Vo IP Full Lifecycle Management Russell M Elsner

Vo. IP: Full Lifecycle Management Russell M. Elsner APM Technology Director OPNET Technologies, Inc.

Agenda • Motivation • Components of the Vo. IP life cycle – Pre-deployment – End-user experience monitoring – Continuous optimization • Benefits of an end-to-end approach • Conclusion

Motivation • The wide acceptance of Vo. IP leads to the false hope that Vo. IP is “just another application” • However, most Vo. IP deployments fail initially – New challenges managing data and voice on same network – Requires careful planning of capacity, Qo. S, etc. • Additional challenges in maintaining adequate voice service quality as additional applications are deployed over same network infrastructure • Performance problems will occur sooner or later – Can be network, server or application related – Need for problem detection and root cause analysis solutions

Challenges • Before deployment – Is my network ready for Vo. IP? – How do I configure my network to accommodate Vo. IP? • After deployment – – Is my Vo. IP service delivering adequate call quality? What is the root cause of a performance problem? How do I resolve the problem? How do I guarantee performance is maintained as new users and applications are added to the network?

VOIP Life Cycle 1. Pre-Deployment Planning & Assessment Traffic data Baseline data traffic • Baseline data traffic for pre-deployment planning and post-deployment evaluation Perform Vo. IP readiness assessment • Build network model with baseline data traffic • Add VOIP traffic (projected call volumes) • Predict MOS or R-Factor and impact on data traffic • Add capacity or Qo. S, if required • Predict behavior under failure scenarios 2. Ongoing Operations Monitor and troubleshoot Vo. IP traffic • Track call quality of Vo. IP traffic • Evaluate how data traffic is affected • Troubleshoot performance problems with drilldown into specific calls • Compare current network load with forecast 3. Optimization Continuously reengineer and optimize the network • Add additional capacity or Qo. S to resolve performance issues • Tune queues based on measure data and VOIP volumes • Trend VOIP and data traffic to predict future capacity bottlenecks • Test configuration changes prior to deployment in virtual network environment

VOIP Life Cycle 1. Pre-Deployment Planning & Assessment Traffic data Baseline data traffic • Baseline data traffic for pre-deployment planning and post-deployment evaluation Perform Vo. IP readiness assessment • Build network model with baseline data traffic • Add VOIP traffic (projected call volumes) • Predict MOS or R-Factor and impact on data traffic • Add capacity or Qo. S, if required • Predict behavior under failure scenarios 2. Ongoing Operations Monitor and troubleshoot Vo. IP traffic • Track call quality of Vo. IP traffic • Evaluate how data traffic is affected • Troubleshoot performance problems with drilldown into specific calls • Compare current network load with forecast 3. Optimization Continuously reengineer and optimize the network • Add additional capacity or Qo. S to resolve performance issues • Tune queues based on measure data and VOIP volumes • Trend VOIP and data traffic to predict future capacity bottlenecks • Test configuration changes prior to deployment in virtual network environment

Pre-deployment • What is in my network today? – Identify devices and configurations – Baseline applications and traffic – Overlay traffic on network topology • Impact of adding a new technology or application such as Vo. IP? – Testing in lab environment – Pilot projects and emulation on production network – Network simulation in virtual network environment

What is in my network today? Step 1: Build a topological view of the network based on device configuration data

What is in my network today? Step 2: Collect application traffic data

What is in my network today? Step 3: Overlay traffic on network topology

Pre-deployment Planning • Lab testing: needed but not able to replicate scale of full deployment • Pilot projects or emulation on production network should be handled with care not to break existing operations • Simulation in a virtual network environment is able to reproduce full scale deployment without affecting the production network

Vo. IP Planning • Assess the impact of Vo. IP on existing network and data • Predict bandwidth and performance (MOS, R-Factor) impact • Generate design recommendations w. r. t. capacity, Qo. S, etc.

VOIP Life Cycle 1. Pre-Deployment Planning & Assessment Traffic data Baseline data traffic • Baseline data traffic for pre-deployment planning and post-deployment evaluation Perform Vo. IP readiness assessment • Build network model with baseline data traffic • Add VOIP traffic (projected call volumes) • Predict MOS or R-Factor and impact on data traffic • Add capacity or Qo. S, if required • Predict behavior under failure scenarios 2. Ongoing Operations Monitor and troubleshoot Vo. IP traffic • Track call quality of Vo. IP traffic • Evaluate how data traffic is affected • Troubleshoot performance problems with drilldown into specific calls • Compare current network load with forecast 3. Optimization Continuously reengineer and optimize the network • Add additional capacity or Qo. S to resolve performance issues • Tune queues based on measure data and VOIP volumes • Trend VOIP and data traffic to predict future capacity bottlenecks • Test configuration changes prior to deployment in virtual network environment

Ongoing Operations • Monitor and troubleshoot poor call quality from the end-user’s perspective – Monitor the interaction of both data and Vo. IP running on the same network – Monitor real-calls with passive speech quality analysis • Receive automatic alerts based on low MOS scores • Easily identify the root-cause of poor call quality before it affects the business

VOIP Life Cycle 1. Pre-Deployment Planning & Assessment Traffic data Baseline data traffic • Baseline data traffic for pre-deployment planning and post-deployment evaluation Perform Vo. IP readiness assessment • Build network model with baseline data traffic • Add VOIP traffic (projected call volumes) • Predict MOS or R-Factor and impact on data traffic • Add capacity or Qo. S, if required • Predict behavior under failure scenarios 2. Ongoing Operations Monitor and troubleshoot Vo. IP traffic • Track call quality of Vo. IP traffic • Evaluate how data traffic is affected • Troubleshoot performance problems with drilldown into specific calls • Compare current network load with forecast 3. Optimization Continuously reengineer and optimize the network • Add additional capacity or Qo. S to resolve performance issues • Tune queues based on measure data and VOIP volumes • Trend VOIP and data traffic to predict future capacity bottlenecks • Test configuration changes prior to deployment in virtual network environment

Continuous Optimization • Growth and change affect network and application performance • Need to be planned for in advance – Assess the impact of adding new Vo. IP users, perform redesign to add new branch offices, etc. – Optimize network capacity and Qo. S configurations as Vo. IP and other traffic growth in your network – Validate configuration changes prior to deployment to identify security gaps and minimize the risk of downtime

Benefits of an End-to-End Approach Address different parts of the life cycle with a common toolset: – Accelerate Vo. IP deployments by accurate predeployment planning – Optimize the end-user experience – Rapidly move from problem detection to root cause analysis and problem resolution – Minimize errors by ensuring all decision making is based on common and up-to-date network data

Conclusion • Before you roll out Vo. IP, make sure that – – You understand the current network configuration You baseline existing application traffic You have adequate network capacity You define the call quality that meets your user’s expectation • After you have rolled out Vo. IP, make sure that – – You monitor and troubleshoot call traffic and end-user experience You leverage traffic measurements for adequate planning and Qo. S You continuously reengineer the network for growth and change You validate changes before deployment • Use a full life cycle approach to guarantee network and application performance before, during, and after deployment