Troubleshooting Cisco IP Telephony [Hardcover]

Paul Giralt (Author), Addis Hallmark (Author), Anne Smith (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1587050757 | ISBN-13: 978-1587050756 | Publication Date: December 21, 2002 | Edition: 1

Reveals the methodology you need to resolve complex problems in an IP telephony network

• Master troubleshooting techniques and methodologies for all parts of a Cisco IP Telephony solution-Cisco CallManager, IP phones, gateways, applications, and more
• Learn how to investigate and resolve voice quality problems, including delayed audio, choppy or garbled audio, static and noise, one-way or no-way audio, and echo
• Read about the variety of trouble-shooting tools at your disposal and how and when to use them based on the problem type
• Discover the potential causes of common problems and how to efficiently troubleshoot them to resolution
• Learn how to identify and resolve gateway problems by breaking the components into logical groups and following a methodical troubleshooting approach
• Use best practices recommendations to build a stronger IP telephony deployment and avoid common mistakes

IP telephony represents the future of telecommunications: a converged data and voice infrastructure boasting greater flexibility and more cost-effective scalability than traditional telephony. The ability to troubleshoot an IP telephony environment and the underlying network infrastructure is vitally important, just as it is in any complex system.

Troubleshooting Cisco IP Telephony teaches the troubleshooting skills necessary to identify and resolve problems in an IP telephony solution. This book provides comprehensive coverage of all parts of a Cisco IP Telephony (CIPT) solution, including CallManager, IP phones, gateways, analog devices, database and directory replication, call routing, voice mail, applications, network infrastructure, and more. You'll learn how to read trace files, determine when to turn on tracing and Cisco IOS(r) Software voice debugging, and how to troubleshoot voice quality issues.

Troubleshooting Cisco IP Telephony shows you how to break down problems to find the root cause. Descriptions of each part of the CIPT solution help you understand the functionality of each part of the solution and how each part interacts with other parts of the solution. You'll then learn what steps to take and tools to use to identify and resolve the cause of the problem.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Reveals the methodology you need to resolve complex problems in an IP telephony network

* Master troubleshooting techniques and methodologies for all parts of a Cisco IP Telephony solution-Cisco CallManager, IP phones, gateways, applications, and more
* Learn how to investigate and resolve voice quality problems, including delayed audio, choppy or garbled audio, static and noise, one-way or no-way audio, and echo
* Read about the variety of trouble-shooting tools at your disposal and how and when to use them based on the problem type
* Discover the potential causes of common problems and how to efficiently troubleshoot them to resolution
* Learn how to identify and resolve gateway problems by breaking the components into logical groups and following a methodical troubleshooting approach
* Use best practices recommendations to build a stronger IP telephony deployment and avoid common mistakes

IP telephony represents the future of telecommunications: a converged data and voice infrastructure boasting greater flexibility and more cost-effective scalability than traditional telephony. The ability to troubleshoot an IP telephony environment and the underlying network infrastructure is vitally important, just as it is in any complex system.

Troubleshooting Cisco IP Telephony teaches the troubleshooting skills necessary to identify and resolve problems in an IP telephony solution. This book provides comprehensive coverage of all parts of a Cisco IP Telephony (CIPT) solution, including CallManager, IP phones, gateways, analog devices, database and directory replication, call routing, voice mail, applications, network infrastructure, and more. You'll learn how to read trace files, determine when to turn on tracing and Cisco IOS(r) Software voice debugging, and how to troubleshoot voice quality issues.

Troubleshooting Cisco IP Telephony shows you how to break down problems to find the root cause. Descriptions of each part of the CIPT solution help you understand the functionality of each part of the solution and how each part interacts with other parts of the solution. You'll then learn what steps to take and tools to use to identify and resolve the cause of the problem.

About the Author

Paul Giralt, CCIE(r) No. 4793, an escalation engineer at the Cisco Systems Technical Assistance Center in North Carolina, has been troubleshooting complex IP telephony networks since CallManager release 3.0. Paul has troubleshot problems for some of the largest Cisco IP Telephony deployments and trains TAC teams around the globe. Paul holds a bachelor's degree in computer engineering from the University of Miami.

Addis Hallmark, CCNA(r), CIPT, a senior technical marketing engineer with Cisco Systems, has been installing, configuring, and troubleshooting the Cisco IP Telephony solution since CallManager release 2.3. Addis contributes to numerous design guides, application notes, and white papers on a variety of IP telephony subjects, including CallManager, IP phones, and IP gateways.

Anne Smith is a technical writer in the CallManager Engineering group at Cisco Systems. She has written technical documentation for the Cisco IP Telephony solution since CallManager release 2.0. Anne writes internal and external documents for CallManager, IP phones, and other Cisco IP Telephony products and is a co-author of the Cisco Press books Cisco CallManager Fundamentals and Developing Cisco IP Phone Services.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1008 pages
• Publisher: Cisco Press; 1 edition (December 21, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1587050757
• ISBN-13: 978-1587050756
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.9 x 2.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #865,880 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good overview of the tools available., May 15, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Troubleshooting Cisco IP Telephony (Hardcover)

I have to admit that this is not a book that I have read cover to cover. I have dipped into it to cover topics listed in the CCIE voice exam. I have found it to be very useful in that respect. For each topic it gives an overview and brief details on configuration before going on to explain how to troubleshoot problems. It will not replace the troubleshooting resources available on CCO, but it will give you a great place to start!

Now that I've read it I can answer the following questions:

Would I buy it to help pass the Troubleshooting Exam? - Yes (but I have not done the exam so difficult to say for certain)

Would I buy it to help pass the CCIE Voice written exam? - Probably, but would need more information from CCO.

Would I buy it for my reference bookshelf? - Definitely.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Invaluable Reference, January 11, 2007

By 

John E. Heyer (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Troubleshooting Cisco IP Telephony (Hardcover)

I have to say, a lot of the Cisco Press books can be frustrating. They're great if you want a really detailed background on VoIP technologies, but for day to day use and quick reference they quickly prove to be more hassle than they're worth. The idea of a "troubleshooting" guide by Cisco seemed like it would be this to the extreme, but this is actually and incredibly useful book. Especially useful are the sections on configuring traces, monitoring, and alarms. I've worked with Cisco IP Telephony products for nearly 2 years and still was not aware of many of these features. Many of the problems I've encountered are listed here, and accompanied by an ordered checklist of things to troubleshoot. Reading this book will save any engineer, administrator, technician, or manager tons of time on the job.

The only reason I can't give this book 5 stars is it is 4 years old, and only covers CallManager up to 3.3 (5.0 is the latest version). Subsequently, there's lots of "this may be supported in future CallManager versions" lines, which you must then look up on Cisco's website. Many of the problems listed in this book were fixed with CallManger 4.1, released in late 2004.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very well written book, January 31, 2007

By 

Jason G. Shiffler - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Troubleshooting Cisco IP Telephony (Hardcover)

Overall I thought this book was very well written. It has a lot of good examples and if you are willing to invest the brain power you can learn a lot from it. I will say that you can't rely entirely on this book to help you pass the Cisco IPT troubleshooting test. I used this book along with some material from Knowledgenet to pass the test. I'm pretty sure I would have had to take it at least twice if this book was my only reference.