Media Gateway Control Protocol

The Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP) is a telecommunication protocol for signaling and call
control in hybrid voice over IP (VoIP) and traditional telecommunication systems. It implements the
media gateway control protocol architecture for controlling media gateways connected to the public
switched telephone network (PSTN).[1] The media gateways provide conversion of traditional
electronic media to the Internet Protocol (IP) network. The protocol is a successor to the Simple
Gateway Control Protocol (SGCP), which was developed by Bellcore and Cisco, and the Internet
Protocol Device Control (IPDC).[2]

The methodology of MGCP reflects the structure

Media Gateway Control Protocol
of the PSTN with the control over the network
Communication protocol
residing in a call control center softswitch, which
is analogous to the central office in the telephone Purpose Voice over IP
network. The endpoints are low-intelligence
Developer(s) Bellcore, Cisco, Level
devices, mostly executing control commands 3, IETF
from a media gateway controller, also called call
agent, in the softswitch and providing result Introduction 1998

indications in response. The protocol represents OSI layer Application layer (7)
a decomposition of other VoIP models, such as
H.323 and the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), in RFC(s) RFC 3435 (https://
datatracker.ietf.or
which the endpoint devices of a call have higher
g/doc/html/rfc343
levels of signaling intelligence.
5)

MGCP is a text-based protocol consisting of

commands and responses. It uses the Session Description Protocol (SDP) for specifying and
negotiating the media streams to be transmitted in a call session and the Real-time Transport
Protocol (RTP) for framing the media streams.
Architecture

Gateway Control Protocol Relationship

The media gateway control protocol architecture and its methodologies and programming
interfaces are described in RFC 2805.[1]

MGCP is a master-slave protocol in which media gateways (MGs) are controlled by a call control
agent or softswitch. This controller is called a media gateway controller (MGC) or call agent (CA).
With the network protocol it can control each specific port on a media gateway. This facilitates
centralized gateway administration and provides scalable IP telephony solutions. The distributed
system is composed of at least one call agent and one or usually, multiple media gateways, which
performs the conversion of media signals between circuit-switched and packet-switched networks,
and at least one signaling gateway (SG) when connected to the PSTN.

MGCP presents a call control architecture with limited intelligence at the edge (endpoints, media
gateways) and intelligence at the core controllers. The MGCP model assumes that call agents
synchronize with each other to send coherent commands and responses to the gateways under
their control.

The call agent uses MGCP to request event notifications, reports, status, and configuration data
from the media gateway, as well as to specify connection parameters and activation of signals
toward the PSTN telephony interface.

A softswitch is typically used in conjunction with signaling gateways, for access to Signalling
System No. 7 (SS7) functionality, for example. The call agent does not use MGCP to control a
signaling gateway; rather, SIGTRAN protocols are used to backhaul signaling between a signaling
gateway and the call agents.
Multiple call agents

Typically, a media gateway may be configured with a list of call agents from which it may accept
control commands.

In principle, event notifications may be sent to different call agents for each endpoint on the
gateway, according to the instructions received from the call agents by setting the NotifiedEntity
parameter. In practice, however, it is usually desirable that all endpoints of a gateway are controlled
by the same call agent; other call agents are available to provide redundancy in the event that the
primary call agent fails, or loses contact with the media gateway. In the event of such a failure it is
the backup call agent's responsibility to reconfigure the media gateway so that it reports to the
backup call agent. The gateway may be audited to determine the controlling call agent, a query that
may be used to resolve any conflicts.

In case of multiple call agents, MGCP assumes that they maintain knowledge of device state among
themselves. Such failover features take into account both planned and unplanned outages.

Protocol overview

MGCP recognizes three essential elements of communication, the media gateway controller (call
agent), the media gateway endpoint, and connections between these entities. A media gateway may
host multiple endpoints and each endpoint should be able to engage in multiple connections.
Multiple connections on the endpoints support calling features such as call waiting and three-way
calling.

MGCP is a text-based protocol using a command and response model. Commands and responses
are encoded in messages that are structured and formatted with the whitespace characters space,
horizontal tab, carriage return, linefeed, colon, and full stop. Messages are transmitted using the
User Datagram Protocol (UDP). Media gateways use the port number 2427, and call agents use
2727 by default.

The message sequence of command (or request) and its response is known as a transaction, which
is identified by the numerical Transaction Identifier exchanged in each transaction. The protocol
specification defines nine standard commands that are distinguished by a four-letter command
verb: AUEP, AUCX, CRCX, DLCX, EPCF, MDCX, NTFY, RQNT, and RSIP. Responses begin with a three-
digit numerical response code that identifies the outcome or result of the transaction.

Two verbs are used by a call agent to query the state of an endpoint and its associated connections.
 AUEP: Audit Endpoint

AUCX: Audit Connection

Three verbs are used by a call agent to manage the connection to a media gateway endpoint.

CRCX: Create Connection

DLCX: Delete Connection. This command may also be issued by an endpoint to terminate a
connection.

MDCX: Modify Connection. This command is used to alter operating characteristics of the
connection, e.g. speech encoders, muting, half-duplex/full-duplex state and others.

One verb is used by a call agent to request notification of events occurring at the endpoint, and to
apply signals to the connected PSTN network link, or to a connected telephony endpoint, e.g., a
telephone.

RQNT: Request for Notification

One verb is used by an endpoint to indicate to the call agent that it has detected an event for which
the call agent had previously requested notification with the RQNT command:

NTFY: Notify

One verb is used by a call agent to modify coding characteristics expected by the line side of the
endpoint:

EPCF: Endpoint Configuration

One verb is used by an endpoint to indicate to the call agent that it is in the process of restarting:

RSIP: Restart In Progress

Standards documents

RFC 3435 (https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3435) – Media Gateway Control Protocol

(MGCP) Version 1.0 (this supersedes RFC 2705)

RFC 3660 (https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3660) – Basic Media Gateway Control

Protocol (MGCP) Packages (informational)

RFC 3661 (https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3661) – Media Gateway Control Protocol

(MGCP) Return Code Usage

RFC 3064 (https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3064) – MGCP CAS Packages

RFC 3149 (https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3149) – MGCP Business Phone Packages

 RFC 3991 (https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3991) – Media Gateway Control Protocol
(MGCP) Redirect and Reset Package

RFC 3992 (https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3992) – Media Gateway Control Protocol

(MGCP) Lockstep State Reporting Mechanism (informational)

RFC 2805 (https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc2805) – Media Gateway Control Protocol

Architecture and Requirements

RFC 2897 (https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc2897) – Proposal for an MGCP Advanced

Audio Package

Megaco

Another implementation of the media gateway control protocol architecture is the H.248/Megaco
protocol, a collaboration of the Internet Engineering Task Force (RFC 3525) and the International
Telecommunication Union (Recommendation H.248.1). Both protocols follow the guidelines of the
overlying media gateway control protocol architecture, as described in RFC 2805. However, the
protocols are incompatible due to differences in protocol syntax and underlying connection model.

See also

RTP audio video profile

References

1. RFC 2805, Media Gateway Control Protocol Architecture and Requirements, N. Greene, M. Ramalho, B.
Rosen, IETF, April 2000

2. "Level 3 Communications, Bellcore Announce Merger of Protocol Specifications for Voice Over IP" (http://l
evel3.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=23600&item=65733) . Level 3 Communications. Retrieved 8 June
2012.

External links

MGCP Information Site (http://www.packetizer.com/voip/mgcp) Information related to MGCP

H.248 Information Site (http://www.packetizer.com/voip/h248/) Information related to

H.248/Megaco, including pointers to standards and draft specifications