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Cisco BTS 10200 Softswitch Troubleshooting Guide, Release 5.0.x
OL-8723-19
Chapter 1 Troubleshooting Overview
General Problem-Solving Model
Resolving Network Problems
It is always easier to recover from a network failure if you are prepared for it ahead of time. Possibly the
most important requirement in any network environment is to have current and accurate information
about that network available to the network support personnel. Intelligent decisions can be made about
network change only with complete information, and troubleshooting be done as quickly and as easily
as possible. Downtime in a telephony environment means loss of service to customers, which means an
interruption in the revenue stream that supports that network.
During the process of network troubleshooting, the network is expected to exhibit abnormal behavior.
Therefore, it is always a good practice to set up a maintenance time window for troubleshooting to
minimize any business impact. Always document any changes being made so that it is easier to back out
if your troubleshooting approach has failed to identify the problem within the maintenance window.
To determine whether you are prepared for a network failure, answer the following questions:
•
Do you have an accurate physical and logical map of your network?
Does your organization or department have an up-to-date network map that outlines the physical
location of all the devices on the network and how they are connected, as well as a logical map of
network addresses, network numbers, subnetworks, and so forth?
•
Do you have a list of all network protocols implemented in your network?
For each of the protocols implemented, do you have a list of the network numbers, subnetworks,
zones, areas, and so on that are associated with them?
•
Do you know which protocols are being used to route calls?
For each protocol, do you have correct, up-to-date configuration information?
•
Do you know all the points of contact to external networks, including any connections to the
Internet, the public switched telephone network (PSTN), or the Signaling System 7 (SS7) network?
For each external network connection, do you know what protocol(s) are being used?
•
Do you have an established baseline for your network?
Has your organization documented normal network behavior and performance at different times of
the day so that you can compare the current problems with a baseline?
•
Do you know current software and patch version of equipment?
If you can answer yes to all of these questions, you will be able to recover from a failure more quickly
and more easily than if you are not prepared. Lastly, for every problem solved, be sure to document the
problems with solutions provided. This way, you will create a problem and answer database that others
in your organization can refer to in case similar problems occur later. This will invariably reduce the
time to troubleshoot your networks and, consequently, minimize your business impact.
