1 Introduction
Megaco/H.248 is a protocol for control of elements in a physically decomposed multimedia gateway, enabling separation of call control from media conversion. A Media Gateway Controller (MGC) controls one or more Media Gateways (MG).
This version of the stack supports version 1, 2 and 3 as defined by:
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version 1 - RFC 3525 and H.248-IG (v10-v13)
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version 2 - draft-ietf-megaco-h248v2-04 & H.248.1 v2 Corrigendum 1 (03/2004)
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version 3 - Full version 3 as defined by ITU H.248.1 (09/2005) (including segments)
 
The semantics of the protocol has jointly been defined by two standardization bodies:
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IETF - which calls the protocol Megaco
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ITU - which calls the protocol H.248
 
1.1 
        Scope and Purpose
    
    This manual describes the Megaco application, as a component of the Erlang/Open Telecom Platform development environment. It is assumed that the reader is familiar with the Erlang Development Environment, which is described in a separate User's Guide.
1.2 
        Prerequisites
    
    The following prerequisites is required for understanding the material in the Megaco User's Guide:
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the basics of the Megaco/H.248 protocol
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the basics of the Abstract Syntax Notation One (ASN.1)
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familiarity with the Erlang system and Erlang programming
 
The application requires Erlang/OTP release R10B or later.
1.3 
        About This Manual
    
    In addition to this introductory chapter, the Megaco User's Guide contains the following chapters:
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Chapter 2: "Architecture" describes the architecture and typical usage of the application.
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Chapter 3: "Internal form and its encodings" describes the internal form of Megaco/H.248 messages and its various encodings.
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Chapter 4: "Transport mechanisms" describes how different mechanisms can be used to transport the Megaco/H.248 messages.
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Chapter 5: "Debugging" describes tracing and debugging.
 
1.4 
        Where to Find More Information
    
    Refer to the following documentation for more information about Megaco/H.248 and about the Erlang/OTP development system:
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the ASN.1 application User's Guide
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the Megaco application Reference Manual
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Concurrent Programming in Erlang, 2nd Edition (1996), Prentice-Hall, ISBN 0-13-508301-X.