How PRI Utilization works

[shyamradhe]

Hi

We have 2 PRI lines in our Organization which is only for Voice, for Data and Video we are using different lines.

Today Our service provider send me a report about PRI utilization. which is average- 190%

Now I am wondering that How it could be? 

I mean PRI is a bundle of Channels each 64Kbps for calls, then what is the meaning of Over utilization in case of PRI line.

is this mean number of simultaneous calls ?? so i need more channels ??

Please any one explanin as i am not so good in Telephony.

[Jitender Bhandari]

Hi

depending on how you are using PRI you can have a specific set of calls. See below for details.

https://supportforums.cisco.com/discussion/12984281/understanding-e1t1casccsisdn

(Rate if it helps)

JB

[shyamradhe]

Thanks Jitender

But my main concern is, What is PRI Utilization,

I can understand if it is for bandwidth utilization for data, but how a PRI circuit utilizes .

what is the meaning of if service providers says "you are using 190% PRI" ???

[James Hawkins]

Monitoring PRI utilisation on IOS routers can be tricky as it varies by gateway protocol, platform, IOS release etc.

The article at the link below discusses how channel usage can be monitored using SNMP

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/ip/simple-network-management-protocol-snmp/42782-channelusage42782.html

You can use this with an SNMP monitoring tool such as PRTG to monitor channel utilisation

I have always found it quite tricky to get this working as I want though.

I seem to recall when I tried it a few years ago each call was seen two rather than one which could generate utilisation above what is expected. It is possible your service provider report is doing something similar.

[shyamradhe]

Let me clarify my question !!

"Service Provider send me below report"

PRI Pilot Number	Average utilization through July 17
12####6000	190.1165775

now in above report, what users are utilizing ? Channel/bandwidth ?

[James Hawkins]

Hi,

There is no way of us knowing what the report is meant to show. The provider will have obtained it from their ISDN switch rather than the Cisco equipment.

There is no percentage sign and it is over 100 so it may not be % channel utilisation.

It is probably not number of calls on that day as it is not a whole number.

It could be total minutes spent on calls.

I would recommend contacting the service provider and asking them to explain what the report means.