User guide

9-3
Cisco Media Gateway Manager 5.0 User Guide
OL-5461-02
Chapter 9 Managing Faults
Where Can I Get Information on Affected Services and Customers?
9.1.2.1 Proactive Maintenance
Automated detection tests and surveillance software enable rapid initiation of the repair process,
sometimes even before customers have noticed a problem. This is called proactive maintenance and
promotes customer satisfaction.
Proactive maintenance consists of functions and processes associated with the detection, analysis,
isolation, and resolution of problems by means that are independent of customer trouble reports. The
problems may be faults or degradations in equipment or transmission media.
The goals of proactive maintenance are to:
• Detect and fix service quality problems before the customer calls to establish a trouble report
(ideally), or at least to start the repair process before the customer calls, thereby minimizing the
time, as perceived by the customer, before service is restored.
• Maintain the transport network at a high level of quality by identifying the facilities that perform
relatively poorly and rehabilitating them.
9.1.2.2 Reactive Maintenance
Reactive maintenance is required when a failure occurs. This type of problem can be time-consuming
and costly. It requires accurate administration of trouble reports, rapid analysis and repair of service
affecting faults, and notifications to customers of restoration of service, all of which also promote
customer satisfaction.
9.1.3 Root Cause Analysis
The root cause is the most basic reason for an undesirable condition or problem that, if eliminated or
corrected, would have prevented the problem from existing or occurring. The outcome of the root cause
analysis is not a restatement of the most obvious symptom, but is the result of a methodical analysis of
the problem situation, leading to the most basic cause.
Root cause analysis captures additional information about defects for the purpose of identifying
preventive actions.
Cisco MGM includes advanced debugging features which capture additional information about defects.
9.2 Where Can I Get Information on Affected Services and
Customers?
The first thing to do in fault management is to identify what services and which customers are affected
by the fault. Cisco MGM provides a number of options for viewing this information, including:
• 9.2.1 Dashboard
• 9.2.2 Tooltips
• 9.2.3 Domain Explorer
• 9.2.4 Alarm Browser
• 9.2.5 Network Map
• 9.2.6 Diagnostic Center