With Zoom, you have the option of configuring settings that limit audio and video bandwidth based on IP ranges in order to minimize network traffic. There are policies that can be used for local networks that have known limitations at certain locations and this feature is designed for administrators experienced with network configurations.

The Zoom support team strongly recommends that you consult with them before using this feature in order to get advice and assistance. Only very specific circumstances should be used to limit bandwidth, and that is when it should be done. As part of Zoom’s meeting client, bandwidth is measured and allocated as needed depending on the meeting’s requirements. When the client adapts to changes in the available bandwidth or limitations in availability due to changes in the deployments and situations, no additional policies are required. If the client is allowed to calculate what is available to the user, then the user will always be provided with the best user experience. I would like to point out that if you decide to implement policies that limit bandwidth, you should be aware that the quality of your service will suffer if you do so.

There are a number of topics covered in this article, including:

• How to manage bandwidth limits
• Bandwidth limit policies
  • Fields for each policy

How to manage bandwidth limits

This option can be accessed by following the steps below:

1. The Zoom web portal can be accessed by any administrator with the privilege of editing account settings from the Zoom web portal.
2. You can access your account settings by clicking on Account Management under the navigation menu.
3. To access the Meetings tab, click the Meetings button.
4. Under the Meetings (Advanced) tab, click the Manage bandwidth limits link if you wish to modify your bandwidth limits.
   There will be a dialog box that appears called Bandwidth Limits.
5. You can create, view, and organize your policies in the Bandwidth Limits dialog box that appears.

Bandwidth limit policies

As part of the definition of bandwidth limit policies, both essential and optional information are taken into account. For each of the policies, there are a number of fields that are included in the summary.

• Name (required – 50 characters maximum)
• Description (optional – 100 characters maximum)
• IP Range (required – standard format for IPv4 values)
• Upstream (required – minimum 800k)
• Downstream (optional – minimum 800k)
• Label (optional)
• Exclusion Range (optional)
• Options (optional)
  • Do not send video (checkbox)
  • Do not receive video (checkbox)

Fields for each policy

Name

Identifying the limit policy that is being created is a mandatory field that must be filled out. It is important to note that there are no rules when it comes to entering a name but it is highly recommended that you pick a name that can be used to associate the IP range that you are creating a policy for with a location or network identity.

Description

In this field, you can put more detailed information about how the policy was created, and it is an optional field. It is recommended that you provide a description of a policy to ensure that anyone reviewing what has been configured will be able to understand what it is about.

You might want to put some extra thought into adding a description to your policies, since over time they will increase in number, and it will be helpful if you are reviewing them later, or if someone comes into a role as an administrator who needs to know what was configured previously.

IP Range

Note: When creating IP ranges, you must ensure that they are in IPv4 format.

As you can see, this is a mandatory field and it provides us with the primary information necessary to determine how bandwidth limits are going to be determined. Both the range and the subnet mask can be specified in this field. The first step before configuring policies for IPv4 ranges is to familiarize yourself with the network terminology used for defining IPv4 ranges.

Upstream

During setup of the meeting, this field is required in order to determine the maximum amount of bandwidth that will be allocated in order to send audio and video from the meeting client to the meeting server.

This value will also limit the amount of bandwidth which can be allocated to the sharing of presentations, audio and video files from participants, as well as when they share their presentations. A low value will affect the quality that other participants will receive if it is configured to a low value. In particular, limiting the amount of bandwidth available will have a significant impact on the quality of video. Generally, when bandwidth is limited during a meeting, other meeting participants will receive a lower quality video when the video quality is limited. There is a possibility that the reduced resolution of the screen can become particularly apparent when the speaker mode is switched on and a large amount of the screen is occupied by the speaker.

Downstream

The following field is optional, and it can only be configured if there is a severe limitation on the network bandwidth. There are a number of different viewing options that the users can choose from. The amount of bandwidth allocated to various layouts can vary depending on the number of audio/video streams that are being received from the participants along with any other content that is being transmitted. When bandwidth is a problem on a network with multiple users on it, users can limit the amount of bandwidth they receive by limiting the value through a policy in order to address limitations.

It must be noted, however, that the limitation, while helping to address maximum capacity, will also have the effect of limiting the quality for a single user, despite the fact that the bandwidth may be available. It has been found that when software clients are able to negotiate and adapt to changes in the network bandwidth conditions in the course of a deployment, they can respond more appropriately to those changes rather than restricting bandwidth at all times by default. If you wish to limit audio/video/content through the Downstream policy, please consult Zoom prior to making any changes.

Label

I am adding this field to the Configuration Options for Limiting Network Bandwidth in 2022 in order to enhance the capabilities of the configuration options. As a result of this addition, administrators are able to organize policies on bandwidth limits more easily.

It can be difficult to find a specific policy among the large number of policies and it can be difficult to understand how a set of policies is intended to support a location given the large number of policies available. As a result of labels, administrators are able to organize related policies into groups that are easily identifiable. It is possible to take multiple policies pertaining to one location and organize them by having a combination of Labels and Sub-Labels, with the ability to create both labels and sub-labels for a given location.

Exclusion Range

In this field, administrators can specify a range of IP addresses that can be allowed in their system, which is an optional field. To achieve the same objective, it might be more efficient to create two policies to accomplish the same goal rather than using an exclusion range.

Options

In order to completely disable the ability for video to be sent or received, you can use two checkboxes on either the sender’s or receiver’s side: Do not send video and Do not receive video. As a result of these options, meeting participants will be able to consume substantially less bandwidth than they would otherwise have to, but their user experience will be severely limited. A network should only use these options if there is a limited amount of capacity available and there is no other choice available for the network.

Import

Besides creating bandwidth limit policies individually by using the Add Limit dialog box, it is also possible to import multiple policies at one time by using the Import button if you want to perform a bulk import operation by selecting a file containing multiple policies. Using the import option, you will need to provide a comma-separated value (.csv) file with values in the correct sequence.

In the Import dialog box, you will find more information about the format requirements that need to be met. Additionally, within the Import dialog box, a link is provided that can be used to download a sample file. In addition to creating some policies using the Add dialog box, it is also possible to export all of them by selecting the Export All option in the Export dialog box. If you use either one of these methods, then you will be able to use a spreadsheet to define the IP ranges and policies you need.

Each row in the file will be checked to ensure that the format and input requirements were met when importing policies using a CSV file. When the import operation detects an error, it will stop if there is an error found. In order to enable the administrator to understand which lines need to be fixed, there will be an option for downloading a file containing a list of the errors. The import operation is allowed to continue as soon as all error conditions have been corrected, and the contents of the CSV file have been added to the database after the CSV file has been imported.

Using the Import option means that the existing rules that are already in place will be replaced when the imported rule matches the IP ranges of existing rules. It will not be possible to import rules that specify IP ranges that overlap each other.

Export All

By using the Export All option, you will be able to export existing policies that have been created, and they can be imported into a spreadsheet as comma-separated values (.csv) that can be edited and edited as needed.

Using the Import option, you can use the spreadsheet to import any changes you have made to the web policies back into the spreadsheet.