Getting Alerts from your SIP Devices

I recently came across Papertrailapp.com, a cloud service that could very well change your life if you are  a VoIP engineer and part of your job requires you to monitor SIP devices.

The service collects logs from any networking device that is able to send logs to a syslog server, and provides analytics through the web portal.  What makes Papertrail different from other syslog services, however, is its ability to parse the logs in near real-time (the site claims it is done in milliseconds) and send alerts based on search filters that you configure. Alerts can be sent via several media including email, chat, text messages and even your own application through its API webhooks.

I was so inspired by the discovery that I created a short How To video explaining the setup.   The video describes the steps needed to capture logs from a Polycom SIP phone using the hosted Papertrail syslog service.   Although this video is primarily intended for White-Label Resellers of the SkySwitch hosted PBX service, it is applicable to anyone that has a SIP device that can send logs to a syslog server.  The trickiest part is getting the syslog parameters onto the phone (a chore that SkySwitch makes easy).

For syslog provisioning examples that will work on any Polycom or Yealink phone, see this article.

Papertrail is unaffiliated with SkySwitch and offers a free service that enables you to capture, manage and generate alert notifications based on the syslog output of any device.

Note:  On a Polycom phone running SIP application version 2.1 and later, or UC  Software 3.0.0 or later, you can edit the syslog parameters from the phone’s LCD:

• On your phone, navigate to Menu > Settings > Advanced and enter the phone’s administrative password (default 456), then press the Enter soft key.
• Navigate to Admin Settings > Network Configuration.
• Scroll down to Syslog Menu and press the Select soft key. The Syslog Menu displays. Enter the URL assigned to you by the Papertrail dashboard.