netManager vs UC Management Suite

[shanepresley]

Hello,

We will be rolling out a 500 user IPT environment. When looking at management/monitoring products:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps5747/Products_Sub_Category_Home.html#

I notice that for our size, Cisco recommends Cisco netManager.

However, I read about Cisco Unified Communications Management Suite and really like the Cisco Unified Service Monitor component. I'm concerned about voice quality, and the Service Monitor lets me report on MOS and other voice quality stats, and send alerts. It appears netManager does not have any features regarding voice quality?

Are there any other options for monitoring/alerting on voice quality -- other than UC Management Suite?

Thanks

[Tim Smith · Accepted solution]

Hi Shane,

The whole suite is quite a complicated animal. I'm not against using it, I think it is worthwhile. But I would say for the 500 seats netManager would be more appropriate. Of course if you have huge expansion plans in mind, then you could bit the bullet now.

Also, how much value the service monitor is depends heavily on your topology and quality of the network infrastructure.

If you have lots of WAN sites, you can use the IP SLA features on the routers themselves to do some quality testing. It does require some fiddling though.

The QRT tool in CCM is handy. Ensure you turn on CMR records and users can report the quality of bad calls.

Just my opinion but if you do have spare budget, put time and money into getting the infrastructure set up well, and according to best practice. Be thorough with testing, and careful about the versions of software, firmware you choose, and you should go well.

Cheers,

Tim

[shanepresley]

Thanks for the advice Tim!