23/07/2019 Troubleshooting MGCP Registration : understanding the language of machines.
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Troubleshooting MGCP Registration : understanding the
language of machines.
Filed under: Gateways and Trunks, Tales — 6 Comments
July 7, 2013
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A while back it occurred to me that the best Unified Communications Engineers are the ones that
best understand the language of ‘ machines’ . The truth is, when a device develops a problem, it will
try to tell you in its own way using its own language. Just as in any other form of interaction; success
is rare in the absence of being able to give expression to one’s wishes and also being able to listen. An
Engineer speaks the language when he issues commands to a device using a ‘ graphical user
interface’ or a ‘ command line interface’ . An Engineer interprets/understands the language of
machines when he is able to decipher trace and error logs.
So, I made up my mind that where possible, I would try to listen first: I decided to look for the root
causes of a problem by first taking a look at the traces and logs before double checking the
configurations. The aim of this is simply geared towards improving my ability to understand what
these devices are trying to tell me in logs and traces when something goes wrong. practice makes
perfect!
I suspect someone out there shares my view that understanding logs and traces is what completes an
Engineer so I am going to share this li le episode that occurred in my home lab recently.
So a few days ago I took my personal router and switch with me to a data-center where I was
carrying out a server rebuild. I had modified the configurations on my devices to replicate the client’s
network but for some reason, when I got home to do some practice labs, I was almost surprised that
my MGCP gateway would not register to my Call Manager.
It was time to explore machine language so I logged unto the voice gateway and issued the following
commands:
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1) Debug mgcp packets
2) Terminal monitor
3) On the call-manager, I enabled detailed traces for voice gateways and MGCP.
4) Lastly, from the voice gateway’s global configuration interface, I issued the commands ‘ no mgcp’
following by ‘ mgcp’ . By so doing, I was essentially restarting the MGCP process.
Here is what I saw happening on the gateway:
*Jul 6 11:23:29.324: MGCP Packet sent to 192.168.0.55:2427—>
RSIP 205478228 *@Router.homelab.com MGCP 0.1
RM: restart
<—
*Jul 6 11:23:29.332: MGCP Packet received from 192.168.0.55:2427—>
200 205478228
<—
*Jul 6 11:23:29.332: MGCP Packet received from 192.168.0.55:2427—>
AUEP 31 S0/SU3/DS1-0/
[email protected] MGCP 0.1
F: X, A, I
<—
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
In the above, we see that the process started of by the gateway (10.10.10.3) sending a RSIP ‘ Restart in
progress’ message to the call-manager(192.168.0.55).
Next, we see a ‘200‘ acknowledgment message from the Cisco call manager basically saying: ‘ I’m ok
with that; thanks for le ing me know’ .
Next we see an ‘Audit end point’ message (AUEP) from the call-manager asking the gateway to
provide it with a report of the current status of the ISDN trunk. The call manager is very specific
because it was asking for an Audit of interface ‘S0/SU3/DS1-0/[email protected]‘. In human
language, that means: give me a report of the first channel (DS1-0/1) of interface 0/3/0 at a router
which has a qualified domain name of Router.homelab.com.
So far, this is normal behavior. You can double check with the Cisco Link below which shows the
registration process in graphical format.
h p://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk1077/technologies_tech_note09186a00801da84e.shtml#t6
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
*Jul 6 11:23:29.336: MGCP Packet sent to 192.168.0.55:2427—>
500 31 Endpt Unknown
<—
*Jul 6 11:23:29.336: MGCP Packet received from 192.168.0.55:2427—>
AUEP 32 S0/SU3/DS1-0/
[email protected] MGCP 0.1
F: X, A, I
<—
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*Jul 6 11:23:29.336: MGCP Packet sent to 192.168.0.55:2427—>
500 32 Endpt Unknown
<—
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
In the first line above, we see that the voice gateway responded to the call-manager’s ‘Audit endpoint’
request with a ‘500’ endpoint unknown response.
In the next two lines, we see that the call-manager tries to ask the gateway the same question about
the second channel (DS1-0/2)on of the ISDN trunk but once again, the gateway tells the call-
manager that it does not know what it’s talking about.
In case you have not understand how to spot the channel that an audit is being requeted for, take a
look at the output below. I think it will make everything sink in:
Router# sh mgcp endpoint
Interface E1 0/3/0
ENDPOINT-NAME V-PORT SIG-TYPE ADMIN
S0/SU3/ds1-0/1@Router 0/3/0:15 none up
S0/SU3/ds1-0/2@Router 0/3/0:15 none up
S0/SU3/ds1-0/3@Router 0/3/0:15 none up
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
So at this point I already knew why my gateway was not registering but I was curious about seeing
how the call-manager would try to express the problem to me so I collected call-manager traces and
this is what I saw:
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
|MGCPHandler received msg from: 10.10.10.3
RSIP 205478228 *@Router.homelab.com MGCP 0.1
RM: restart
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
From the above we see that the call-manager received a restart in progress(RSIP) message from the
voice-gateway ‘Router.homelab.com’ which is at IP Adress 10.10.10.3.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
In the logs below, we see the ‘MGCP manager’; which is running on the call-manager, scrambling to
figure out who device ‘Router.homelab.com ‘ is by querying the call-manager database. In the second
line below, we see that call-manager believes that the gateway is using a protocol of ‘ PRI Euro’ which
runs on E1.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
|MGCPManager::loadDbMGCPDeviceDigitalAccessPriMatchFunc – found GwName(S0/SU3/DS1-
[email protected]MGCPpn9d – Started. Device = S0/SU3/[email protected], Protocol=PRI EURO, Side =
USER.
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::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
In the first and second line below, we see the traces confirming that the ISDN layer three Backhaul
link from the gateway to the call-manager is opened.
In the fourth line, we see that the call-manager determines that this is an MGCP trunk because the
model type is 121 (MODEL TYPE = 121)
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
|MGCPBhHandler 10.10.10.3 – TCP opened and BH registered for the device
MGCPpn9d – Backhaul link OPEN for Devicename S0/SU3/[email protected]
MGCPHandler send msg SUCCESSFULLY to: 10.10.10.3
MGCPpn9d: dn_discovery_DbDnRes – DEVICE NAME = S0/SU3/[email protected]
MODEL TYPE = 121
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Since the call-manager believes that this is an MGCP trunk (MODEL TYPE = 121)running on protocol
type PRI EURO, the call-manager will not request for an audit of a 24 channel T1 trunk would it? it
will request for an audit of a 31 channel E1 trunk that is probably running in Europe or somewhere
else that uses the E1 standard.
So naturally, in the second and fourth lines below, we see call-manager was requesting for an audit
(AUED) of the 1st channel (DS1-0/1) and 31st (DS1-0/31) channel respectively. I did not added the
audit request for channel 2 to 30 because it was not needed, but as can be seen in the last line of trace,
the gateway’s response to every audit request was: ‘ sorry, I don’t know what you are talking about’
(500 31 Endpt Unknown)
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
|MGCPHandler send msg SUCCESSFULLY to: 10.10.10.3
F: X, A, I
|MGCPHandler send msg SUCCESSFULLY to: 10.10.10.3
AUEP 60 S0/SU3/DS1-0/
[email protected] MGCP 0.1
F: X, A, I
|MGCPHandler received msg from: 10.10.10.3
500 31 Endpt Unknown
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
If you recall from the beginning of this post I said that I already knew what was wrong when the
voice-gateway responded with the ‘endpoint unknown message’ to the audit endpoint request from
the call-manager. we are about to see the reason why.
The next thing I did was to turn off all debugging on the voice-gateway by using the command: ‘ u
all’ at configuration mode. However, I still had terminal monitor on.
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I then logged unto the Cisco Communications Manager webpage and reset my gateway from there. I
went back to the voice-gateway and this is the shortened version of what I saw:
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
*Jul 6 14:23:32.884: %SYS-5-CONFIG_I: Configured from console by console
controller E1 0/3/0
^
% Invalid input detected at ‘^‘ marker.
pri-group timeslots 1-31 service mgcp
^
% Invalid input detected at ‘^‘ marker.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Do you know what’s happening above? Basically, because I had reset the voice-gateway on call-
manager, a signal was sent to the voice-gateway that it should reboot the trunk and download a new
set of configurations.
The gateway clearly download the new configuration because the gateway was actually trying to
configure the E1 port as can be seen in the second line of the trace output above. However, we see
that the router return an error of ‘ invalid input detected. This means that this command is not
allowed. But the question is why? . . . lets find out.
So on the voice gateway I issued the commands ‘do sh run | in controller ‘ and ‘do sh run | in card ‘:
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Router(config)#do sh run | in controller
controller T1 0/3/0
Router(config)#do sh run | in card type
card type t1 0 3
voice-card 0
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
So from the above we can clearly see what the problem was. The Call-manager was trying to
configure an E1 interface but there was no E1 interfaces on the gateway just T1. So all along, the call
manager was trying to take audit for an E1 interface that did not exist and the gateway could not
register it’s MGCP ports because they were not configured as T1 on the call-manager. Here is what I
did to resolve it:
Router(config)#no card type t1 0 3
Router(config)# card type E1 0 3
Router(config)# reload
Then I reset the gateway on call-manager and everything worked perfectly. I really hope someone
has found this informative because my original thought was that this case is not blog-worthy.
However, since the main focus was on understanding traces and becoming more familiar with them, I
hope a greater understanding of traces has been delivered to the readers of this post.
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Cheers
Maxwell
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Tags: Backhaul link OPEN for Devicename, Configuration by CCM is done, CONFIG_DONE:
Configuration by CCM is done, Endpt Unknown, sh mgcp endpoint, Troubleshooting MGCP
Registration
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6 Comments:
Maxwell
April 20, 2015 at 2:06 pm
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Thank you yasir. I have gained so much from reading other people’s blogs so its always nice to see
my blog helping others too.
Cheers
Maxwell
yasir
April 17, 2015 at 8:28 pm
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23/07/2019 Troubleshooting MGCP Registration : understanding the language of machines. | The Voice Initiate
man u the the man i was not able to register my mgcp gateway ge ing unknown on cucm and
registering for ever on sh ccm-manager the moment i hit debug mgcp packets i saw labs..local a
domain name configured long time ago and that was a problem i remove the domain name and it
registered
i like the way u take time clearly i can see u love what u do
love what you do till you do what you love.
cheers
Maxwell
February 3, 2015 at 12:58 am
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I’m glad I could be of help.
cheers
Enoete
January 20, 2015 at 4:48 pm
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You are a God Send. Thank you for this. I dont know how people can be so gracious to as to take
time to help others after figuring stuff out. This made a world of difference for me with se ing up
my gateway. Actually, its still not yet working but at least, I am making progress. Thanks a mil!!
Maxwell
November 20, 2014 at 5:54 pm
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Thank you Aravindan
Aravindan
November 9, 2014 at 5:47 pm
0
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i
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Thanks for the very detailed explanation …;) please keep posting
Blog at WordPress.com.
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