Capacity planning for the voice network is demanding. For the data network, packet congestion slows but does not stop traffic. In contrast, when the voice trunks get full, the user gets a busy signal. There is little forgiveness when the voice network does not work perfectly. Hence, telecom managers—the ones who stay employed—become conservative, tending to maintain excess capacity. There is some justification for this wariness because of the exponential increase in blockage when capacity has been reached.
PBX reports can provide indications of trunking blockage (percent busy) for local and longdistance trunks; however, some effort is required to monitor the trunks and communications links. Typically, line commands such as "list all trunks busy" are used on an ad hoc basis if problems arise. Some telecom groups use both call accounting packages and manual methods to identify trends and capacity bottlenecks. Also, unusual patterns of usage may indicate toll fraud or hacking.
Although there is overlap between the reporting offered by traditional call accounting/line commands on the PBX, the firewall provides a more convenient source of real-time and summarized information. Some functions include:- Real-time notification of availability. Line errors, 100 percent busy trunks, frame slippage, D channel problems, and other potential disruptive events can be sent to pagers or to a console.
- Monitoring of trunk spans over multiple locations. If the PBX firewalls are linked via a management system, the entire telecommunications enterprise can be viewed from a central console. Security rules can be administered centrally as well.
- History of usage. Usage of all trunks can be recorded over time and plotted. This is a convenient method of identifying excess capacity.
The real-time capability of the firewall also provides some unique security capabilities. For example, in organizations where security requirements are high, calls can be monitored in real time and suspect calls can be manually terminated. Obviously, all the legal issues must be addressed for such a practice to be implemented.
Real-time notification of availability. Line errors, 100 percent busy trunks, frame slippage, D channel problems, and other potential disruptive events can be sent to pagers or to a console.
Monitoring of trunk spans over multiple locations. If the PBX firewalls are linked via a management system, the entire telecommunications enterprise can be viewed from a central console. Security rules can be administered centrally as well.
History of usage. Usage of all trunks can be recorded over time and plotted. This is a convenient method of identifying excess capacity.
No comments:
Post a Comment