Before you begin using Vivinet Assessor, you should install NetIQ Performance Endpoint software on each computer you plan to use in VoIP Quality assessments. Vivinet Assessor ships with the latest endpoints for several operating systems:
Windows Server 2016
Windows 10 (32-bit or 64-bit)
Windows Server 2012 R2
Windows 8.1 (32-bit or 64-bit)
Windows Server 2012
Windows 8 (32-bit or 64-bit)
Windows Server 2008 R2
Windows 7 (32-bit or 64-bit)
Windows Server 2008 (32-bit and 64-bit)
Windows Vista (32-bit or 64-bit)
NOTE:
Although Vivinet Assessor itself is not supported on Windows NT, Linux, or Sun Solaris platforms, it can gather data from endpoints installed on computers running these operating systems.
To allow VoIP RTP traffic to run on dynamic ports, you must disable the Windows firewall on any computer running Windows 7/Server 2008 computer or later versions of Windows on which Performance Endpoint software is running.
For best results, avoid using Windows Me and pre-ULTRA Sun operating systems. The high-precision clocks on these systems are the least accurate of all the supported endpoint operating systems.
In Microsoft Windows environments, the endpoint runs as a service after you enable it during installation. With other operating systems, the endpoint starts automatically. It functions only during assessments, and should not interfere with other application traffic on your computer.
The Performance Endpoint software can be installed in a matter of minutes; users on the network to be assessed can easily install the software themselves on their desktop computers. They can download it free of charge at the Current Performance Endpoints Product Upgrades page, or you can make it available for installation from a central server.
A web-based endpoint for Windows is also available. It does not have to be installed. Users can run it on their computers from a web browser, and when the assessment is completed, it is not necessary to uninstall anything; the endpoint no longer runs once the computer is restarted.
NOTE:Endpoints are not a prerequisite for running a Network Inventory, for assessing device configuration and device and link utilization, or for performing Bandwidth Modeling.
Plan to deploy the endpoint software on a variety of computers, taking the following into consideration:
Deploy endpoints both near to and far from the places where you plan to install critical equipment, such as VoIP gateways and Cisco Unified Communication Manager servers. Set up call groups to determine whether location plays a role in call quality.
Deploy a few endpoints on either side of a WAN link, which should be part of any assessment.
Deploy endpoints on either side of a firewall to determine how well the firewall will handle VoIP traffic.
Deploy enough endpoints to get a sense for the geographical distribution of call quality. A single endpoint can perform successfully in up to 50 two-way calls without sacrificing call quality. A two-way call is one in which a phone accepts one call while sending another.
Once you have installed some endpoints or asked users to start running the Web-based endpoint, you can use the endpoint discovery feature to gather information about endpoint network addresses automatically and add it to the assessment database. For more information, see Section 7.3, Discovering.
For more information about endpoints, see the Performance Endpoints User Guide, included with the Vivinet Assessor documentation set.