Billing Troubleshooting


Revised: July 2010, OL-23033-01

Introduction

This chapter provides the information needed for monitoring and troubleshooting billing events and alarms. This chapter is divided into the following sections:

Billing Events and Alarms—Provides a brief overview of each billing event and alarm

Monitoring Billing Events—Provides the information needed for monitoring and correcting the billing events

Troubleshooting Billing Alarms—Provides the information needed for troubleshooting and correcting the billing alarms


Note The following billing records are created when a call is rejected due to overload conditions:

· SS7 termination cause code 42
· Cable signaling stop event cause code "resource unavailable"

Calls rejected by the signaling adapter will not generate a billing record.


Billing Events and Alarms

This section provides a brief overview of the billing events and alarms for the Cisco BTS 10200 Softswitch; the events and alarms are arranged in numerical order. Table 3-1 lists all of the billing events and alarms by severity.


Note Refer to the "Obtaining Documentation and Submitting a Service Request" section on page l for detailed instructions on contacting Cisco TAC and opening a service request.



Note Click the Billing message number in Table 3-1 to display information about the event or alarm.


Table 3-1 Billing Events and Alarms by Severity 

Critical
Major
Minor
Warning
Information
Not Used

Billing (4)

Billing (3)

Billing (2)

Billing (14)

Billing (1)

Billing (9)

Billing (7)

Billing (6)

Billing (40)

Billing (42)

Billing (5)

Billing (10)

Billing (13)

Billing (8)

Billing (41)

 

Billing (36)

Billing (11)

Billing (35)

Billing (15)

Billing (45)

 

Billing (57)

Billing (12)

Billing (49)

Billing (29)

Billing (46)

 

Billing (59)

Billing (16)

Billing (52)

Billing (30)

Billing (47)

   

Billing (17)

Billing (55)

Billing (31)

Billing (53)

   

Billing (18)

Billing (56)

Billing (32)

     

Billing (19)

 

Billing (33)

     

Billing (20)

 

Billing (37)

     

Billing (21)

 

Billing (38)

     

Billing (22)

 

Billing (44)

     

Billing (23)

 

Billing (48)

     

Billing (24)

 

Billing (54)

     

Billing (25)

 

Billing (58)

     

Billing (26)

 

Billing (60)

     

Billing (27)

         

Billing (28)

         

Billing (34)

         

Billing (39)

         

Billing (43)

         

Billing (50)

         

Billing (51)


Billing (1)

Table 3-2 lists the details of the Billing (1) informational event. For additional information, refer to the "Test Report—Billing (1)" section.

Table 3-2 Billing (1) Details 

Description

Test Report

Severity

Information

Threshold

10000

Throttle

0


Billing (2)

Table 3-3 lists the details of the Billing (2) minor alarm. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the alarm, refer to the "Billing Partition Disk Usage Minor Threshold Exceeded—Billing (2)" section.

Table 3-3 Billing (2) Details 

Description

Billing Partition Disk Usage Minor Threshold Exceeded

Severity

Minor

Threshold

100

Throttle

0

Datawords

Disk Usage Percentage—TWO_BYTES

Primary
Cause

Call detail records are accumulating on the disk associated with the billing database in the Element Management System (EMS). This is because data is being written into the database faster than it is being read out of the database. The minor threshold (default value = 70%) has been exceeded.

Primary
Action

Monitor this alarm. The read process should catch up to the write process within a few minutes, and the alarm should not remain active.

Secondary
Cause

Some fluctuation in disk usage is to be expected as the call volume rises and falls during the day. Threshold crossings might step upward (from minor to major to critical) when there is a rapid increase in the call volume, and then step downward (critical to major to minor) when the call volume slows.

Secondary
Action

To monitor the alarm, use the subscribe alarm-report command. To obtain a summary, use the report alarm-summary command. Verify that type = billing is entered in the commands.


Billing (3)

Table 3-4 lists the details of the Billing (3) major alarm. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the alarm, refer to the "Billing Partition Disk Usage Major Threshold Exceeded—Billing (3)" section.

Table 3-4 Billing (3) Details 

Description

Billing Partition Disk Usage Major Threshold Exceeded

Severity

Major

Threshold

100

Throttle

0

Datawords

Disk Usage Percentage—TWO_BYTES

Primary
Cause

Call detail records are accumulating on the disk associated with the billing database in the EMS. This is because data is being written into the database faster than it is being read out of the database. The major threshold (default value = 80%) has been exceeded.

Primary
Action

Monitor this alarm. The read process should catch up to the write process within a few minutes, and the alarm should not remain active.

Secondary
Cause

Some fluctuation in disk usage is to be expected as the call volume rises and falls during the day. Threshold crossings might step upward (from minor to major to critical) when there is a rapid increase in the call volume, and then step downward (critical to major to minor) when the call volume slows.

Secondary
Action

To monitor the alarm, use the subscribe alarm-report command. To obtain a summary, use the report alarm-summary command. Verify that type = billing is entered in the commands.

Ternary
Action

If the alarm does not clear (or step down to a reduced level) in a few minutes, contact Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) for assistance.


Billing (4)

Table 3-5 list the details of the Billing (4) critical alarm. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the alarm, refer to the "Billing Partition Disk Usage Critical Threshold Exceeded—Billing (4)" section.

Table 3-5 Billing (4) Details 

Description

Billing Partition Disk Usage Critical Threshold Exceeded

Severity

Critical

Threshold

100

Throttle

0

Datawords

Disk Usage Percentage—TWO_BYTES

Primary
Cause

Call detail records are accumulating on the disk associated with the billing database in the EMS. This is because data is being written into the database faster than it is being read out of the database. The major threshold (default value = 90%) has been exceeded.

Primary
Action

Monitor this alarm. The read process should catch up to the write process within a few minutes, and the alarm should not remain active.

Secondary
Cause

Some fluctuation in disk usage is to be expected as the call volume rises and falls during the day. Threshold crossings might step upward (from minor to major to critical) when there is a rapid increase in the call volume, and then step downward (critical to major to minor) when the call volume slows.

Secondary
Action

To monitor the alarm, use the subscribe alarm-report command. To obtain a summary, use the report alarm-summary command. Verify that type = billing is entered in these commands.

Ternary
Action

If the alarm does not clear (or step down to a reduced level) in a few minutes, contact Cisco TAC for assistance.


Billing (5)

Table 3-6 lists the details of the Billing (5) informational event. For additional information, refer to the "Billing Partition Disk Usage Within Normal Range—Billing (5)" section.

Table 3-6 Billing (5) Details 

Description

Billing Partition Disk Usage Within Normal Range

Severity

Information

Threshold

100

Throttle

0

Datawords

Disk Usage Percentage—TWO_BYTES


Billing (6)

Table 3-7 list the details of the Billing (6) major alarm. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the alarm, refer to the "File Transfer Protocol/Secure File Transfer Protocol Transfer Failed—Billing (6)" section.

Table 3-7 Billing (6) Details 

Description

File Transfer Protocol/Secure File Transfer Protocol Transfer Failed (FTP/SFTP Transfer Failed)

Severity

Major

Threshold

100

Throttle

0

Datawords

TransferType—STRING [5]
FileName—STRING [40]
RemoteAddress—STRING [40]
Error—STRING [50]

Primary
Cause

Unable to connect to the remote host.

Primary
Action

Verify that the remote host is reachable. Run the show billing-acct-addr command and verify that the billing-server-addr is correct. Change the billing-server-addr, if necessary, using the change billing-acct-addr command.

Secondary
Cause

Unable to log in to the remote host.

Secondary
Action

Use show billing-acct-addr command to verify that the user-name is a valid user for the host specified in the billing-server-addr. If user-name is correct and the TransferType dataword shows File Transfer Protocol (FTP), reenter the password using the change billing-acct-addr command. If user-name is correct and the TransferType dataword shows Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP), verify that secure shell (SSH) keys have been preconfigured for the user name on both the Cisco BTS 10200 and the remote host.

Ternary
Cause

A file transfer error has occurred.

Ternary
Action

Check the Error dataword to see if it gives an indication of the kind of error that occurred. It could be a file-system error on the remote host, or a communication failure between the Cisco BTS 10200 and the remote host.

Subsequent
Cause

The CDB_BILLING_SUPP flag is not set to Y in the call-agent-profile table.

Subsequent
Action

Verify that the CDB_BILLING_SUPP flag is set to Y in the call-agent-profile table.


Billing (7)

Table 3-8 lists the details of the Billing (7) critical alarm. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the alarm, refer to the "Transmission Control Protocol Connection Error—Billing (7)" section.

Table 3-8 Billing (7) Details 

Description

Transmission Control Protocol Connection Error (TCP Connection Error)

Severity

Critical

Threshold

100

Throttle

0

Datawords

Hostname—STRING [100]

Primary
Cause

A system call error has occurred.

Primary
Action

Check the address in platform configuration.

Secondary
Cause

The Cisco BTS 10200 is not connected to the right address.

Secondary
Action

Contact Cisco TAC.


Billing (8)

Table 3-9 lists the details of the Billing (8) major alarm. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the alarm, refer to the "Transmission Control Protocol Packet Receive Failure—Billing (8)" section.

Table 3-9 Billing (8) Details 

Description

Transmission Control Protocol Packet Receive Failure (TCP Packet Receive Failure)

Severity

Major

Threshold

100

Throttle

0

Datawords

Host Name—STRING [25]

Primary
Cause

Peer went down; socket closed.

Primary
Action

Check the peer status and bring the peer back up.


Billing (9)

Billing (9) is not used.

Billing (10)

Billing (10) is not used.

Billing (11)

Billing (11) is not used.

Billing (12)

Billing (12) is not used.

Billing (13)

Table 3-10 lists the details of the Billing (13) critical alarm. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the alarm, refer to the "Database Connection Error—Billing (13)" section.

Table 3-10 Billing (13) Details 

Description

Database Connection Error

Severity

Critical

Threshold

100

Throttle

0

Primary
Cause

Structured Query Language (SQL) server is down.

Primary
Action

Restart server; if this does not correct the problem, contact Cisco TAC.


Billing (14)

Table 3-11 lists the details of the Billing (14) warning event. To monitor and correct the cause of the event, refer to the "File Open Error—Billing (14)" section.

Table 3-11 Billing (14) Details 

Description

File Open Error

Severity

Warning

Threshold

100

Throttle

0

Datawords

Path Name—STRING [100]

Primary
Cause

System error, may be out of file descriptors.

Primary
Action

Contact Cisco TAC.


Billing (15)

Table 3-12 lists the details of the Billing (15) major alarm. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the alarm, refer to the "File Write Error—Billing (15)" section.

Table 3-12 Billing (15) Details 

Description

File Write Error

Severity

Major

Threshold

100

Throttle

0

Datawords

Path Name—STRING [100]

Primary
Cause

System error, may be out of file descriptors.

Primary
Action

Contact Cisco TAC.


Billing (16)

Billing (16) is not used.

Billing (17)

Billing (17) is not used.

Billing (18)

Billing (18) is not used.

Billing (19)

Billing (19) is not used.

Billing (20)

Billing (20) is not used.

Billing (21)

Billing (21) is not used.

Billing (22)

Billing (22) is not used.

Billing (23)

Billing (23) is not used.

Billing (24)

Billing (24) is not used.

Billing (25)

Billing (25) is not used.

Billing (26)

Billing (26) is not used.

Billing (27)

Billing (27) is not used.

Billing (28)

Billing (28) is not used.

Billing (29)

Table 3-13 lists the details of the Billing (29) major alarm. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the alarm, refer to the "Call Data Block Send Failed—Billing (29)" section.

Table 3-13 Billing (29) Details 

Description

Call Data Block Send Failed (CDB Send Failed)

Severity

Major

Threshold

100

Throttle

0

Primary
Cause

Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) send call failure.

Primary
Action

Check the port number and address of the blg and bmg processes in the platform.cfg file.

Secondary
Cause

Both the EMS servers are down.

Secondary
Action

Check if both EMS servers are down. If they are, bring at least one up.


Billing (30)

Table 3-14 lists the details of the Billing (30) major alarm. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the alarm, refer to the "Domain Name Mapping Failed—Billing (30)" section.

Table 3-14 Billing (30) Details 

Description

Domain Name Mapping Failed

Severity

Major

Threshold

100

Throttle

0

Datawords

Address—STRING [50]

Primary
Cause

Wrong domain name system (DNS) name mapping specified in the configuration files.

Primary
Action

Check the opticall.cfg and platform.cfg for the right mapping.


Billing (31)

Table 3-15 lists the details of the Billing (31) major alarm. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the alarm, refer to the "Port Not Specified—Billing (31)" section.

Table 3-15 Billing (31) Details 

Description

Port not Specified

Severity

Major

Threshold

100

Throttle

0

Primary
Cause

Port not specified in the platform.cfg file.

Primary
Action

Check platform.cfg file and add the argument to blg -port 15260.


Billing (32)

Table 3-16 lists the details of the Billing (32) major alarm. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the alarm, refer to the "Element Management System Address Not Specified—Billing (32)" section.

Table 3-16 Billing (32) Details 

Description

Element Management System Address not Specified (EMS Address not Specified)

Severity

Major

Threshold

100

Throttle

0

Primary
Cause

Either the primary or secondary EMS address has not been specified in the platform.cfg file.

Primary
Action

Check the platform.cfg for the process Billing (BLG) and add the missing addresses to the file.


Billing (33)

Table 3-17 lists the details of the Billing (33) major alarm. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the alarm, refer to the "File Transfer Protocol/Secure File Transfer Protocol Parameters Invalid—Billing (33)" section.

Table 3-17 Billing (33) Details 

Description

File Transfer Protocol/Secure File Transfer Protocol Parameters Invalid (FTP/SFTP Parameters Invalid)

Severity

Major

Threshold

100

Throttle

0

Datawords

TransferType—STRING [5]
BillingServerDir—STRING [100]
BillingServerAddr—STRING [100]
User Name—STRING [100]

Primary
Cause

The billing-acct-addr table is not fully provisioned with the information needed to perform file transfers.

Primary
Action

Check billing-acct-addr fields using the show billing-acct-addr command. For FTP file transfer, ensure that the billing-server-addr, billing-server-directory, user-name, and password (not displayed) are provisioned. Also ensure that sftp-supp is set to N. For SFTP file transfer, ensure that the billing-server-addr, billing-server-directory, and user-name are provisioned. Also ensure that sftp-supp is set to Y.


Billing (34)

Billing (34) is not used.

Billing (35)

Table 3-18 lists the details of the Billing (35) critical alarm. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the alarm, refer to the "All Billing Links at Billing Server Down—Billing (35)" section.

Table 3-18 Billing (35) Details 

Description

All Billing Links at Billing Server Down

Severity

Critical

Threshold

100

Throttle

0

Primary
Cause

The cable connection might have been pulled out.

Primary
Action

Restore the cable connection.

Secondary
Cause

An ifconfig down command might have been executed on the interfaces.

Secondary
Action

Execute an ifconfig up command on the interfaces.


Billing (36)

Table 3-19 lists the details of the Billing (36) informational event. For additional information, refer to the "Billing Link Restored—Billing (36)" section.

Table 3-19 Billing (36) Details 

Description

Billing Link Restored

Severity

Information

Threshold

100

Throttle

0

Datawords

Interface Name—STRING [50]

Primary
Cause

The cable connection has been restored.

Primary
Action

None


Billing (37)

Table 3-20 lists the details of the Billing (37) major alarm. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the alarm, refer to the "Billing Link Failure—Billing (37)" section.

Table 3-20 Billing (37) Details 

Description

Billing Link Failure

Severity

Major

Threshold

100

Throttle

0

Datawords

Interface Name—STRING [5]

Primary
Cause

The cable connection may have been pulled.

Primary
Action

Restore the cable connection.

Secondary
Cause

An ifconfig down command may have been performed on the interface.

Secondary
Action

Perform an ifconfig up command on the interface.


Billing (38)

Table 3-21 lists the details of the Billing (38) major alarm. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the alarm, refer to the "Event Message Log File Access Error—Billing (38)" section.

Table 3-21 Billing (38) Details 

Description

Event Message Log File Access Error (EM Log File Access Error)

Severity

Major

Threshold

50

Throttle

0

Datawords

Type of Access Error—STRING [25]
Reason for Error—STRING [40]
Sequence Number OFF—FOUR_BYTES
Index of Event Messa—FOUR_BYTES
Location Tag—STRING [30]

Primary
Cause

System error, may be out of file descriptors.

Primary
Action

Contact Cisco TAC.

Secondary
Cause

The disk may be faulty.

Secondary
Action

Make the Bulk Data Management System (BDMS) switch over to its mate node.


Billing (39)

Billing (39) is not used.

Billing (40)

Table 3-22 lists the details of the Billing (40) minor alarm. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the alarm, refer to the "Event Message Encode Failure—Billing (40)" section.

Table 3-22 Billing (40) Details 

Description

Event Message Encode Failure (EM Encode Failure)

Severity

Minor

Threshold

100

Throttle

0

Datawords

Location Tag—STRING [30]

Primary
Cause

There is a problem with the format of the data to be sent to the record keeping system (RKS).

Primary
Action

If problem persists, contact Cisco TAC.


Billing (41)

Table 3-23 lists the details of the Billing (41) minor alarm. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the alarm, refer to the "Message Content Error—Billing (41)" section.

Table 3-23 Billing (41) Details 

Description

Message Content Error

Severity

Minor

Threshold

100

Throttle

0

Datawords

Message Type—FOUR_BYTES
Field Name—STRING [20]
Field Value (Text)—STRING [20]
Field Value (Numeric)—FOUR_BYTES
Location Tag—STRING [30]

Primary
Cause

There is a mismatch between what the sender populated in the message and what the receiver expects.

Primary
Action

Contact Cisco TAC.


Billing (42)

Table 3-24 list the details of the Billing (42) warning event. To monitor and correct the cause of the event, refer to the "Error Reading Provisioned Data—Using Default—Billing (42)" section.

Table 3-24 Billing (42) Details 

Description

Error Reading Provisioned Data—Using Default

Severity

Warning

Threshold

100

Throttle

0

Datawords

Error Code—FOUR_BYTES
Table Name—STRING [20]
Field Name—STRING [20]
Default Value (Decim—FOUR_BYTES
Default Value (Text)—STRING [20]
Location Tag—STRING [30]

Primary
Cause

An application was unable to read the provisioned data, and had to resort to using default values.

Primary
Action

Check to ensure that a complete load has been installed on the system. If the load is complete and problem persists, contact Cisco TAC.


Billing (43)

Billing (43) is not used.

Billing (44)

Table 3-25 lists the details of the Billing (44) major alarm. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the alarm, refer to the "Record Keeping System Switch Occurred—Billing (44)" section.

Table 3-25 Billing (44) Details 

Description

Record Keeping System Switch Occurred (RKS Switch Occurred)

Severity

Major

Threshold

100

Throttle

0

Datawords

Type of RKS Switch—STRING [20]
Location Tag—STRING [30]

Primary
Cause

Billing changed the destination RKS to which event messages are transmitted. The change could have been triggered by a communication problem with an RKS, or by an attempt to reestablish RKS communication.

Primary
Action

No action is necessary.


Billing (45)

Table 3-26 lists the details of the Billing (45) minor alarm. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the alarm, refer to the "Event Message Log File Opened—Billing (45)" section.

Table 3-26 Billing (45) Details 

Description

Event Message Log File Opened

Severity

Minor

Threshold

50

Throttle

0

Datawords

Element Type—STRING [5]
File Name—STRING [60]
Location Tag—STRING [30]

Primary
Cause

A log file has been created for the storage of event messages that cannot be transmitted to an RKS.

Primary
Action

No action is necessary.


Billing (46)

Table 3-27 lists the details of the Billing (46) minor alarm. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the alarm, refer to the "Event Message Log File Closed—Billing (46)" section.

Table 3-27 Billing (46) Details 

Description

Event Message Log File Closed

Severity

Minor

Threshold

50

Throttle

0

Datawords

Element Type—STRING [5]
File Name—STRING [60]
Location Tag—STRING [30]

Primary
Cause

An open event message log file has been closed.

Primary
Action

No action is necessary.


Billing (47)

Table 3-28 lists the details of the Billing (47) minor alarm. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the alarm, refer to the "Record Keeping System Unreachable for One Hour—Billing (47)" section.

Table 3-28 Billing (47) Details 

Description

Record Keeping System Unreachable for One Hour (RKS Unreachable for 1 Hour)

Severity

Minor

Threshold

25

Throttle

0

Datawords

Location Tag—STRING [30]

Primary
Cause

Billing has not been able to communicate with any RKS for the past hour.

Primary
Action

Check status of the primary and secondary RKS servers; attempt to bring them into service. Verify that the radius-profile table and call-agent-profile table are provisioned such that communication with the RKS servers is possible.


Billing (48)

Table 3-29 lists the details of the Billing (48) major alarm. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the alarm, refer to the "Record Keeping System Unreachable for Three Hours—Billing (48)" section.

Table 3-29 Billing (48) Details 

Description

Record Keeping System Unreachable for Three Hours (RKS Unreachable for 3 Hours)

Severity

Major

Threshold

25

Throttle

0

Datawords

Location Tag—STRING [30]

Primary
Cause

Billing has not been able to communicate with any RKS for the past three hours.

Primary
Action

Check status of the primary and secondary RKS servers: attempt to bring them into service. Verify that the radius-profile table and call-agent-profile table are provisioned such that communication with the RKS servers is possible.


Billing (49)

Table 3-30 lists the details of the Billing (49) critical alarm. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the alarm, refer to the "Record Keeping System Unreachable for Five Hours—Billing (49)" section.

Table 3-30 Billing (49) Details 

Description

Record Keeping System Unreachable for 5 Hours (RKS Unreachable for 5 Hours)

Severity

Critical

Threshold

25

Throttle

0

Datawords

Location Tag—STRING [30]

Primary
Cause

Billing has not been able to communicate with any RKS for the past five hours.

Primary
Action

Check status of the primary and secondary RKS servers; attempt to bring them into service. Verify that the radius-profile table and call-agent-profile table are provisioned such that communication with the RKS servers is possible.


Billing (50)

Billing (50) is not used.

Billing (51)

Billing (51) is not used.

Billing (52)

Table 3-31 lists the details of the Billing (52) critical alarm. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the alarm, refer to the "Bulk Data Management System Stopped Generating New Billing File—Billing (52)" section.

Table 3-31 Billing (52) Details 

Description

Bulk Data Management System Stopped Generating New Billing File (BDMS Stopped Generating New Billing File)

Severity

Critical

Threshold

100

Throttle

0

Primary
Cause

Call detail records are accumulating on the disk associated with the billing files in the EMS. This is because data is being written into the billing files faster than it is being forwarded to the Billing Mediation Server. The FTP to the Billing Mediation Server may not be working. The maximum disk partition for billing records has been exceeded or the maximum number of files has been exceeded.

Primary
Action

Check Billing Mediation Server node name, user name, and password specified in BILLING_ACCT_ADDR table and log files. Correct any errors to let FTP start again. If billing_server_directory = "/dev/null" as in the lab, primary files under billing_directory will not be forwarded or deleted automatically. In this case, files have to be manually deleted or moved, and BDMS needs to be restarted before it will start generating new billing files.


Billing (53)

Table 3-32 lists the details of the Billing (53) minor alarm. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the alarm, refer to the "Event Message Disk Space 50 Percent Full—Billing (53)" section.

Table 3-32 Billing (53) Details 

Description

Event Message Disk Space 50 Percent Full

Severity

Minor

Threshold

100

Throttle

0

Datawords

Number of Megabytes Used for Eve—FOUR_BYTES
Directory Containing Event Messa—STRING [30]
Location Tag—STRING [30]

Primary
Cause

The event message storage has reached 50% of the maximum storage allowed.

Primary
Action

Move the event message files out of the specified directory. Store them in another location, or discard them.


Billing (54)

Table 3-33 lists the details of the Billing (54) major alarm. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the alarm, refer to the "Event Message Disk Space 70 Percent Full—Billing (54)" section.

Table 3-33 Billing (54) Details 

Description

Event Message Disk Space 70 Percent Full

Severity

Major

Threshold

100

Throttle

0

Datawords

Number of Megabytes Used for Eve—FOUR_BYTES
Directory Containing Event Messa—STRING [30]
Location Tag—STRING [30]

Primary
Cause

The event message storage has reached 70% of the maximum storage allowed.

Primary
Action

Move the event message files out of the specified directory. Store them in another location, or discard them.


Billing (55)

Table 3-34 lists the details of the Billing (55) critical alarm. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the alarm, refer to the "Event Message Disk Space 100 Percent Full—Billing (55)" section.

Table 3-34 Billing (55) Details 

Description

Event Message Disk Space 100 Percent Full

Severity

Critical

Threshold

100

Throttle

0

Datawords

Number of Megabytes Used for Eve—FOUR_BYTES
Directory Containing Event Messa—STRING [30]
Location Tag—STRING [30]

Primary
Cause

The event message storage has been completely filled. No additional event messages will be written to disk until more space is made available.

Primary
Action

Move the event message files out of the specified directory. Store them in another location, or discard them.


Billing (56)

Table 3-35 lists the details of the Billing (56) critical alarm. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the alarm, refer to the "Billing Data Corruption Detected—Billing (56)" section.

Table 3-35 Billing (56) Details 

Description

Billing Data Corruption Detected

Severity

Critical

Threshold

100

Throttle

0

Datawords

File/Table That May be Corrupt—STRING [32]
Low End of the Range of Records—FOUR_BYTES
High End of the Range of Records—FOUR_BYTES
Error Code—FOUR_BYTES
Location Tag—STRING [32]

Primary
Cause

The billing data stored on the disk may have become corrupted due to a power outage, ungraceful shutdown, or disk failure.

Primary
Action

The BDMS that detected the problem should have gone out of service; leave it in the out-of-service state and contact Cisco TAC for assistance.


Billing (57)

Table 3-36 lists the details of the Billing (57) informational event. For additional information, refer to the "Prepaid Subscriber Call Attempt Failed Because of Balance—Billing (57)" section.

Table 3-36 Billing (57) Details 

Description

Prepaid Subscriber Call Attempt Failed Because of Balance

Severity

Information

Threshold

100

Throttle

0

Datawords

Instance Name—STRING [65]
Calling Party—STRING [32]
Called Party—STRING [32]
Pop ID- STRING [32]

Primary
Cause

The subscriber has consumed the balance on his or her account.

Primary
Action

Ask the subscriber to deposit money in the account.

Secondary
Cause

There may be a problem in the billing information at prepaid server.

Secondary
Action

Verify the billing info at the prepaid server.


Billing (58)

Table 3-37 lists the details of the Billing (58) major alarm. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the alarm, refer to the "Signaling Prepaid Server Inaccessible—Billing (58)" section.

Table 3-37 Billing (58) Details 

Description

Signaling Prepaid Server Inaccessible

Severity

Major

Threshold

100

Throttle

0

Datawords

Instance Name—STRING [65]
Pop ID—STRING [32]
Radius Profile ID—STRING [32]

Primary
Cause

All of the prepaid servers are down.

Primary
Action

Check and correct the operating status of the prepaid servers.

Secondary
Cause

The Internet Protocol (IP) network between the Cisco BTS 10200 plain old telephone service (POTS) Feature Server (FS) and the prepaid servers is down.

Secondary
Action

Check and correct any problems in the IP network.


Billing (59)

Table 3-38 lists the details of the Billing (59) informational event. For additional information, refer to the "Billing File Name Type Change in Command Line Interface Is Inconsistent—Billing (59)" section.

Table 3-38 Billing (59) Details 

Description

Billing File Name Type Change in the Command Line Interface is Inconsistent

Severity

Information

Threshold

100

Throttle

0

Primary
Cause

A user updated the billing file name type in the CLI.

Primary
Action

Execute a switchover or a platform restart so the change is propagated to the billing code.


Billing (60)

Table 3-39 lists the details of the Billing (60) major alarm. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the alarm, refer to the "Bad File Detected During Startup—Billing (60)" section.

Table 3-39 Billing (60) Details 

Description

Bad File Detected During Startup

Severity

Major

Threshold

100

Throttle

0

Datawords

Filename of the Bad File—STRING [128]
Diagnosis—STRING [64]
Changed to Filename—STRING [128]

Primary
Cause

A bad billing file was generated due to a CPU failure, power outage, ungraceful shutdown, or disk failure.

Primary
Action

The billing subsystem isolates the bad file, renames the bad billing file, and continues to complete the initialization. The bad file is placed out of the control of the billing subsystem, and the billing subsytem will not FTP the bad file to the BMS. The bad file should should be deleted, or the content of the file should be corrected and then the file should be uploaded to the BMS.


Monitoring Billing Events

This section provides the information needed to monitor and correct billing events. Table 3-40 lists all of the billing events in numerical order and provides cross-references to the subsections in this section..


Note Refer to the "Obtaining Documentation and Submitting a Service Request" section on page l for detailed instructions on contacting Cisco TAC and opening a service request.


Table 3-40 Cisco BTS  0200 Billing Events 

Event Type
Event Name
Event Severity

Billing (1)

Test Report—Billing (1)

Information

Billing (2)

Billing Partition Disk Usage Minor Threshold Exceeded—Billing (2)

Minor

Billing (3)

Billing Partition Disk Usage Major Threshold Exceeded—Billing (3)

Major

Billing (4)

Billing Partition Disk Usage Critical Threshold Exceeded—Billing (4)

Critical

Billing (5)

Billing Partition Disk Usage Within Normal Range—Billing (5)

Information

Billing (6)

File Transfer Protocol/Secure File Transfer Protocol Transfer Failed—Billing (6)

Major

Billing (7)

Transmission Control Protocol Connection Error—Billing (7)

Critical

Billing (8)

Transmission Control Protocol Packet Receive Failure—Billing (8)

Major

Billing (13)

Database Connection Error—Billing (13)

Critical

Billing (14)

File Open Error—Billing (14)

Warning

Billing (15)

File Write Error—Billing (15)

Major

Billing (29)

Call Data Block Send Failed—Billing (29)

Major

Billing (30)

Domain Name Mapping Failed—Billing (30)

Major

Billing (31)

Port Not Specified—Billing (31)

Major

Billing (32)

Element Management System Address Not Specified—Billing (32)

Major

Billing (33)

File Transfer Protocol/Secure File Transfer Protocol Parameters Invalid—Billing (33)

Major

Billing (35)

All Billing Links at Billing Server Down—Billing (35)

Critical

Billing (36)

Billing Link Restored—Billing (36)

Information

Billing (37)

Billing Link Failure—Billing (37)

Major

Billing (38)

Event Message Log File Access Error—Billing (38)

Major

Billing (40)

Event Message Encode Failure—Billing (40)

Minor

Billing (41)

Message Content Error—Billing (41)

Minor

Billing (42)

Error Reading Provisioned Data—Using Default—Billing (42)

Warning

Billing (44)

Record Keeping System Switch Occurred—Billing (44)

Major

Billing (45)

Event Message Log File Opened—Billing (45)

Minor

Billing (46)

Event Message Log File Closed—Billing (46)

Minor

Billing (47)

Record Keeping System Unreachable for One Hour—Billing (47)

Minor

Billing (48)

Record Keeping System Unreachable for Three Hours—Billing (48)

Major

Billing (49)

Record Keeping System Unreachable for Five Hours—Billing (49)

Critical

Billing (52)

Bulk Data Management System Stopped Generating New Billing File—Billing (52)

Critical

Billing (53)

Event Message Disk Space 50 Percent Full—Billing (53)

Minor

Billing (54)

Event Message Disk Space 70 Percent Full—Billing (54)

Major

Billing (55)

Event Message Disk Space 100 Percent Full—Billing (55)

Critical

Billing (56)

Billing Data Corruption Detected—Billing (56)

Critical

Billing (57)

Prepaid Subscriber Call Attempt Failed Because of Balance—Billing (57)

Information

Billing (58)

Signaling Prepaid Server Inaccessible—Billing (58)

Major

Billing (59)

Billing File Name Type Change in Command Line Interface Is Inconsistent—Billing (59)

Information

Billing (60)

Bad File Detected During Startup—Billing (60)

Major


Test Report—Billing (1)

The Test Report event is used for testing the billing event category. The event is informational and no further action is required.

Billing Partition Disk Usage Minor Threshold Exceeded—Billing (2)

The Billing Partition Disk Usage Minor Threshold Exceeded alarm (minor) indicates that a billing partition disk usage minor threshold crossing has occurred. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the Billing Partition Disk Usage Minor Threshold Exceeded alarm, refer to the "Billing Partition Disk Usage Minor Threshold Exceeded—Billing (2)" section.

Billing Partition Disk Usage Major Threshold Exceeded—Billing (3)

The Billing Partition Disk Usage Major Threshold Exceeded alarm (major) indicates that a billing partition disk usage major threshold crossing has occurred. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the Billing Partition Disk Usage Major Threshold Exceeded alarm, refer to the "Billing Partition Disk Usage Major Threshold Exceeded—Billing (3)" section.

Billing Partition Disk Usage Critical Threshold Exceeded—Billing (4)

The Billing Partition Disk Usage Critical Threshold Exceeded alarm (critical) indicates that a billing partition disk usage critical threshold crossing has occurred. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the Billing Partition Disk Usage Critical Threshold Exceeded alarm, refer to the "Billing Partition Disk Usage Critical Threshold Exceeded—Billing (4)" section.

Billing Partition Disk Usage Within Normal Range—Billing (5)

The Billing Partition Disk Usage Within Normal Range event is informational and no further action is required.

File Transfer Protocol/Secure File Transfer Protocol Transfer Failed—Billing (6)

The File Transfer Protocol/Secure File Transfer Protocol Transfer Failed alarm (major) indicates that the billing information FTP/SFTP transfer has failed. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the File Transfer Protocol/Secure File Transfer Protocol Transfer Failed alarm, refer to the "File Transfer Protocol/Secure File Transfer Protocol Transfer Failed—Billing (6)" section.


Note OpenSSH version 3.9p1 contains a bug that may cause billing file transfers over SFTP to fail.


Transmission Control Protocol Connection Error—Billing (7)

The Transmission Control Protocol Connection Error alarm (critical) indicates that an error has occurred on the TCP connection. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the Transmission Control Protocol Connection Error alarm, refer to the "Transmission Control Protocol Connection Error—Billing (7)" section.

Transmission Control Protocol Packet Receive Failure—Billing (8)

The Transmission Control Protocol Packet Receive Failure alarm (major) indicates that a TCP packet receive failure has occurred. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the Transmission Control Protocol Packet Receive Failure alarm, refer to the "Transmission Control Protocol Packet Receive Failure—Billing (8)" section.

Database Connection Error—Billing (13)

The Database Connection Error alarm (critical) indicates that a database connection error has occurred. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the Database Connection Error alarm, refer to the "Database Connection Error—Billing (13)" section.

File Open Error—Billing (14)

The File Open Error event serves as a warning that a file open error has occurred. The primary cause of a file open error is a system malfunction. The system might be out of file descriptors. If a file open error has occurred, contact Cisco TAC to obtain technical assistance.

From the UNIX prompt, collect the following information prior to contacting Cisco TAC.

sysdef -i
df -k

File Write Error—Billing (15)

The File Write Error alarm (major) indicates that a file write error has occurred. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the File Write Error alarm, refer to the "File Write Error—Billing (15)" section.

Call Data Block Send Failed—Billing (29)

The Call Data Block Send Failed alarm (major) indicates that a call data block (CDB) send has failed. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the Call Data Block Send Failed alarm, refer to the "Call Data Block Send Failed—Billing (29)" section.

Domain Name Mapping Failed—Billing (30)

The Domain Name Mapping Failed alarm (major) indicates that a domain name mapping has failed. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the Domain Name Mapping Failed alarm, refer to the "Domain Name Mapping Failed—Billing (30)" section.

Port Not Specified—Billing (31)

The Port Not Specified alarm (major) indicates that a port has not been specified or configured. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the Port not Specified alarm, refer to the "Port Not Specified—Billing (31)" section.

Element Management System Address Not Specified—Billing (32)

The Element Management System Address Not Specified alarm (major) indicates that an EMS address has not been specified or configured. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the Element Management System Address not Specified alarm, refer to the "Element Management System Address Not Specified—Billing (32)" section.

File Transfer Protocol/Secure File Transfer Protocol Parameters Invalid—Billing (33)

The File Transfer Protocol/Secure File Transfer Protocol Parameters Invalid alarm (major) indicates that the FTP/SFTP parameters configuration is not valid or has not been fully configured. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the File Transfer Protocol/Secure File Transfer Protocol Parameters Invalid alarm, refer to the "File Transfer Protocol/Secure File Transfer Protocol Parameters Invalid—Billing (33)" section.

All Billing Links at Billing Server Down—Billing (35)

The All Billing Links at Billing Server Down alarm (critical) indicates that all of the billing links to the billing server are down. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the All Billing Links at Billing Server Down alarm, refer to the "All Billing Links at Billing Server Down—Billing (35)" section.

Billing Link Restored—Billing (36)

The Billing Link Restored event is informational and no further action is required. The primary cause of the Billing Link Restored event is that the cable to the billing server or the link to the billing server has been restored.

Billing Link Failure—Billing (37)

The Billing Link Failure alarm (major) indicates that a link to the billing server has failed. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the Billing Link Failure alarm, refer to the "Billing Link Failure—Billing (37)" section.

Event Message Log File Access Error—Billing (38)

The Event Message Log File Access Error alarm (major) indicates that an event message (EM) log file access error has occurred. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the Event Message Log File Access Error alarm, refer to the "Event Message Log File Access Error—Billing (38)" section.

Event Message Encode Failure—Billing (40)

The Event Message Encode Failure alarm (minor) indicates that an EM encode failure has occurred. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the Event Message Encode Failure alarm, refer to the "Event Message Encode Failure—Billing (40)" section.

Message Content Error—Billing (41)

The Message Content Error alarm (minor) indicates that a message content error has occurred. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the Message Content Error alarm, refer to the "Message Content Error—Billing (41)" section.

Error Reading Provisioned Data—Using Default—Billing (42)

The Error Reading Provisioned Data—Using Default event functions as a warning that an error occurred during the reading of provisioning data and that the default provisioning data and default values will be used. The primary cause of the error is that the application was unable to read provisioned data and had to resort to using default values. Check to ensure a complete load has been installed on the Cisco BTS 10200 system. If the load is complete and the problem persists, contact Cisco TAC.

Record Keeping System Switch Occurred—Billing (44)

The Record Keeping System Switch Occurred alarm (major) indicates that an RKS switch has occurred. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the Record Keeping System Switch Occurred alarm, refer to the "Record Keeping System Switch Occurred—Billing (44)" section.

Event Message Log File Opened—Billing (45)

The Event Message Log File Opened alarm (minor) indicates that an event message log file has been opened. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the Event Message Log File Opened alarm, refer to the "Event Message Log File Opened—Billing (45)" section.

Event Message Log File Closed—Billing (46)

The Event Message Log File Closed alarm (minor) indicates that an event message log file has been closed. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the Event Message Log File Closed alarm, refer to the "Event Message Log File Closed—Billing (46)" section.

Record Keeping System Unreachable for One Hour—Billing (47)

The Record Keeping System Unreachable for One Hour alarm (minor) indicates that the RKS servers have been unreachable for 1 hour. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the Record Keeping System Unreachable for One Hour alarm, refer to the "Record Keeping System Unreachable for One Hour—Billing (47)" section.

Record Keeping System Unreachable for Three Hours—Billing (48)

The Record Keeping System Unreachable for Three Hours alarm (major) indicates that the RKS servers have been unreachable for 3 hours. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the Record Keeping System Unreachable for Three Hours alarm, refer to the "Record Keeping System Unreachable for Three Hours—Billing (48)" section.

Record Keeping System Unreachable for Five Hours—Billing (49)

The Record Keeping System Unreachable for Five Hours alarm (critical) indicates that the RKS servers have been unreachable for 5 hours. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the Record Keeping System Unreachable for Five Hours alarm, refer to the "Record Keeping System Unreachable for Five Hours—Billing (49)" section.

Bulk Data Management System Stopped Generating New Billing File—Billing (52)

The Bulk Data Management System Stopped Generating New Billing File alarm (critical) indicates that the BDMS has stopped generating new billing files. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the Bulk Data Management System Stopped Generating New Billing File alarm, refer to the "Bulk Data Management System Stopped Generating New Billing File—Billing (52)" section.

Event Message Disk Space 50 Percent Full—Billing (53)

The Event Message Disk Space 50 Percent Full alarm (minor) indicates that the event message disk space is 50 percent full. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the Event Message Disk Space 50 Percent Full alarm, refer to the "Event Message Disk Space 50 Percent Full—Billing (53)" section.

Event Message Disk Space 70 Percent Full—Billing (54)

The Event Message Disk Space 70 Percent Full alarm (major) indicates that the event message disk space is 70 percent full. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the Event Message Disk Space 70 Percent Full alarm, refer to the "Event Message Disk Space 70 Percent Full—Billing (54)" section.

Event Message Disk Space 100 Percent Full—Billing (55)

The Event Message Disk Space 100 Percent Full alarm (critical) indicates that the event message disk space is 100 percent full. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the Event Message Disk Space 100 Percent Full alarm, refer to the "Event Message Disk Space 100 Percent Full—Billing (55)" section.

Billing Data Corruption Detected—Billing (56)

The Billing Data Corruption Detected alarm (critical) indicates that billing data corruption has been detected. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the Billing Data Corruption Detected alarm, refer to the "Billing Data Corruption Detected—Billing (56)" section.

Prepaid Subscriber Call Attempt Failed Because of Balance—Billing (57)

The Prepaid Subscriber Call Attempt Failed Because of Balance event functions as an informational alert that a prepaid subscriber call attempt has failed because of the subscriber account balance. The primary cause of the event is that the subscriber has an insufficient balance to place the attempted call. To correct the primary cause of the event, ask the subscriber to deposit more money in his or her account. Additionally, there may be a problem with the billing information on the prepaid server. To correct the secondary cause of the event, verify the billing information on the prepaid server.

Signaling Prepaid Server Inaccessible—Billing (58)

The Signaling Prepaid Server Inaccessible alarm (major) indicates that the signaling prepaid server has become inaccessible. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the Signaling Prepaid Server Inaccessible alarm, refer to the "Signaling Prepaid Server Inaccessible—Billing (58)" section.

Billing File Name Type Change in Command Line Interface Is Inconsistent—Billing (59)

The Billing File Name Type Change in Command Line Interface Is Inconsistent event serves as an informational alert that a user updated the billing filename type in the CLI. To correct the primary cause of the event, execute a switchover or a platform restart so that the change is propagated to the billing code.

Bad File Detected During Startup—Billing (60)

The Bad File Detected During Startup alarm (major) indicates that a bad file was detected during system startup. To troubleshoot and correct the cause of the Bad File Detected During Startup alarm, refer to the "Bad File Detected During Startup—Billing (60)" section.

Troubleshooting Billing Alarms

This section provides the information needed to troubleshoot and correct billing alarms. Table 3-41 lists all of the billing alarms in numerical order and provides cross-references to the subsections in this section.


Note Refer to the "Obtaining Documentation and Submitting a Service Request" section on page l for detailed instructions on contacting Cisco TAC and opening a service request.


Table 3-41 Cisco BTS 10200 Billing Alarms 

Alarm Type
Alarm Name
Alarm Severity

Billing (2)

Billing Partition Disk Usage Minor Threshold Exceeded—Billing (2)

Minor

Billing (3)

Billing Partition Disk Usage Major Threshold Exceeded—Billing (3)

Major

Billing (4)

Billing Partition Disk Usage Critical Threshold Exceeded—Billing (4)

Critical

Billing (6)

File Transfer Protocol/Secure File Transfer Protocol Transfer Failed—Billing (6)

Major

Billing (7)

Transmission Control Protocol Connection Error—Billing (7)

Critical

Billing (8)

Transmission Control Protocol Packet Receive Failure—Billing (8)

Major

Billing (13)

Database Connection Error—Billing (13)

Critical

Billing (15)

File Write Error—Billing (15)

Major

Billing (29)

Call Data Block Send Failed—Billing (29)

Major

Billing (30)

Domain Name Mapping Failed—Billing (30)

Major

Billing (31)

Port Not Specified—Billing (31)

Major

Billing (32)

Element Management System Address Not Specified—Billing (32)

Major

Billing (33)

File Transfer Protocol/Secure File Transfer Protocol Parameters Invalid—Billing (33)

Major

Billing (35)

All Billing Links at Billing Server Down—Billing (35)

Critical

Billing (37)

Billing Link Failure—Billing (37)

Major

Billing (38)

Event Message Log File Access Error—Billing (38)

Major

Billing (40)

Event Message Encode Failure—Billing (40)

Minor

Billing (41)

Message Content Error—Billing (41)

Minor

Billing (44)

Record Keeping System Switch Occurred—Billing (44)

Major

Billing (45)

Event Message Log File Opened—Billing (45)

Minor

Billing (46)

Event Message Log File Closed—Billing (46)

Minor

Billing (47)

Record Keeping System Unreachable for One Hour—Billing (47)

Minor

Billing (48)

Record Keeping System Unreachable for Three Hours—Billing (48)

Major

Billing (49)

Record Keeping System Unreachable for Five Hours—Billing (49)

Critical

Billing (52)

Bulk Data Management System Stopped Generating New Billing File—Billing (52)

Critical

Billing (53)

Event Message Disk Space 50 Percent Full—Billing (53)

Minor

Billing (54)

Event Message Disk Space 70 Percent Full—Billing (54)

Major

Billing (55)

Event Message Disk Space 100 Percent Full—Billing (55)

Critical

Billing (56)

Billing Data Corruption Detected—Billing (56)

Critical

Billing (58)

Signaling Prepaid Server Inaccessible—Billing (58)

Major

Billing (60)

Bad File Detected During Startup—Billing (60)

Major


Billing Partition Disk Usage Minor Threshold Exceeded—Billing (2)

The Billing Partition Disk Usage Minor Threshold Exceeded alarm (minor) indicates that a billing partition disk usage minor threshold crossing has occurred. The primary cause of the alarm is that call detail records are accumulating on the disk associated with the billing database in the EMS. This is because data is being written into the database faster than it is being read out of the database. The minor threshold (default value = 70%) has been exceeded. Some fluctuation in disk usage is to be expected as call volume rises and falls during the day. Threshold crossings might step upward (from minor to major to critical) when there is a rapid increase in call volume, and then step downward (critical to major to minor) when call volume slows. To identify the primary cause of the alarm, monitor the alarm. The read should catch up to the write within a few minutes, and the alarm should not remain active. To monitor the alarm, use the subscribe alarm-report command. To obtain a summary, use the report alarm-summary command. Verify that type = billing is entered in these commands.

For additional troubleshooting information, from the UNIX prompt collect df -k.

Billing Partition Disk Usage Major Threshold Exceeded—Billing (3)

The Billing Partition Disk Usage Major Threshold Exceeded alarm (major) indicates that a billing partition disk usage major threshold crossing has occurred. The primary cause of the alarm is that call detail records are accumulating on the disk associated with the billing database in the EMS. This is because data is being written into the database faster than it is being read out of the database. The major threshold (default value = 80%) has been exceeded. Some fluctuation in disk usage is to be expected as call volume rises and falls during the day. Threshold crossings might step upward (from minor to major to critical) when there is a rapid increase in call volume, and then step downward (critical to major to minor) when call volume slows. To identify the primary cause of the alarm, monitor this alarm. The read should catch up to the write within a few minutes, and the alarm should not remain active. To monitor the alarm, use the subscribe alarm-report command. To obtain a summary, use the report alarm-summary command. Verify that type = billing is entered in these commands. If the alarm does not clear (or step down to a reduced level) in a few minutes, contact Cisco TAC for assistance.

Prior to contacting Cisco TAC, from the UNIX prompt collect df -k using the following commands.

df -k
du -sh /opt/bms/ftp/billing

Billing Partition Disk Usage Critical Threshold Exceeded—Billing (4)

The Billing Partition Disk Usage Critical Threshold Exceeded alarm (critical) indicates that a billing partition disk usage critical threshold crossing has occurred. The primary cause of the alarm is that call detail records are accumulating on the disk associated with the billing database in the EMS. This is because data is being written into the database faster than it is being read out of the database. The major threshold (default value = 90%) has been exceeded. Some fluctuation in disk usage is to be expected as call volume rises and falls during the day. Threshold crossings might step upward (from minor to major to critical) when there is a rapid increase in call volume, and then step downward (critical to major to minor) when call volume slows. To identify the primary cause of the alarm, monitor this alarm. The read should catch up to the write within a few minutes, and the alarm should not remain active. To monitor the alarm, use the subscribe alarm-report command. To obtain a summary, use the report alarm-summary command. Verify that type = billing is entered in these commands. If the alarm does not clear (or step down to a reduced level) in a few minutes, contact Cisco TAC for assistance.

Prior to contacting Cisco TAC, from the UNIX prompt collect df -k using the following commands.

df -k 
du -sh /opt/bms/ftp/billing

File Transfer Protocol/Secure File Transfer Protocol Transfer Failed—Billing (6)

The File Transfer Protocol/Secure File Transfer Protocol Transfer Failed alarm (major) indicates that the billing information FTP/SFTP transfer to the billing server has failed. The primary cause of the alarm is that the Cisco BTS 10200 is unable to connect to a remote host. To correct the primary cause of the alarm, first verify the remote host is reachable. Run the show billing-acct-addr command and verify that the billing-server-addr is correct. Change the billing-server-addr, if necessary, by using the change billing-acct-addr command. The secondary cause of the alarm is that the Cisco BTS 10200 is unable to log in to remote host. To correct the secondary cause of the alarm, first use the show billing-acct-addr command to verify that the user-name is a valid user for the host specified in the billing-server-addr. If the user-name is correct and the TransferType dataword shows FTP, reenter the password by using the change billing-acct-addr command. If the user-name is correct and the TransferType dataword shows SFTP, verify that SSH keys have been preconfigured for user-name on both the Cisco BTS 10200 and the remote host. The ternary cause of the alarm is that a file transfer error occurred. To correct the ternary cause of the alarm, first check the Error dataword to see if it gives an indication of the kind of error that occurred. It could be a file-system error on the remote host, or a communication failure between the Cisco BTS 10200 and the remote host. The subsequent cause of the alarm is that the CDB_BILLING_SUPP flag is not set to Y in the call-agent-profile table. To correct the subsequent cause of the alarm, check and verify that the CDB_BILLING_SUPP flag is set to Y in the call-agent-profile table.


Note OpenSSH version 3.9p1 contains a bug that may cause billing file transfers over SFTP to fail.


Use the following information to check the datawords:

The datawords generated by the alarm are Filename (40), FTP address (40), and error (50), where:

file name—The name of file that the Softswitch is attempting to send to the billing server.

FTP address—The IP address/domain name of the billing server that the Cisco BTS 10200 is attempting to reach.

error—One or more of the following data words can be displayed to indicate missing or incorrect information:

Log in—The username for the billing server is missing or incorrect in the database, or the user does not have the privilege level to write to the specified directory on the remote billing server.

Password—The password for the billing server is missing or incorrect in the database.

Connection—The billing-server-addr (IP address/domain name of billing server) is missing or incorrect in the database, or the connection to the billing server is unavailable.

Repository—The billing-server-directory identifier is missing or incorrect in the database, or the specified directory is not available on the billing server.

The alarm indicates a failure in making the FTP connection to the remote billing server to transfer billing information from the EMS. This can happen if

1. The FTP information has not been initialized.

2. The information in the Softswitch database does not match the remote billing server:

a. The log in username (for the billing server) is missing or incorrect in the database.

b. The username is correct but the user does not have the privilege level to write to the specified directory.

c. The password (for the remote billing server) is missing or incorrect in the database.

d. The billing-server-addr (IP address/domain name) is missing or incorrect in the database.

e. The billing-server-directory identifier (repository) is missing or incorrect in the database.

3. The connection to the remote billing server is unavailable.

4. The specified directory is not available on the remote billing server.

Transmission Control Protocol Connection Error—Billing (7)

The Transmission Control Protocol Connection Error alarm (critical) indicates that an error has occurred on the TCP connection. The primary cause of the alarm is a system call error. To correct the primary cause of the alarm, check the address of the billing server in the Cisco BTS 10200 platform configuration. The secondary cause of the alarm is the Cisco BTS 10200 is not connected to the right address. To correct the secondary cause of the alarm, call Cisco TAC for technical support.

If the alarm is repeating, collect a packet capture between the Cisco BTS 10200 and the billing server prior to contacting Cisco TAC.

Transmission Control Protocol Packet Receive Failure—Billing (8)

The Transmission Control Protocol Packet Receive Failure alarm (major) indicates that a TCP packet receive failure has occurred. The primary cause of the alarm is that the peer went down and the socket closed. To correct the primary cause of the alarm, check the status of the peer and bring it up if it is down.

Database Connection Error—Billing (13)

The Database Connection Error alarm (critical) indicates that a database connection error has occurred. The primary cause of the alarm is that the SQL server is down. To correct the primary cause of the alarm, restart SQL server. If restarting SQL server does not correct the problem and clear the alarm, contact Cisco TAC for technical support.

Prior to contacting Cisco TAC, collect the following additional information.

From the EMS UNIX prompt, collect the following information:

ps -ef 
nodestat

From the CLI prompt, collect the following information:

status system

File Write Error—Billing (15)

The File Write Error alarm (major) indicates that a file write error has occurred. The primary cause of the alarm is that a system error has occurred. The Cisco BTS 10200 system may be out of file descriptors. To correct the primary cause of the alarm, contact Cisco TAC for technical support.

Prior to contacting Cisco TAC, collect the following information from the UNIX prompt:

sysdef -i
df -k

Call Data Block Send Failed—Billing (29)

The Call Data Block Send Failed alarm (major) indicates that a CDB send has failed. The primary cause of the alarm is that a TCP send call has failed. To correct the primary cause of the alarm, check the port number and address of blg and bmg processes in he platform.cfg file. The secondary cause of the alarm is that both the EMS servers are down. To correct the secondary cause of the alarm, check if both EMS servers are down. If both EMS servers are down, bring at least one EMS server up.

Domain Name Mapping Failed—Billing (30)

The Domain Name Mapping Failed alarm (major) indicates that a domain name mapping has failed. The primary cause of the alarm is that the wrong DNS server name mapping is specified in the Cisco BTS 10200 configuration files. To correct the primary cause of the alarm, check the opticall.cfg and platform.cfg files for the correct mapping information.

Port Not Specified—Billing (31)

The Port Not Specified alarm (major) indicates that a port has not been specified or configured. The primary cause of the alarm is that the port is not specified in platform.cfg file. To correct the primary cause of the alarm, check the platform.cfg file and add the argument to blg -port 15260.

Element Management System Address Not Specified—Billing (32)

The Element Management System Address Not Specified alarm (major) indicates that an EMS address has not been specified or configured. The primary cause of the alarm is that either the primary or secondary EMS address has not been specified in the platform.cfg file. To correct the primary cause of the alarm, check the platform.cfg file to verify the process BLG and to add the missing addresses to the file.

File Transfer Protocol/Secure File Transfer Protocol Parameters Invalid—Billing (33)

The File Transfer Protocol/Secure File Transfer Protocol Parameters Invalid alarm (major) indicates that the FTP/SFTP parameters configuration is not valid or the parameters have not been fully configured. The primary cause of the alarm is that the billing-acct-addr table is not fully provisioned with the information needed to perform file transfers. To correct the primary cause of the alarm, check billing-acct-addr fields by using the show billing-acct-addr command. For FTP file transfer, ensure that the billing-server-addr, billing-server-directory, user-name, and password (not displayed) are provisioned. Also ensure that the sftp-supp is set to N. For SFTP file transfer, ensure that the billing-server-addr, billing-server-directory, and user-name are provisioned. Also ensure that the sftp-supp is set to Y.

All Billing Links at Billing Server Down—Billing (35)

The All Billing Links at Billing Server Down alarm (critical) indicates that all of the billing links to the billing server are down. The primary cause of the alarm is that the cable connection to the Billing Server may have been pulled out. To correct the primary cause of the alarm, restore cable connection to the Billing Server. The secondary cause of the alarm is that an ifconfig down command may have been executed on the interfaces. To correct the secondary cause of the alarm, execute an ifconfig up command on the interfaces.

Billing Link Failure—Billing (37)

The Billing Link Failure alarm (major) indicates that a link to the billing server has failed. The primary cause of the alarm is that an interface cable may have been pulled. To correct the primary cause of the alarm, restore the cable connection. The secondary cause of the alarm is that an ifconfig down command may have been executed on the interface. To correct the secondary cause of the alarm, execute an ifconfig up command on the interface.

Event Message Log File Access Error—Billing (38)

The Event Message Log File Access Error alarm (major) indicates that an EM log file access error has occurred. The primary cause of the alarm is that a system error has occurred. The Cisco BTS 10200 system may be out of file descriptors. To correct the primary cause of the alarm, contact Cisco TAC. The secondary cause of the alarm is that a system hard drive may be faulty. To verify the secondary cause of the alarm, cause the BDMS to switch over to its mate node.

Event Message Encode Failure—Billing (40)

The Event Message Encode Failure alarm (minor) indicates that an EM encode failure has occurred. The primary cause of the alarm is that there is a problem with the format of the data being sent to the RKS. To correct the primary cause of the alarm, contact Cisco TAC.

Message Content Error—Billing (41)

The Message Content Error alarm (minor) indicates that a message content error has occurred. The primary cause of the alarm is that there is a mismatch between what the sender populated in the message and what the receiver expects. To correct the primary cause of the alarm, contact Cisco TAC.

Record Keeping System Switch Occurred—Billing (44)

The Record Keeping System Switch Occurred alarm (major) indicates that a RKS switch has occurred. The primary cause of the alarm is that billing changed the destination RKS (the RKS to which event messages are transmitted). The change could have been triggered by a communication problem with an RKS, or by an attempt to reestablish RKS communication. No further action is required to correct the primary cause of the alarm.

Event Message Log File Opened—Billing (45)

The Event Message Log File Opened alarm (minor) indicates that an event message log file has been opened. The primary cause of the alarm is that a log file has been created for the storage of event messages that cannot be transmitted to an RKS. No further action is required to correct the primary cause of the alarm.

Event Message Log File Closed—Billing (46)

The Event Message Log File Closed alarm (minor) indicates that an event message log file has been closed. The primary cause of the alarm is that an open event message log file has been closed. No further action is required to correct the primary cause of the alarm.

Record Keeping System Unreachable for One Hour—Billing (47)

The Record Keeping System Unreachable for One Hour alarm (minor) indicates that the RKS servers have been unreachable for 1 hour. The primary cause of the alarm is that billing has not been able to communicate with any RKS for the past hour. To correct the primary cause of the alarm, check the status of the primary and secondary RKS servers and attempt to bring them into service. Verify that the radius-profile table and call-agent-profile table are provisioned such that communication with the RKS servers is possible.

Record Keeping System Unreachable for Three Hours—Billing (48)

The Record Keeping System Unreachable for Three Hours alarm (major) indicates that the RKS servers have been unreachable for 3 hours. The primary cause of the alarm is that billing has not been able to communicate with any RKS for the past 3 hours. To correct the primary cause of the alarm, check the status of the primary and secondary RKS servers and attempt to bring them into service. Verify that the radius-profile table and call-agent-profile table are provisioned such that communication with the RKS servers is possible.

Record Keeping System Unreachable for Five Hours—Billing (49)

The Record Keeping System Unreachable for Five Hours alarm (critical) indicates that the RKS servers have been unreachable for 5 hours. The primary cause of the alarm is that billing has not been able to communicate with any RKS for the past 5 hours. To correct the primary cause of the alarm, check the status of the primary and secondary RKS servers and attempt to bring them into service. Verify that the radius-profile table and call-agent-profile table are provisioned such that communication with the RKS servers is possible.

Bulk Data Management System Stopped Generating New Billing File—Billing (52)

The Bulk Data Management System Stopped Generating New Billing File alarm (critical) indicates that the BDMS has stopped generating new billing files. The primary cause of the alarm is that call detail records are accumulating on the disk associated with the billing files in the EMS. This is because data is being written into the billing files faster than it is being forwarded to the Billing Mediation Server. The FTP to the Billing Mediation Server may not be working. The maximum disk partition for billing records has been exceeded or the maximum number of files has been exceeded. To correct the primary cause of the alarm, check the Billing Mediation Server node name, user name and password specified in the BILLING_ACCT_ADDR table and log files. Correct any errors to let FTP start again. If billing_server_directory = "/dev/null", primary files under billing_directory are not forwarded or deleted automatically. In this case, files have to be manually deleted or moved out, and the BDMS needs to be restarted before it begins to generate new billing files.

Event Message Disk Space 50 Percent Full—Billing (53)

The Event Message Disk Space 50 Percent Full alarm (minor) indicates that the event message disk space is 50 percent full. The primary cause of the alarm is that the event message storage has reached 50% of the maximum storage space allowed. To correct the primary cause of the alarm, move the event message files out of the specified directory. Store them in another location, or discard them.

Event Message Disk Space 70 Percent Full—Billing (54)

The Event Message Disk Space 70 Percent Full alarm (major) indicates that the event message disk space is 70 percent full. The primary cause of the alarm is that the event message storage has reached 70% of the maximum storage space allowed. To correct the primary cause of the alarm, move the event message files out of the specified directory. Store them in another location, or discard them.

Event Message Disk Space 100 Percent Full—Billing (55)

The Event Message Disk Space 100 Percent Full alarm (critical) indicates that the event message disk space is 100 percent full. The primary cause of the alarm is that the event message storage has been completely filled. No additional event messages will be written to the disk until more space is made available. To correct the primary cause of the alarm, move the event message files out of the specified directory. Store them in another location, or discard them.

Billing Data Corruption Detected—Billing (56)

The Billing Data Corruption Detected alarm (critical) indicates that billing data corruption has been detected. The primary cause of the alarm is that the billing data stored on disk may have become corrupted due to a power outage, ungraceful shutdown, or hard-drive failure. To correct the primary cause of the alarm, make sure that the BDMS that detected the problem has gone to the out-of-service state. Leave the BDMS in the out-of-service state and contact Cisco TAC for assistance.

Signaling Prepaid Server Inaccessible—Billing (58)

The Signaling Prepaid Server Inaccessible alarm (major) indicates that the signaling prepaid server has become inaccessible. The primary cause of the alarm is that all the prepaid servers are down. To correct the primary cause of the alarm, check the operating status of the prepaid servers. If possible, place the prepaid servers back into service. The secondary cause of the alarm is that the IP network between the Cisco BTS 10200 POTS feature server (FS) and the prepaid servers is down. To correct the secondary cause of the alarm, check and correct any problems in IP network.

Bad File Detected During Startup—Billing (60)

The Bad File Detected During Startup alarm (major) indicates that a bad file was detected during startup. The primary cause of the alarm is that a bad billing file was generated due to a CPU failure, power outage, ungraceful shutdown, or disk failure. To correct the primary cause of the alarm, delete the bad file or correct the content of the file and upload the corrected file to the BMS system. If the bad file is not deleted or or corrected, it remains on the system and is not automatically sent by FTP to the BMS system.