Documentation forVoIP & Network Quality Manager
Monitoring VoIP and network quality is a key capability of Hybrid Cloud Observability and is also available in a standalone module, VoIP & Network Quality Manager (VNQM). Hybrid Cloud Observability and VNQM are built on the self-hosted SolarWinds Platform.

Why use SolarWinds VNQM?

SolarWinds VoIP and Network Quality Manager (VNQM) monitors the performance of IP-based services and applications, including but not limited to:

  • Audio conferencing
  • Video conferencing
  • Web/data conferencing
  • Instant messaging

SolarWinds VNQM gives you the tools to test the fitness of your current network, and track the quality of service over time. After installation and configuration, SolarWinds VNQM deploys Network Service Assurance operations to generate various types of network traffic including DNS requests, DHCP IP allocation, FTP and HTTP requests, TCP connect, ICMP and UDP Echo, and simulated VoIP traffic between devices on your network. Network Service Assurance operations provide real-time and historical performance statistics that SolarWinds VNQM presents in the SolarWinds Platform Web Console.

You can also monitor call details and quality of Cisco CallManager and Avaya Communication and Media Server devices.

Benefits of SolarWinds VNQM

With SolarWinds VNQM, you can monitor and report both real-time and historical performance statistics for your Network Service Assurance-capable network. SolarWinds VNQM offers the following features to help you manage your IP-based network:

Quality of service (QoS) monitoring with Network Service Assurance operations. SolarWinds VNQM uses Network Service Assurance operations to provide immediate insight into network Quality of Service (QoS), including packet loss, latency, jitter, and mean opinion score (MOS) metrics. With SolarWinds VNQM and Network Service Assurance operations, you know at a glance exactly how well your network is and has been performing. For more information about Cisco IP SLA operations, see www.cisco.com/go/ipsla.

VoIP phone troubleshooting. SolarWinds VNQM uses Call Detail Records (CDR) and Call Management Records (CMR) data from your call managers to help you identify possible affected calls and patterns of affected calls. CDR/CMR data provides region information per call record in addition to the call source and destination, MOS, latency, packet loss, termination call code, and more.

Custom charts and gauges. SolarWinds VNQM provides easy-to-read charts and gauges that you can customize to suit your monitoring requirements. You can quickly determine the current status and performance of your network using custom gauges of key Network Service Assurance metrics such as jitter, latency, packet loss, and MOS. With custom charts, you can easily track the historical performance of all the paths on your network.

Custom alerts and actions. You can configure Network Service Assurance-related alerts with a variety of corresponding actions to notify you of events on your network.

Call manager monitoring. Call manager devices are scalable call processing solutions that provide VoIP networks with the features and functions of more traditional telephony. SolarWinds VNQM uses the SNMP and ICMP monitoring technology and the AXL API of Cisco to interact with call managers and to persistently track call manager performance.

SolarWinds VNQM natively monitors Cisco CallManager and CallManager Express, and Avaya call manager devices. You can also define custom Management Information Base (MIB) pollers to monitor call managers from other manufacturers.