Switch Connectivity Diagnostic
August 14th, 2009

Most ShoreTel System Administrators learn early on that the “Quick Look” link in the ShoreWare Director is your best friend! After all, telephony trouble indications are easy to spot: Green is good, Red is Bad and yellow means “something needs attention”. At the first report of a trouble indication, a System Administrator will bring up a browser and get to the log in screen of the Shoreware Director portal. Quick Look, Under the Maintenance section of the administrator portal, provides an immediate snapshot of what is going on in the system. If you see any RED at the HQ level, you can drill down and find the site and switch that might be the source of your problem.

What happens when you look and you see Green?All is good!Why am I getting user reports of inability to complete a phone call?The very best next step for you to take is to click on the Switch Connectivity link under the same Maintenance section as Quick Look.The switch connectivity screen will illustrate any connectivity issues between switches on the network. It is very possible that the HQ server “sees” all is well and reports Green, but individual switches served by DVM’s, for example, do not see each other.By pinpointing the intersection of switches that can not communicate with each other, you will generally find a network or default gateway issue that is causing your negative user reports!As useful as the Quick Look may be, the Switch Connectivity page is a more useful diagnostic for locating network based issues.

switch-connectivityFor more detailed information about a switch, place the mouse cursor over the connectivity cell in question and status information will be displayed in the status bar at the bottom of your browser!  Green is Still Good and indicates the Switch is communicating with the other switches in the system.  Yesllo indicates that the switch connectivity is unknown because it can not communicate with TMS and RED indicates a complete loss of communications with the server!