Advanced VoIP Engineering and Troubleshooting
Aims
This course is intended for VoIP network engineers and operators to understand advanced issues in IP Networking, VoIP Signaling and Media, and Troubleshooting practice.
At the end of the course, you will be able to:
- Understand and configure advanced Network issues especially relevant to VoIP Carriers
- Understand VoIP System Components
- Plan and understand high-availability networking technologies and their effects on VoIP
- Read and troubleshoot basic SIP and MGCP call signaling
- Troubleshooting new and complex problems with a consistent process
- Perform basic traffic engineering for capacities in VoIP networks
- Identify and avoid common VoIP service issues
Requirements
Participants should either complete the IP Fundamentals for VoIP Carriers, or else have the Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) certification and familiarity with VoIP systems.
Course content
- IP Networking Overview: This module reviews basic network issues, and introduces the terminology used in the course. In the exercises, participants will implement a routed Ethernet and T1 network.
- Ethernet VLANs: Virtual LANs (VLANs) have become a standard part of Ethernet designs. Effective use can reduce equipment cost, and greatly improve reliability. Advanced VoIP deployment models require careful VLAN design and implementation. This module introduces VLANs, explains their use and configuration. In exercises, participants configure VLANs on managed Ethernet switches.
- High-Availability Networking: To provide fault-tolerant VoIP services, a number of high-availability techniques are applied, such as redundant Ethernet with Spanning Tree Protocol, IP routing protocols like OSPF, and virtual IP and MAC addresses. This modules covers those and other technologies to help participants plan and operate high-availability network designs. Techniques for verifying high-availability designs are also covered. The exercises give participants a chance to configure and test some redundant networking technologies, including technologies used in geo-redundant networks.
- VoIP Basics & Components: These modules introduces VoIP systems, including call flows, SIP, and MGCP. The VoIP Components module introduces VoIP Customer Premise Equipment, SIP Servers / Call Agents, Redirect servers, MGCP gateways and Session Border Controllers and how they interact with each other, and other network components. Participants will learn how to intelligently plan deployments cognizant of protocol interactions. Exercises ensure participants have a good understanding of the different roles.
- Session Border Controllers: Session Border Controllers play a key role in providing security an enabling the use of NAT in VoIP services. They are, however, complicated devices, and often not understood. In this module, participants learn about how the SBC can enable NAT traversal, SIP peering, and provide a security barrier between untrusted networks and the VoIP core. In exercises, participants monitor and simulate the exact function of an SBC on SIP signaling.
- VoIP Media: Unlike TDM networks, IP networks can drop, re-order, and delay data as it is transmitted. Reliable transmission of toll-grade audio across such networks requires careful consideration of the underlying structure of the signal and its encoding. This section covers digital audio encoding, packetization into RTP, the effects of IP networks on RTP, jitter buffer operation, and the effects of prioritization and congestion on real-time streams. In exercises, students enable prioritization on routers and test the effects.
- SIP & MGCP Operation: These modules provides a working understanding of SIP and MGCP processing, and introduce the key facts needed to understand and troubleshoot problems in SIP and MGCP networks. Coverage is given to the differences between the protocols. Participants have opportunities to read and troubleshoot call traces.
- VoIP Network Troubleshooting Process: Troubleshooting is approached in this module as a first-class enterprise, required in every complex system. This module introduces a consistent process for identifying problems that encourages confidence, preparedness, and careful analysis of component behavior.
- Effective Mental Models for VoIP Troubleshooting: A key to effective troubleshooting is reasonable comprehension of the system; this module shows ways to develop coherent depictions of VoIP networks to help quickly isolate faults and plan changes. We cover a variety of diagram formats to describe networks. Participants have opportunities to develop diagrams of their own networks that clearly identify certain functionality in the context of network layers and signaling design.
- Experimental Troubleshooting by Testing Components: To find problems, you must know which components are not the problem. This module shows techniques for testing components with the aim of identifying problems.
- Common Problems Encountered in VoIP Networks: This module is about isolating some of the common issues that affect VoIP networks. The problem types cover audio quality, faxing, signaling, and registration. Here we show the effects of these problems, and how to isolate the root causes.
| Attache: BroadWorks Power, now on Mac
Native BroadWorks Toolbar Application for Apple Leopard and Snow Leopard |