VoiceCerts.com - CCIE Voice | CCNP Voice | CCNA Voice

TranslatorX - Quick & Easy Call Manager Trace Analysis Tool

2012-01-06T09:42:00.000-05:00

TranslatorX is an extremely powerful tool for Windows, Linux and Mac that allows for rapid parsing of Call Manager traces. Just point it to the root directory used by RTMT to pull traces and TranslatorX will search all traces in the folder.

You won't have access to this tool (or any others like it) on the CCIE Voice lab or during any other certification exams, but I like to review the traces when doing lab testing in preparation for the CCIE Voice or CCNP Voice certifications. It goes a long way to help understand how a protocol works - as well as help troubleshoot something that you just swear should be working, but isn't.

TranslatorX - Call Manager Trace Tool

TranslatorX allows you to quickly parse through Cisco CallManager trace files and search for Q.931, H.225, SCCP (Skinny), MGCP, or SIP messages.
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Video: QoS Theory and QoS Configuration for Cisco Catalyst 3560 and 3750

2011-12-22T18:23:00.000-05:00

When preparing for the Cisco CCIE Voice and CCIE R/S exams, you'll need to have a comprehensive understanding of how QoS functions on on the Catalyst 3750 and Catalyst 3560 switches. When preparing for the CCIE Voice exam, I can personally attest to how easy it was to focus on all of the other voice-specific topics on the exam and neglect the needed complete understanding of QoS theory and QoS configuration on the Catalyst 3750.

Cisco Voice over IP

Kevin Wallace (CCIE #7945) aims to simplify QoS theory and QoS configuration in this extensive 100+ minute video. The topics discussed apply to the common architecture found on the Catalyst 3560 and Catalyst 3750 switches, so it applies to both CCIE Voice and CCIE R/S students. Kevin is also the author of several highly recommened Cisco Press books which always end up on my personal bookshelf.
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Cisco Cius Video Deep Dive

2011-12-06T18:36:00.001-05:00

Cisco Cius

In this hour-long video, the TechWiseTV team takes a deeper look into the new Cisco Cius tablet. While I'm not aware of this content being found on any of the current Cisco certifications, you can count on it being added in the near future wherever it makes sense.

Most companies are integrating new collaboration tools, including the Cisco Cius, in order to find new efficiencies in how they do business - and Cisco is pushing adoption of the Cius via their sales channels - hard!

All Cisco voice engineers need to have at least a basic understanding of this device and what it can provide. This video is a great starting point. So, grab some popcorn, a big box of Raisinets and a huge Coke and enjoy the show.
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Calling Search Space Clauses and Partition Name Limitations

2011-11-21T17:26:00.001-05:00

You would be wrong if you're thinking that calling search space (CSS) clauses have something to do with Christmas. Actually, a "CSS clause" is used internally within a call manager (CUCM) during call processing. It is a text string that contains the ordered list of partitions found within both the device CSS and the partitions found within the CSS for the directory number (DN) or route pattern associated by the device.

Ultimately, the contents of the CSS clause is the ordered list of partitions available to be considered when a call routing decision must be made. This order is the sequence in which they are configured within the CSS AND the sequence in which they are considered for matches.

If a duplicate route pattern is found within two different partitions contained within a singular calling search space clause, the order in which the partition is listed will be the tiebreaker. Cisco recommends that this situation be avoided as it can create confusion when anticipating where a call would be routed.
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CUCM CLI: 'utils network capture'

2011-11-17T09:24:00.001-05:00

Back to CUCM CLI Index

This is a very powerful and useful command that should be part of every voice engineer's toolbelt. It allows you to perform an immediate network capture ("sniffer", packet capture, etc.) of traffic as it is hitting the Unified Communications server. It also includes configurable filters to limit the information that is captured to ensure you see only what you want!

For example, having trouble with NTP synchronization on your publisher to an external time source? How about SDL Link OOS between nodes in your cluster? Want to see what traffic you are receiving from an unknown network device? There are literally an endless number of uses for this tool to assist with your troubleshooting. Read below for syntax examples.
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Cisco "Connected Justice": Collaboration From Police Car to Court Room

2011-11-16T19:59:00.001-05:00

The "Connected Justice" vision from Cisco given by John Chambers (CEO) and Jim Grubb (VP Corporate Communications) offers a very compelling demonstration of what could be the future of law enforcement and our judicial system. Using a variety of Cisco products put together in a collaborative manner, they make a case that any business could be run more efficiently with the presented technologies.

In this twelve minute demonstration, the Cisco CIus is utilized within a police vehicle to perform functions that range from receiving dispatch calls, ability to review audio complaint calls, capture witness accounts, take photographic evidence, and a video call to a judge to obtain an immediate search warrant (after checking their telepresence availability, of course). All information is saved within "the cloud" so that there is no risk of losing the information if the Cius becomes damaged.
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Cisco Unified Communications Components

2011-11-15T18:47:00.001-05:00

The Cisco Unified Communications suite of products has many different components that provide a variety of different services. Let's discuss the "big picture" in this post so that you can start to gain an overall understanding of the components and features provided. Note that I have kept things at a high level intentionally.

Among the most popular components found in a Cisco Unified Communications System are the following. These products provide enterprise-grade IP telephony, messaging, voice mail, presence, and contact center functionality:

Cisco IP Phones
Infrastructure including Switches, Gateways and Gatekeepers
Unified Communications Manager
Unity & Unity Connections
Unified Presence
Unified Contact Center

Seems pretty straight forward, doesn't it? Well, take a look at the full suite of voice and unified communications products offered by Cisco. Don't let this seem overwhelming, I've summarized down below so it's not quite so intimidating.
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Cisco Unified Presence Components

2011-11-14T17:30:00.000-05:00

Cisco Unified Presence is a very flexible, powerful and often confusing product. The confusion comes simply from the number of ways that it can be used and implemented to provide a number of different services. As such, this post is intended to lay the groundwork for additional learning in the world of Unified Presence. If you're like me - your first question is "what does it do?"

Cert Alert: The CCNA Voice certification requires that you be able to "Describe Cisco Unified Presence". This post builds the foundation to do exactly that. I also recommend that students pay attention to the "Additional Information" at the bottom of the post.


Unified Personal Communicator

In it's simplest form, Cisco Unified Presence magnifies the value of the Cisco Unified Communication System by utilizing two main pieces of information about each user:

Availability Status - Is the user actively using a particular device? I.e., phone, etc.
Capabilities - What services can be accessed by the user? I.e., web collaboration, video conferencing, basic audio, or enterprise instant messaging.

This information is then used to provide services to users through the Cisco Unified Personal Communicator (CUPC), an application that runs on the user's desktop. In lieu of CUPC, presence information can also be used by Cisco Unified Communications Manager applications or 3rd Party applications in various ways.
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New Survey: Cisco Certifications are Most and Least Valuable

2011-11-14T10:20:00.001-05:00

In a recent Network World survey in which 700 people participated, over 60% said that certifications aided their ability to get a new job. In the minority, 26% said that they saw no value in certifications and held none themselves.

"The highest-paid IT professionals who had certs, 58% said a cert led to a salary boost or bonus, 63% said it led to a promotion, and 30% to a new job. These numbers are similar to those in the lower salary brackets, who also overwhelmingly said that certs lead to a salary boost or bonus (55%), new job (62%), or promotion (27%)."

Free CCNA Voice Training Videos

2011-11-13T15:14:00.001-05:00

Updated: 11/13/2011
There are plenty of free resources on the Internet to assist with preparing for the CCNA Voice certification from very qualified trainers. This post will serve to be a living document that change over time as new resources are located.

Keep in mind that the actual exam required to obtain the CCNA Voice certification is called "ICOMM v8.0 (640-461)". Additional CCNA Voice training resources can often be found by using these keywords in your search. Often the training video will be part of a larger, more complete commercial offering by the presenter. If you find their material useful, I urge you to consider their full product.

David Bombal, "CUCM Native Presence"

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Free CCNP Voice VoIP Fundamentals Videos

2011-11-13T09:33:00.001-05:00

Kevin Wallace (CCIE #7945, CCSI# 20061) has recently done a couple of webcasts for Pearson IP Certification that discuss both analog and digital voice ports. The replays are posted at Network World.

Each video is over 30 minutes in length and would benefit students pursuing both the CCNA Voice and CCNP Voice certifications. For CCNP Voice students, the material specifically covers topics included on the CVOICE (642-437) exam.

Watch the videos below:

Cisco CCNP Voice VoIP Fundamentals (CVOICE): Analog Voice Ports
Cisco CCNP Voice VoIP Fundamentals (CVOICE): Digital Voice Ports

UCCX CRS Editor Video Series

2011-11-08T22:45:00.000-05:00

It's likely that you will run into some Unified Contact Center Express (UCCX) challenges on the CCIE Voice exam related to integration, scripting and troubleshooting. As such, it's wise to gain some familiarity with UCCX if you don't already have it.

The following series of videos from Alex Hannah ( CCIE # 25853 ) from UCCX.NET serves as a very good primer for anyone that is just getting exposure to UCCX for the first time. UCCX.NET has a wealth of information about UCCX that is likely the best single source for this information on the Internet.

CRS Editor Fundamentals Part 1

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VoIP Call Admission Control Using RSVP

2011-10-15T23:28:00.002-04:00

RSVP (Resource Reservation Protocol) is an IP service that is used to enable endpoints to request an end-to-end reserved-bandwidth path to ensure that they receive the necessary quality of service. Once this guarantee has been made, all devices between the endpoints (in this case, voice endpoints) can reliably know that the quality of their connection has been guaranteed.

RSVP requests a certain amount of bandwidth and latency with each network hop that supports RSVP. If a network node (router) does not support RSVP, RSVP moves onto the next hop. A network node has the option to approve or deny the reservation based upon the load of the interface to which the service is requested.

This is a topic that I have rarely encountered in the production environments that I have seen, but since it is on the CCIE Voice blueprint it deserves your attention in case you are tested on it. There is no substitute to researching and testing in the lab - but the information in this post can very well help you answer a question or two on the CCIE Voice written exam.
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Free 25-Page IOS Gateways and Gatekeeper Study Guide

2011-10-14T19:24:00.000-04:00

Imagine that you take the "good stuff" from the Cisco Press IOS Gateways and Gatekeepers book, sprinkle some CCIE Voice lab preparation, flavor it with the multitude of free resources on the net and then boil it all down into one concise and useful study guide for the CVOICE 642-436 or CCIE Voice exam.

That is exactly what Matthew Berry (CCIE #26721) has created and is currently offering to the Internet community for free. Yes, free. I had previously reviewed this months ago and some recent investigation brought me back to this document. I was quickly reminded how incredibly useful this document really can be - so, I'm sending out some love for Matthew to the entire community that visits this blog.

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Blueprint Focus: Network Time Protocol (NTP)

2011-10-01T18:52:00.000-04:00

There are multiple reasons that NTP gets used by Cisco Unified Communications Manager. Among the most critical is to provide time synchronization between all of the servers within the cluster - as well as with security devices, routers, switches, gatekeepers and gateways outside of the cluster.

Without proper time synchronization, the timestamps found on all of the logs, traces and debugs available would be very difficult to align, thus making troubleshooting much more difficult. It's also critical for the generation of proper billing records and CDR (call detail records).

CUCM and NTP

Design Recommendations

By default, any CUCM subscribers that are added to the cluster will automatically synchronize their time with the publisher via NTP. No extra configuration is necessary.

However, the publisher will use its internal clock as the basis of time for the entire cluster unless you configure an external time source.
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Changing the Cisco IP Phone Background Image

2011-08-03T16:41:00.009-04:00

Updated 8/5/2011
Changing the background on a Cisco IP Phone can be a little tricky to do the first time. This post is a compilation of all the best information and tips surrounding changing the background image on a Cisco IP Phone combined with some personal experience. You should also pay attention as you may need to do this on the CCIE Voice Lab exam.

The background image choices that are displayed on a Cisco IP Phone come from the list.xml file that is copied from the TFTP server used by the IP Phone. This list.xml file contains a list of all available background images available on the TFTP server. Using your own custom background image is as simple as updating that list.xml file, placing your custom background image on the TFTP server, and selecting the new background on the phone. See either the video or the written process below for details!

Cisco Phone Designer can also be used to change the background on an IP Phone. However, you are preparing to be a CCIE and will need to know how to get dirty and do it as detailed below.
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Blueprint Focus: Trivial File Transport Protocol

2011-07-31T00:24:00.008-04:00

The Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) is used to facilitate the transfer of configuration files to Cisco telephony devices, i.e., phones, in Cisco telephony solutions that utilize either CUCM or CUCME. The TFTP server is typically running on an IOS router (in the case of CUCME), or on a CUCM server within a full-blown unified communications cluster. When preparing to take the CCIE Voice Written exam, you'll need to have good knowledge of how TFTP is used with both CUCM and CUCME.

Using TFTP with Call Manager Express (CUCME)

The function of TFTP as it pertains to CUCME can become a rather lengthy discussion and ultimately several posts by itself. In order to keep this somewhat contained within this blog, I recommend you review the CUCME System Administrators Guide for information about how it uses TFTP. Pay attention to the HTTP File-Fetch Server (HFS) as an alternative to using TFTP. I've listed a couple of the more interesting tidbits below.
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Blueprint Focus: Domain Name System (DNS)

2011-07-26T09:18:00.006-04:00

Domain Name System (DNS) refers to a service providing a database mapping network services to hostnames and, in turn, hostnames to IP addresses. Using this system, devices can be easily referenced by a useful name, instead of their IP address.

Within a Cisco voice infrastructure, DNS or (dynamic DNS) can provide name resolution between all telephony nodes and endpoints in the cluster.

DNS in the CUCM Cluster

DNS Implementation Types

Two types of implementations exist for DNS:

Corporate DNS (if available)
Internal DDNS Service (on CUCM nodes)

Cisco Voice Log Translator (VLT)

2011-07-21T13:53:00.004-04:00

Along the same theme as the Triple Combo tool, I'd like to bring attention to another tool that provides additional help when it comes to troubleshooting CUCM SDI traces.

This tool runs either as a stand-alone tool, or as a plug-in to the RTMT (real time monitoring tool) application.

Cisco Voice Log Translator (Cisco VLT)

Cisco VLT is a troubleshooting tool that takes the complex output from System Diagnostic Interface (SDI) traces and translates them into a more useful, English-based format. It also allows you to sort, organize, analyze, and interpret messages and display raw or translated message text using offline message files on your system.
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Triple Combo Tool - Easier Debugs & Traces

2011-07-21T09:56:00.008-04:00

I learned about this free tool in a CCVP class I took years ago and rarely run across folks that know about it. While this won't be available to you on the CCIE Voice Lab or Written, I do find it useful in my day to day workplace.

Murat Tiryakioglu has created an extremely useful tool for viewing and parsing IOS Gateway debugs as well as CUCM SDI/SDL traces. As these debugs and traces can become very long and difficult to follow, this tool will organize the output and put things in a MUCH more useful format.

In his own words, "Triple Combo is a tool to aid people troubleshoot CallManager problems by providing a listed output of SCCP, MGCP, Q931 / H225, H245 messages found in CCM traces, CCAPI/VTSP, Q931 and MGCP debugs in IOS gateway traces and versatile filtering capabilities."
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Google+ VoiceCerts.com Cisco Voice Certifications Page

2011-07-20T10:04:00.005-04:00

I've created a "VoiceCerts.com" Google+ page for the purpose of building an active study group of CCNA, CCNA Voice, CCNP Voice and CCIE Voice students ( and experts ) as a means of exchanging information about Cisco voice certifications!

+VoiceCerts.com

End of Life (EOL): CUCM - Cisco Unified Communications Manager

2011-05-21T09:40:00.003-04:00

If you would like to get support from Cisco on your CUCM (call manager) servers or get a new software maintenance release, you will need to know where in Cisco's lifecycle process your version of CUCM falls. There have been some recent changes in End-of-Support status for the CUCM 4.x versions that effect a lot of installations. So, I've put together the table below for quick reference, but make sure you check the actual announcement and/or your Cisco Rep for an official stance.
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Voice Translation Rules : Examples

2011-04-13T23:45:00.012-04:00

Updated: 4/14/2011

Voice translation rules have tripped up many an engineer, especially when troubleshooting an existing router that you may not have installed. In those situations, it can be easy to misunderstand the subtleties of voice translation rules when quickly reviewing a production configuration.

So, by popular demand, this post will serve as a collection of many examples showing various methods of using voice translation rules. Check back periodically, as the number of examples on this page will grow quickly over time. As always, I'd love to have comments and suggestions for scenarios that should be included and explained.
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CUCM CLI: 'utils snmp hardware-agents status'

2011-04-10T19:19:00.004-04:00

Back to CUCM CLI Index

Command Description

utils snmp hardware-agents status : shows the status of the snmp hardware-agents running on the server

Command Syntax

utils snmp hardware-agents status
Privilege Requirement: Command privilege level 1

Command Example

This output will vary depending on the hardware that you are using. I'd love to post some other examples if you would be willing to send them to me. Note that the status below for all processes is [ OK ]. If there was a problem with one of the processes and it was stopped, it would shown here.
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Configuring the vSphere Client on the iPad

2011-04-07T11:03:00.004-04:00

Consider yourself warned, this post isn't directly related to preparing to get the Cisco CCIE Voice certification. However, I'm certain that many of you would like to try using your iPad to manage your home VMware lab - the same one that you likely use to train for CCIE Voice certification. So, I hope that you find this as interesting as I did!

Check out these brief videos that explain the vSphere configuration process on the iPad. There are two major steps that you'll need to complete.
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