Thoughts on teaching MEGACO / H.248

Live Budokan, it’s MEGACOOOOOO!

I just wrapped up teaching a class on MEGACO / H.248, which sounds like the greatest name for a Scandinavian doom-metal band. Teaching the class required a short 3 hour drive into Piscataway, NJ; perhaps my favorite of all the Jersey business-parks. For no other reason, than traffic never seems to be at a standstill, and there is a business class hotel on nearly every block.

The class went more smoothly than I had anticipated, as the majority of the students already had an understanding of SIP.

[(SIP Wizards) + (learning from a course written by Alta3 Research)] = Total Comprehension

By the end of the first day, some students were already able to read network captures, and by the end of the second day, every student could read MEGACO / H.248 like an (albeit exceptionally boring) newspaper.

Although MEGACO / H.248 has been a published standard for nearly a decade, the internet seems to be lacking quality network traces. Therefore, the highlight for this particular class became examining my bountiful cornucopia of well documented traces in Wireshark.

The class (and I) were awarded ‘excellent’ reviews by the students in attendance- so if by some chance you’ve stumbled onto my page, and are searching for a MEGACO / H.248 class, look no further. Shoot myself a message, or visit the Alta3 Research website and contact them directly. Just think, in a scant two days, you too could be eavesdropping on that ‘secret’ conversation between your Media Gateway Controller (softswitch) and Media Gateway.