Trace IP Office events with ease

The analogy of SysMon simplified

Here I provide 8 frequent scenarios that users experience with Avaya IP Office. You learn the analogy of System Monitor (SysMon), and what to look for when capturing calls, and system events. From SIP Trunk tracing, learn how to identify the IP Office system inventory, apply filters, and more.

As a rule of thumb, whenever I get dispatched to help any client, I tend to open either System Status or System Monitor, even before I get to pull a system configuration. If you have been reading my material, by now you should know that I am a big advocate of taking notes, and communicating with clients before commencing any work.

I have developed these 8 scenarios to help you decipher each event using System Monitor

• 1.- Understand event causes
• 2.- System Inventory
• 3.- ISDN-PRI – Call quality
• 4.- Unable to receive calls
• 5.- SIP Trunk – One way audio
• 6.- Unable to leave voicemails
• 7.- Outbound CLID not displaying
• 8.- Voicemail to Email not working

1.- Event Causes

Events are created whenever a new action is taken in IP Office. Each event has an identifier assigned by default. Use this number to tack event that needs to be troubleshot.

When a user decides to make a phone call, the system will generate these type of events=

• CMCSRingBack
• CMCSOGConnReq
• CMCSConnected
• CMCSCompleted
• Deleted

Just remember that each action will have a logical event attached to it.

2.- System Inventory

When connecting to an IP Office system, the system monitor will first display your laptop’s IP Address or connected voicemail pro server.

Then this message will appear=

LAW=U PRI=1, BRI=0, ALOG=4, VCOMP=74, MDM=0, WAN=0, MODU=0 LANM=0 CkSRC=5 VMAIL=1(VER=3 TYP=1) 1-X=0 CALLS=5(TOT=151)

Depending which issues you are troubleshooting these lines showed above might be useful. Here is a quick definition of some=

CkSRC=5 – Refers to the clock source, which is a PRI card located on slot 5.

VMAIL= 1 – The system has a voicemail server attached, if for some reason the value = 0, then the system doesn’t see it.

TYP=1 = Voicemail Pro.

For a full list of features refer to the references.

The IP500 shows the 4 mezzanines, displaying the modules with daughter cards

LIST OF MODULES   ++++++++++++++++++++

1203071329mS PRN: +————————————————————

1203071329mS PRN: + Slot 1 : Base      PHONE2    Board=0x00  PLD=0x03

1203071329mS PRN: +         Mezzanine PRID U    Board=0x03  PLD=0x0a

1203071329mS PRN: +————————————————————

3.- ISDN-PRI – Call quality

For ISDN-PRI the system will required some event filters to be triggered before you can successfully complete a good trace. See the references for more details. Static, crackle, and choppy voice issues, are the three most common ISDN-PRI issues that you will be dealing with, out in the field when troubleshooting Voice T1 Circuits.

CSU and Clock Sync – These two elements will help eliminate the slips, packet loss, avoiding the static, crackle, and choppiness from the call.

The Internal CSU option located in the PRI Form at then bottom of the first tab, has to be ticked, and carry a physical CSU with you for further testing if possible.

Clock sync – The IP Office doesn’t have an internal clock, therefore clocking must be provided by the Service Provider. Once the IP Office gets the ISDN-PRI clock-sync from the LEC the CkSRC=0 changes to CkSRC=5.

Channel selection is another pattern that needs to be reversed to avoid collision on packets. Let’s say the LEC sends calls on channel 1, then have the IP Office start at the top on channel 23.

 

4.- Unable to receive calls

This is a common when Service Providers upgrade or change their internal configuration causing the IP Office not able to initiate calls.

I have seen this happen on AT&T CBC Trunk Groups using SDN.

Following the monitor (Doc 15-601019 Issue 06e) recommended traces for ISDN-PRI, is another good way for you got find out which issues are causing voice quality, and other elements.

ISDNL1Evt: v=0 peb=5,F2 F1 – This line tells you that calls went from normal (F1) to the Fault-condition state (F2), based on CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check) errors. To help fix this issue turn on CRC error checking for the PRI Card, then work with the LEC to confirm they are handling clocking on their end.

5.- SIP Trunk – One way audio

This issue is related to RTP port blocking or transmission. Check firewalls and NAT settings from point A to B. Another element you should look into is the Default Gateways. I have experienced packets trying to leave the wrong Interface when utilizing more than one.

CSeq sequence number – When tracing your SIP call events, the CSeq number will help you see transmit/receive or handshake between the IP Office and the Service Provider.

After you have set the filters recommended by document listed below, highlight the CSeq sequence number, then press F4 to open a new Monitor window showing all the events related to the selected CSeq event-id.

 

 

 6.- Unable to leave voicemails

The IP Office Monitor plays good when tracing Embedded Voicemail, for Voicemail Pro you will need the Avaya Voicemail Debug tool to get more effective and detailed events.

Embedded voicemail – After an IP Office system boot, it performs housekeeping on its hardware including both SD Card slots located behind the Control Unit, slot A (System SD) and slot B (Optional).

LVM and LVMail traces will be generated providing information on voicemail database size and available space, and finally total amount of recording time left.

Unable to leave messages – This is most commonly seen when the embedded voicemail memory gets full. The voicemail will perform housekeeping every 24 hours deleting every played messages that wasn’t saved, but it will keep unheard ones.

Voicemail Pro requires window services, and licenses check.

7.- Outbound CLID not displaying

You are looking for dialed number and shortcode selection when fixing this problem. When correcting any dialing problems this is the best method.

CMARS Events – These will display the outbound traffic, starting from the feature code used to access the ARS tables, to number sent, and most important, the shortcode used to push the call out.

Based on the trace listed below, the shortcode 1N; is missing the ’s’ plus the CLID required. Keep in mind that Service Provider must allow the IP Office push the CLID.

8.- Voicemail to Email not working

LVM (email) is displayed after setting the filters for the Embedded voicemail/Email option. My experience has been an internal network security, or Domain policies not allowing the IP Office to relay messages on port 25. Also check MD5 Hash is not implemented for this account.

Resources

Open page 24 of this IP Office Maintenance Manual

System Monitor 9.1 – Document 15-601019 Issue 06e

Question – When tracing using SysMon, which filters do you find more helpful?