Years ago, when I started studying Cisco stuff, I learned about the ISO Telecommunications Management Network model FCAPS - an acronym for Fault, Configuration, Accounting, Performance, and Security. Although I don't read about the model much anymore, after studying the acronym many times in preparation for CCNP, CCDP, or CCIE written exams, it stuck with me. And it came in handy 4 months ago when we started tackling IP Telephony management.
The FCAPS model is a great way to conceptualize what you need to track in any environment; in our case IP Telephony. Explaining a bit on each part:
In our case, we have a Cisco IP Telephony environment that works very well, but was not being proactively monitored. Thus, to ensure proper operations monitoring and to provide needed information for my engineering team, one of my engineers was task to create a list of management features we needed. To help get him started I recommended FCAPs. FCAPS provided an easy way to conceptualize what was needed and a great way to organize the new features. By understanding what each letter meant - like "F" for fault - he could see things that needed to be tracked. The requirements list was then easy to create.
Here's what we came up with:
Fault
Ping CCM devices servers and gateways.
Enable SNMP traps from all IPT infrastructure equipment - determine if it's a critical alert.
Monitor up/down status of PRIs.
Check/Verify that the CCM server services are running on the publisher/subscriber.
Check/Verify that the Unity/Exchange servers are running and active.
Verify that CCM and Unity backs have been completed - check systems for backup ok or failure errors and verify back files are copied to storage.
PRI error notifications - if a certain percentage of errors occur on a PRI send an alert.
Topology view of Cisco Call Manager servers, Unity and Exchange servers, and Voice gateways.
Discover call quality problems and determine the cause of the call quality issue,
Voice gateway syslog capture and proactive analysis.
Tool to verify that CCM admin and user links are online.
Create custom scripts to check or test call manager features.
Proactive monitoring and review of Call Manager syslogs.Configuration
Monitor configuration changes on Call Manager & Unity.
Monitor configuration changes on gateways.Accounting
Call Detail Record (CDR) historical and real-time reports - call volume, peak usage by time of day, etc.
Data collection and storage of IP traffic for analysis - playback RTP streams.Performance
Perform real-time traffic reports - parsing the data and VOIP traffic.
CPU and DSP utilization on voice gateways at all locations.
Measure in real-time the latency, jitter, packet loss, and mean opinion score (MOS) - run a real-time report.
Generate QoS reports showing drops VOIP queue.
Trunk utilization (PRI and QSIG) on voice gateway.
Perform trend analysis and capacity planning.
Track CPU utilization on call manager and unity servers.Security
We have about 50% of these implemented now and continue to work on the rest. FCAPS gave us the structure to define what we needed and now we are actively monitoring our IP Telephony environment. An old tool that still works.
More >From the Field blog entries:
Not a Lot of Excitement for Networkers This Year?
Cisco ASA IP Phone Proxy - My New BFF
Too Many IOS Versions, Something's Gotta Give Soon
(Network) Engineering a Merger
Applying Accounting Measures to Data Networking Financial Performance
Is RTP Becoming a Favored Location for Data Centers?
Go to Cisco Subnet for more Cisco news, blogs, discussion forums, security alerts, book giveaways, and more.
Michael Morris is a communications engineering manager at a $3-billion high-tech company. His background is in enterprise WANs working with telcos and developing large-scale routing designs. He has worked on networks at government and corporate organizations, including networks at two Fortune 10 companies. In his current role, he leads a team of 10 engineers responsible for large-scale IT networking projects and architectural standards for data networks, storage area networks, IP telephony, contact centers, and security. Michael is CCIE #11733 and recently became one of the first three Cisco Certified Design Experts (CCDE) ever (#20080002). He has 11 years experience in networking and communications, including four years as a paratrooper in the U.S. Army. He has a bachelor's degree in MIS from the University at Buffalo and is working on his MBA from NC State University. In 2008, he was awarded the Network Professional Association (NPA) Professional Excellence and Innovation Award for his work on network architecture, templates and enterprise MPLS design.
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What software are you using?
What software are you using to do that? I'm using a combination of CW2K and Cacti, and you've hit on several great measurements that I'm missing out on.
Thanks,
Sean
RE: What software are you using?
Tivoli, VitalNet, NetFlow Tracker, AppCritical, IP SLA, CDR with a SaaS provider, OpsWare.
(note that I mentioned we haven't implemented all of them yet, but we are getting there).
Mike
Who's the CDR provider? Do
Who's the CDR provider? Do you like the software?
RE: Who's the CDR provider? Do
http://www.isi-info.com/
CallManager & Unity Auditing
Under Configuration, there are several tools that will manage configurations for the gateways. However, what tools are available for configuration management, auditing, of CallManager and/or Unity? How do you audit who modifies a CCM user or Unity subscriber? Or logs changes to a CCM element such as a route pattern?
You could write a custom
You could write a custom script to parse the IIS logs in Unity to track stuff like additions and deletions--those actions show up in the URLs.
I haven't seen any commercial change auditing tools though.
Cisco CDR Accounting
We are specialized in processing Call Detail Records (CDR) of Cisco Systems Voice Gateways (CME/UC500). One of our core services includes Periodic Reports. This reports form the basis for client internal cost distribution, fraud detection of the phone system and many more. There is no need for any additional technology or hardware onsite.
You can simply out-source your CDR reporting for an affordable price. Have a look at:
http://www.voip-monitor.net/
http://www.voip-monitor.net/products-reports.html
http://www.voip-monitor.net/products-pricing.html
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