[cisco-voip] re: QoS Toolsets

[Davis, Michael]

Hi Candace,
 
I think the two are sort of apples to oranges. If you want to manage the health of a CCM server, NetIQ with its software agent, deep Microsoft perfmon hooks etc, has a strong play.  But it should be compared against NetCool or HPOV, Unicenter, or the like. But that's not really Qovia's strength.
 
Seems to me the problem with NetIQ, at least when I last looked at it, is that like so many frameworks, it relies on stats reported from a server (CCM for example) rather than an actual packet capture.  I love that when a quality threshold is broken, or if I decide I want to, I can play a .wav from end to end and hear what the callers hear. And I can get R-factor in both directions, which I cannot with with NetIQ and others. I can also verify that my DSCP is not re-marked on the far end of an MPLS cloud.
 
Architecturally, the two look somewhat similar - centralized server(s) with remote agents (Qovia - hardware probe, NetIQ - software agent).  
 
Please correct me if any this is no longer valid.
 
Qovia in some respects, is more like an adjunct for a framework. It has hooks for Netcool, or HPOV, or directly to your DBMS to augment the framework rather than replace it. I can also use the probe to collect traps and/or mibwalk, or remote access over a secured connection.  No small issue for a multi-tenant / multi-customer managed service provider.
 
I'm not sure what you mean by MOS granularity being sub par. Given that Qovia can see both sides of both RTP streams, record them play them back, measure them, send a wav between them, etc, and NetIQ can't. Please elaborate.
 
I think your point about server managment is well taken. NetIQ is certainly better for that. But while that information is necessary for us to manage an environment,  our SLAs are concerned directly with voice quality and uptime.  It makes sense to have both server and voice sides of the network covered.
 
Michael
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

	-----Original Message----- 
	From: cisco-voip-bounces at puck.nether.net on behalf of Candace Holman 
	Sent: Thu 12/15/2005 12:07 PM 
	To: cisco-voip at puck.nether.net 
	Cc: 
	Subject: [cisco-voip] re: QoS Toolsets
	
	

	What version of Qovia are you referring to? I don't have some of these
	features in my installation.
	
	I've tested all three of the products under discussion, and best
	all-around alerting tool so far is NetIQ. Qovia needs a little work to
	provide a way to turn off alerts when the listener decides, not just
	when Qovia sees the condition go away. I get spammed by my own tool
	because it is not adjustable enough (at least not in the version I use).
	We should be able to acknowledge a problem to stop the alerts,
	consolidate alerts, and choose the delivery media. Qovia can only send
	emails or snmp traps. Also the granularity of the MoS metrics is a
	little under par. Qovia doesn't do more than NetIQ, except in one area -
	providing quick, easy and multi-tenant/multi-privilege real-time access
	to phones and call data. This is a hardware solution with a centralized
	server, so you have to cart it out and set it up, and have available a
	span port for each probe.
	
	IMO, NetIQ does more than Qovia, and monitors all kinds of information
	on the CallManagers and gateways, not just the phones. Qovia only seems
	to monitor phones and quite limited data on the gateways and switches.
	NetIQ can send alerts to a variety of media: pages, emails, snmp traps,
	or just log the data.
	
	Candace
	
	Subject:
	[cisco-voip] RE: change to Qovia re: QoS Toolsets
	From:
	"VoIP Forum" <voipforum at apptis.com>
	Date:
	Thu, 15 Dec 2005 12:29:29 -0500
	
	To:
	"Voll, Scott" <Scott.Voll at wesd.org>
	CC:
	cisco-voip at puck.nether.net
	
	
	*/This is not a sales pitch, and I get nothing for this…/*
	
	Qovia simply blows Cisco’s current ITEM release out of the water, and
	leaves the awkwardness of Prognosis in the dark.
	
	Cost wise, it is far less expensive than NetIQ in most installations and
	can do so much more.
	
	I my opinion it is the best Cisco VoIP Real-Time management tool there
	is. We use it throughout our entire enterprise VoIP Network and have
	been able to resolve many issues in minutes where we had spent hours in
	the past troubleshooting. The best thing I could say that you may win
	Mgmt over with… “We use it for SLA and QoS mgmt on remote sites. Since
	the probes can simulate traffic to each other across the WAN. Due to
	mitigation of lost call or poor call quality, Qovia pays for itself
	within months instead of years. We have reduced time to roll out new
	sites as well, since we can take a few days worth of testing and put it
	into a few hours worth of active tests using the probes in conjunction
	with Qovia Central.”, and you can quote me on that.
	
	It is 100% off box so there are not compliance and SMARTnet issues, plus
	it utilizes its own DB and does not rely on the CDR which is not
	accessible until after the call has ended. We have it integrated to our
	NMS it sends e-mail pages to us when there is an issue. That let’s us
	actually see the MOS of the active call and on each leg of the call
	while the user is on the call. This is great for real-time circuit
	maintenance; for example, we can tweak llq (QoS) settings while the call
	is up to see if that corrects the issue or not. We can identify bad
	circuits and codec issues, etc… We can look at any services and process
	utilization on the CCMs real-time or historically. We also use Qovia for
	capacity planning.
	
	Another awesome feature is the device inventory reports that will
	actually show you comparisons to see who is moving their phone and from
	where to where. You can run hourly, nightly, weekly, monthly reports and
	they are all useful. We had visiting users grabbing phones off desks and
	moving them wherever, and we could find them with a simple report as
	well as what day it moved to track the culprits down.
	
	
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