SBC Global Media Test

Media packets contain audio or video data that is being transmitted over the network, and if they are not received properly or are lost, it can result in poor call quality or dropped calls. Media packet loss of an SBC AudioCodes could be due to a variety of factors such as network congestion, high traffic volume, network errors or issues, improper configuration of the SBC, or hardware/software problems. Hence, proactive identification of media packet loss, media jitter, or oversaturation of media bandwidth is very crucial to ensure the smooth operation of the SBC and AudioCodes appliance.

This test monitors the global entity of the target AudioCodes appliance and reports the packet loss, jitter, bandwidth and quality of incoming and outgoing media communications. Additionally, this test also reports the number of various media streams transferred through the appliance. This way, the test helps network administrators to quickly identify and address potential issues that may arise, such as network congestion, equipment failure, or misconfiguration, before they impact the overall performance and user satisfaction with the communication system.

Target of the test : A SBC AudioCodes appliance

Agent deploying the test : An external agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for the target SBC AudioCodes being monitored.

Configurable parameters for the test
Parameters Description

Test period

How often should the test be executed

Host

The IP address of the host for which this test is to be configured.

SNMPPort

The port at which the monitored target exposes its SNMP MIB; the default is 161.

SNMPVersion

By default, the eG agent supports SNMP version 1. Accordingly, the default selection in the SNMPversion list is v1. However, if a different SNMP framework is in use in your environment, say SNMP v2 or v3, then select the corresponding option from this list.

SNMPCommunity

The SNMP community name that the test uses to communicate with the firewall. This parameter is specific to SNMP v1 and v2 only. Therefore, if the SNMPVersion chosen is v3, then this parameter will not appear.

Username

This parameter appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPversion. SNMP version 3 (SNMPv3) is an extensible SNMP Framework which supplements the SNMPv2 Framework, by additionally supporting message security, access control, and remote SNMP configuration capabilities. To extract performance statistics from the MIB using the highly secure SNMP v3 protocol, the eG agent has to be configured with the required access privileges – in other words, the eG agent should connect to the MIB using the credentials of a user with access permissions to be MIB. Therefore, specify the name of such a user against this parameter. 

Context

This parameter appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVERSION. An SNMP context is a collection of management information accessible by an SNMP entity. An item of management information may exist in more than one context and an SNMP entity potentially has access to many contexts. A context is identified by the SNMPEngineID value of the entity hosting the management information (also called a contextEngineID) and a context name that identifies the specific context (also called a contextName). If the Username provided is associated with a context name, then the eG agent will be able to poll the MIB and collect metrics only if it is configured with the context name as well. In such cases therefore, specify the context name of the Username in the Context text box.  By default, this parameter is set to none.

AuthPass

Specify the password that corresponds to the above-mentioned Username. This parameter once again appears only if the SNMPversion selected is v3.

Confirm Password

Confirm the AuthPass by retyping it here.

AuthType

This parameter too appears only if v3 is selected as the SNMPversion. From the AuthType list box, choose the authentication algorithm using which SNMP v3 converts the specified username and password into a 32-bit format to ensure security of SNMP transactions. You can choose between the following options:

  • MD5 - Message Digest Algorithm
  • SHA - Secure Hash Algorithm
  • SHA224 - Secure Hash Algorithm 224 bit
  • SHA256 - Secure Hash Algorithm 256 bit
  • SHA384 - Secure Hash Algorithm 384 bit
  • SHA512 - Secure Hash Algorithm 512 bit

EncryptFlag

This flag appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPversion. By default, the eG agent does not encrypt SNMP requests. Accordingly, the this flag is set to No by default. To ensure that SNMP requests sent by the eG agent are encrypted, select the Yes option. 

EncryptType

If the EncryptFlag is set to Yes, then you will have to mention the encryption type by selecting an option from the EncryptType list. SNMP v3 supports the following encryption types:

  • DES - Data Encryption Standard
  • 3DES - Triple Data Encryption Standard
  • AES - Advanced Encryption Standard
  • AES128 - Advanced Encryption Standard 128 bit
  • AES192 - Advanced Encryption Standard 192 bit
  • AES256 - Advanced Encryption Standard 256 bit

EncryptPassword

Specify the encryption password here.

Confirm Password

Confirm the encryption password by retyping it here.

Timeout

Specify the duration (in seconds) within which the SNMP query executed by this test should time out in this text box. The default is 10 seconds.

Data Over TCP

By default, in an IT environment, all data transmission occurs over UDP. Some environments however, may be specifically configured to offload a fraction of the data traffic – for instance, certain types of data traffic or traffic pertaining to specific components – to other protocols like TCP, so as to prevent UDP overloads. In such environments, you can instruct the eG agent to conduct the SNMP data traffic related to the monitored target over TCP (and not UDP). For this, set this flag to Yes. By default, this flag is set to No.

EngineID

This parameter appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVersion. Sometimes, the test may not report metrics when AES192 or AES256 is chosen as the Encryption type. To ensure that the test report metrics consistently, administrators need to set this flag to Yes. By default, this parameter is set to No.

Measurements made by the test

Measurement

Description

Measurement Unit

Interpretation

Received media packets

Indicates the number of media packets received on the target appliance during the last measurement period.

Number

 

Transmitted media packets

Indicates the number of media packets transmitted from the target appliance during the last measurement period.

Number

 

Inbound media traffic

Indicates the amount of media traffic into the target appliance during the last measurement period.

KB

A higher volume of media traffic than usual indicates potential network congestion or overload.

Outbound media traffic

Indicates the amount of media traffic flowing out of the target appliance during the last measurement period.

KB

A high value of this measure indicates an abnormal increase in traffic volume, unusual patterns in the traffic flow, or potential security threats such as malicious attacks or unauthorized access attempts.

Inbound media bandwidth

Indicates the amount of bandwidth consumed by the media flowing into the target appliance.

Kbps

If the inbound media bandwidth exceeds the predefined threshold then can be due to a sudden spike in traffic, network congestion, or configuration issues.

Outbound media bandwidth

Indicates the amount of bandwidth consumed by the media flowing out of the target appliance.

Kbps

If the outbound media bandwidth usage has exceeded a predefined threshold, it could indicate that there is a high volume of outbound media traffic, which may impact the quality of the audio or video calls being made through the SBC.

Inbound media packet loss

Indicates the percentage of inbound media packet loss on the target appliance.

Percent

A value close to 100 for this measure can indicate potential issues with the network or transmission of media data, which can impact the quality of audio or video calls being processed by the SBC. When media packets are lost during communication sessions, it can result in audio or video quality degradation, stuttering, delays, or even call drops.

Outbound media packet loss

Indicates the percentage of outbound media packet loss on the target appliance.

Percent

A high value for this measure indicates a significant loss of audio packets being sent from the SBC to the destination. This can indicate a problem with the network, the SBC configuration, or the destination device.

Inbound media jitter

Indicates the average time delay between successive inbound media packets on the target appliance.

Milliseconds

Inbound media jitter could be due to fluctuations or inconsistencies in the latency of the media packets being transmitted to the SBC. When jitter levels are too high, it can indicate network congestion, poor network performance and this can result in poor call quality, such as choppy or garbled audio.

Outbound media jitter

Indicates the average time delay between successive outbound media packets on the target appliance.

Milliseconds

Outbound media jitter could be due to fluctuations in the network conditions causing variations in the latency of the audio packets being transmitted from the appliance. This can result in degraded audio quality or dropped calls if the jitter levels exceed a certain threshold.

Inbound media quality

Indicates the inbound media quality on the target appliance.

 

The values reported by this measure and its numeric equivalents are mentioned in the table below:

Numeric Value Measure Value
0 Red
1 Yellow
2 Green

Note:

By default, this measure reports the Measure Values listed in the table above to indicate the Inbound media quality of the target appliance. However, the graph of this measure will be represented using the corresponding numeric equivalents of the measure values as mentioned in the table above.

A degradation in media quality could be due to network congestion, packet loss, high jitter, or poor audio quality. These factors can affect the quality of inbound media, leading to interruptions, distortions, or delays in audio transmission during calls.

Outbound media quality

Indicates the outbound media quality on the target appliance.

 

The values reported by this measure and its numeric equivalents are mentioned in the table below:

Numeric Value Measure Value
0 Red
1 Yellow
2 Green

Note:

By default, this measure reports the Measure Values listed in the table above to indicate the outbound media quality of the target appliance. However, the graph of this measure will be represented using the corresponding numeric equivalents of the measure values as mentioned in the table above.

Media streams

Indicates the total number of media streams being processed by the target appliance.

Number

 

Media RTP streams

Indicates the number of RTP streams processed by the target appliance.

Number

 

Media SRTP streams

Indicates the number of SRTP streams processed by the target appliance.

Number

 

Media SIP-REC streams

Indicates the number of SIP-REC streams processed by the target appliance.

Number

 

Media WebRTC streams

Indicates the number of WebRTC streams processed by the target appliance.

Number