In general, look at the c:\ciscoInstall.log for any problems related to installation. If you encounter error messages during installation, refer to the following table.
Error Message
Description/Solution
"MSDE user password failed ..."
Verify that if MSDE is installed correctly on the Cisco Conference Connection Server machine:
From the Windows 2000 desktop, select Start > Programs >MSDE
If you do not find the MSDE folder, then MSDE was not installed correctly.
Note that the installation should not be done using Terminal Services.
The following services should be configured with a Startup Type of "Automatic":
Cisco Application Engine
Conferencing Gateway
Cisco AVVID Alarm Service
Other services that should be running include:
IIS Admin Service
World Wide Web Publishing Service
Event Log
If you are having service fails to start problems, refer to the following table.
Error Message
Description/Solution
"one of the services fails to start..."
Peform the following steps:
1. Open Windows Services.
From the Windows 2000 desktop, select Start >Programs >Administrative Tools >Services.
2. Look for the Cisco Application Engine Service and check the logon privileges of the service.
a. In the Services window, select and right-click the Cisco Application Engine Service.
b. Select Properties.
The login account (entered during the installation) used must have Administrative privileges on the server on which the service is installed. If the password contains spaces, change it here.
Startup Problems
If you are having startup problems, refer to the following table.
Symptom/Error Message
Description/Solution
If you change the IP address or the name of the server after installation, Cisco Conference Connection may not start or work.
If you are having configuration problems, refer to the following table.
Symptom
Description/Solution
Encounter errors when configuring the LDAP directory
It is probable that network connectivity to the Cisco CallManager server hosting LDAP services is down.
Check to see if you can ping the Cisco CallManager LDAP server from the Cisco Conference Connection server.
Synchronization with Cisco Call Manager users does not work
Check whether Cisco Call Manager is using DC Directory for user profiles (as opposed to Active Directory or Netscape Directory). If DC Directory is not being used, user synchronization will not work.
Check if the DC Directory Server Service is running on the Cisco Call Manager Publisher server. If it is not, restart the DC Directory Server Service.
To diagnose this problem, go to the Cisco CallManager Publisher server and follow these steps:
Check the log files in the suspense directory (the directory set by the SuspensePath parameter in the odbcagr.txt file). If you notice errors such as "There is no Index Table record corresponding to the...", it is probably due to a problem with the agreement ID set by the agreement ID in the odbcagr.txt file.
Synchronization with Cisco Call Manager users does not work
Check the log files in the $DCDSRVR\run\dcx500\ directory ($DCDSRVR would typically be c:\dcdsrvr) that are formatted as: ev20010508.0000, where 2001 is the year, 0508 is the month/day, and 0000 is the hour.
Look for the agreement ID that you configured.
If there is a "Communications error" error message when connecting to LDAP, perform the following:
From the Services window, restart the DC Directory Server, and then restart the synchronization process.
JTAPI subsystem OUT_OF_SERVICE
Check to make sure that the Cisco CallManager server is up and running. Make sure that the Cisco CallManager service and the CTI Manager service are running. If they are not running, go to Windows Services and start each service.
On the Cisco Conference Connection server, ensure that the IP address is configured correctly.
Open the Application Administration page and select Engine.
Select Configure. The Application Engine Hostname (IP address) must match the IP address configured on the Cisco Conference Connection server. If it does not, enter the correct IP address and click Update.
Problems Joining a Conference
If users are having problems joining a conference, refer to the following table.
Symptom/Error Message
Description/Solution
No welcome prompt heard after dialing the Cisco Conference Connection access number (users might get a busy tone, error tone, silence, or be disconnected)
If users report that they get an error tone, busy tone, or are disconnected when they call the Cisco Conference Connection access number (but do not hear a welcome prompt):
Next check that the Conference Director (Engine) is operating properly. To check the Conference Director status:
On the Cisco Conference Connection Server:
1. Open your Web browser and enter: http://<conferenceconn machine>/appadmin, where conferenceconn machine is the IP address of your Cisco Conference Connection Server.
2. On the Application Administration page, select Engine and check if the Engine status is "Running" and if the JTAPI Subsystem is "IN_SERVICE".
3. Stop the Engine by clicking Stop Engine and then restart the Engine by clicking Start Engine.
Note Stopping and restarting the Engine does not affect any
callers currently in conferences. However, it does
prevent new callers from joining conferences.
No welcome prompt heard after dialing the Cisco Conference Connection access number (users might get a busy tone, error tone, silence, or be disconnected)
Check the Cisco Conference Connection configuration script.
1. On the Application Administration page, select Telephony Applications.
2. Select the conference.aef script. On the next page click Next.
3. Make sure that the following are set correctly:
The CTI Route Point
Maximum number of sessions is not zero (0)
The Enabled option button is set to Yes
Hear a welcome prompt, but later get a busy tone, error tone, or are disconnected
Busy Tone: The conference is already full (that is, if six participants is the scheduled limit, and six participants are currently present, then no more participants can join the conference). Cisco Conference Connection issues a busy tone when an attempt is made to join a valid, but full conference.
Error Tone: The Conference ID entered is incorrect. It may have been entered incorrectly, correspond to a conference that has already stopped, or a conference that has not yet started. Recheck the conference information to be sure the Conference ID is correct and that the the start time has arrived.
Note The conference start time is relative to the time zone of
the Conference Connection server.
Hear a welcome prompt, but later get a busy tone, error tone, or are disconnected
Disconnection: There are several possible causes for this. The most common are:
Either of the conditions above (Busy Tone or Error Tone) are true, but the caller has arrived on a gateway that is not properly configured to generate the appropriate tone. In this case the gateway may disconnect. Consult your gateway configuration documentation to determine how to configure the gateway so that it does not disconnect in these cases (it varies according to gateway type).
The conference has just reached its end time and is being stopped.
The GWPrefix on the Application Parameters Configuration screen is incorrect. If an incorrect GWPrefix is given, the call will be incorrectly routed and may result in disconnection (or error tone).
Successfully join a conference and then subsequently get dropped
The conference may have been stopped by the conference owner or the administrator.
The conference reaches its end time and there are insufficient resources to auto-extend it.
Use of the Hold feature, or otherwise answering or placing a call while connected to a conference, will result in a user's conference call being dropped. This eliminates the possibility of getting music on hold from the local Cisco CallManager.
Note This also prevents someone from being transferred
directly into a conference (although they can be
transferred to the route point).
The H.323 Gateway for the Cisco Conference Connection may have been reset.
Audio Quality Problems
If you are having audio quality problems, such as no announcements, scrambled audio, conference is too loud or too soft, refer to the following table.
Symptom
Description/Solution
Conference entry or exit tones or annoucements not working
Check that the WAV files are present in C:\Program Files\Cisco\ConferenceConnection\Prompts
Check the format of the WAV files, which must be 8 or 16 bit mono 8000 kHz, PCM
Poor audio quality
Echo
First, determine if all participants hear an echo. If one participant is not hearing an echo, the chances are very good that the echo is coming from the participant who does not hear the echo.
There are two main sources of echo:
Acoustic echo—this kind of echo may be induced by the use of a speakerphone, where some of the audio from the speaker is fed back into the microphone. This is especially true when certain devices are used in conference halls, or when PC speakers are facing a participant who is talking into a microphone. Another common cause of echo is the placement of a handset face down on a desk, especially if the handset volume is set at a very high level.
To reduce acoustic echo, determine if any participant is using a speakerphone and request that a handset or headset be used.
Poor audio quality
Network echo—this is caused by impedance mismatch problems between physical network components. This is usually observed when one or some of the participants are calling in from an external number.
To reduce the network echo, determine if any participant is calling from the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), or using a cellular phone. PSTN gateways include some form of echo cancellation; this may be set to a value that cannot handle the echo produced by some networks. Since it not feasible to recommend a particular value for the echo cancellation parameter, check the gateway documentation to see how to vary echo cancellation, then try to experiment with different values.
A sniffer program trace would help when contacting the Technical Assistance Center (TAC).
Robotic voice, clipped audio, silence
To effectively diagnose problems with audio quality, follow these procedures.
If the call with poor audio originated from the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), have the participant(s) dial into Cisco Conference Connection directly and check to see if audio problems persist.
Check the bandwidth of the network connection. It is recommended that Cisco Conference Connection be run on a 100Mbps network connection. If the network connection is running at 10Mbps, then upgrade the connectivity. At 10Mbps, it is estimated that 60 participants will use all of the available bandwidth. Any other traffic on such a network will adversely effect voice quality.
Poor audio quality
To debug short intervals of silence, or clicks and pops, check to see if the problem occurred during a call with the gateway. Voice Activity Detection (VAD) on the gateways, or intelligent routers, can cause short periods of silence, if the volume of the audio stream is determined to be low. Try to lower the VAD, or remove it completely, and then check to see if the problem persists.
If none of the above procedures has any positive effect on the voice quality, then the installation of a network sniffer program is recommended.
Install the sniffer program on a separate machine, then connect this machine to a hub connected to the Cisco Conference Connection Server. Read the sniffer program instructions on how to capture traces. Two common tools used are Netmon (Microsoft, ships with Windows 2000 Server) and Sniffer PRO (Network Associates).
It is desirable to have a sniffer running at the endpoint where the poor audio is received. However, if this not possible, then trace the Cisco Conference Connection Server input and output streams, and send them to the Technical Assistance Center (TAC), if necessary.
General End-User Problems
If users are having general problems, such as trying to log in to Cisco Conference Connection, or add or find a conference and so on, refer to the following table.
Symptom
Description/Solution
Cannot log in to the Cisco Conference Connection Web interface
Check the URL for the Cisco Conference Connection Web interface
When logging in, use your Cisco CallManager user ID and password. If you recently changed your Cisco CallManager password, wait 15 minutes and then try to log in again
After logging in, you see "Current Conferences - Not Available" or "Add a conference - Not Available"
Stop and restart Cisco Conference Connection.
Cannot access the Cisco Conference Connection Web interface
Check the URL for the Cisco Conference Connection Web interface. Ask your system administrator for the correct URL
If you see the error: Cannot find server or DNS Error, then either the URL is incorrect, or the Cisco Conference Connection Server is not available
Cannot add a conference
Check for common errors first:
conference end date or time precedes start time (end date applies only to recurring conferences)
missing or duplicate conference name
invalid conference start or end date (for example, February 30) (end date applies only to recurring conferences)
insufficient system resources available for the conference date/time requested
On the Cisco Conference Connection Web page check that the Add a Conference link is available. If it is not available, then system resources may not be available, the Cisco Conference Connection Server has stopped, or the user does not have permission to add a conference.
If you are trying to add a recurring conference, make sure that the recurring conference name is unique. Recurring conference names must be unique so that they can be modified as a series.
Cannot find a conference
Check for a conference on the Conferences In Progress page. Use the Search tool (available on the Conferences in Progress, Scheduled Conferences, and Past Conferences pages) to search for the conference you want. You can also use the Find button to search for conferences. (Note that when searching for a "hidden" conference, you must enter the exact conference name.)
Conferences created as "Hidden Conferences" are only visible to the conference owner and the system administrator. If you are not the conference owner or a system administrator, you will not be able to see the conference.
It is also possible that the conference has been stopped, deleted, or finished normally. If the conference has been deleted, no further information will be available.
Conferernces do not appear on your Cisco IP Phone 7960/40 display
The conferences may be hidden. "Hidden" conferences are only visible to the conference owner and the system administrator. If you are not the conference owner or a system administrator, you will not be able to see the conference.
Extending or deleting conferences
Conferences must be extended in increments of at least 5 minutes past the current end time.
Conferences that are currently in progress must be stopped before they can be deleted.
Exception: Deleting a recurring conference series will stop any currently running conference (you will be warned first).
Conference ID is not as expected
Cisco Conference Connection uses the standard keypad mapping to provide default conference IDs, if you do not specify one. Often, it is possible to have conferences with similar names, occurring at the same time. In such cases, the conferenceIDs must be unique.
For example, the conference "Steven staff meeting" would normally generate 783836. Another conference called "Stevenson Weekly Meeting" would generate the same ID, provided they do not occur at the same time. If the conferences do overlap, then another ID is provided for the conference that is scheduled second. This is an arbitrary 6 or 7 digit number, which does not follow the keypad mapping.
It is possible to change the conference ID before the conference actually starts. You can do so on the Conference Information page, provided there are no ID clashes with other conferences at the same time and date.
You can use several tools to help you troubleshoot problems that might occur. Refer to the following topics for a description on how to use these tools.
You can use the Windows Event Viewer to look at the application events log when trying to troubleshoot the Cisco Conference Connection.
To open the Event Viewer:
From the Windows 2000 desktop, select Start >Programs >Administrative Tools >Event Viewer
Some of the key messages to review are listed in the following table.
Category
Summary
Description/Cause
Example
None
empty Terminal CapabilitySet
A call will be disconnected due to a HOLD
empty TerminalCapabilitySet
27
Conference started
A conference was started successfully
Conference ID = 2368 started
28
Conference ... entering endzone
Conference end time has arrived
Conference 2008 entering the endzone with 0 clients connected
29
Conference stopped
Conference was ended
Conference ID = 2351 stopped and deleted from Slave's records
44
Conference stop
Conference cannot continue due to resource restrictions (normal end initiated)
Master explicitly denied an extension for conference ID = 1837 so stop it
64
Check schedule
Normal checking to see if any conferences are ready to be stopped
Slave 1 tells Master that conference 2353 'CCC Roundtable' has stopped. +++++ updateType = 3. Found CCT entry. ScheduledConferenceTable doesn't exist. No conference error. Update CCS. Update existing CCT. Delete SCT entry (0 rows deleted). Archive conference. Ack sent to slave.
Slave 1 tells Master that conference 2399 `CCC discussion' has been extended. +++++ updateType = 1. Found SCT entry. Found CCT entry. Compare endTime with SCT. endDateTime updated in SCT from 2001-07-09 15:00:00.0 to 2001-07-09 15:15:00.0. No conference error.
75
No video
Ignore this message, it does not apply
Failed to open outgoing video channel to node `70156' at address 0.0.0.0
86
Call ... dropped
Conference participant was dropped due to an end of conference, or entry of an invalid conference ID
H323 call with node `4085558184' at address 0.0.0.0 dropped for reason 0x2
88
Rejected call
Call was rejected (many causes)
107
Audio codecs
Shown when first participant arrives in the conference
Audio codecs for conference `phantom 9' fixed to: Send `g711Ulaw64k', Receive `g711Ulaw64k'
109, 110
New call
Participant added successfully to conference
New H323 call with node `70156' at address `0.0.0.0' in conference `Apps'. H323 terminal label 0x101
New H323 call with node `71180' at address `10.34.42.11' (which already has a T120 connection) in conference `CCC Issues'
113
Call ended
Normal end of call
H323 call with node `71180' at address'10.34.42.11' in conference `CCC Issues' has ended
125
WCM using CGPI to connect to conference `SP test'
126
Outgoing jitter
Indicates a possible audio quality problem
Engine Log Files
You can review the Engine log files when troubleshooting Cisco Conference Connection.
To open the Engine log file:
Step 1 Connect to the Application Administration web server by using the following URL:
http://servername/AppAdmin
where servername is the DNS name or IP address of your Cisco Conference Connection server.
Step 2 On the Application Administration page, click Engine.
The status display appears and should show the following information:
System/Subsystem
Status
Engine
Running
Application subsystem
IN_SERVICE
JTAPI subsystem
IN_SERVICE
Step 3 If the subsystems are not in an IN_SERVICE state, click Start Engine.
To review trace files:
Step 1 Select Trace files.
A list of log files is displayed similar to the following list.
File Name
Date
Length
CiscoMIVR09.log
7/11/01 11:10 PM
420943
CiscoMIVR08.log
7/10/01 10:09 AM
723297
CiscoMIVR07.log
7/9/01 11:24 AM
651559
CiscoMIVR06.log
7/5/01 9:16 PM
1037044
CiscoMIVR05.log
7/4/01 5:31 PM
1031949
Step 2 To view a particular log file, select the file name from the list.
The following information can be used to diagnose problems.
Summary Content
Description/Cause
Example
ProcessStart notification
Usually the first line of a log, indicates that the engine was started
0: Jul 10 10:09:59.984 PDT %MIVR-ENG-7-UNK:ProcessStart notification signifies that a process has just started. : ProcessId = 2632 ModuleName = Cisco Application Engine
OUT OF SERVICE
Engine is not ready to receive calls (normal during startup)
179: Jul 10 10:10:02.828 PDT %MIVR-SS_TEL-2-SS_OUT_OF_SERVICE:JTAPI subsystem in out of service
Adding CTI Group
Shows the route number being selected
189: Jul 10 10:10:07.453 PDT %MIVR-SS_TEL-7-UNK:Adding CTI Port Group: type = Workflow, id = 31517, initial CTI Port = 13050, max ports = 10
191: Jul 10 10:10:07.890 PDT %MIVR-SS_TEL-7-UNK:ServiceAddressObserver received CiscoAddrInService for port TPG[type = Workflow, id = 31517]-TP[num = 13050]
Call Received
Received a call from the number shown (ani)
405: Jul 10 10:10:28.953 PDT %MIVR-SS_TEL-7-UNK:Call.received() Call[id: 1, media: 3555/3, state = RECEIVED, dn = 31517, ani = 67927, lrd = null, type = DIRECT_CALL ...
Call Answered
Call is answered by the Engine
425: Jul 10 10:10:30.750 PDT %MIVR-SS_TEL-7-UNK:Call.answered() Call[id: 1, media: 3555/3, state = ANSWERED, dn = 31517, ani = 67927, lrd = null, type = DIRECT_CALL ...
Playing Prompt
Indicates the media that is played
428: Jul 10 10:10:30.968 PDT %MIVR-SS_TEL-7-UNK:MediaManager playing C:\Program Files\wfavvid\Prompts\user\en_US\Rv_welcome.wav
Collect Input
Waiting for user to enter digits
434: Jul 10 10:10:33.750 PDT %MIVR-ENG-7-UNK:Execute step of Task 9000000001 : Parse Input (store in User_Enter_Digit)
Call abandoned
Caller hung up/disconnected
440: Jul 10 10:10:34.359 PDT %MIVR-SS_TEL-7-UNK:Call.abandonned() Call[id: 1, media: 3555/3, state = ABANDONED, dn = 31517, ani = 67927, lrd = null, type = DIRECT_CALL ...
Caller was successfully transferred into the conference
1272: Jul 10 12:06:47.453 PDT %MIVR-SS_TEL-7-UNK:Call.transferred(15700111222) - transferring Call[id: 24, media: 3753/2, state = TRANSFERRED, dn = 31517, ani = 71174, lrd = null, type = DIRECT_CALL ...
To review trace file configurations:
Step 1 Select Trace configuration.
Step 2 To obtain more detailed trace configuration information:
a. Scroll down to the Active trace level options table.
b. Select the Debugging check box for one or more of the items in the table.
Note Selecting the more detailed trace configuration information will slow
down your system. You should only enable Debugging when trying to
diagnose problems.
