Troubleshooting guide

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Cisco PGW 2200 Softswitch Release 9.8 Operations, Maintenance, and Troubleshooting Guide
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Chapter 4 Maintenance and Troubleshooting Overview
Troubleshooting Strategy Overview
Note If you exhaust all of the common causes and actions (those causes that are outlined in this
chapter and those causes that you have identified for your environment), your last recourse is to
contact the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC). See the “Obtaining Documentation and
Submitting a Service Request” section on page xviii for more information about contacting the
Cisco TAC.
System Troubleshooting Tools
This section presents information about the tools you can use to troubleshoot the system.
Alarms
The Cisco PGW 2200 Softswitch software generates alarms that indicate problems with processes,
routes, linksets, signaling links, and bearer channels. For more information on troubleshooting using
alarms, see the “Alarm Troubleshooting Procedures” section on page 6-4. See Cisco PGW 2200
Softswitch Release 9 Messages Reference for detailed information on the system alarms.
Call Traces
The Cisco PGW 2200 Softswitch generates call traces that capture call-processing activity. With the call
trace, you can follow the call from a specified destination through the Cisco PGW 2200 Softswitch
software engine to see where it failed. Determine the location of a call failure by using the following
information that is provided in the call trace:
• The protocol data units (PDUs) that the Cisco PGW 2200 Softswitch receives
• How the Cisco PGW 2200 Softswitch decodes the PDU
• The PDUs that the Cisco PGW 2200 Softswitch sends out
The results of call traces are signal flow diagrams that you can use for troubleshooting. Typically, call
traces are used to capture system activity as part of a procedure to clear an alarm. For more information
on using call traces, see the “Tracing” section on page 6-155.
System Logs
The Cisco PGW 2200 Softswitch software continuously generates log files of various system
information, including operational measurements (OMs) and alarm records. You can use these logs to
obtain statistical information about the calls that the system processes and network events such as delays
or service-affecting conditions. The Cisco PGW 2200 Softswitch generates the following types of logs:
• Platform logs contain information that is useful for tracking configuration errors and signaling link
and call instantiation problems.
• Command and response logs contain Man-machine language (MML) command history.
• Alarm logs contain alarm information.
• Measurement logs contain system measurements data.
• Call record logs contain call-processing data.