EMS/NMS TTA Monitor

Network SNMP system for monitoring the status and parameters of digital devices

System Description

The network SNMP system for monitoring the parameters of digital devices of TERRATEL is a specialized EMS “TTA Monitor” software that allows you to monitor and timely inform the user about the key parameters of the operation of digital devices, including availability, bandwidth, as well as inform about the occurrence of emergency and emergency events.

“TTA Monitor” software has a client-server architecture and is a specialized network monitoring system for up to 500 digital devices (network elements) produced by TERRATEL.

The following devices are supported:

  • Digital VoIP Gateway (Signaling and Protocol Converter, SIP/E1 Gateway, IKM-30 Stream Multiplexer)
  • iDLU Gateway
  • SFP VoIP Converter
  • TTA-08 of various modifications

Client server architecture

The EMS “TTA Monitor” software supports the working model of the client-server architecture, which consists in the fact that the client sends a request to the server (with database support), where it is processed, and the finished result is sent to the client.

The server can serve several clients at the same time.

Figure 1. Network Model of Client-Server Architecture of EMS/NMS TTA Monitor

 

“TTA Monitor” uses the SNMP or HTTP protocol to work on the network.

Software features

“TTA Monitor” software has certain features and functional advantages.
The software allows for administration:

  • creation and editing of monitoring devices
  • automatic filling of information about devices

During remote maintenance and monitoring of devices:

  • displaying system information of the device
  • displaying the state of the network element
  • displaying the status of E1 interfaces, Ethernet and SIP channels;
  • displaying the status of environmental parameters, security and fire loops
  • software version control
  • logging of alarm events or device state changes in a database file

Functions that are implemented on the server:

  • data storage, access, protection and backup
  • processing of client requests
  • sending the result (answer) to the client

Functions that are implemented on the client side:

  • providing a graphical user interface
  • formulating a request to the server and sending it
  • receiving query results and sending additional commands (requests to add, update or delete data)

Installing and running software

The client-server architecture of the TTA Monitor software requires its installation on the server and at the client (or clients).

The installation files are available on Terratel’s FTP server or can be transferred to the customer in another way.

The server part of the software must be installed by a user with administrator rights directly on the computer that will perform the functions of the server.

The installation and removal process is implemented in the form of an installation wizard with a sequence of dialog boxes that contain a series of clearly defined steps.

Client Software Interface Overview

The client software interface is convenient and user-friendly.

After launching the program, in the pop-up authorization form you must specify the server IP address, API port, user name and password (Figure 2).

Settings for the server IP address and API port are made only when starting the software for the first time.

Figure 2. User authorization form

By default, the software supports two types of user accounts (“Administrator” and “User”).

The main form of the client software “TTA Monitor” has a standard single-window interface, which is divided into several functional areas (Figure 3).

Figure 3. Interface of the client part of the TTA Monitor program

In Figure 3, the following elements of the graphical interface are marked with labels:

  • Toolbar (“1”);
  • Group of devices for monitoring (“tree” of objects – “2”);
  • Tabs of open devices (“3”);
  • Tabs of monitoring sections relative to the selected device (“4”);
  • Additional settings and information forms (“5”).

Toolbar

The main actions in the “TTA Monitor” software are performed using the toolbar icons (Figure 4). Icons are elements of the graphical user interface thanks to which a certain software application starts.

Figure 4. Elements of the toolbar

When you move the mouse pointer over the icon, a functional tooltip will be displayed, and when you click on it, the corresponding task will start.

The description of the functions of the icons (icons, icons, buttons) of the toolbar is given in the relevant sections below the text.

Device group (Objects)

The structure of monitoring elements (objects and devices) is displayed in the form of a tree on the left side of the graphical main window.

The tree displays controlled devices, which can be placed at the roots of the tree or in groups (objects) (Figure 5).

Figure 5. Tree of objects and devices

To add/create a group, click on the menu bar button – “Add new object”. For any tree you need to select either the first element or the root element of the tree before which a new group will be created and click the “Add new object” button.

To add a new device to the monitoring program, use the toolbar button – “Add new device“.

The rules for working with objects and devices presented in the form of a tree are general for lists of this type:

  • the icon of the collapsed tree node contains the “+” symbol
  • the icon of an expanded tree node contains the symbol “–”

In order to expand or collapse a tree node, it is enough to click on its icon with the left mouse button.

Adding a new device

To add a new device to the monitoring program, use the toolbar button – “Add new device”

Figure 6. Adding a new device (choosing the type of equipment)

When adding a new device (Digital VoIP Gateway or ТТА-08), it is necessary to specify the desired name of the device to be displayed in the “TTA Monitor” software, its IP address, the administrator’s name, the administrator’s password and, if necessary, a short description.

Alarm Event Monitoring Form (Alarms)

The main task of the “TTA Monitor” software is the monitoring of emergency and critical events, regardless of the type of device.

When such an event occurs (a critical change in the values of the monitored parameters of the device), the alarm event program window (Alarms) “appears” on top of other running programs and a sound signal will be turned on.

The sound signal is sent to the sound card of a personal computer running TTA Monitor software.
All actions described above are intended to attract the attention of technical personnel to the situation that has occurred.

The “Alarms” alarm event monitoring form (Figure 7) contains two tabs “Current” and “Archive”.

Figure 7. Alarms form – devices with “emergency” events

The technical staff should familiarize themselves with the received information and, if necessary, take measures to eliminate the situations that have arisen for each device.

To receive detailed information on the emergency state, you need to open the monitoring tab of the selected device through the “tree” of devices.

Main tab “Current”

The main “Current” tab is responsible for informing about current device emergency events and contains the following information:

  • Date and time of occurrence of the alarm event;
  • Name of the device;
  • Description of the alarm event;
  • User name and time when the alarm event was taken under control;
  • Detailed description of the alarm event;
  • Service buttons for searching for a specific device, taking control and closing the tab

Figure 8. Current tab – devices with an “emergency” state

Thanks to the service buttons, you can filter emergency events by device name, type of emergency, user name, or a detailed description of the cause of the emergency condition.

The emergency event monitoring form will appear in the foreground as long as there is at least one emergency event in the list that is not under control.

If you check the “Confirm” icon, the form will not “pop up” in the foreground until there are changes in emergency conditions (new emergency event, taking control, etc.).

To attract the attention of service personnel, the software supports the function of issuing a hardware sound signal (it can be turned off by pressing the “Disable alarm” button).

Additional tab “Archive”

The additional “Archive” tab is responsible for logging device emergency states and contains information:

  • The beginning and end date and time of the emergency
  • Name of the device
  • Description of the emergency event
  • User name and time when the emergency event was taken under control
  • Detailed description of the emergency event
  • Service buttons to search for a specific device and close the tab

Figure 9. “Archive” tab – devices with an “alarms” events

Thanks to the service buttons, it is possible to sort alarms events by device name, type of alarm, user name, detailed description of the cause of the alarm, and corresponding dates.

Digital VoIP Gateway device tabs

Device Tabs Digital VoIP Gateway contains graphical elements of “Device Parameters”, “E1 Interface”, “TDM Interface”, “SIP Interface” and Toolbar tabs.

Device Parameters

The “Device Parameters” tab displays the system status in real time and is visually divided into a general section, sections of statistics (Statistics), memory status (Memory), temperature (Temperature), media processor (Mediacore), WAN ports (Ethernet) ( Figure 10).

Figure 10. “Device Parameters” tab – general view

The General section displays the device type, IP address, serial number, and firmware version.

The “Statistics” section contains information about the number of successful calls with talk, without talk, the total operating time of the device and the load on the main processor.

E1 Interface

The “E1 Interface” tab displays a map of E1 ports and their current status (Figure 11). The interpretation of the possible states of the E1 interfaces is given in the graphic block “Legends”.

Figure 11. “E1 Interface” tab – general view

The E1 port map visually represents a table with the number of E1 ports involved and the corresponding statuses of the physical and signaling D-channel.

TDM Interface

The “TDM Interface” tab displays a map of TDM channels and their current status (Figure 12).

The decoding of the possible states of TDM channels is given in the graphic block “Legends”.

Figure 12. “TDM Interface” tab – general view

The TDM channel map visually represents a table with the number of PCM ports involved and their voice channels.

The tab also provides text information about the number of free, busy, active and blocked TDM channels.

SIP Interface

The “SIP Interface” tab displays a map of SIP channels and their current status (Figure 13).

The interpretation of the possible states of SIP channels is given in the graphic block “Legends“.

Figure 13. The Sip Interface tab is a mud

The map of SIP channels visually represents a table with the number of media processors involved and their voice channels.

The tab also displays text information about the number of free, busy, active and blocked SIP channels.

User Roles on Device

To open the “User Roles on Device” form, a corresponding icon of the device toolbar is displayed.
The form has a tabular appearance and displays the names (logins) of all members and their possible roles (Figure 14).

The “User Roles on Device” form allows the administrator to assign specific access rights to a specific device.

Figure 14. “User Roles on Device” form

Only a user with the role type “Administrator” and the appropriate rights can modify or delete existing roles or create new user roles.

SIP Subscribers

To call the “SIP Subscribers” form, use the device toolbar icon .

The form has a tabular form and displays phone numbers, registration information, V5.2 interface, V5.2 port, V5.2 CID, Own Dialplan. Bind SIP IP, SIP port, DTMF Mode, DTMF payload, FAX mode, Allowed codec.

The “SIP Subscribers” form allows users with appropriate rights to add new telephone subscribers and edit the parameters of previously created telephone subscribers relative to the selected device.

SFP VoIP Converter device tabs

Visually, the form of the SFP VoIP Converter device is divided into a toolbar, internal tabs “System” and “Status”.

To switch to the WEB-interface of the device, use the button of the toolbar  –  («Web interface»).

System

The “System” tab displays the device type, its IP address, serial number, firmware version, memory status, media processor temperature, total device operating time since power-on or last reboot (Figure 15).

Figure 15. “System” tab

Status

The “Status” tab (Figure 16) displays:

  • Current state of E1 port (E1 interface status) and signal channel (D channel status)
  • Map of PCM/SIP channels and their current state
  • Call statistics

Decoding of the possible states of PCM/SIP channels is given in the graphic block “Legends”.

Figure 16. tab – “Status”

Device tabs TTA-08 (version R3)

The current section contains a brief description of the tabs of the TTA-08 version R3 device that are displayed in the user interface.

The display form of the TTA-08 device contains graphic elements of the device tabs “Monitoring”, “Statistic”, “Settings” and a toolbar.

To switch to the WEB interface of the device, use the toolbar button –  («Web interface»).

Monitoring

The “Monitoring” tab (Figure 17) is responsible for monitoring the current status of all sensors and detectors connected to the TTA-08 device in real time.

The “Monitoring” tab is visually divided into sections:

  • Loops  4 inputs of security fire loops or dry contacts
  • AC220 / Digital Inputs – 2 inputs of 220V alternating current sensors or dry contact type sensors
  • Digital Inputs  4 inputs of sensors of the dry contact type
  • Analog sensors / Inputs  2 digital inputs of a temperature or temperature and humidity sensor and a constant voltage control sensor
  • Digital Outputs – 3 digital outputs for connecting visual signaling and controlling external devices (for example, turning on the air conditioner)

Figure 17. “Monitoring” tab – general view

Statistics

The “Statistics” tab (Figure 18) displays statistical and service information about the total operating time of the device and connected sensors.

This tab displays the data of the device’s internal clock and provides the possibility of synchronization with the clock of the user’s personal computer (“Synchronize” button).

Figure 18. “Statistics” tab – general view

Service information is placed in the “Services” section.

Settings

The “Settings” tab is intended for setting the network parameters of the device and configuring remote sensors and detectors (Figure 19).

Figure 19. “Settings” tab – general view

The “Settings” tab is visually divided into sections:

  • General – contains information about device name, serial number, hardware software version;
  • Network – contains information about network parameters;
  • Authentication – contains access information;
  • Protocol and Services – contains information about possible functional service capabilities of the device.

History of events (History)

The “History” section of the software is intended for recording (logging), viewing and further analysis of recorded events when working with controlled devices.

The view form is called through the toolbar using the “History” button .

The “History” form is divided into four tabs “Users“, “Devices“, “Subscribers” and “Call Reports”, with which you can select the information stored in the database that satisfies certain search criteria, or view a list of all saved events.

The search results for the required information can be saved as a PDF file.

“Users” tab (logging of user actions)

The “Users” tab displays activity logging and contains the following information (Figure 20):

  • Date and time of the emergency event
  • User name
  • Description of the event
  • Name of the device
  • Detailed description of the event
  • Service buttons for searching logs of certain events and saving them to a PDF file

Figure 20. “History” Form – “Users” Tab

Thanks to the search service buttons, it is possible to sort events by user name, event type, detailed description, and taking into account the “From” and “To” time period.

“Devices” tab (login by device)

To search for stored data in the context of monitored devices and events, use the drop-down lists on the “Devices” tab (Figure 21).

Figure 21. Form “History – Tab” Devices “

Logging by devices is carried out according to the following parameters:

  • Date and time of the emergency
  • Description of the event
  • Device name
  • Detailed description of the event

By selecting search parameters and time period, the user will receive the corresponding log.

Notifications – with the help of phone calls, SMS and E-mail

The “Notification” form includes the option of additional information about emergency status (Alarm) by e-mail, SMS and voice call to the specified phone numbers.

An external 3G/4G LTE USB modem is used to implement alarm notification functions via SMS and voice call.

During the operation of the “TTA Monitor” software and the use of an external 3G/4G USB modem, in the event of an “emergency” event, an SMS message, a voice message or an e-mail message (to the specified address) may be sent to the specified phone numbers.

Sending messages to e-mail E-mail can work without using a 3G/4G USB modem.

The icon of the main menu marked as “Notification” is responsible for the operation of this functionality.

Program settings

The “Settings” form consists of two tabs: “General” and “Server“.

In the “General” tab (Figure 22) it is possible to configure:

  • The size of the font and the size of the toolbar elements of the “TTA Monitor” program;
  • Change the software interface language;
  • Configure device polling interval depending on the type or use one interval for all device types.

Figure 22. “Settings” Form – “General” Tab

The “Server” tab is responsible for setting the server IP address, API port and service parameters (Disable read status (debug), Alarms form always on top, Copy Subscriber to SIP name and Password, Disable Alarms Form Notification).

Availables Users

To call the “Availables Users” form, use the corresponding toolbar icon.

The “Available users” form (Figure 25) has the “User Management” and “Active Sessions” tabs, which contain information about all users and active sessions.

“TTA Monitor” software supports two types of accounts – Administrator and User.

Figure 25. “Available users” Form – “User Management” Tab, List of Avainable Users

User Management  Administrator account

The “User Management” tab has a tabular form and contains information about users, their passwords and a short additional description.

All information is available to the administrator, he can add new users, edit and delete them, configure devices, etc.

Only a user with the role type “Administrator” can modify or delete existing roles or create new user roles.

User Management  User account

Users differ from the administrator in that they can limit access rights to certain objects and functions of the software, as well as set their own settings.

One of the actions available to the user is changing the password. To call the “Change Password” form, use the toolbar icon.

Active Sessions

The “Active Sessions” tab has a tabular form and displays the date and time of entry into the program, the IP address from which the entry was made, the name (login) of the user and the current version of the client software.

Technical support

The “ABOUT TTA Monitor” form contains information about the current version of the software and contact information of the technical support service.

Login, Logout, Exit

The functionality of the TTA Monitor monitoring system software is displayed on the toolbar through the corresponding icons, which is responsible for:

  • Exit – complete shutdown of the monitoring system
  • Login/Logout – starting and ending work under a certain type of user.

Benefits of using EMS/NMS

Using the specialized SNMP network monitoring system EMS/NMS “TTA Monitor” for remote monitoring of the status and parameters of digital devices manufactured by TERRATEL allows minimizing the risk of emergency situations. Thus, the monitoring system increases the awareness of responsible personnel about the condition of the equipment, facilitates the timely adoption of adequate decisions about emergency situations (or to prevent them), and allows minimizing the time for resumption of provided services and other corporate services..

Glossary of acronyms and abbreviations

Below is a glossary of highly specialized terms, acronyms and abbreviations used in this article.

SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) is a simple network management protocol for devices in IP networks based on the TCP/UDP architecture.

DB – Database organized according to the concept that describes their characteristics and relationships. In general, any ordered set of data can be considered a database.

API – a set of well-defined methods for the interaction of various software components.

HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) is an application-level protocol for transferring hypertext documents in HTML format

DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) is a network protocol for dynamic configuration of a node that allows network devices to automatically obtain an IP address and other parameters necessary for operation in a TCP/IP network.

DNS (Domain Name System) is a system of domain names, a hierarchical distributed system of converting the name of a network device into an IP address.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is a file transfer protocol from a special file server to the user’s computer.

TCP/IP – A set (stack) of data transmission protocols. This is the designation of the entire network, which works on the basis of two protocols – TCP and IP.