Subject: 21. How can I log and account for calls?

Syslog can be used to track incoming and outgoing calls. You'll need a host that runs a syslog daemon (most UNIX systems will do, preferrably one with a BSD style syslog).

On your Ascend unit, start logging information by moving to the menu Ethernet->Mod Config, and setting the following:

Syslog=Yes
Log Host=[IP address of your logging host]
Log Facility=localn
(Where "n" in localn is a number from 0 to 7, corresponding with a user-defined log facility selected on the logging host.)

Under UNIX, add the following line to /etc/syslog.conf: 

localn.info		/var/log/ascend-log
Where "localn" corresponds to the facility selected on the Ascend unit (presumably one not already assigned in syslog.conf). Make sure the above line starts at the left margin and that the two fields are separated by tabs, not spaces. The filename can be whatever you like.

If the log file doesn't already exist, create the file in the location you specified, and kill and restart the syslog daemon.

Under VMS, Dan Newman provides these tips: 

> On OpenVMS systems running TGV MultiNet(R):
>
> $ MULTINET CONFIGURE/SERVER
> SERVER-CONFIG> ENABLE SYSLOG
> SERVER-CONFIG> RESTART
> SERVER-CONFIG> EXIT
> $
>
> Messages received by the MultiNet syslog daemon are, by default, directed
> to OPCOM.  See the MultiNet SYSLOG documentation in for further details.
>
> FYI, to the best of my knowledge, none of the other TCP/IP stacks for
> OpenVMS support syslog.

Accounting for calls, in the business sense, is not easily accomplished with Ascend's current software release. Syslog records must be heavily massaged (as mentioned above) in order to create usable records, and diligent programming is necessary for anything approaching real billable accounting. Some individuals have written and made available their own solutions (not necessarily for free); posting on the Ascend User's list may garner some responses on this subject.

Eventually, Ascend will support RADIUS accounting, but RADIUS accounting itself isn't firmly defined yet, so this will take a while. Ascend Ascend recommends using its latest SNMP MIB (see question #32) with the latest software rev (4.4B). This MIB generates and maintains accounting events for Max, Max 4000/HP, and Pipeline 400 units. My experiments with it to date have not been very promising, though, and Ascend hasn't provided any documentation on how valid billable records might be generated from it.

Mel Beckman has written a UNIX-based program to take syslog data from a Pipeline 50 and massage it into more readable, useful form. Its source code is included at the bottom of this document.

Mark Lentczner has written a syslog parsing program for the Pipeline 50, available in both perl and awk. It may be found, along with a description, at the following location:

http://www.glyphic.com/other/isdncalls.html
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