Port Usage Analyzer for Connection

Contents

Overview. 1

Requirements/Special Notes. 2

Connecting to Unity Connection 7.x or Later 3

Task 1: Configure a User without a mailbox with the Remote Administrator and System Administrator roles  3

Task 2: Set the Database Proxy Service Shutdown Time. 3

Task 3: Activate the Remote Database Proxy Service. 3

Task 4: Login to the Remote Server 4

Troubleshooting Remote Login Issues. 4

Double Check Connection Server Settings. 4

Disable CSA and all Virus Scanning Applications. 5

Using Port Usage Analyzer 5

Welcome to Port Usage Analyzer

Port Availability. 6

Call Distribution. 9

Port Time Use. 12

Call Traffic. 15

Fetch Raw Server Report Data

Load Raw Data from Report Backup File

Revision History. 20

Overview

The Port Usage Analyzer tool is a suite of 4 reports, designed to give administrators a better idea of the port availability and call traffic loads their Cisco Unity Connection servers are experiencing.  Reports are generated in a graphical chart style for easy analysis and can also be saved in simple CSV files if desired. Tool is designed to allow administrator to generate graphical reports based on media port groups.

If you run this tool with a cluster setup, in that case tool has the intelligence to gather call data from publisher and subscriber both and then it will generate graphical report accordingly. See below for details on what each of the four reports available shows.

 

Requirements/Special Notes                     

This version of Port Usage Analyzer runs on Windows XP/2000/2003/2008, Vista or Windows 7. 

You must install the 32 bit Informix Client SDK version 3.5 or later including the .NET drivers even if you are running on a 64 bit version of your operating system. See the Informix Driver Download Page for details.

This version of Port Usage Analyzer is specially design for cluster setup but it also works for standalone Unity Connection servers.

This tool requires version 7.1.x or later of Connection.  Earlier versions are not supported.

You must enable the ODBC proxy service on the all Unity Connection servers connected in cluster and attach to the database using an account enabled for the remote database access role.  See the next section for details on this.

This tool uses Microsoft’s full .NET 4.0 library (the limited “client” version of .NET 4.0 is not sufficient).  The installation will check to see if you have that installed and if not will offer you the option to download and install it automatically.

You must configure remote data access rights for an account and enable the remote proxy database service – see the next section for details.

 

Connecting to Unity Connection 7.x or Later

For installations of 7.x and later you need to use the database proxy service for access to the database from off box for any DB tool including Port Usage Analyzer.

NOTE: Repeat the task 3 onto both Unity Connection servers connected in a cluster.

Task 1: Configure a User without a mailbox with the Remote Administrator and System Administrator roles

1.     Go to the Cisco Unity Connection Administration web interface for your installation.

2.     You can leverage a user with or without a mailbox for off box data access purposes. 

3.     Be sure the web administration password for this user is not configured to require a change at first login on the “Password Policy” page for that user.

4.     If necessary, change the web administration password on the “Change Password” page.  Note that only the web application password comes into play for remote data access.

5.     Finally, on the “Role” page for the user, add the “Remote Administrator” and the “System Administrator” roles to the “Assigned Roles” list and save.  You can assign any or all other roles as well but for the purposes of remote access to the database and making updates to users those two are necessary.

Task 2: Set the Database Proxy Service Shutdown Time

For Unity Connection 10.0 and later this step is not necessary as there is no proxy timeout any longer.

Out of the box the database proxy service is not running and if you try to start the service it will shut down right away.  First you need to set the “Database Proxy: Service Shutdown Timer” value found in the System Settings -> Advanced -> Connection Administration section of the Cisco Unity Connection Administration page.  By default this is 0.  You can set it to as high as 999 days if you like.  After the number of days configured here the remote database proxy service will shut down.  This is useful if you want to do some migration work, for instance, and don’t want to forget to have the service disabled for security reasons.

NOTE: If you restart the server, the remote database proxy service will remain shut off.  After a system restart you have to go in and manually turn on the service again (see step 3)

Task 3: Activate the Remote Database Proxy Service

1.     Out of the box the service that listens to remote database requests is not active, you must turn it on.  To do this, go to the “Cisco Unity Connection Serviceability” web admin page.

2.     On the Tools menu, select the “Service Management” page.

3.     The “Connection Database Proxy” item under the “Optional Services” section will be marked as “Deactivated” and stopped.  Press the “Activate” button and it will be activated and started automatically.

Once you’ve started the proxy service you can connect with any tool that needs off box database access using the user name, web administration password and port “20532”.

NOTE: For versions of Connection earlier than 10.0 the service will automatically shut down after the number of days configured in step 2 above or if you restart the server.

Task 4: Login to the Remote Server

When you first start Port Usage Analyzer, you will see a login dialog box that will be empty except for port 20532 filled in as the default for the port. You must provide the server name or IP address for the “Server” field and provide the login and password for the database connection account.  Use the alias and web administration password of the database user created above for the login and password fields.

Port Usage Analyzer will remember your entries including the password (which is stored in a secure hash).  Each time you run Port Usage Analyzer it will load the settings of the last connection you made.  Every server you’ve successfully connected to in the past will be listed in the drop down list in the order in which you connected to it last – most recent to least recent.

Login_Page.JPG

NOTE: The login and password information is stored along with the local Windows login name.  Only those servers that have been attached to successfully using the current Windows login will be listed.  If you are logging into the same Windows server with different users you will only see servers connected to with that particular Windows login.

NOTE: Providing the wrong password or login will fail quickly and give you a chance to try a different pair.  Providing an incorrect server or port, however, results in a 60 second timeout while Port Usage Analyzer waits for the Informix driver to return. Unfortunately this cannot be shorted.  Type carefully.

 

Troubleshooting Remote Login Issues

The error message issued by the application should have some details for you on the failure reason based on the error codes issued by the Informix ODBC driver to help narrow down your investigation.  Here are some general things to check that have been run across in the field for sites having trouble connecting via ODBC to their remote Connection servers.

Double Check Connection Server Settings

Make sure the remote database proxy service is running.  This service does shut itself off after a period of time and does not start itself automatically on a server reboot.

Make sure the user you are logged in as has the remote administrator role assigned to their account, that their password is not set to reset at the next login and that their account is not currently locked. 

Make sure the server name or IP address you are using to connect with is reachable from your Windows client.  DNS issues often come up in connection failures.

Disable CSA and all Virus Scanning Applications

It’s a good idea to disable CSA and all virus scanning applications if you are having problems connecting to be sure the ODBC port (20532) is not being blocked.  Also check your firewall settings (assuming you are running one). 

 

Make sure the Informix ODBC Driver is Installed and the PATH Points to it.

For 32 bit OS installs, the IBM Informix ODBC driver is installed in C:\Program Files\IBM\Informix\Client-SDK.  Make sure this path exists on your server and has not been removed or renamed.

The system PATH variable will also include a reference to the “\IBM\Informix\Client-SDK\bin” location where the ODBC driver is installed.  Make sure this path is referenced in the PATH.  Also, if the PATH is very long sometimes the Informix driver will not find it, try moving it to the beginning of the PATH statement. 

 

Using Port Usage Analyzer

Welcome to Port Usage Analyzer

The Port Usage Analyzer tool is a simple wizard interface. Once you log into the Cisco Unity Connection server you want to gather call data via ODBC.  First page provide you following options:

 

Step 1: Select Date and Time:

·         Date: Here you can select a day on the resulting calendar control, choose the day you wish to run the reports against.

·         Start Time and End Time: Here you need to select the time range under which you wish to run the reports.

Note: If you want to run report for the whole day then simple checked the check-box “Select whole day”.

Step 2: Select Media Port Group: Here you have to select a media port group for which you wish to generate reports. You can select a media port groups on the Cisco Unity Connection server through the drop down.

Step 3: Click Load:

The data is first fetched from the remote Cisco Unity Connection server – depending on how many calls were made that day under the specified time range, this may take a few minutes.

Once the data is fetched then a progress dialog box shows status while the local information is processed in a database that reports will be generated from. When the processing is complete, counts section at the top right side, will updated and giving summary information about the data found on the remote Unity Connection server, which includes the total number of incoming and outgoing calls and the types of outgoing calls found on the remote Cisco Unity Connection server.

Step 4: Click the tab for the report you want to see, and click Run Report.

A separate window opens, showing the graph for that report.

 

Port Availability

The Port Availability report does not take any parameters; instead, it processes the port activity data in the log for the only ports under the selected media port group for the specified time range of the selected day. The purpose of this report is to show how many ports under the selected media port group, are being used and how many are available to process incoming calls over the specified time range of the day. The report shows a bar for each minute for the specified time range of the day, indicating how many ports are in use and/or how many ports are available to take calls. By default report will show data for both i.e. available ports and busy ports but you can choose to show busy ports, ports available to take calls, or both, by checking the checkboxes at the top of the report form.

PA.JPG

The Port Availability report can show the entire day, so you can use the zooming feature. For zoom, you need to press the left button of your mouse and then move it over the graph up/down and left/right, this will allow you to “scroll” back and forth in the chart.

The following shot is of the same log for the same time frame, but instead the ports currently in use are shown. Remember, the ports available to take/make calls may not simply be the total number of ports on the system minus the number of ports busy.  If some ports are configured for dedicated dial out purposes such as MWI or notification only this numbers will vary. This is why the number of ports available to take/make calls is logged separately for this report.

PA_1.JPG

Under the File menu, the following options are available (these options are common to all four reports):

Note: By default minimum number of ports available is 1000 and maximum number of ports in use is zero.

The following screen shot shows the summary information for the Port Availability report.

PA_Summary.JPG

 

Call Distribution

The call distribution report shows what types of calls are coming in or going out of each port under the selected media port group over the specified time range of the day.  By default the report shows totals of call types for each port however you can select a call type at run time.  The following screen shot shows the call activity:

 

You can tell the system has a “first available” hunt group setup since port 1 gets the most activity and it tails off through which gets almost none.  You can dictate which call types show on the chart by selecting the checkboxes at the top of the chart.  For instance if we remove the TRAP dialouts and the MWI dialouts from the above chart, it looks like this:

                         

You can now see that there were a few inbounb calls and notification dialouts (actually, one each) hiding under the pile of thirty of TRAP dialouts.  The chart will automatically rescale itself to match as shown above.

Under the File menu, the following options are available (these options are common to all four reports):

NOTE: If there are number of ports there will be a “zoom” option. For zoom, you need to press the left button of your mouse and then move it over the graph up/down and left/right, this will allow you to “scroll” back and forth in the chart.

The following screen shot shows the summary information for the Call Distribution report.

 

Port Time Use

The port time use report shows the same type of information that the call distribution report does however instead of showing the number of each type of call to come into or go out of each port under the selected media port group over a specified time range, it shows how many seconds each port was busy with each type of call.  Be default the report is run over the specified time range for a day and the total number of seconds each port was busy with each type of call is shown.  The following screen shot shows the same information and time range as the call distribution report shown above.

You’ll notice a dramatic difference in the view here since even though there were hundreds of inbound calls that showed up as a large bar in the call distribution report above those same inbound calls barely show up on port 2 at all.  You can dictate which call types are visible in the graph by setting the checkboxes at the top of the report.  For instance if we remove the TRAP dialouts and MWI dialouts from the chart above it looks like this:

It’s now possible to see the time spent on dial outs on port 2 in more detail. However the relative time of each call is what counts for this report.

Under the File menu, the following options are available (these options are common to all four reports):

NOTE: If there are number of ports there will be a “zoom” option. For zoom, you need to press the left button of your mouse and then move it over the graph up/down and left/right, this will allow you to “scroll” back and forth in the chart.

The following screen shot shows the summary information for the Port Time Usage report.

 

Call Traffic              

The call traffic report shows how many of each of the 4 types of calls came into a port or originated from a port under a selected media port group over a specified time range of the day. This report can be helpful in gauging how many calls are hitting the system over the specified time range of the day, in particular if Unity Connection is acting as a call redirector to internal extensions or the like.  In conjunction with the port availability reports it should give you a pretty good idea of the traffic load patterns your system is experiencing over the course of a day.

The following shot shows some light traffic hitting a Unity Connection server between 9am and 10:30am:

CT.JPG

You can dictate which types of calls are visible in the chart by selecting the checkboxes at the top of the chart. For instance if we remove the Inbound calls, TRAP dialouts and MWI dialouts from the chart above it looks like this:

CT_1.JPG

 

Under the File menu, the following options are available (these options are common to all four reports):

NOTE: The Call Traffic report can show the entire day, so you can use the zooming feature. For zoom, you need to press the left button of your mouse and then move it over the graph up/down and left/right, this will allow you to “scroll” back and forth in the chart.

The following screen shot shows the summary information for the Call Traffic report.

CT_Summary.JPG

 

Fetch Raw Server Report Data

The options menu allows you to fetch raw server data and generate a report as in SQLite format. The report generation option will generate a complete list of all instances of port and call activity data. As this report will contain entire port and call activity data as on the Cisco Unity Connection server so it may take few minutes.

NOTE: If you run this tool with standalone Connection server then it will create a single SQLite report file named ‘RawSeverData’ and if your Connection server is in cluster mode then tool will create two separate file for publisher and subscriber named ‘PUB_RawServerData’ and ‘SUB_RawServerData’ respectively under the same location.

                             

Load Raw Data from Report Backup File

Tool also provides an option to generate graphical report from SQLite database report files, generated by the tool. For this you need to check the check-box named ‘Load Raw Data from Report Backup File’ on the login wizard.

Following is the next wizard ‘Select SQLite database files’ that will appear in front of you. This wizard will provide you following options:

Select SQLite Database Server Type File

·         Select SQLite database for Connection server in standalone mode: This option will allow you to select single SQLite database report file and tool will generate graphical reports based on the data provided by the selected SQLite database.

 

·         Select SQLite database for Connection server in cluster mode: This option will allow you to select two different SQLite database report files i.e. one for publisher and second for subscriber and in this case tool will generate graphical reports based on the data provided by both of the selected SQLite database.

 

Select SQLite database files

Here you can select the SQLite database files generated by the tool. For cluster setup, tool will generate two different raw server data report files so tool will allow you to select both of these SQLite database files.

·         Select file for Publisher: Here you need to select a SQLite database file for standalone Connection server named “RawServerData.sqlite” or SQLite database file for publisher named “PUB_RawServerData.sqlite”.

 

·         Select file for Subscriber: This option will appear in front of you only if you select the option “Select SQLite database for Connection server in cluster mode”. Here you need to select a SQLite database file for subscriber named “SUB_RawServerData.sqlite”.

Revision History

Version 8.0.3 – 3/18/2015

·         Updated Sqlite libraries and changed to NuGet package management

·         Updated setup to include all modern Windows versions as targets

Version 8.0.2 – 4/18/2014

·         Updated to check for version 7.1 or later of Connection to handle cluster logic.

Version 8.0.1 – 7/15/2013

·         First drop of beta tool.

 

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