Merlin Magix & AT&T IP Flex

[Andrewiski]

thread689-1566277

So after 1 year since we initialy signed our contract AT&T finaly got the PRI circuit turned up for our voice portion. Out setup is 2 bounded t1s into there cisco router with a PRI outbound to our Merlin Magix INA100. Testing went great for the 10 minutes we tested the 3 weeks before. When we went to port we had issues as they couldn't port the 800 numbers so that delayed us another 3 weeks. We finaly went live the port took about 30 minutes for 40 DIDs. Everything went smooth for the first 2 hours then no outbound or inbound calls. After talking to the tech to confirm the settings there we set to NI2 not 5ESS like I had requested. I also found that they won't give odd channel numbers( we had 11 channels before now we got 12) so I had to enable another channel on the avaya. Every thing went weel for the next 12 hours or so. After another 12 hours inbound call worked but outbound was a fast busy. Also more and more faxes atarted to fail. The only way to get the outbound back up was to power cycle the cisco gear until I could get a ticket open and get a level 2 at&t tech on the phone. In the older thread I saw the post to make sure we were using no compression on the voice channels so I request that g711 be the codec. They made some other changes as well to try to fix the outbound call issue. I will post an update after another 24 hours goes buy and we see if the issue was fixed. I will also call back if the issue was fixed and ask for the Router confim so i can post it here so anyone else brave (stupid) enough to follow in my footsteps can hope to get it right the first time.

Andy

 

[Dexman]

Never a dull moment.

If it ain't broke, I haven't fixed it yet.

 

[Telecomboy]

I've had the same issue on IP Flex where they delivered NI2 even though the paperwork and the tech originally swore up and down it was programmed as 5ESS. I've learned to always ask right up front to make sure they verify it is 5ESS as it won't work on NI2.

 

[Andrewiski]

My issues continue with the AT&T IPFlex Voip circut. I just turned off the CSU in hopes that this would help but feel I am grasping at straws. Call work for a couple of hours both ways then I can't call out but inbounds work. I have been on the phone with AT&T level 2 for a good 3 hours now and still no solution. This has to be a Cisco 5ESS bug. Whats wierd is the MIS Error Count will stay at zero for a couple of hours the hit 200 in an hour.

Anyone have any ideas? We didn't have any issues with this PRI setup before moving to AT&T.

Andy

 

[Dexman]

A protocol analyzer really should be brought in, hooked up and used to trap messages on the "D" channel.

If it ain't broke, I haven't fixed it yet.

 

[SYQUEST]

If you can, you might want to change back to a "real" DS1-PRI that goes to the CO switch!

This Flex is nothing but crap!!

By the way, the AT&T Flex is from the AT&T Corp part of the company. This stuff does not come from the LEC part, ie. Pacific Bell, Ameritech, etc. The sales teams for the FLEX are wretched went to comes to support.

....JIM....

 

[Andrewiski]

I flashed the INA100 board to 4.1.5d I was 4.1.5c2 but that didn't fix the issue. The last tech said if that didn't fix the issue then he would try replacing there vwic2 module in the there cisco router. Of course it stayed up another 4 hours so I got another tech who wanted to try something else first as the first tech had gone home for the day. The customer is not very happy luckly most of there calls are inbound so the clients customers arn't feeling the pain. To me its has to be ont he cisco side as rebooting the merlin does nothign but reseting there router or bouncing there vwic2 board clears the outbound error. Can someone sheed some light on what exactly causes a slip error and a misframe error. I assume slip is packets that don't sync with the clock. I have my merlin set to loop as the source. What does Misframe mean?

Andy

 

[Dexman]

Timing slip is usually reported when the phone system uses an internal clock, rather than the signal provided by the T1 circuit as a sync source.

If it ain't broke, I haven't fixed it yet.

 

[Andrewiski]

Just as a sanity check I doubled checked and Primary for Slot 5 (my INA 100) was set to loop, Secondary and Tertiary were not set so I set them to loop as well but its doesn't seem to save that setting.

Main Menu, SysProgram, Start, Lines Trunk, ClockSync, Primary, 05, Loop.

Had a call with Level 3 Support with At&t, feel like I went backwards. He had me reset the INA card while they reset there Wic and outbound calls came back up. He asked if I had ever reset the INA. I said that I had been reseting the pbx which has the INA insdie of it so yes. For some reason he keep try to convense me that reseting the INA was going to fix the issue. The Level 2 tech had to convence him that reseting the pbx would reset the INA and the issue was just going to happen again in 4 hours. So finaly a new Wic is on its way for tomorrow. I don't think it is going to help but at this point there isn't much left to try. I had them confirm that even when I can't call outbound the cisco is receiving my sent digits so the Avaya is still trying to send them and they are receiving them at least in the debug screens. To me that says its a Cisco issue but with out being able to get the running config on the router I have no way to verify.

Andy

 

[Textron68]

To me it sounds like they are not set up to provide timing off the vwic2. Configuration error on their part. I have found that Cisco does not provide the most reliable sync source anyway, a lot of slips and timing issues across several platforms when they are (supposed to be) providing the timing.

 

[SYQUEST]

All that is eliminated and you have superior service when the DS1 goes directly to the CO switch. The cost is worth it for not having problems and headaches with that Cisco stuff.

....JIM....

 

[Andrewiski]

An AT&T tech showed up at 8:30Am this morning and swaped the WIC in the Cisco. So far So good but I have made it 24 hours before so I will post another update later this week.

Andy

 

[comdata]

Textron6B, do you know if perhaps some of the loss of sync issues are a result of the Cisco interface getting automatic updates to it's software. Had heard thru the grapevine that the Cisco units receive updates and reboot to implement them, which might account for some of the causes for loss of sync.

 

[Andrewiski]

They replaced the Wic Yesterday and I finaly have a clean PRI with no MisFrames. We had about a 1 mintue loss of calls that I reported. Until then no slips then 8 slips write away all in a row. This time when I talked to Tier 2 support I got a person that didn't have an acscent if you know what I mean. He seemed to have a very good handle on what was going on and ran some diags. He came to the same conclusion as Textron68 came to that the slips are proboly coming from the Cisco Timing not being the best and that we should set the timeing to use my pbx as the source. Its been another 6 hours no slips and no misframes. I will post again when more time has pasted but hopfully we can blam most of the issue on ether a bad Wic or a misconfigured Wic that got fixed when the Wic got replaced.

Andy

 

[Andrewiski]

Well still having issues. The line is a lot cleaner and the outages are only for a minute ever 6 hours or so but drop any active inbound and can't palce out bound for 5 minutes. We tried 5ESS, 4ESS, DMS-100 but all still had d-channel errors. T1 CAS looks to be the only solution that is going to work but we are going to loose caller id. Is there any one on the fourm that has implemented a PRI into a Merlin Magix INA100 from a Cisco VWic2?

Andy

 

[Textron68]

To comdata - when the Cisco updates require a reboot it will take the T1 completely out of service. Which is why when implementing voice on a Cisco you don't do auto updates, you do managed updates in order to schedule the outage.

To Anrewiski – If you’re having framing issues, you may not resolve it by stepping over to T1 CAS. It’s still a T1 and your clocking sources are still limited to the internal Merlin or Cisco. T1 CAS has less overhead to set-up the call, but for reliable voice traffic you need to find a way to resolve the framing.

Check your grounding, if possible have both systems on the same power source/circuit breaker/UPS. Make sure you are using a shielded T1 cable, especially when the cable is going to run on a ladder rack/cable tray with data cables.

 

[Andrewiski]

The grounding is something I havn't tought about. The Cisco Router and PBX are only 10 feet apart but I am sure they are on different circuits and not sharing a common ground. The PBX I am preaty certain is Earth grounded but the Cisco is not. I will try grounding them to the same ground strap. I have the Port to T1 CAS scheduled for Monday so if I get no errors over the next 2 days I will call off the port from a Pri to T1 CAS.

Andy

 

[comdata]

Textron, thanks for the info

 

[Andrewiski]

So we still had issues all weekend even after adding the grounding strap. We tried the T1 Cas this morning but couldn't get inbound or outboand calls to work. I had to call it off after an hour as no calls means no money. Has anyone erver goen the other way from PRI to T1. I could not get the Magix to delete the B-Channel or Line assignmenst for the B-ChannlGRP. I can't get it to delete even after moving back to PRI. sys Program -> start -> LineTrk -> PRI -> B-Channel Grp -> B Channels -> 1 -> 0516 -> Delete

Click the inspect its still there.

I switch the type from PRI to T1 the T1 was clean with no allarms but I couldn't get a call to come in. I assume I missed the removale of something so the Magix thought the B- Channels were still in use but not being able to delete the B - Channels I wasn't sure what to do short of a program from scratch.

Anyone have any ideas.

Andy

 

[merlinman]

First, put the PRI back like it was.

Next, take the PRI lines out of the pool/pools they are in.

Then take them out of b channel group and remove the B channels.

Under Lines & Trunks, DSI, choose T1 and then, after pressing enter, choose the type of lines they will be (Tie usually).

That's pretty much the steps to tear down a PRI.

Hopefully I didn't leave anything out.

http://home.comcast.net/~merlinman