Cisco Unified RTMT (Real-Time Monitoring Tool) is used to monitor various CUCM parameters, Performance Counters, and to collect Traces.
Performance Counters contain simple information on the system and devices on the system, such as number of registered phones, number of active calls, number of available conference bridge resources etc.
RTMT requires a PC running Windows or Linux and uses HTTPS and TCP to monitor the Device Status, System Perfomance, Device discovery, CTI Applications in the CUCM cluster.
Not only the CUCM admin can work with RTMT: it’s enough to include any user in the standard Standard CCM Server Monitoring group.
RTMT offers a wide range of features but we won’t review all of them here. In everyday life we need a much smaller number of counters which we will list in the next section.
Useful Performance Counters
| Counters | Path | Description |
|
General information on the system:
|
System > System summary | These parameters give an overview of the system status |
| The processes running on the server | System > Server > Process | To understand which process causes the high CP load |
|
General information on CUCM:
|
Call Manager > Call Manager Summary | The abrupt changes of these parameters may be a sign of some problem |
|
Call processing activity:
|
Call manager > Call Process | These graphs give an idea about the total number of calls and the gateway activity |
|
Device information:
|
Call Manager > Device |
The very useful information that provides and the detailed parameters of each device.
For example – device models, firmware versions, IP addresses, user association etc. |
| Conference Bridge resources |
Stand Alone Cluster -> node name -> Cisco HW Conference Bridge Device Stand Alone Cluster -> node name -> Cisco SW Conference Bridge Device
|
Gives an idea about the Conference Bridge activity, but not for each conference |
Alerts
RTMT supports Alerts, which are triggered under certain conditions.
RTMT includes the set of pre-installed Alerts (System > Tools > Alert > Alert Central) which provide a great benefit in terms of a quick inspection of the system.
If you see "alarm" in this list it certainly makes sense to check what caused them.
In addition to pre-installed ones, you can create your own Custom Alerts.
Let's create the Alert, which is triggered when the resources of the Hardware Conference Bridge are over. This one is useful to monitor the availability of CUCM conferencing features Meet-Me, Ad-Hoc and Conference Now (implemented in CUCM 11).
We will use the ResourceAvailable Counter mentioned in the table above.
So, to create Alert:
1. Open the appropriate counter, select it, then right-click on it and choose Set Alert / Properties
2. Select the alarm level and enter its description
3. Set the triggering condition - "Under 1".
4. The next screen allows to set up the Alert frequency. In order to keep e-mail box from being hammered we will choose no more than once per hour.
5. Next step is to configure the e-mail address for notification
6. Do not forget to configure e-mail server properties:
That’s it.
Syslog Viewer
Syslog Viewer is the analogue of Windows Event Viewer. If something is wrong with the system it’s one of the first interface to look at.
System > Tools > Syslog Viewer
Syslog Viewer allows you to view the messages from the following logs:
- System Logs - everything that concerns hardware and OS.
- Application Logs – CUCM logs
- Security Logs - user login attempts.
Trace & Log Central
Trace & Log Central collects and displays various traces and log files:
- CUCM SDL and SDI traces
- SDI (System Diagnostic Interface) are used for log analysis
- SDL (Signal Distribution Layer) are mainly used when opening cases in the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC).
- CUCM application logs (for example, BAT logs)
- System logs
Trace & Log Central works in the following modes:
- Remote Browse - displays files directly from remote servers.
- Collect Files – collects traces and downloads them to the PC with RTMT installed.
- Query wizard – work with trace files containing the query string.
- Schedule Collection - scheduled trace collection
- Local Browse - view traces collected on the local drive
- Collect Erash Dump
- Real time Trace - trace view in the real-time
The Trace & Log Central can collect tons of data. You can use the following tools to simplify the SDI files analysis.
- http://translatorx.org/ - a troubleshooting tool that allows you to quickly parse through Cisco Unified Communications Manager or Cisco Unified Border Element trace files and search for Q.931, H.225, SCCP (Skinny), MGCP, or SIP messages.
- Cisco Voice Log Translator
(http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/cvlt/2_7/english/user/guide/vlt275.html) - reads complex SDI trace log message files from a Cisco Unified Communications Manager and translates them into a user-friendly, English-based format.
Performance Monitor and Data Logging
As already mentioned, Performance monitor contains a lot of different counters.
We have already learned to configure Alert to be triggered on the certain Counter by the right-clicking on the counter.
In addition, we can setup the counter logging – right click on the counter and select
- Start Counter Logging
Once the logging is configured you’ll be able to view logs with Performance Log Viewer.
Lets talk.
