1. Marcos Hernandez, SMB Technical Marketing Engineer
EDCS-<EDCS number>
Call Accounting and Call Detail Record Collection for UC500
Marcos Hernandez, SMB Technical Marketing Engineer
December 2008

2. Call Accounting Options for SBCS
Call Detail Records sent to a Syslog Server
Call Detail Records sent to an FTP Server
Call Detail Records sent to a Radius Server

3. CDRs sent to a Syslog Server –Quick and Easy
UC500 Configuration
service timestamps log datetime msec localtime !
aaa new-model
aaa authentication login default none
aaa accounting connection h323 start-stop radius
gw-accounting syslog
logging <LAN IP Address of the Syslog Server>
Pros:
Easy to Configure
Low Cost
Quick Deployment
Easy to interpret (CSV format)
Multiple servers
Cons:
Syslog works over UDP
LAN deployment only
No local CDR backup
Important:
Make sure that clock settings are accurate, for proper time stamping. NTP is recommended.
PSTN/VoIP
Syslog Server

4. CDR’s sent to Syslog Server - Details
service timestamps log datetime msec localtime
!--- Ensures that the records are timestamped with an accurate value.
aaa new-model
aaa authentication login default none
!--- Enables AAA to prevent Telnet authentication via AAA.
aaa accounting connection h323 start-stop radius
!--- Generates the H.323 call start/stop CDRs.
gw-accounting syslog
!--- Sends the H.323 CDRs to the syslog server.
logging
!--- The IP address of the syslog server. Multiple syslog servers
!--- can be specified for redundancy.

5. CDRs sent to a FTP Server – Quick and Reliable
Need IOS 12.4(20)T
or higher
UC500 Configuration
service timestamps log datetime msec localtime !
gw-accounting aaa
gw-accounting file
primary ftp <FTP Server IP Address> username <username> password <password>
secondary ifs flash:cdr
maximum buffer-size 15
maximum retry-count 3
maximum fileclose-timer 300
maximum cdrflush-timer 245
Pros:
Easy to Configure
Low Cost
Quick Deployment
Easy to interpret (CSV format)
Reliable transport (TCP)
CDR’s can be backed up to flash (make sure you have enough space)
Cons:
CPU intensive on busy systems (timers might need to be tweaked)
Important:
Make sure that clock settings are accurate, for proper time stamping. NTP is recommended.
PSTN/VoIP
FTP Server

6. CDR’s sent to FTP Server - Details
gw-accounting file
!---Enables the file method of accounting
primary {ftp path/filename username username password password | ifs device:filename}
!---Sets the primary location for storing the CDRs generated for
!---file accounting.
secondary {ftp path/filename username username password password | ifs device:filename}
!---Sets the backup location for storing CDRs if the primary location
!---becomes unavailable.
maximum retry-count number
!---Sets the maximum number of times the router attempts to connect
!---to the primary file device before switching to the secondary device.
maximum buffer-size kbytes
!---Sets the maximum size of the file accounting buffer.
maximum fileclose-timer minutes
!---Sets the maximum time for writing records to an accounting file
!---before closing it and creating a new file.
maximum cdrflush-timer minutes
!---Sets the maximum time to hold call records in the buffer before
!---appending the records to the accounting file.

7. CDRs sent to a Radius Server - Advanced
UC500 Configuration
service timestamps log datetime msec localtime !
aaa new-model
aaa accounting connection h323 start-stop broadcast group radius
aaa session-id common
radius-server host <IP of RADIUS Server>
radius-server vsa send accounting
radius-server vsa send authentication
gw-accounting aaa
Pros:
More reliable accounting
Vendor Specific Attributes (VSA)
Customized records
Specific captures can be stored in flash (templates)
Multiple servers
Cons:
More configuration/customization
Requires RADIUS infrastructure (typically deployed on the WAN)
Important:
Make sure that clock settings are accurate, for proper time stamping. NTP is recommended.
PSTN
Internet
RADIUS Server
Important:
Radius CDR’s are currently the only records that include both forced and non-forced authorization and accounting codes.

8. CDR’s sent to Radius - Details
aaa new-model
!---Enables AAA
aaa authentication login h323 group radius
!---Creates a named list that checks the RADIUS server for authentication details
!---for H.323 calls.
aaa authorization exec h323 group radius
!---Creates named lists that configure RADIUS as the method for H.323 authorization.
aaa accounting connection h323 start-stop radius
!---Specifies use of connection-based accounting and H.323.
radius-server host <IP Address of Radius Server>
!---Specifies a RADIUS server host.
radius-server host non-standard
!---Identifies that the security server is using a vendor-proprietary implementation
!---of RADIUS.
radius-server key
!---Sets the password (key) to use for authenticating to the RADIUS server.

9. Additional Information and Troubleshooting
CDR Logging Configuration with Syslog Servers and Cisco IOS Gateways
Configuring File Accounting
Configuring RADIUS Accounting
For questions: