A Resource reSerVation Protocol (RSVP) transmitter proxy reserves network
resources on behalf of a multimedia server that lacks RSVP facilities.
The RSVP transmitter proxy is preferably disposed in an intermediate
network device that is proximate to (e.g., one hop away from) the
respective server, and includes a classification engine configured to
identify network traffic passing through the network device, and a media
session manager for maintaining state and other information for streams
and/or sessions being provided by the server. The classification engine
may snoop messages exchanged between the server and a client to identify
the traffic flow characteristics and bandwidth of a stream. The RSVP
transmitter uses the snooped information to generate and send RSVP Path
messages on behalf of the server and to terminate RSVP Reservation
messages sent to the server, thereby causing network resources to be
reserved for the stream.