Configuring and Monitoring Via Network Management Systems Using the Cisco CME AXL/SOAP Interface

Configuring and Monitoring Via Network Management Systems Using the Cisco CME AXL SOAP Interface

You can integrate Cisco CME with network management applications by using the Cisco CME XML Layer (AXL) application programming interface (API). The AXL API provides a mechanism for inserting, retrieving, updating, and removing data from the Cisco CallManager database using an XML SOAP interface. The AXL API allows programmatic access to Cisco CallManager data in XML form instead of using a binary library or a Dynamic Link Library (DLL). The AXL API methods, or requests, are performed using a combination of HTTP and SOAP. The HTTP payload is encapsulated in SOAP, which is essentially an XML remote procedure call protocol. User requests send XML data to the Cisco CallManager server, which returns an AXL response encapsulated in a SOAP message.

Cisco CME extends the AXL/SOAP capabilities by providing XML APIs for monitoring and configuring IP phones and extensions. A Network Management System (NMS) might use the Cisco CME AXL/SOAP APIs to poll the Cisco CME network elements (NEs), including IP phones and extensions. As with the AXL protocol, communication between an NMS and Cisco CME is based on an HTTP data exchange and can be initiated only by polling from the NMS. However, Cisco CME can enable or disable the sending of data, as well as control the polling interval.

Note

AXL/SOAP APIs for NMS configuration and monitoring are supported only by Cisco CME, not by Cisco UE.

The next sections describe the features supported by the Cisco CME AXL/SOAP APIs and a test procedure to check if your Cisco CME is set up properly to respond to the AXL/SOAP queries.

The Cisco CME AXL/SOAP Interface

The Cisco CME AXL/SOAP APIs provide many capabilities for monitoring and configuring IP phones and extensions.

For monitoring, Cisco CME AXL/SOAP APIs support the following:

• Getting static information

  ISgetGlobalGets global information

  ISgetDeviceGets device information

  ISgetExtensionGets extension information

• Getting dynamic information

  ISgetEvtCountsGets the number of events recorded in the buffer

  ISgetDevEvtsGets device events if IP phones are in the register, unregister, or decease state

  ISgetExtEvtsGets extension events (the virtual voice port is up or down)

• Setting information (configuring) and executing CLI

  ISsetKeyPhonesSets the "key" phone

  ISexecCLIExecutes the CLI

The following are supported CLI commands that can be executed by the ISexecCLI API. You might execute all the subcommands under each of these configuration mode commands with the ISexecCLI API.

• telephony-service
• ephone
• ephone-dn
• vm-integration
• ephone-hunt
• dial-peer voice
• call application voice interactive voice response (IVR)

You might get more information on supported Cisco CME AXL/SOAP APIs by going to Cisco.com and searching for "XML Developer Guide for Cisco CME."

Testing the Cisco CME AXL/SOAP Interface

You might use the test page (xml-test.html) that is available with the Cisco CME GUI files to verify that the Cisco CME router is set up correctly to respond to AXL/SOAP requests. The following are the steps to set up and run the test page:

Step 1.	Load xml-test.html into Flash.
Step 2.	Configure the following on the Cisco CME router: router(config)#ip http server router(config)#ip http path:flash router(config)#telephony-service mode router(config)#log password abcd router(config)#xmltest
Step 3.	Enter the following URL in the browser: http://ip-address of router/ISApi/AXL/V1/soapisapi.is
Step 4.	When the Login window opens, log on as follows: username: any non-empty string password: abcd
Step 5.	In the test page, input content into the form. The XML request is written to the form at the bottom. Go to the bottom of the page and click Submit.
Step 6.	Try the preceding steps on your system. If you receive any errors, the following debugs on the router might help: router#debug ip http appinout router#debug ip http appdetail

The xml-test.html file is a test program for you to check that the Cisco CME router can respond to AXL/SOAP requests. You must disable the test program when polling from an NMS using the Cisco CME AXL APIs with the following configuration:

router(config)#telephony-service
router(config-telephony)#no xmltest

Note

A polling request from an NMS must be sent in clear-text format.

For developer services support, go to the Cisco Developer Support site at http://www.cisco.com/cgi-bin/dev_support/access_level/product_support. You must be a Cisco.com registered user to access this site.

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