Table Of Contents

Opening a Case With TAC

Required Preliminary Information

Network Layout

Problem Description

General Information

TAC Web

CCO Cases

Attachments

Cisco Live!

Remote Access

Opening a Case With TAC

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When you open a case with the Cisco TAC, you must provide preliminary information to better identify and qualify the issue. You may need to provide additional information, depending on the nature of the issue. Collecting the following information upon the engineer's request after opening a case inevitably results in resolution delay.

•Required Preliminary Information

–Network Layout

–Problem Description

–General Information

•TAC Web

•CCO Cases

•Attachments

•Cisco Live!

•Remote Access

Required Preliminary Information

For all issues, always provide the following information to TAC. Collect and save this information for use upon opening a TAC case and update it regularly with any changes.

•Network Layout

•Problem Description

•General Information

Network Layout

A detailed description of the physical and logical setup, as well as all the following network elements involved in the voice network (if applicable):

•Cisco CallManager(s)

–Version (from Cisco CallManager Administration choose Details)

–Number of Cisco CallManagers

–Setup (stand-alone, cluster)

•Unity

–Version (from the Cisco CallManager Administration)

–Integration type

•Applications

–List of installed applications

–Version numbers of each application

•IP/voice gateways

–OS version

–Show tech (IOS gateway)

–Cisco CallManager load (Skinny gateway)

•Switch

–OS version

–VLAN configuration

•Dial plan—Numbering scheme, call routing

Ideally, submit a Visio or other detailed diagram, such as JPG. Using the whiteboard, you may also provide the diagram through a Cisco Live! session.

Problem Description

Provide step-by-step detail of actions performed by the user when the issue occurs. Ensure the detailed information includes:

•Expected behavior

•Detailed observed behavior

General Information

Make sure that the following information is readily available:

•Is this a new installation?

•If this is a previous version of a Cisco CallManager installation, has this issue occurred since the beginning? (If not, what changes were recently made to the system?)

•Is the issue reproducible?

–If reproducible, is it under normal or special circumstances?

–If not reproducible, is there anything special about when it does occur?

–What is the frequency of occurrence?

•What are the affected devices?

–If specific devices are affected (not random), what do they have in common?

–Include DNs or IP addresses (if gateways) for all devices that are involved in the problem.

•What devices are on the Call-Path (if applicable)?

TAC Web

Use TAC Web, a detailed collection of tools and technical documents written by TAC engineers, to analyze common issues and provide solutions. See the presentation covering TAC Web tools and content that is available to help you use this tool at the following URL:

http://www.cisco.com/public/support/tac/home.shtml

Before you contact TAC, view the voice messaging Top Issues at the following URL:

http://www.cisco.com/public/support/tac/top_issues.shtml

and the Voice, Telephony and Messaging technical tips at the following URL:

http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/788/top_issues/vox/vox_top_issues.shtml

CCO Cases

Opening a case through CCO gives it priority over all other case-opening methods. High priority cases (P1 and P2) provide an exception to this rule.

Use the Case Open Tool at the following URL and log in as a registered user:

http://www.cisco.com/public/news_training/whats_hot.shtml

Provide an accurate problem description when opening a CCO case. That description of the problem returns URL links that may provide you with an immediate solution.

If you do not find a solution to your problem, continue the process of sending your case to a TAC engineer.

Attachments

Attach reports to a case by sending an email to the engineer and attaching a zip file for documents larger than 100 Kb.

At the following URL, use the Manage a TAC Case section, please login link to log in as a registered user:

http://www.cisco.com/public/support/tac/contact.shtml

Cisco Live!

Cisco Live!, a secure, encrypted Java applet, allows you and your Cisco TAC engineer to work together more effectively by using Collaborative Web Browsing / URL sharing, whiteboard, Telnet, and clipboard tools.

Access Cisco Live! at the following URL:

http://c3.cisco.com/

Remote Access

Remote access provides you with the ability to establish Terminal Services (remote port 3389), HTTP (remote port 80), and Telnet (remote port 23) sessions to all the necessary equipment.

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Caution When setting up dial-in, do not use login:cisco or password:cisco because they constitute a vulnerability to the system.

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You may resolve many issues very quickly by allowing the TAC engineer remote access to the devices through one of the following methods:

•Equipment with public IP address.

•Dial-in access—In decreasing order of preference: analog modem, Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) modem, virtual private network (VPN).

•Network Address Translation (NAT)—IOS and private Internet exchange (PIX) to allow access to equipment with private IP addresses.

Ensure that firewalls do not obstruct IOS traffic and PIX traffic during engineer intervention and that all necessary services, such as Terminal Services, start on the servers.

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Note TAC handles all access information with the utmost discretion, and no changes will be made to the system without customer consent.

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