VOIP Management Tools

[josephn]

Hi,

I would like to know if anyone have any experience using any tool to measure voice quality. I would like to see jitter, latency, packet loss, call failures, bandwidth usage for VOIP traffic and MOS score if possible. I'm actually interested in a software-based product rather than hardware probe which is not cost effective.

Thanks.

Joseph

[tbramwe]

Joseph:

NetIQ works well for call quality monitoring and system management.

http://www.netiq.com/products/am/modules/cisco.asp

Qovia is another that has been mentioned in forum discussions.

http://www.qovia.com/products/pr_overview_cisco.htm

We have also used a blend of Real Time Monitoring Tool (RTMT), CiscoWorks ITEM, and Concord eHealth. The reports are great, but the management console is not as desireable.

Hope that helps out.

Tom

[josephn]

Hi Tom,

Between NETIQ and QOVIA, which one has the long years of experience in VOIP manangement and monitoring and that you will seriously recommend ?

By the way, I was approaced by a local vendor who introduced to me another VOIP management tool, which is called "Brix Networks". I don't really like the product as we need to deploy hardware probes to get the VOIP call quality measurement. I was also being informed that NETIQ is closing down their support and future development for NETIQ for VOIP. Is this true ?

Is it possible for you to share more information about RTMT and Ciscoworks ITEM ?

You can email me directly at josephn.jr@dhl.com.

We are also looking into Concord eHealth's capability.

Thanks

Joseph

[tbramwe]

Joseph:

We have used the demos of both NetIQ and Qovia, either of which is sufficient for VoIP call quality monitoring. Qovia enterprise requires probes placed to report back to the host. NetIQ can operate as a software program on a Windows or Unix server.

We leaned toward NetIQ, in favor or the control center console GUI and Vivinet diagnostics. Reports are easy to interpret (can forward them to senior management without a lenghtly explanation attached). Trending, utilization, troubleshooting, and forecasting are tools we use most.

Since Qovia is a VoIP monitoring solution provider solely and NetIQ was just acqiuired by Attachmate it is difficult to determine what support structures either will have in the future. It comes down to which most suits your business needs. I am not certain when the companies were founded - their brocureware indicates both were around 2003.

RTMT is packaged with Cisco CallManager (CCM Admin: Application-> Install plugins)

It can be run on a workstation with little CPU load and contains the ability to send alerts via email or text page for different alarm thresholds and conditions. The price is right for a monitoring tool that you can use on install, no licensing required.

Here's more info on RTMT (this is for CCM v4.1(2)) - but it applies to most.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/customer/products/sw/voicesw/ps556/products_administration_guide_chapter09186a00802df0c4.html

CiscoWorks ITEM is a little more complicated to configure. The device discovery process is time consuming and may conflict with other CDP or SNMP traffic (Emergency Responder polling), so proper scheduling of the discovery is critical. ITEM's GUI is a no-frills approach to system management. The information is presented mostly in text output with a few graphics, which was enough for us initially. ITEM has since been replaced with Cisco's IP Communications Operations Manager.

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

That's what I have on hand for information.

Hope you find it useful.

Tom

[tbramwe]

Also, I have not used the Brix product. Thanks for letting me know it is out there - I will take a look.

[trevorgron]

Hi Joseph,

Most of what you require can be done using Cisco's "Service Assurance Agent (SAA) VoIP UDP Operation".

Please have a look at the following url :-

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/iosswrel/ps5207/products_feature_guide09186a00801d3a94.html#1055114

Also check out www.malden.co.uk and their VoIP Monitor Professional product.

I hope this information is of help to you.

Regards

Trevor