Monitoring Internet Protocol (IP) Telephony Signaling Links

• US 20080101247A1
• Filed: 10/25/2006
• Published: 05/01/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bouchard, Luc A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,363,555 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/244
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/06 Management of faults, events, alarms or notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0084 Network monitoring; Error detection; Error recovery; Network testing

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method includes, at an endpoint, receiving signaling packets from a network coupled to the network. The method also includes, at the endpoint, detecting faults in the signaling packets received at the interface. The method also includes, from the endpoint, reporting the faults to a call agent residing at a server coupled to the network.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

an interface at an endpoint coupled to a network, the interface operable to receive signaling packets from the network; and

a monitoring agent at the endpoint coupled to the interface, the monitoring agent operable to;

detect faults in the signaling packets received at the interface; and

report the faults to a call agent residing at a server coupled to the network.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the endpoint is an Internet Protocol (IP) telephone.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the endpoint is a Layer 3 router.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the signaling packets comprise Layer 3 data or Layer 2 data; and

the monitoring agent is operable to detect faults in the signaling packets received at the interface by comparing the Layer 3 data or the Layer 2 in the packets to reference data at the endpoint, deviations in the Layer 3 data or the Layer 2 data from the reference data indicating faults in the signaling packets.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein:

the Layer 2 data indicates quality of service (QoS) classifications of the signaling packets; and

the Layer 3 data comprises Internet Protocol (IP) headers and the Layer 2 data comprises an 802.1Q/p header.

6. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the report to the call agent indicates occurrence of the deviations without identifying the deviations from the reference data.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the report indicates a number of faulty signaling packets received at the interface over the course of a period of time preceding the report.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the report indicates a number of faulty signaling packets received at the interface over the course of a call that recently ended.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the monitoring agent is operable to report the faults in keep-alive messages to the call agent.

10. A method comprising:

at an endpoint, receiving signaling packets from a network coupled to the network;

at the endpoint, detecting faults in the signaling packets received at the interface; and

from the endpoint, reporting the faults to a call agent residing at a server coupled to the network.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the endpoint is an Internet Protocol (IP) telephone.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the endpoint is a Layer 3 router.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein:

the signaling packets comprise Layer 3 data or Layer 2 data; and

detecting faults in the signaling packets received at the interface comprises comparing the Layer 3 data or the Layer 2 in the packets to reference data at the endpoint, deviations in the Layer 3 data or the Layer 2 data from the reference data indicating faults in the signaling packets.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein:

the Layer 2 data indicates quality of service (QoS) classifications of the signaling packets; and

the Layer 3 data comprises Internet Protocol (IP) headers and the Layer 2 data comprises an 802.1Q/p header.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the report to the call agent indicates occurrence of the deviations without identifying the deviations from the reference data.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the report indicates a number of faulty signaling packets received at the interface over the course of a period of time preceding the report.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the report indicates a number of faulty signaling packets received at the interface over the course of a call that recently ended.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein reporting the faults to the call agent comprises reporting the faults in keep-alive messages to the call agent.

19. An apparatus comprising:

a call agent at a server coupled to a network, the call agent operable to;

receive, from a plurality of endpoints coupled to the network, reports of faults in signaling packets received at the endpoints;

generate a record of the faults from the reports; and

communicate the record of the faults to a memory coupled to the call agent; and

the memory, operable to store the record of the faults for analysis.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein one or more of the endpoints are Internet Protocol (IP) telephones.

21. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein one or more of the endpoints are Layer 3 routers.

22. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein each report from an endpoint indicates a number of faulty signaling packets received at the endpoint over the course of a period of time preceding the report.

23. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein each report from an endpoint indicates a number of faulty signaling packets received at the interface over the course of a call that recently ended.

24. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the call agent is operable to receive the reports in keep-alive messages from the endpoints.

25. A method comprising:

receiving, from a plurality of endpoints coupled to the network, reports of faults in signaling packets received at the endpoints;

generating a record of the faults from the reports; and

storing the record of the faults for analysis.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein one or more of the endpoints are Internet Protocol (IP) telephones.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein one or more of the endpoints are Layer 3 routers.

28. The method of claim 25, wherein each report from an endpoint indicates a number of faulty signaling packets received at the endpoint over the course of a period of time preceding the report.

29. The method of claim 25, wherein each report from an endpoint indicates a number of faulty signaling packets received at the interface over the course of a call that recently ended.

30. The method of claim 25, wherein receiving the reports comprises receiving the reports in keep-alive messages from the endpoints.