Table Of Contents
Using IP Phone Reachability Testing
Getting Started with IP Phone Reachability Testing
Before You Add an IP Phone Reachability Test
Maintaining IP Phone Reachability Tests
Using the Phone Reachability Testing Manager
Adding an IP Phone Reachability Test
Formatting an IP Phone Reachability Testing Seed File
Modifying IP Phone Reachability Tests
Deleting IP Phone Reachability Tests
Viewing Phone Reachability Test Details
Using IP Phone Reachability Testing
Note 
IP Phone Reachability Testing is available only if you have downloaded and installed Incremental Device Update (IDU) 2 or later from the ITM download site: http://www.cisco.com/pcgi-bin/tablebuild.pl/item-3des. If you have not installed IDU 2 or later, you can monitor key phones using Phone Monitoring; see "Using Phone Monitoring."
The following topics describe IP Phone Reachability Testing:
•Getting Started with IP Phone Reachability Testing
•Using the Phone Reachability Testing Manager
Getting Started with IP Phone Reachability Testing
IP Phone Reachability Testing uses Cisco IOS IP SLA (IP SLA) technology to monitor the reachability of key phones in the network. An IP phone reachability test consists of the following:
•A list of IP phones to test, selected by you.
•A testing schedule that you configure.
•IP SLA-based pings from an IP SLA-capable device (for example, a switch, a router, or a voice router) to the IP phones and, optionally, pings from IP Telephony Monitor (ITM) to the IP phones.
Figure 7-1 illustrates an IP phone reachability test configured on an IP SAL-capable voice router, with ITM ping enabled. ITM configures an echo test on the IP SLA-capable device, provided that the device has enough memory provisioned to allow ITM to do so.
Figure 7-1 An IP Phone Reachability Test
A phone is considered unreachable after no response to either an IP SLA-based ping or an ITM ping, if enabled. ITM generates the PhoneReachabilityTestFailed event.
IP Phone Reachability Testing is protocol-independent and can perform tests on phones that operate, for example, under the following protocols:
•MGCP
•SCCP
•SIP
Before You Add an IP Phone Reachability Test
You must provide seed files that list an IP SLA-capable device and IP phones (extensions and IP addresses) to test. See the "Adding an IP Phone Reachability Test" section for more information.
IP phone reachability tests do not require information from ITM device inventory. However, when ITM monitors phone-related devices, ITM can update phone reachability tests whenever phone information changes.
Maintaining IP Phone Reachability Tests
Table 7-1 describes how to maintain phone reachability tests, whether or not devices are included in ITM inventory.
Table 7-1 Enabling ITM to Maintain Phone Reachability Tests
Devices
|
In ITM Inventory?
|
Effect on IP Phone
Reachability Test
|
IP SLA-capable device on which ITM configures echo test
|
Yes
|
Test runs successfully.
|
No
|
Test runs successfully.
Note ITM does not monitor the IP SLA-capable device.
|
Both of the following:
•Phone access switch to which phone is connected
•Media server with Cisco CallManager to which phone is registered
|
Yes
|
•Test runs successfully.
•ITM tracks IP address changes and extension number changes for the phone; ITM updates phone reachability tests.
|
No
|
•Test runs successfully.
Note ITM does not monitor the phone-related devices.
•You must update phone reachability tests when IP addresses or extension numbers change.
|
The following questions and answers supply guidance on how to maintain IP phone reachability tests. The questions describe common occurrences and explain whether you need to take action as a result.
Q. What happens when a router is rebooted?
A. When a router is rebooted, the IP phone reachability tests are lost. However, ITM reconfigures the test when the router becomes available. While the router is down, the ITM ping continues to run, if you have enabled ITM ping.
Q. What happens after I move a phone to a different Cisco CallManager?
A. Reachability tests continue to run, except when phone information (IP address or extension number) changes and phone-related devices are not monitored by ITM (see Table 7-1 for more information); update the seed file and add the test again. If you want to configure the test on the IP SLA-capable device closest to the new Cisco CallManager, update the seed file and add the test again.
Note The following information applies to ITM Multi-View only.
Q. What happens when I move a device from one partition to another?
A. If ITM is monitoring an IP SLA-capable device or a media server and you move it from one partition to another, IP phone reachability tests remain unaffected. Any phone reachability alerts that are generated continue to appear on the Alerts and Activities Display in the partition where the test is defined.
Q. How can I move a reachability test from one partition to another?
A. Delete the test from the partition; select a new partition and import the IP phone reachability test again.
Using the Phone Reachability Testing Manager
When you open the Phone Reachability Testing Manager page, you view a table of existing phone reachability tests with the status for each test. From the Phone Reachability Testing Manager page, you can do any of the following:
•Add a phone reachability test. To do so, import a list of extensions to include in the test. See the "Adding an IP Phone Reachability Test" section.
•Configure phone reachability tests. You can update the schedule for one or more phone reachability tests and enable or disable the ITM ping. See the "Modifying IP Phone Reachability Tests" section.
•Delete phone reachability tests. You can delete one or more reachability tests from ITM and from the routers on which the tests run. See the "Deleting IP Phone Reachability Tests" section.
•View phone reachability test details. You can view details for one or more reachability tests. See the "Viewing Phone Reachability Test Details" section.
Step 1 Select IP Telephony Monitor > IP Phone Reachability Testing > Phone Reachability Testing Manager. The following information is displayed.
Field
|
Description
|
Test Name
|
Test name—Provide a name for the test when you add it to ITM. See the "Adding an IP Phone Reachability Test" section.
|
Status
|
Status can be one of the following:
•Started—The test is scheduled to run.
•Running—The test is currently running.
•Stopped—The test is not scheduled to run.
|
Adding an IP Phone Reachability Test
Note For ITM Multi-View users only: Phone reachability events appear on the Alerts and Activities Display in the partition with the phone reachability test.
You can add one phone reachability test at a time by importing a file with a list of extensions to include in the test. The name of the seed file will become the name of the test.
Before you Begin
•Verify that your seed file is formatted correctly. For details, see the "Formatting an IP Phone Reachability Testing Seed File" section.
•Place the seed file on the server, in the NMSROOT\ImportFiles directory. If you do not have access to the directory, contact a local administrator for the server where ITM is installed.
Note NMSROOT is the directory where ITM is installed on your system. If you selected the default directory during installation, it is C:\Program Files\CSCOpx.
Step 1 Select IP Telephony Monitor > IP Phone Reachability Testing > Phone Reachability Testing Manager and click Add. The Import IP Phone Reachability Test Information page appears.
Step 2 Enter the name of the seed file.
Note The name of the file becomes the name of the test. For example, if you import a file named DivisionalVPs.txt, a test named DivisionalVPs.txt is created.
Step 3 Click OK. Any of the following will be displayed:
•Informational messages for you to read and acknowledge.
•Errors and recommended actions for you to take.
Note In some cases, you might need to correct an entry in the seed file. If so, correct the seed file, copy it to the seed file directory, and return to step 1.
Note ITM does not add a phone reachability test until all errors are resolved.
•IP Phone Reachability Test Configuration page, from which you continue configuring the test.
Step 4 Enter data on the IP Phone Reachability Test Configuration page.
Field
|
Description
|
Do not use ping from ITM server
|
By default, phone reachability pings a phone from both the ITM server and the router. Select this check box to disable ping from the ITM server.
|
Select Test Interval
|
Select the number of minutes (between 1 and 10) from the start of one test to the start of the next test.
|
Test Time
|
Select daily start and end times for tests.
|
Days of the Week
|
Select one or more days on which to run tests.
|
Step 5 Click Finish. Validation of the information in the seed file completes and ITM starts to create tests on the IP SLA-enabled devices. If errors occur during test creation, an error message is displayed. Otherwise, the Phone Reachability Test Manager window is displayed, showing the newly added test.
Formatting an IP Phone Reachability Testing Seed File
An IP phone reachability testing seed file should list all the phones that you need to create a single test. The information that you must provide for each phone is:
•Extension number.
•IP address.
•MAC address.
You must also provide the IP address and read and write community strings for the router closest to the Cisco CallManager that the phone is registered to.
Handle phones with shared lines or multiple extensions as follows:
•Shared lines—Enter one or both phones; ITM can run one test for each phone on a shared line.
•Multi-extension phones—No matter how many of the extensions for this phone that you enter, ITM runs only one test for the phone.
Each line of the seed file must contain:
•Six columns. If a column is not used, you must enter a space.
•A colon separating the columns.
Note Name the seed file using the name you would like to use for the IP phone reachability test.
Table 7-2 IP Phone Reachability Testing Seed File Format
Column Number
|
Description
|
1
|
Phone extension.
|
2
|
Phone MAC address.
|
3
|
Phone IP address.
|
4
|
IP SLA-enabled device (router, switch, or voice router).
|
5
|
Read community string for the IP SLA-enabled device.
|
6
|
Write community string for the IP SLA-enabled device.
|
Example 7-1 shows a sample seed file.
Example 7-1 IP Phone Reachability Testing Seed File
3687:000593a71001 : 10.76.23.115:10.76.38.110:public:private
Modifying IP Phone Reachability Tests
You can update the schedule and enable or disable the ITM ping for one or more phone reachability tests. See the "Getting Started with IP Phone Reachability Testing" section for information about the ITM ping.
Step 1 Select IP Telephony Monitor > IP Phone Reachability Testing > Phone Reachability Testing Manager.
Step 2 Select one more tests and click Modify. The IP Phone Reachability Test Configuration page appears.
Step 3 Change any of the following.
Field
|
Description
|
Do not use ping from ITM server
|
Deselect this check box to enable phone reachability to ping phones from both the ITM server and the router. Select this check box to disable the ping from the ITM server.
|
Select Test Interval
|
Select the number of minutes (between 1 and 10) from the start of one test to the start of the next test.
|
Test Time
|
Select a daily start and end time for tests.
|
Days of the Week
|
Select one or more days on which to run tests.
|
Step 4 Click Finish.
Deleting IP Phone Reachability Tests
You can delete one or more phone reachability tests.
Step 1 Select IP Telephony Monitor > IP Phone Reachability Testing > Phone Reachability Testing Manager.
Step 2 Select one more tests and click Delete. A confirmation message is displayed.
Step 3 Click OK to delete the tests.
Viewing Phone Reachability Test Details
Step 1 Select IP Telephony Monitor > IP Phone Reachability Testing > Phone Reachability Testing Manager.
Step 2 Select a test and click View. The Testing Details page appears.
Step 3 The Testing Details page displays the test parameters and schedule and the extension numbers of the tested phones.
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