VoIP Performance
Having a strategic plan in place for VoIP performance management with visibility from edge-to-core throughout the VoIP lifecycle is imperative to having a successful VoIP deployment experience. A comprehensive, enterprise approach of best practices enables network managers to manage the entire VoIP lifecycle – that includes planning, operational management, troubleshooting, interpretation and reporting.
Consider each phase of the VoIP lifecycle: Assess, Monitor and manage and Optimize
Assess
Visual Network Systems recommends a pre-deployment assessment of your network before rolling out a VoIP solution. Our partners at Fluke Networks offer NetAlly® Network Assessment software for that purpose.
The network pre-deployment assessment is specifically designed to assess the readiness of the network, and certify the performance for supporting VoIP applications prior to deploying VoIP traffic. The assessment process is divided into three different phases, each of which has a definite objective in the overall assessment scheme.
 The Network Configuration phase checks aspects of the network and consists of three different tests: Connectivity, VoIP traffic precedence (QoS policy), Route quality and utilization measurements |
 The readiness assessment provides the most accurate picture of VoIP readiness for the network that is being tested by identifying the maximum call capacity, Identifying major contributors to call quality degradation |
Monitor and Manage VoIP
Visual Performance Manager provides both per-call MOS measurements and network SLA measurements such as availability, jitter and latency. Administrators can quickly gain visibility into VolP performance and identify poor call quality.
 Identify individual VoIP calls and measure key performance statistics including MOS. (click to view larger image) |
Another approach to managing VoIP is utilizing the NetFlow based capabilities, which can quickly identify VoIP performance problems due to misconfigured MPLS classes of services. This capability monitors VoIP performance using the existing infrastructure without having to rely on a Call Manager and without having to deploy additional monitoring hardware.
This NetFlow based capability can report on ALL fields in a NetFlow record and is able to isolate one class of service in an MPLS deployment and see what protocols are running there, allowing you to verify that a router is either properly or improperly configured.
Optimize VolP Performance
With real-time and historical troubleshooting capabilities, users can quickly identify, isolate and resolve poor performance at any site. For site-specific problems, administrators can investigate sites in detail to discover VolP performance decline. For intermittent problems, administrators can investigate individual calls in detail to determine the cause of poor performance.
- Monitor critical per-call metrics such as MOS, jitter, latency and packet loss
- See immediate graphical representations of trends and patterns across your VoIP network to speed troubleshooting
- Assess network readiness for VoIP with customizable, automated reports
- Proactively isolate, identify and troubleshoot poor VoIP performance at remote sites
- Understand VoIP resource utilization and call volumes on your network
- Use the same management infrastructure to understand the impact of voice and data applications on a converged network
 View end-to-end actual call performance including MOS scores and degradation factors. (click to view larger image) |
