Monitoring internet protocol (IP) telephony signaling links

• US 8,363,555 B2
• Filed: 10/25/2006
• Issued: 01/29/2013
• 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.
• Primary Examiner(s): Sheikh, Ayaz
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ghafoerkhan, Faiyazkhan
• Application Number:
  US11/552,568
• Publication Number:
  US 20080101247A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,288 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/242
• 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, wherein the signaling packets comprise Layer 3 data or Layer 2 data, the Layer 3 data comprising Internet Protocol (IP) headers, the Layer 2 data indicating quality of service (QoS) classifications of the signaling packets; and

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

compare one or more portions of the Layer 3 data or the Layer 2 data in the signaling packets with reference data residing at the endpoint prior to receipt of the signaling packets, the reference data comprising one or more portions of one or more proper IP headers or proper QoS classifications;

determine whether one or more of the portions of the Layer 3 data or the Layer 2 data in the signaling packets deviate from the reference data residing at the endpoint; and

if one or more of the portions of the Layer 3 data or the Layer 2 data in the signaling packets deviate from the reference data at the endpoint, then report to a call agent residing at a server coupled to the network the one or more deviations as one or more signaling-packet faults in the signaling packets, the signaling-packet faults in the signaling packets suggesting one or more network-path faults in a network path that communicated the signaling packets to the interface.

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 Layer 2 data comprises an 802.1Q/p header.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the report to the call agent indicates occurrence of the deviations without identifying the deviations from the reference data.

6. 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.

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 call that recently ended.

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

9. A method comprising:

at an endpoint, receiving signaling packets from a network coupled to the endpoint, wherein the signaling packets comprise Layer 3 data or Layer 2 data, the Layer 3 data comprising Internet Protocol (IP) headers, the Layer 2 data indicating quality of service (QoS) classifications of the signaling packets;

at the endpoint, comparing one or more portions of the Layer 3 data or the Layer 2 data in the signaling packets with reference data residing at the endpoint prior to receipt of the signaling packets, the reference data comprising one or more portions of one or more proper IP headers or proper QoS classifications;

at the endpoint, determining whether one or more of the portions of the Layer 3 data or the Layer 2 data in the signaling packets deviate from the reference data residing at the endpoint; and

at the endpoint, if one or more of the portions of the Layer 3 data or the Layer 2 data in the signaling packets deviate from the reference data at the endpoint, then reporting to a call agent residing at a server coupled to the network the one or more deviations as one or more signaling-packet faults in the signaling packets, the signaling-packet faults in the signaling packets suggesting one or more network-path faults in a network path that communicated the signaling packets to the interface.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the endpoint is an Internet Protocol (IP) telephone.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the endpoint is a Layer 3 router.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the Layer 2 data comprises an 802.1Q/p header.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the report to the call agent indicates occurrence of the deviations without identifying the deviations from the reference data.

14. The method of claim 9, 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.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the report indicates a number of faulty signaling packets received at the interface over the course of a call that recently ended.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein reporting the signaling-packet faults to the call agent comprises reporting the signaling-packet faults in keep-alive messages to the call agent.

17. An apparatus comprising:

an interface at a server coupled to a network, the interface operable to receive from a plurality of endpoints coupled to the network reports of signaling-packet faults in signaling packets received at the endpoints, the signaling packets comprising Layer 3 data or Layer 2 data, the Layer 3 data comprising Internet Protocol (IP) headers, the Layer 2 data indicating quality of service (QoS) classifications of the signaling packets, the reports indicating deviations of one or more portions of the Layer 3 data or the Layer 2 data in the signaling packets from reference data residing at the endpoints prior to receipt of the signaling packets, the reference data comprising one or more portions of one or more proper IP headers or proper QoS classifications, the signaling-packet faults in the signaling packets suggesting one or more network-path faults in a network path that communicated the signaling packets to the interface; and

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

access the reports;

generate a record of the signaling-packet faults from the reports; and

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

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

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein one or more of the endpoints are Internet Protocol (IP) telephones.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein one or more of the endpoints are Layer 3 routers.

20. The apparatus of claim 17, 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.

21. The apparatus of claim 17, 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.

22. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the call agent is operable to receive the reports in keep-alive messages from the endpoints.

23. A method comprising:

receiving by one or more computer systems, from a plurality of endpoints coupled to a network, reports of signaling-packet faults in signaling packets received at the endpoints, the signaling packets comprising Layer 3 data or Layer 2 data, the Layer 3 data comprising Internet Protocol (IP) headers, the Layer 2 data indicating quality of service (QoS) classifications of the signaling packets, the reports indicating deviations of one or more portions of the Layer 3 data or the Layer 2 data in the signaling packets from reference data residing at the endpoint prior to receipt of the signaling packets, the reference data comprising one or more portions of one or more proper IP headers or proper QoS classifications, the signaling-packet faults in the signaling packets suggesting one or more network-path faults in a network path that communicated the signaling packets to the interface;

generating by the one or more computer systems a record of the signaling-packet faults from the reports; and

storing by the one or more computer systems the record of the signaling-packet faults for analysis.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein one or more of the endpoints are Internet Protocol (IP) telephones.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein one or more of the endpoints are Layer 3 routers.

26. The method of claim 23, 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.

27. The method of claim 23, 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.

28. The method of claim 23, wherein receiving the reports comprises receiving the reports in keep-alive messages from the endpoints.