About Call Home
Call Home provides an email and http/https based notification for critical system policies. A range of message formats are available for compatibility with pager services or XML-based automated parsing applications. You can use this feature to page a network support engineer, email a Network Operations Center, or use Cisco Smart Call Home services to generate a case with the Technical Assistance Center. The Call Home feature can deliver alert messages containing information about diagnostics and environmental faults and events.
The Call Home feature can deliver alerts to multiple recipients, referred to as Call Home destination profiles. Each profile includes configurable message formats and content categories. A predefined destination is provided for sending alerts to the Cisco TAC, but you also can define your own destination profiles. When you configure Call Home to send messages, the appropriate CLI show command is executed and the command output is attached to the message. Call Home messages are delivered in the following formats:-
Short text format which provides a one or two line description of the fault that is suitable for pagers or printed reports.
-
Full text format which provides fully formatted message with detailed information that is suitable for human reading.
-
XML machine readable format that uses Extensible Markup Language (XML) and Adaptive Messaging Language (AML) XML schema definition (XSD). The AML XSD is published on the Cisco.com website at http://www.cisco.com/. The XML format enables communication with the Cisco Systems Technical Assistance Center.
Destination Profiles
A destination profile includes the following information:
-
One or more alert groups—The group of alerts that trigger a specific Call Home message if the alert occurs.
-
One or more e-mail or http destinations—The list of recipients for the Call Home messages generated by alert groups assigned to this destination profile.
-
Message format—The format for the Call Home message (short text, full text, or XML).
-
Message severity level—The Call Home severity level that the alert must meet before a Call Home message is sent to all e-mail and http url addresses in the destination profile. An alert is not generated if the Call Home severity level of the alert is lower than the message severity level set for the destination profile.
You can also configure a destination profile to allow periodic inventory update messages by using the inventory alert group that will send out periodic messages daily, weekly, or monthly.
The following predefined destination profiles are supported:
-
CiscoTAC-1—Supports the Cisco-TAC alert group in XML message format.
Call Home Alert Groups
An alert group is a predefined subset of alerts or events that Call Home detects and reports to one or more destinations. Alert groups allow you to select the set of alerts that you want to send to a predefined or custom destination profile. Alerts are sent to e-mail destinations in a destination profile only if that alert belongs to one of the alert groups associated with that destination profile and if the alert has a Call Home message severity at or above the message severity set in the destination profile.
The following table lists supported alert groups and the default CLI command output included in Call Home messages generated for the alert group.
Alert Group |
Description |
Executed Commands |
---|---|---|
Environmental |
Events related to power, fan, and environment-sensing elements such as temperature alarms. |
show environment show logging show inventory show environment trace show diag |
Inventory |
Inventory status that is provided whenever a unit is cold booted, or when FRUs are inserted or removed. This alert is considered a noncritical event, and the information is used for status and entitlement. |
admin show platform admin show version admin show diag admin show inventory oid |
Syslog |
Events generated by specific interesting syslog messages |
admin show version admin show logging admin show inventory |
Configuration |
User-generated request for configuration or configuration change event. |
|
Snapshot |
This alert group can be configured for periodic notifications |
By default, this alert group has no commands to be run. You can add the required commands that need to be run. |
Call Home maps the syslog severity level to the corresponding Call Home severity level for syslog port group messages.
Call Home Message Levels
Call Home allows you to filter messages based on their level of urgency. You can associate each destination profile (predefined and user-defined) with a Call Home message level threshold. The Call Home message level ranges from 0 (lowest level of urgency) to 9 (highest level of urgency). Call Home messages are generated if they have a severity level equal to or greater than the Call Home message level threshold for the destination profile.
Call Home messages that are sent for syslog alert groups have the syslog severity level mapped to the Call Home message level.
![]() Note |
Call Home does not change the syslog message level in the message text. |
The following table lists each Call Home message level keyword and the corresponding syslog level for the syslog port alert group.
Call Home Level |
Keyword |
syslog Level |
Description |
---|---|---|---|
9 |
Catastrophic |
N/A |
Network-wide catastrophic failure. |
8 |
Disaster |
N/A |
Significant network impact. |
7 |
Fatal |
Emergency (0) |
System is unusable. |
6 |
Critical |
Alert (1) |
Critical conditions that indicate that immediate attention is needed. |
5 |
Major |
Critical (2) |
Major conditions. |
4 |
Minor |
Error (3) |
Minor conditions. |
3 |
Warning |
Warning (4) |
Warning conditions. |
2 |
Notification |
Notice (5) |
Basic notification and informational messages. Possibly independently insignificant. |
1 |
Normal |
Information (6) |
Normal event signifying return to normal state. |
0 |
Debugging |
Debug (7) |
Debugging messages. |
Obtaining Smart Call Home
If you have a service contract directly with Cisco Systems, you can register your devices for the Smart Call Home service. Smart Call Home provides fast resolution of system problems by analyzing Call Home messages sent from your devices and providing background information and recommendations. For issues that can be identified as known, Automatic Service Requests will be generated with the Cisco-TAC.
Smart Call Home offers the following features:
-
Continuous device health monitoring and real-time diagnostic alerts.
-
Analysis of Call Home messages from your device and, where appropriate, Automatic Service Request generation, routed to the appropriate TAC team, including detailed diagnostic information to speed problem resolution.
-
Secure message transport directly from your device or through a downloadable Transport Gateway (TG) aggregation point. You can use a TG aggregation point in cases that require support for multiple devices or in cases where security requirements mandate that your devices may not be connected directly to the Internet.
-
Web-based access to Call Home messages and recommendations, inventory and configuration information for all Call Home devices. Provides access to associated field notices, security advisories and end-of-life information.
You need the following items to register:
-
The SMARTnet contract number for your device
-
Your e-mail address
-
Your Cisco.com ID
For more information about Smart Call Home, see the Smart Call Home page at this URL: https://supportforums.cisco.com/community/netpro/solutions/smart_services/smartcallhome
Anonymous Reporting
Smart Call Home is a service capability included with many Cisco service contracts and is designed to assist customers resolve problems more quickly. If you decide not to use Smart Call Home, you can still enable Anonymous Reporting to allow Cisco to securely receive minimal error and health information from the device. If you enable Anonymous Reporting, your customer identity will remain anonymous, and no identifying information is sent.
When Call Home is configured for anonymous reporting, only , inventory, and test messages are sent to Cisco. No identifying information is sent.
![]() Note |
When you enable Anonymous Reporting, you acknowledge your consent to transfer the specified data to Cisco or to vendors operating on behalf of Cisco (including countries outside the United States). Cisco maintains the privacy of all customers. For information about how Cisco treats personal information, see the Cisco Privacy Statement |