VoIP & Network Quality Manager - what do you need to know about Call Managers

VoIP & Network Quality Manager 4.0 RC is out for a while and based on your RC feedback we would like to give you more details about adding Call Manager or troubleshooting possible issues during setup.

First of all, your Cisco Call Manager needs to be ready for monitoring calls.

You can set it up via CCM web console. To do that, please follow Cisco tutorial here: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/voice_ip_comm/cucmbe/service/6_0_1/car/caranrpt.html#wp1037699

It is usually your billing server producing CDRs and you can configure using Cisco help page: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/voice_ip_comm/cucm/service/5_0_1/ccmsrva/sacdrm.html#wp1117971

You also need to enable AXL credentials on CUCUM. That could be done easily using this tutorial: http://www.uplinx.com/cleanuptool/userguide/index.htm#page=Enable_AXL_on_CUCM.htm

In case that your AXL credential test failing in VNQM add call manager wizard, you need to be sure that you can use AXL via SOAP from the VNQM web console.

To do that type following into the browser:  https://<ip address>:8443/axl/

If AXL API is working, Call Manager should see following output:

Cisco CallManager: AXL Web Service

The AXL Web Service is working and accepting requests. Use HTTP POST to send a request.

If this is not your case, please check the VNQM to CCM connectivity (firewals, etc.) and reffer to step two – how to enable AXL credentials on CUCUM.

If your Call Manager is prepared then it’s time for Adding Call Managers to VNQM:

Navigate to VoIP & Quality Settings and click on “Add New CallManager nodes” link.

Add Call Manager wizard appears with the list of nodes to select. Select the corresponding Call Manager node and click “Next”.

After clicking “Next”, a new screen appears asking what needs to be monitored for the Call Manager node. The Call Manager node can be added with or without CDR/CMR polling.

If you can’t add a node that is supposed to be a call manager then you have probably SNMP service turned off on Call Manager. Take a look on the following screen which shows you how to find if SNMP is turned ON.

Note:  If added with CDR/CMR polling, the wizard gives an option to enter AXL credentials (to poll region specific data) and FTP server credentials (where the CDR/CMR files are stored).

Click “Next” after selecting the monitor type.

Note: If without CDR/CMR monitoring is selected, the wizard adds the call manager without providing an option to enter AXL credentials and FTP credentials. It can be added later by editing the call manager node

1. Click on the “What are AXL Credentials” link to know more about AXL. Enter the AXL credentials.
2. Click “Test” button to test the AXL credentials.

Click “Next” button to continue.

Add FTP Server (where CDR files will be placed):

1. If the FTP server IP entered is a SFTP server, secure connection check box should be enabled to continue.
2. The FTP folder name where the CDR/CMR files are stored.
3. Click on the Test FTP server connection to check if the entered credentials are valid.
4. The polling frequency is defaulted to 1 minute and can be changed to any value from 1 to 60.
5. Enabling the Delete check box will delete all the CDR/CMR files from the FTP server once the polling is complete.  To know more about this feature, click on the “Why would I do this?” link.

After clicking on “Next” button from the Add FTP server page, the final summary page appears. Users can review the entered data and clicking on “Add Call Manager” adds the call manager to the VNQM.

Now you are eligible to do a search for CDRs via VNQM web console and system will periodically poll for new CDR files.

Michal