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While using VQManager, one of the first things you need to do is deciding how to obtain the call information in the application (VQManager). It can be done in three ways:
Sniffing the packets in the network
Parsing the Call Detail Record (CDR) log files generated by call servers
Parsing the CDR logs sent as Syslog Message
VQManager sniffs the network packets and filters the VoIP packets viz., SIP, Skinny, H.323, RTP and RTCP and thus monitors the call inventory and QoS information. It also monitors the overall packet flow and computes the ratio of bandwidth utilization of voice to non-voice usage. To get reliable metrics on this front, the VQManager should be able to sniff all the packets flowing in the network. In a typical Switch environment, to get ALL the network traffic into one interface, Port Mirroring has to be enabled and VQManager has to be run in this mirrored port. Refer to the Configuration Wizard section for more details on configuring the specific interface to sniff data from.
Call Detail Records(CDRs) are files that are generated by call servers/ callmanagers/ gateways or other call routing devices. These files have a record of all the calls that have happened in the network. CDR files can be of many formats like .xls, .csv, .xml etc. By importing these CDR files, VQManager can report on the call information and quality statistics present in these files. Since these files are generated after the calls having taken place, this method of call traffic reporting by VQManager will not be in real-time and the information displayed will depend on that available in the CDRs.
This method of reporting is best used for reporting on VoIP traffic from geographically distant locations whose traffic cannot be brought to the VQManager sniffer interface(NIC).
VQManager supports .csv formats of the following CDR types:
Vocal CDR Format
Cisco CallTracker CDR Format
Asterisk CDR Format
Cisco Call Manager 4.x and 5.x CDR
Cisco Call Manager 5.0 CDR/CMR
Shoretel 6.1
Swyx 6.0
Tekelec 5.6
PortaOne
On clicking the CDR import option, you will be led to a screen inside the product that helps you to import the CDR files either from the local machine, or on a remote machine:
In the UI that opens, click the link "Import CDR File" icon available in the top-right corner
If the CDR log file is available in your local computer, just browse to the file location and click "Import". This is suitable for the processing of small size files
If the CDR log file is available in a remote machine, you can configure the server to download the CDR log files periodically from a remote location using FTP
Click "Remote Location" and fill-in the details such as the hostname and IP of the machine, username and password to access the system
Browse to the location of the file or the directory in which the CDR files are present, specify the periodic time interval (in seconds) during which the files are to be parsed and uploaded automatically and then click "'Import". This is suitable for large files that need to be processed periodically. VQManager can identify new CDR log files in a directory and will automatically import the new content
A log of all the imported CDR logs will be displayed as a list below
VQManager can be configured as a syslog server to receive CDRs as syslog messages from a call server eg. the CallManager Express can be configured to send the CDRs as syslog messages to VQManager. This method automates the sending of CDRs to VQManager and also enables one to have 'almost real-time' reporting of call traffic by configuring the sending of syslog messages(CDRs) in very short intervals. A syslog port (in the VQManager machine) listens to the syslog messages. The call server is configured to send the CDRs as syslog messages to this port.
On choosing this method you will be led to a screen that helps set VQManager as a syslog server:
Click on the “Add Syslog Server” icon seen on the right hand side.
Provide a “Name” to the Syslog Server you wish to configure
Provide the “Port” number through which you want the VQManager product to listen on for the syslog messages. By default the product listens for syslog messages on port 514.
The “IPAddress” displayed is the default IP Address of the system in which the VQManager server is installed in. As VQManager listens on ANY address, no change would be required to be done on this field.
Click on the " Add" button to configure the Syslog server.
The Syslog servers list is displayed as a list with columns “Name”, “IPAddress”, “Port”, “Status” and “Action”.
You can stop a Syslog server by clicking on the " Stop" icon under the “Action” column of the list. You can get the same Syslog server to start again by re-clicking the same icon, which would now be showing ‘Play’.
Syslog Servers can be deleted by clicking on the dustbin "Delete" icon under the "Action" column of the list.
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