Cisco CallManager Serviceability Overview

The Cisco CallManager Serviceability tool is available on each Cisco CallManager. It is the main tool used by administrators to maintain the Cisco CallManager installation. To access the Cisco CallManager Serviceability tool, choose the Application menu in Cisco CallManager Administration, choose Start > Programs > Cisco CallManager 4.1 > Cisco Service Configuration from the Cisco CallManager system, or use a browser to go directly to https:///CCMService.

Serviceability Components

Cisco CallManager Serviceability provides these menus, as shown in Figure 30-4:

• Alarm
• Trace
• Tools
• Application
• Help

Figure 30-4. Cisco CallManager Serviceability Interface

 

Alarm

The Alarm service stores information about Cisco CallManager service events for troubleshooting and provides alarm message definitions. Alarms can be forwarded to trace files, Microsoft Windows 2000 Event Viewer, and a Syslog server for further analysis:

• With the Configuration menu item shown in Figure 30-5, the Cisco CallManager Serviceability alarms allow configuration of Cisco CallManager to write an event to a trace file or the Windows 2000 Event Viewer when an incident occurs, such as the failure of a telephone to register. Alarms for Cisco CallManager servers can be configured in a cluster or for the services in each server.

  Figure 30-5. Serviceability Alarm Menu

  
• The Definitions application contains alarm definitions and the recommended actions in a Microsoft SQL Server 2000 database. The system administrator can search the database for the definitions of all alarms. Definitions include the alarm name, description, recommended action, severity, parameters, and monitors.

Trace

The Trace service allows you to save detailed logs of Cisco CallManager events for troubleshooting system problems. Trace data can be configured, collected, and analyzed using the menu options shown in Figure 30-6:

• Use the Configuration application to specify the trace parameters; for example, the Cisco CallManager server within the cluster, the Cisco CallManager service on the server, the debug level, and the specific trace fields.
• Use the Analysis application to provide greater trace detail on a signal distribution layer (SDL) trace, a system diagnostic interface (SDI) trace, a Cisco CallManager service type, or the time and date of a trace. You can choose a specific log file from the list and choose information from that log file, such as host address, IP address, trace type, and request a device name.
• The Q.931 Translator application filters incoming data from Cisco CallManager SDI logs and translates the data into Cisco IOS messages. The Q.931 Translator application displays the message in the message translator interface.
• Use the Troubleshooting Trace Settings application to choose the services in Cisco CallManager for which troubleshooting trace settings, which are predetermined in the alarms configuration, need to be set.

Figure 30-6. Serviceability Trace Menu

 

Tools

The Tools service offers these applications, shown in Figure 30-7:

• The CDR Analysis and Reporting (CAR) application supports analysis and reporting of CDRs. CAR generates reports for quality of service (QoS), traffic, and billing information.

  Note

  The CDR Analysis and Reporting menu item will only appear if you have installed the CAR plug-in for Cisco CallManager. It is not installed by default.

• The Service Activation application can activate and deactivate nearly all of the Cisco CallManager services for all Cisco CallManager servers.
• The Control Center application allows starting, stopping, restarting, and viewing the status of Cisco CallManager services.
• The Real-Time Monitoring Tool (RTMT) application monitors the real-time behavior of most components in a Cisco CallManager cluster and displays on-screen feedback through a Java-based application.
• The QRT Viewer application allows filtering, formatting, and viewing problem reports. Cisco IP Phones can be configured with a Quality Report Tool (QRT) softkey so that users can report problems with IP Phone calls (for example, poor quality). When users press the QRT softkey on the IP Phone, they are presented with a list of problem categories. Users can then choose the appropriate problem category, and the system logs the event in an Extensible Markup Language (XML) file.
• The Serviceability Reports Archive application generates five daily reports in Cisco CallManager Serviceability: Device Statistics, Server Statistics, Service Statistics, Call Activities, and Alerts. Each report provides a summary that consists of various charts that display the statistics for that particular report.

Figure 30-7. Serviceability Tools Menu

 

Application

The Application menu in Cisco CallManager Serviceability, shown in Figure 30-8, offers several applications:

• The Install Plugins application can help to extend the functionality of Cisco CallManager by providing links to software plug-ins that are either installed in Cisco CallManager itself or on a client PC.
• The Cisco CallManager Administration menu item provides a convenient, direct link to the Cisco CallManager Administration page.
• The Bulk Administration Tool (BAT) application adds multiple telephones and users to Cisco CallManager and performs bulk modifications.

Note

The Bulk Administration Tool (BAT) menu item will only appear if you have installed the BAT plug-in for Cisco CallManager. It is not installed by default.

Figure 30-8. Serviceability Application Menu

 

Help

The Help menu, shown in Figure 30-9, provides online assistance for every option in Cisco CallManager Serviceability. Moreover, it can be used to display the latest installed component version information for all Cisco CallManager servers in the cluster.

Figure 30-9. Serviceability Help Menu

 

Control Center

On the Control Center, accessed from the CallManager Serviceability Tools menu, Cisco CallManager services can be started, stopped, or restarted. For example, restarting a Cisco CallManager service could be necessary if you change central Cisco CallManager functionalities, such as intercluster trunks or intersite bandwidth settings. To start, stop, or restart a service, first select the service and then start, stop, or restart it by clicking the appropriate button, as shown in Figure 30-10.

Figure 30-10. Using the Control Center

The Status column shows whether a service is started (a right arrow in the Status column) or stopped (a square in the Status column). In addition, the Activation Status column tells how the service is configured. A status of Activated or Deactivated indicates whether the service is configured to be started at Windows startup.

Note

Services with a status shown as Deactivated and Started are not activated in Service Activation but are still started at Windows startup.

You cannot start Cisco Tomcat web services using the Control Center. To start them, you could use the Microsoft Windows 2000 Server Services Management Console. In addition, with Cisco CallManager Release 4.0 or later, Cisco Tomcat Web Application Manager allows you to start, stop, or restart Tomcat services. To access Tomcat Web Application Manager, go to http:///manager/list.

Starting and stopping the Cisco CallManager service causes all Cisco IP Phones and gateways that are currently registered to that Cisco CallManager service to failover to their secondary Cisco CallManager service. In addition, starting and stopping the Cisco CallManager service causes other installed applications (such as Conference Bridge or Cisco Messaging Interface) that are homed to that Cisco CallManager to start and stop as well. Stopping the Cisco CallManager service also stops call processing for all devices that are controlled by that service. When a Cisco CallManager service is stopped, active calls from an IP Phone to another IP Phone continue; calls in progress from an IP Phone to a Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP) gateway also continue, whereas other types of calls, such as calls to an H.323 gateway, are dropped.

If you are upgrading Cisco CallManager, all services are stopped during the upgrade process. Services that had been started before the upgrade began are started again afterward. Those that had not been started remain deactivated. Service configurations are not lost during the upgrade process.

Service Activation

Two tools allow you to manage services running on the Cisco CallManager system:

• The Cisco CallManager Serviceability Service Activation tool, shown in Figure 30-11, is used to activate or deactivate specific services on Cisco CallManager.

  Figure 30-11. Managing Services Using the CallManager Service Activation Tool

  
• The Services MMC, shown in Figure 30-12, is used to handle common Windows services. The Services MMC can be found at Start > Settings > Control Panel > Administrative Tools on the Cisco CallManager system.

Figure 30-12. Managing Services Using the Windows 2000 Service Utility

To optimize the performance of Cisco CallManager servers within a cluster, you can distribute services to servers across the cluster. For example, place the TFTP server service on one server, the Certificate Authority Proxy Function (CAPF) service on another server, and music on hold (MoH) services on a third server where no Cisco CallManager service is running, and so on.

Distribution of services can also be used for security purposes. Some services (such as those that provide IP Phone services with access to the Internet) must be exposed to the outside for proper operation, whereas others, such as the Cisco CallManager service, should not be exposed. If the exposed server is under attack, the attack would not have any impact on the other servers (for instance, the server routing calls that is running the Cisco CallManager service).

Note

If the Cisco CallManager and Cisco CTIManager services are deactivated in the Service Activation window, the Cisco CallManager where the service was deactivated no longer exists in the database. This means that the Cisco CallManager cannot be chosen for configuration operations in Cisco CallManager Administration because it will not be displayed in the GUI.

If the services are then reactivated on the same Cisco CallManager, the database re-creates the Cisco CallManager and adds a "CM_" prefix to the server name or IP address; for example, if the Cisco CallManager or CTIManager service is reactivated on a server with an IP address of 10.192.5.97, then "CM_10.192.5.97" is displayed in Cisco CallManager Administration. The Cisco CallManager with the new "CM_" prefix can now be chosen in Cisco CallManager Administration.

Caution

When you deactivate the Cisco CallManager service, the server is removed from Cisco CallManager groups but not added back after reactivation. So after activation or reactivation, you must add the server to Cisco CallManager groups, otherwise no devices will register to it.