Cisco VCS SIP and H323 Troubleshooting Tool

[cfiestas]

Hello,

During the last few months I have been working on a tool called SMART. SMART will and can assist you parse and analize Cisco VCS SIP and H323 output traces either collected using netlog or by properly downloading the diagnostics log file from Cisco VCS version 7.x. I hope you find SMART a useful tool.

Overview

----------------

SMART is a POWERFUL Output log parser and analyzer 
capable of parsing and analyzing single or multiple SIP,
 H323 and Q931 logs files from various platforms such as
 Cisco Telepresence Video Communication Server, Cisco
 Unified Communications Manager, Cisco Telepresence Systems,
Cisco IOS and others. Thus, SMART reduces painful, consuming
 and critical log analyzing time for the engineer while providing
 accurate parsing as well as reporting.



Features

• Cisco Unified Communications     Manager  Intelligent SIP parsing capabilities
• Cisco Unified Communications Manager Intelligent   H323 parsing capabilities
• Cisco Unified Communications Manager Intelligent   Q931 parsing capabilities
• Cisco IOS Q931 Intelligent parsing capabilities
• Cisco IOS Intelligent SIP Log tracing   capabilities
• Cisco Telepresence Video Communication Server  SIP  Log Tracing capabilities
• Cisco Telepresence Video Communication Server   H323 Log Tracing capabilities
• Cisco Telepresence System SIP Log Tracing   capabilities
• Cisco Cius SIP parsing capabilities.
• Quick Find (multiple search criteria within the   log or logs)
• Powerful Call Flow and Media Reporting
• SMART Inspector feature (double click on any  line  and new screen opens with the actual file content, matching location of   the line selected by the user)
• Log screen Print
• SMART Report Print
• SMART supports .txt, .log, .dat  and most  text  file formats 
• Detail Screen Print
• Single and all row copy feature
• Access to the PolarisOne database
• Compare Files (SMART will be able to compare   xconfig and IOS configuration files)
• Auto Self Update and or upgrades (no need to   search for new updates or upgrades files)
• Easy Installation (interactive process)

Installation

SMART requires the following hardware and software in  order to properly install and run,

-1 GHz x86 processor
-512 MB of RAM
-512 MB Hard Disk space available
-Microsoft Windows  Professional
-Microsoft Windows Vista
-Microsoft Windows 2000
-Microsoft Windows 7
*.NET Framework 3.5 is required.

You can download SMART here  or by visiting www.telepresencebridge.com/smart

[cfiestas]

To all,

I just posted a ppt on how to use SMART, if you have any questions on how to use it please feel free to email me,

Thanks

[Patrick Sparkman]

Maybe I just don't know how to do it, but could you please explain how to get/view the logs in SMART?

[cfiestas]

Patrick,

The first thing that you need to do is capture the logs from the platform, for example let's say you want to analyze SIP logs from a Cisco VCS version 6.x. As such you will need to run the netlog 2 sip command as admin on the vcs to do this you will do the following:

SSH to the VCS using for example putty (make sure putty is logging the session, i suggest you also to change the line of scrollback in putty from 200 to 5000)

once you are logged in as admin

you will proceed to enter the netlog 2 sip command on the console

you will then replicate the error so that you can capture the correct logs

once you have finished gathering your logs

then proceed to open SMART

Select in this particular case (single mode)

then select Cisco VCS ---version 6--protocol sip then ok

then proceed to either open or drag and drop your captured log to SMART

from here you can use features like session check or media report

you can also find an invite for example sing the quick find icon

If you are looking for an specific invite such as cfiestas@cisco.com

you will enter cfiestas@cisco.com and what SMART will do is find

any messages associated to the actual invite

If you have more questions let me know

[cfiestas]

Patrick,

Also I would like to add that If you are for example trying to parse and analyze files from a Cisco VCS and Cisco Unified Communications Manager in the same screen (for example), then you will ran SMART with Interoperability Mode, Interoperability Mode will allow you to see messages from 2 different platforms all in screen, whether is SIP or H323 or Q931 messages.

Cesar

[ahmed]

Hi Cesar ,

it seems like if we capture using wireshark, please correcting me if i wrong, is that so ?, then is it also can capture the log for example SIP messages in TLS mode ? (because in TLS mode signalling message will be encrypted.

Warm Regards,

Ahmad Kabiru

[cfiestas]

Kabiru,

Unlike wireshark where it captures "from the wire". SMART utilizes the output trace logs that are generated by the different platforms itself, with this being said the engineer should properly capture the output traces and save them as txt, dat or log format so that SMART can properly analyze them.

If you have any questions let me know.

Cesar Fiestas

[cesar.fiestas]

Hello,

I am happy to announce that we are planning to start the development of the SMART application. We hope to have a new release soon.

Cesar Fiestas

TeleACK

[Justin Ferello]

Cesar,

Great to hear!  Can't wait to work with it.  You back working on TelePresence again?

Thanks,
Justin

[Paul Richardson]

That's great news.  I have found SMART to be a very useful tool to have aorund.

Cheers, Paul R.

[Mattias Widman]

Hi,

is SMART still under active development?

Kind Regards

Mattias

[Magnus Ohm]

Hi I am not sure. Cesar is no longer working for Cisco.

The windows application seems to be available from here:

https://www.box.net/shared/ftjb3178xuvgoneyf6qh

found the link in this thread:

https://supportforums.cisco.com/discussion/11406781/cisco-sip-h323-and-q931-troubleshooting-tool

I am not sure if this version is the latest one or if there is an updated version / MAC version located somewhere else.

/Magnus

[Mattias Widman]

Found that too but it refuses to register :(

Might be the firewall here at the client so I´ll try from home later. Was hoping to ask Cesar a follow-up question about a Mac client but I gues that is out of the question ;)

Thanks for answering...

[Patrick Sparkman]

Suggest you take a look at TranslatorX, it's similar to SMART.

[Mattias Widman]

Ah,

will it also accept logs from VCS:es?

EDIT: Nevermind, I see that it does. Thanks for the heads-up :)