A. Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 is part of the Cisco Unified Communications management suite. It provides comprehensive monitoring with proactive and reactive diagnostics for the entire Cisco Unified Communications system including the underlying transport infrastructure. Its built-in rules, which provide contextual diagnostics, enable rapid troubleshooting of key service-impacting outages. Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 provides a real-time, service-level view of the entire Cisco Unified Communications system and presents the current operational status of each element. It also provides extensive capabilities for application-level testing of telephony functions, and these can be used proactively and reactively to identify problems and help ensure that applications are functioning as they should. It also features dial-plan validation capabilities as well as monitoring and reports for video-enabled endpoints.
Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0:
• Monitors and evaluates the current operational status of all the key components of the Cisco Unified Communications system, including the underlying transport infrastructure
• Presents the current operational status of the Cisco Unified Communications system through service-level views of the network and provides contextual tools to look at the current alert status, historical information, and service impact of any outages.
• Increases productivity of the network managers and enables faster trouble isolation by providing contextual diagnostic tools to enable rapid troubleshooting and fault isolation:
– Through diagnostic tests, performance, and connectivity details about different elements of the Cisco Unified Communications system.
– Through use of synthetic tests that replicate end-user activity and verify gateway availability as well as other configuration aspects of the Cisco Unified Communications infrastructure. Tests may be run on synthetic phones or real IP phones (both Session Initiation Protocol [SIP]-based and Skinny Client Control Protocol [SCCP]-based phones) deployed in the network.
– Through Cisco IOS® IP Service-Level Agreements (SLA)-based diagnostic tests that can be used to troubleshoot network-related issues, determine paths, and proactively monitor voice quality across WAN links.
– By providing actionable information in notification messages through context-sensitive links to more detailed information about service outages.
– By context-sensitive links to CiscoWorks products and Cisco management systems (when those are deployed), to provide the user with the broad and deep array of diagnostics capabilities.
• Discovers and reports on the status of different video-enabled IP endpoints (for both SIP- and SCCP-based phones) in the Cisco Unified Communications system and provides additional contextual information to enable the location and identification of the IP phones. It can also track the status of these endpoints.
• Provides a very powerful set of dynamic phone-testing capabilities that enable the usage of IP phones (both SIP- and SCCP-based phones) in the Cisco Unified Communications system as test probes to run dial-plan tests, acceptance tests, phone-feature tests, and so on. Such phone-testing capabilities can be used to rapidly troubleshoot issues related to connectivity (signaling/media stream) and voice quality as well as call processing/dial-plan management issues.
• Provides visibility into key performance metrics of different Cisco Unified Communications elements, such as resource usage (CPU, memory, MTP resources, transcoder resources), call statistics (active calls), trunk statistics (trunk usage, port usage, gateway statistics), and so on, that aid in different tasks such as troubleshooting and capacity planning.
• Correlates and presents voice-quality alerts by using the information available through Cisco Unified Service Monitor 2.0 (when the latter is also deployed). It displays mean opinion scores associated with voice quality between pairs of endpoints (IP phones, Cisco Unity® messaging systems, or voice gateways) at specified times involved in the monitored call segment and other associated details about the voice-quality problem. It can also trace a probable path between the two endpoints and report on any outages or problems on intermediate nodes in the path.
• Provides current information about connectivity-related and registration-related outages affecting different IP phones (both SIP- and SCCP-based phones) in the network and provides additional contextual information to enable the location and identification of the IP phones.
• Enables tracking of Cisco Unified Communications devices and IP phone inventory, tracks IP phone status changes, and creates a variety of reports that document move, add, and change operations on IP phones in the network.
• Provides extensive northbound real-time notifications, using Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) traps, syslog notifications, and e-mail, that enable integration with a higher-level entity (typically a manager of managers). Such notifications contain context-sensitive links that let network managers quickly determine the nature of the outage and rapidly troubleshoot the problem.
• Continuously monitors the current operational status of elements such as Cisco Unified CallManager, Cisco Unified CallManager Express, Cisco Unity systems, Cisco Unity Connection, Cisco Unity Express, Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise, Cisco Unified Contact Center Express, Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Express, Cisco Unified Presence Server, and Cisco Emergency Responder as well as Cisco gateways, routers, switches, and IP phones.
Q. What's new in Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0?
A. Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 continues its industry-leading support for Cisco Unified Communications devices by adding support for newly released Cisco products such as Cisco Unified CallManager 5.1, Cisco Unified Presence Server, and the newer generation of IP phones. Additionally, Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 can discover and continuously monitor video-enabled IP phones in the Cisco Unified Communications deployment. It can track the status of video-enabled IP phones and generate real-time alerts and different kinds of reports based on status changes. Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 also features a whole array of phone-based diagnostic testing using real IP phones for phone-feature validation, dial-plan testing, and so on. Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 can use Cisco Unified Service Monitor 2.0 to monitor and provide alerts on voice-quality issues detected by the Cisco Voice Transmission Quality (VTQ) metric that is available in the newer generation of phones (Cisco Unified IP Phone 7921, 7931, 7941, 7961, and 7971) when used in Cisco Unified CallManager 4.2/5.x deployments. Support for the new versions of Cisco Unified Communications elements is in addition to the list of applications and devices that were supported in Cisco Unified Operations Manager 1.0.
Q. Does Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 use any agents?
A. No, Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 does not deploy any agent software on any platform it monitors and thus is completely non-disruptive to system operations. It uses open interfaces such as SNMP and HTTP to remotely (and periodically) poll the devices being monitored and collect status information. It also performs several diagnostic tests (SCCP-based and IP SLA-based) and uses the results of these tests to determine the operational status of the monitored devices. The user interface is browser-based to enable remote login from anywhere in the network and provide instant access to real-time information on the current status of the devices.
Q. How is Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 different from other products that manage Cisco Unified Communications deployments?
A. Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 is part of the new industry-leading Cisco Unified Communications management suite. It is differentiated from other products that manage Cisco Unified Communications deployments because it comes with the Cisco commitment to quality and 24-hour support and combines all of the following capabilities into a comprehensive management package:
• Extensive coverage of Cisco Unified Communications devices as well as the underlying transport infrastructure
• Service-level view of the entire Cisco Unified Communications system, with current status information about all monitored elements
• Context-sensitive tools that can be launched from different user interfaces to aid in trouble isolation and resolution
• Diagnostic tests that can replicate end-user activities, validate phone features, and proactively test dial-plan configuration by way of making phone calls, leaving voice mail, and so on.
• Use of open interfaces such as SNMP and HTTP to remotely and periodically poll devices, and no use of any kind of agent software
• Real-time voice-quality monitoring by using Cisco Unified Service Monitor 2.0 with a combination of Cisco 1040 sensors or the VTQ metric that's available in the newer generation of IP phones (1721, 7931, 7941, 7961, 7971)
• Phone- and video-enabled IP phone reports with extensive information such as IP/MAC addresses, physical connectivity information, signaling status, and so on.
Q. What Cisco Unified Communications elements does Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 monitor?
A. Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 monitors Cisco Unified CallManager, Cisco Unity, Cisco Unity Connection, Cisco Conference Connection, Cisco Emergency Responder, Cisco Unified Presence Server, Cisco Unified Contact Center, Cisco Unified Contact Center Express, Cisco Unified CallManager Express, Cisco Unity Express, Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Express, and the Cisco Survivable Remote Site Telephony (SRST) router family of product systems. It monitors endpoints such as Cisco IP phones (hardware-based phones), video enabled IP phones, Cisco Unified Personal Communicator, and Cisco IP communicators (software-based phones) as well. It supports SIP-based and SCCP-based IP phones.
Q. What IP transport elements does Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 monitor?
A. Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 monitors routers, inline power switches, gateways, and gatekeepers.
Q. What are some of the benefits of the new phone-based diagnostic tests? How can they be used to monitor the availability of the network?
A. Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 introduces the ability to dynamically test phones and ensure that the Cisco Unified Communications deployment is functioning smoothly. Phone testing lets network managers dynamically test the behavior and features of real IP phones deployed in the network without needing any form of physical access. This lets them rapidly troubleshoot problems experienced by real users in the network and drastically improve time to address these issues. Such phone-based diagnostic tests may be used in several scenarios, namely, site-validation tests, dial-plan tests, site-to-site call reachability tests, and so on.
• Site-validation tests-As network managers implement solutions based on Cisco Unified Communications at new sites, there is a need to test every single phone for its registration status, dial tone, calling restrictions, and features (call hold, redial, call park, voicemail access, and so on) before going live at that site. The phone-based diagnostic tests let network managers do exactly that by automating the entire test plan and scheduling its execution. A simple, easy-to-read set of results is made available with the status of each of these tests, which may be further fed into reporting structures to enable operational and executive reporting.
• Dial-plan tests-As Cisco Unified Communications deployments grow in size and complexity, dial-plan changes and their impact on subscribers become more and more important. As applications that support Cisco Unified Communications system (Cisco Unified CallManager, Cisco Unity systems, and so on) get upgraded, patched, or reconfigured to add or modify their configuration or dial plans, it becomes very important that there are no side effects of these changes on subscribers affecting their dial-tone access, calling restrictions, or phone features. The phone-based diagnostic tests let network managers test each of these aspects by creating a test plan and scheduling its execution. A simple, easy-to-read set of results is made available with the status of each of these tests, which may be further fed into reporting structures to enable operational and executive reporting.
• Site-to-site reachability-As a part of ongoing monitoring and troubleshooting of Cisco Unified Communications deployments, network managers frequently need to test the ability to place and receive calls between remote sites, test for voice-quality issues, test for basic signaling reachability, and so on. The phone-based diagnostic tests let network managers test each of these aspects by creating a test plan and scheduling its execution. A simple, easy-to-read set of results is made available with the status of each of these tests, which may be further fed into reporting structures to enable operational and executive reporting.
Q. Can Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 be used for IP phone inventory tracking? If so, how?
A. Yes, Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 can be used for IP phone tracking. It provides two types of information. The Phone Status Display (an autorefreshing real-time display) shows details about all IP phones that are currently experiencing connectivity or signaling outages. A second source is the different reports that show phone status and phone status change information. The Phone Move Report captures phone movements (both physical movements and failovers) and shows past and current information with appropriate time stamps. The Phone Audit Report captures state changes in the phones and documents those changes with associated time stamps. These two reports serve to document moves, adds, and changes to the IP phones and are available for both SIP- and SCCP-based IP phones.
Q. How can Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 monitor my Cisco Unified Communications system?
A. Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 uses a seed device as a starting point, discovers the entire Cisco Unified Communications network using the Cisco Discovery Protocol, and creates a service-level topological view of the entire deployment. Depending on the type of device, Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 actively monitors different conditions using Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) polling, HTTP-based polling, SCCP-based synthetic tests, Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)-based data collection, SNMP MIB interrogation, and SNMP trap reception. It tracks only those conditions known to cause higher-level problems in that particular device. If Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 receives information from the device and that information is not a known condition of a higher-level problem, it ignores the information, minimizing the need for IT managers to look at every event happening on the network. This helps IT managers to more productively manage Cisco device faults. Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 also carries out diagnostic tests that ascertain the current operational status of the Cisco Unified Communications network and reports on any kind of problems it encounters. Whenever such diagnostic tests fail, suitable alerts are generated that inform network managers of potential service problems. All these alerts are shown on real-time displays such as the alerts console and the service-level views. It is also possible to forward alerts reported by Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 to other management tools by northbound interfaces using SNMP traps, syslog messages, and e-mail.
Q. How is Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 packaged?
A. Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 is packaged together with Cisco Unified Service Monitor 2.0 and the underlying CiscoWorks Common Services Software 3.0 on a single CD. A single installation procedure installs all three components on the server. Depending on the license that is provided during the installation, appropriate features are enabled. The two different licensing options that are available are (1) Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 only on a server and (2) Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 with Cisco Unified Service Monitor 2.0 on a single server.
Q. How can I license Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0?
A. Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 is available in two distinct editions, Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 - Standard Edition and Cisco Unified Operations Manager - Premium Edition. Furthermore, within each of these editions, Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 can be licensed at different deployment scales and is appropriate for enterprises of all sizes. Licensing is controlled by means of a license file, and network administrators can upgrade the license as their Cisco Unified Communications deployment grows without disrupting the monitoring or having to decommission their server. Upgrading the license is as simple as logging onto the Cisco Website, procuring a new license, and deploying it on the server. Licenses are available for monitoring 1000 phones, 2000 phones, 5000 phones, and increments of 5000 phones up to a maximum of 30,000 phones per Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 server. Depending on the license installed on the server, server hardware requirements and scalability limits are enforced to help ensure acceptable performance. Licenses are also available for upgrading from the Standard Edition to the Premium Edition.
For Cisco Unified Communications deployments of more than 30,000 phones, multiple Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 servers can be deployed. These servers can share device and credential information between them and administrators can perform centralized device and credential management. By integrating Cisco Unified Operations Manager with a Cisco Secure Access Control Server, administrators can centrally control user access. Each of these Cisco Unified Operations Manager servers will roll up the status of the network being monitored to a higher-level entity (typically a manager of managers) through SNMP traps and syslog notifications.
Q. On what operating systems can Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 run?
A. Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 is intended for a dedicated hardware platform using Microsoft Windows Server 2003 with SP1. It is designed to simplify management of complex Cisco Unified Communications implementations. This requires significant resources, and, as a result, a dedicated server is recommended (with the exception of Cisco Unified Service Monitor 2.0 sharing a single server with Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0, which is applicable for small and medium-sized network configurations). As a general rule, a larger hardware platform (in terms of speed and number of processors) and more system memory (a minimum of 2 GB is required) improve the performance and scalability of the management solution provided by Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0. Coresident deployments of Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 and Cisco Unified Service Monitor 2.0 mandate a minimum memory of 4 GB.
Q. What will happen to CiscoWorks IP Telephony Environment Monitor (ITEM) 2.0 and its downloadable utilities?
A. Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 will replace CiscoWorks ITEM 2.0. CiscoWorks ITEM 2.0 has reached end-of-sale status. Cisco will continue to support existing deployments of CiscoWorks ITEM 2.0 per the Cisco support policy, but there will be no new versions of the CiscoWorks ITEM product line. Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 incorporates all the functionality that was present in the downloadable utilities of CiscoWorks ITEM available through Cisco.com, and these utilities will no longer be available separately. All current customers of CiscoWorks ITEM 1.x and CiscoWorks ITEM 2.0 are strongly encouraged to migrate to Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 to help ensure that they have the necessary capabilities to manage the full scope of the latest technologies in Cisco Unified Communications solutions.
Q. Why should I migrate from CiscoWorks ITEM 2.0 to Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0? What new benefits does Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 provide?
A. Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 provides coverage for the latest Cisco Unified Communications technologies such as Cisco CallManager Express, Cisco Unity Express, Cisco Unified Contact Center (Enterprise and Express editions) in addition to providing new and useful interfaces for monitoring the overall status of the deployment. It integrates with another new offering, Cisco Unified Service Monitor 2.0, to present real-time service-quality alerting. Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 can carry out different diagnostic tests to evaluate the general health of the Cisco Unified Communications environment in the monitored network. Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 uses its sophisticated evaluation and correlation capabilities to help ensure timely information about the health of Cisco Unified Communications environments. Using several data collection and analysis techniques, Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 generates intelligent traps that can be forwarded to other event-management systems installed in the network, sent to e-mail or pager gateways, or displayed on the Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 GUI.
Q. How does Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 integrate with CiscoWorks products?
A. Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 works with the entire family of CiscoWorks products. It runs on CiscoWorks Common Services Software 3.0, which is shared with applications such as CiscoWorks LAN Management Solution (LMS). Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 integration with the CiscoWorks family includes:
• CiscoWorks security roles
• CiscoWorks server process and backup management services
• Device and credential repository
• Cisco Secure Access Control Server (ACS) integration
In addition, Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 can perform a context-sensitive launch of different CiscoWorks products (such as CiscoWorks Resource Manager Essentials, CiscoWorks CiscoView, CiscoWorks Campus Manager, and so on) from its different user interfaces to accelerate trouble isolation and resolution.
Q. How does Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 integrate with Cisco Unified Service Monitor 2.0?
A. Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 can use the information provided by Cisco Unified Service Monitor 2.0 to present service-quality (quality of voice) alerts on a real-time basis. The service-quality alerts are associated with IP phones or Cisco Unified Communications devices that are currently monitored by Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 and are presented in the Service Quality Alerts Display. Details about connectivity of the IP phones and devices are available as well. Context-sensitive diagnostic tools such as a probable-path trace, node-to-node IP SLA tests, and phone-status tests can be run to perform further troubleshooting. A node-to-node test between the routers serving the path can help network managers identify potential problems in intermediate nodes and can influence service quality. A phone-status test on either endpoint verifies the IP connectivity of the phones involved in the call segment that had the poor service quality. Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0 has specialized reports that present historical information.
For More Information
For more information about Cisco Unified Operations Manager 2.0, please visit http://www.cisco.com/go/cuom, contact your local account representative, or send e-mail to the Cisco product marketing group at ask-ipc-management@cisco.com.
