METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MEASURING HEALTH AND PERFORMANCE OF A MESSAGING SYSTEM

• US 20080215696A1
• Filed: 04/29/2008
• Published: 09/04/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aruna K. Muvvala, Jagannathan Shiva Shankar, Stephen Schleimer
• Original Assignee: Aruna K. Muvvala, Jagannathan Shiva Shankar, Stephen Schleimer
• Inventors: Schleimer, Stephen, Muvvala, Aruna K., Shankar, Jagannathan Shiva
• Granted Patent: US 7,979,496 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/06 Testing, supervising or monitoring using simulated traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/50 for emergency connections

Abstract

Software agents perform a process to monitor the availability and/or performance of various functions of a messaging system, such as a Unified Messaging System. A call is initiated to an endpoint, where the endpoint is registered with a messaging system and is configured to forward incoming messages to the messaging system. A first agent transmits a message to the endpoint for forwarding to the messaging system. A second agent that is associated with the endpoint then determines whether the endpoint receives a message notification in response to the transmitted message. In an embodiment, the time that elapses between arrival of the message at the endpoint and reception of a message notification is determined. In an embodiment, if the second agent is able to access a mailbox and retrieve the transmitted message, then the message retrieved from the messaging system is compared with the version of the original message that was received at the endpoint. Whether the retrieved message suffered any degradation from its path through the messaging system is determined based on the comparison.

Claims

1. A data processing system comprising:

one or more processors;

a computer-readable volatile or non-volatile medium coupled to the one or more processors and storing one or more sequences of instructions which when executed by the one or more processors cause;

receiving at an endpoint in a network, a message from a first agent acting as proxy for an Internet Protocol (IP) phone;

forwarding the message to a unified messaging system;

creating and storing at the endpoint, a copy of the message;

in response to receiving a message notification at the endpoint from the messaging system, accessing a message repository of the messaging system and retrieving the message from the message repository;

comparing the message retrieved from the message repository with the copy of the message; and

based on the comparing, determining whether the message retrieved from the message repository is degraded in quality.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer-readable medium further comprises instructions which when executed cause determining how much time elapses between arrival of the message at the endpoint and activation of a message waiting indicator at the phone.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the message is an audio message and wherein the computer-readable medium further comprises instructions which when executed cause playing the message using an interface to the messaging system, upon retrieving the message.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer-readable medium further comprises instructions which when executed cause determining why the message retrieved from the repository is degraded.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the message is any of an audio message, an e-mail message, and a facsimile message.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer-readable medium further comprises instructions which when executed cause multicasting the message to a plurality of telephony endpoints on a network, and determining, by each of a plurality of agents that are each associated with a respective endpoint of the plurality of endpoints, whether the associated endpoint receives a message notification in response to the message.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer-readable medium further comprises instructions which when executed cause testing whether the message notification is received at the endpoint from the messaging system in response to the forwarding, and generating a fault indication when the message notification is not received at the endpoint.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the computer-readable medium further comprises instructions which when executed cause correlating the fault indication to information from a network management system to determine whether a call manager to which the phone is coupled properly forwarded the message to the messaging server.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer-readable medium further comprises instructions which when executed cause testing, in response to the retrieving, whether the messaging system properly received, processed, stored and made available the forwarded message associated with the phone, and generating a fault indication when the message cannot be retrieved.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the computer-readable medium further comprises instructions which when executed cause correlating the fault indication to information from a network management system.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer-readable medium further comprises instructions which when executed cause correlating the fault indication to information from a network management system to determine whether a call manager to which the phone is coupled properly forwarded the message to the messaging server.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer-readable medium further comprises instructions which when executed cause requesting the messaging system to delete the message, and determining a time elapsed between requesting the messaging system to delete the message and when a message indication at the phone disappears.

13. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving at an endpoint in a network, a message from a first agent acting as proxy for an Internet Protocol phone;

forwarding the message to a unified messaging system;

creating and storing at the endpoint, a copy of the message;

in response to receiving a message notification at the endpoint from the messaging system, accessing a message repository of the messaging system and retrieving the message from the message repository;

comparing the message retrieved from the message repository with the copy of the message; and

based on the comparing, determining whether the message retrieved from the message repository is degraded in quality.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the message is any of an audio message, an e-mail message, and a facsimile message.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising testing whether the message notification is received at the endpoint from the messaging system in response to the forwarding, and generating a fault indication when the message notification is not received at the endpoint.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising correlating the fault indication to information from a network management system to determine whether a call manager to which the phone is coupled properly forwarded the message to the messaging server.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising testing, in response to the retrieving, whether the messaging system properly received, processed, stored and made available the forwarded message associated with the phone, and generating a fault indication when the message cannot be retrieved.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising instructions which when executed cause correlating the fault indication to information from a network management system to determine whether a call manager to which the phone is coupled properly forwarded the message to the messaging server.

19. The method of claim 13, further comprising instructions which when executed cause requesting the messaging system to delete the message, and determining a time elapsed between requesting the messaging system to delete the message and when a message indication at the phone disappears.

20. A computer system comprising:

one or more processors, wherein the one or more processors are configured to couple directly or indirectly through one or more networks to a first agent acting as proxy for an Internet Protocol (IP) phone;

a computer-readable volatile or non-volatile medium coupled to the one or more processors and storing one or more sequences of instructions which when executed by the one or more processors cause;

as a second agent that is registered with a unified messaging system, receiving a message from the first agent;

forwarding the message to the unified messaging system;

creating and storing in the computer system a copy of the message;

in response to receiving a message notification from the messaging system, accessing a message repository of the messaging system and retrieving the message from the message repository;

comparing the message retrieved from the message repository with the copy of the message; and

based on the comparing, determining whether the message retrieved from the message repository is degraded in quality.