System Tools

System tools include applications that help you configure, analyze, diagnose, and troubleshoot your IP Communications system, as described in the sections that follow.

Cisco CallManager Trace Collection Tool

The CallManager Trace Collection Tool is a plug-in to CallManager (Application > Install Plugins) that collects traces for a CallManager cluster into a single .zip file. The collection includes all traces for CallManager and logs such as those sent to Event Viewer, Dr. Watson, Internet Information Server (IIS), Structured Query Language (SQL), ProgLogs, and Directory logs. You can select traces based on date/time criteria, and you can choose the compression factor when zipping the resulting trace files.

Learn more about the Trace Collection Tool by searching Cisco.com for "Trace Collection Tool."

Cisco Dialed Number Analyzer

Use the Cisco Dialed Number Analyzer, a plug-in to CallManager (Application > Install Plugins), to test a CallManager dial plan prior to deploying it, or to analyze dial plans after implementation. You can also use the tool to trace the path of a specific string of digits, which can help you identify problems with the dialed digits or with the dial plan itself. The tool applies the complex permutations of the dial plan to inbound and outbound calls, such as calling search spaces, calling and called party transformations, features such as call park and more, to analyze the dialed digits and show details of the call.

You can learn more about the Cisco Dialed Number Analyzer by searching Cisco.com for "Dialed Number Analyzer."

Cisco IP Interactive Voice Response (IP IVR) and Cisco IP Queue Manager (IP QM)

The Cisco IP IVR uses Cisco Customer Response Solutions technology to allow you to develop speech-enabled, self-service, menu-driven applications that callers use to navigate your database to acquire information from or enter data into the database. Examples of IVRs include the automated flight arrival and departure times offered via toll-free telephone number by most airlines, and automated account information from banks and credit card companies. With Cisco IP IVR, you can direct customer access to data by processing user commands entered through touch-tone or speech recognition.

The Cisco IP IVR is written entirely in Java and designed and constructed by Cisco to facilitate concurrent multimedia communication processing. The Cisco IP IVR architecture is open and extensible, allowing you to incorporate voice XML applications and custom-developed Java classes to extend the Cisco IP IVR solution to meet your unique business needs.

Cisco IP Queue Manager (IP QM) is a subset of the Cisco IP IVR available for IPCC Enterprise customers, providing call treatment and queuing with IPCC Enterprise, allowing callers to select routing options and wait on hold until an agent is available. Cisco IP QM call treatment messages can be prerecorded announcements or dynamic announcements tailored to specific caller interests. Like a website that displays content based on a user's previous visits, IP QM can provide dynamic content to queued callers, delivering unique messages tailored to each caller's needs, the route selected, the caller's place in the queue, or other associated values.

You can learn more about IP IVR and IP Queue Manager at the following links or search Cisco.com for "IP IVR" or "IP Queue Manager":

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/custcosw/ps3651/index.html

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/custcosw/ps1844/ps3653/index.html

Cisco Security Agent (CSA)

Cisco Security Agent provides proactive and adaptive threat protection for servers and desktop computing systems. CSA brings together multiple levels of security functionality by combining host intrusion prevention, distributed firewall, malicious mobile code protection, operating system integrity assurance, and audit log consolidation all within a single agent package.

CSA technology is composed of several elements:

• Cisco Security Agent Free, standalone agent with a static security policy and the same policy in an XML formatted .export file that can be used with the Management Center for Cisco Security Agents. The free agent provides core endpoint software that resides on servers such as CallManager, Cisco Unity, Cisco Unity Bridge, Cisco Emergency Responder, Cisco IP IVR, Cisco IP Queue Manager, Cisco Personal Assistant, and Cisco IPCC Express, which autonomously enforces local policies that prevent attacks. This standalone agent, based on CSA release 4.0(1), represents one aspect of a comprehensive system-level security approach that takes into account best practices available in the SAFE Blueprint for Voice. You have the option of upgrading from the free, standalone agent to the fully managed CSA agent for a fee.
• CiscoWorks Management Center for Cisco Security Agents Core management software that provides a central means of defining and distributing policies, providing software updates, and maintaining communications to the agents.

You can learn more about CSA at the following links or search Cisco.com for "Cisco Security Agent" or "SAFE IP Telephony Blueprint":

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/secursw/ps5057/index.html

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/cscowork/ps5212/index.html

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/netsol/ns340/ns394/ns171/ns128/networking_solutions_package.html

CiscoWorks Internet Telephony Environment Monitor (ITEM) and CiscoWorks QoS Policy Manager (QPM)

CiscoWorks ITEM is a powerful suite of applications and tools that continuously evaluates and reports the operational health of your IP telephony system. CiscoWorks ITEM provides specialized operations and security tools beneficial to large and small IP telephony implementations. CiscoWorks ITEM provides the following:

• Proactive health and fault monitoring of converged IP networks and IP telephony implementations
• Tools to effectively manage the day-to-day customer care responsibilities of help desk personnel
• Capability to capture performance and capacity management data

The CiscoWorks family of web-based products also includes the CiscoWorks QoS Policy Manager (QPM), which provides centralized QoS monitoring, policy control, and automated reliable policy deployment across network infrastructures for converged voice, video, and data applications. CiscoWorks QPM enables you to do the following:

• Validate QoS settings and results with traffic analysis
• Get real-time and historical reports for QoS troubleshooting
• Control roles and privileges for policy view, modification, and deployment
• Deploy QoS for IP telephony across the entire network using a step-by-step wizard and templates based on Cisco design recommendations
• Use IOS Network-based Application Recognition (NBAR) for extended QoS differentiation
• Use a rules-based policy wizard to ensure consistent QoS across different switches and routers as well as various IOS and Catalyst OS versions

You can learn more about CiscoWorks ITEM and CiscoWorks QPM at the following links or search Cisco.com for "CiscoWorks IP Telephony Environment Monitor" or "CiscoWorks QoS Policy Manager":

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/cscowork/ps2433/index.html

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/cscowork/ps2064/index.html