Critical Error e-mail: ...VOLTAGE DROPPED...Cable Unplugged

[Belinda Frick]

Example of critical e-mail:

--------------------- CRITICAL ERRORS START HERE ---------------------
2011-05-12 00:41:11 2011-05-12 01:07:06 CARDSERVER 192.168.0.98: ANALOG CHANNEL 31: ALARM EVT_VOLTAGE_BELOW:VOLTAGE DROPPED BELOW MINIMUM CAUSE:CABLE UNPLUGGED OR FAULTY SOLUTION: PLUG CABLE BACK IN OR REPAIR CABLE
---------------------- CRITICAL ERRORS END HERE ----------------------

How does AMETHYST decide when to send a voltage drop e-mail?

When a channel drops below 1 volt, the channel is immediately marked as DOWN. If it's DOWN for more than 30 seconds (and this is checked every 3 seconds), it is marked as FAULTY. When the voltage goes above 1 volt, the DOWN and FAULTY flags are immediately removed.

Every 30 seconds, there's a check for faulty channels. If a channel is faulty and no alarm has been generated for that channel for the last hour, an alarm event is generated, which will trigger an e-mail alert. No further alarms for that channel will be send (this e-mail alert/AMETHYST Critical Errors is sent every hour), to avoid sending multiple e-mails for a channel which repeatedly goes up and down.

To investigate you need to know if you have an extension or trunk/line side recording solution.

• Analog extension side recording:
  
  This critical e-mail alert can be sent if:
  
  
  • The extension is off hook (handset not place back properly after conversation was ended/call not terminated correct on headset). Once the next call is made/received from this extension and terminated correct, it should recover.
  • The extension is unplugged from the wall socket(or base of the phone).
  • The extension is not connected securely to the KRONO.
  • Faulty phone.
• Analog trunk/line side recording:
  
  
  • Cell router on analog line:
    
    Cell routers drop the voltage to ensure the PABX sees the phone is disconnected. It does not happen after every call however, and is usually down for a second or so. Some cell routers may drop for a longer time, which is why the cardserver waits 30 seconds before marking the channel as FAULTY.
    
    NOTE: When a cell router drops, the PABX will not be using it to make calls.
    
    The voltage drop with the cell router can be one of the following:
    
    1.) faulty cell router.
    2.) faulty power supply for cell router.
    3.) faulty power source cell router power supply is connected to.
    
    For errors above you need to contact your cellular service provider.
    
    A tempory fix is to install a timer to reset the cell router outside recording hours.
    
    NOTE: The reset of the router will fix the voltage issue until it occurs again. You might have to manually also reset the routers during the day.
    
    
  • Analog line:
    
    If no cell router, it could be:
    
    1.) that the cable is unplugged or
    2.) the cable is not connected securely
    3.) it could also be a faulty line (contact service provider to test).
    
    NOTE: If you continue to get these critical e-mails you must address it on the Cell Router/Analog side.

To ensure it is recording, do the following:

• First we must find the line/extension number to search for in Supervisor:
  AMETHYST Webadmin -> Configure Cardserver/CRE,
  click on the '+' next to Analog Slot (with the channel range as per critical e-mail).
  Check what the line/extension number for the channel is.
  Use this number to search for in AMETHYST Supervisor.
  
  
• In AMETHYST Supevisor, go to the Search page. Click on 'Clear Fields',
  enter the line/extension under the correct column heading and click on 'Calls for Today'.
  
  Check if there is any recordings after the date/time as per critical e-mail.
  
• If not, enable verbose logging:
  
  AMETHYST Webadmin -> Configure Cardserver,
  click on the '+' next to 'Options' and
  click on the link 'Verbose logging' to turn it off
  and then click on the link to turn it on again.
  
  Allow logging and then search the log to investigate if the channel is being recorded.