* The Reviewmeister checks out Alcatel's OmniPCX Enterprise for managing VoIP networks
Okay, so you’re considering voice over IP, but what tools are available to manage a VoIP network. The Reviewmeister decided to find out.
Our first stop was Alcatel’s OmniPCX Enterprise.
Managing Alcatel’s IP PBX in most cases requires OmniVista 4760, Alcatel’s modular management software package. The server portion, with integral Sybase SQL database, runs on a beefy Windows 2000 platform with a minimum 512M bytes of RAM and at least 1-GHz CPU.
Administrators access the server via a Java-based browser interface. Besides OmniVista, we also made heavy use of Telnet directly into the call server.
The OmniVista modules each present a different interface to the user. And while they all employ a Windows-type GUI, a few of the key modules – such as the configuration module – are laid out strangely and are cluttered with unnecessary objects. The result is an interface that’s difficult to navigate.
Another drawback is that softphone call control and management require a totally separate Windows-based server application, which is not even accessible via OmniVista.
On the bright side, we accomplished almost every task we attempted via one or the other management applications. However, completing many of the tasks, such as resetting IP phones or gateways, involves the cryptic Telnet command-line interface. Alcatel says it plans to move some of these features onto interactive Web pages in its next major system release, Version 5.1, scheduled for September.
A very impressive and valuable feature is that the OmniVista alarm module maintains a stateful watch over events in the log and applies some degree of event correlation. When a severe condition that resulted in an alarm message is resolved or rectified, the software automatically will clear the event.
Another useful tool is the Alcatel VoIP Assessment Tool, which comprises a Windows application and software that loads on Alcatel IP phones. From the Windows station the user directs any two Alcatel IP hard phones to conduct a user defined VoIP test with each other. The results are sent back to the Windows console, which processes the data and presents accurate QoS measurements of packet loss, jitter and delay, and relative VoIP-quality assessments.
Alcatel scored well in real-time monitoring, in part because of the added management capabilities the VoIP Assessment Tool provided. Alcatel also got high marks for alarms, events and traps. Many performance metrics are accessible for use in defining events and alarms, but actually setting thresholds and event notifications is a complex and tedious process.
For the full report, go to https://www.nwfusion.com/reviews/2003/0630rev.html
