tool specifically designed for managing dial plans in a Voice-over-IP (VoIP) network.

VRC 1.2.1 is targeted for H.323-based networks. VRC is a software product that runs on Sun servers and provides a GUI client running within a browser on PCs running the Windows operating system.

See New Features for VRC 1.2.1

VRC software can be used:

You can deploy VRC to discover the dial plan of an existing network. You can also use it to design a new dial plan incorporating Cisco routers running as gateways, gatekeepers, and directory gatekeepers.

The VRC application is a tool for dial plan provisioning encompassing:

The VRC application consists of a centralized dial plan management server and web-based clients distributed across an IP network. The server uses a database for storing configuration information and is responsible for all direct interaction with each managed network element. These communications occur using the Telnet and TFTP protocols or using the Cisco IE2100 supplemented with HTTP for certain network elements.

User administration is managed by the Cisco CNS security module with an embedded LDAP directory from DCL.

The server architecture consists of the following:

Platform

  • Sun Ultra SPARC 10 / Sun Blade 150 (recommended for standalone mode)

  • Sun Ultra SPARC 60 / Sun Blade 2000 (recommended for integrated mode)

Operating System

Sun Solaris Version 2.7 or 2.8

Java Runtime Environment

Sun Version 1.3.1.06

Database

MySQL

Disk space required

300 MB

The client architecture consists of the following:

Platform

Intel Pentium III or later

Operating System

Microsoft Windows NT4 or 2000

Web Browser

  • Microsoft Internet Explorer Version 5.0 and Version 5.5

  • Netscape 7.0 with a PC or Sun client

Java Runtime Environment

Sun Java Plug-In, Version 1.4

 VRC supports the following Cisco IOS versions for gateways (GWs), gatekeepers (GKs), and directory gatekeepers (DGKs).

Device Type

Supported Cisco IOS Version

GW

Release 12.2(2)XB*

GW

Release 12.2(2)XA*

GW

Release 12.2(2)XU*

GW

Release 12.2.7*

GW

Release 12.2(11)T*

GW

Release 12.2(13)T*

GK, DGK

Release 12.2(2)T*

GK, DGK

Release 12.2(2)XA*

GK, DGK

Release 12.2(2)XU*

GK, DGK

Release 12.2(11)T*

GK, DGK

Release 12.2(13)T*

*Denotes all releases of this Cisco IOS version. For example, Release 12.2(2)XB* means that the network element supports the following Cisco IOS versions: Release 12.2(2)XB1, Release 12.2(2)XB2, Release 12.2(2)XB3, Release 12.2(2)XB4, and all releases following.

VRC uses the Cisco IOS version to determine what command line interface (CLI) it needs to generate to configure a network element. VRC applies the term feature set to capture the dial plan capabilities of a Cisco IOS version.

To start using the VRC, refer to the VRC Quick Start.

To start the VRC client, refer to Logging In to the Client.