Workshop for Performance Related Alarms

1) Performance alarms collection (identification and procedure to collect the alarms) 2) alarms to be analyse for improvement of performance(awareness regarding causes for occurrence, criteria for analysis) 3) understanding the correlations of alarms(simulteneous occurrence of various alarms) 4) action to be taken for alarms reduction(methodology and procedure for alarm reduction) 5) frequency for monitoring alarms(schedule for alarm collection and analysis) 6) important KPI can be affected by alarms(impact of various alarms on various KPI and other performance parameters) 7) different report can help for analyzing the performance(daily performance logs to be collected i.e. G.826 performance report for all MW links) As discussed in the Bharti Operational meeting held in Gurgaon me, Rishi and Gagan Bhashin will be conducting this workshop in Patna and Kolkata.

Alarm groups and numbers

The Alarm Reference documentation consists of alarm printouts and diagnosis reports. The alarms have been divided into four groups, and each of them is described in a dedicated piece of documentation. The alarms are numbered in ascending order as follows: Table: Alarm groups and numbers

Alarm number in: switching equipment O&M equipment transmission equipment diagnosis report number base station/ transmission equipment alarms power equipment external equipment

Notices (NOTICE) 0799 800 - 899 900 - 999

Disturbance printouts (DISTUR) 10001799 18001899 19001999

Failure printouts (ALARMS) 20002799 30003799 28002899 38003899 29002999 39003999

Diagnosis reports (DIAGN)

Base station alarms

Transmission equipment alarms

Numbers reserved for possible external alarms 40004799 48004899 49004999

37003999 7000 7999 80008999

50005499 55005999

Structure of the BSC alarm

a.Type of alarm printout b.Name of the network element c.Remote subscriber stage (4 characters) Printed only if the object of the alarm is in a remote subscriber stage. d.Computer sending the alarm e.Alarm equipment type

SWITCH switching equipment O&M operation and maintenance equipment TRANSM transmission equipment POWER power equipment EXTERN external equipment
Unknown equipment type is printed as ?????? f.Date and time Start or termination time of the alarm. g.Urgency level

*** requires immediate actions ** requires actions during normal working hours * normally no actions required
Unknown urgency level is printed as a question mark (?). The urgency level is output in all alarm printouts except notices (NOTICE). The urgency levels of terminated alarms are indicated by dots (.) instead of asterisks (*). a.Printout type b.Alarm object b.Position coordinates of the alarm object c.Alarm issuer The program block issuing the alarm. If the name of the program block issuing the alarm is not available, the family identifier of the program block is output in hexadecimal form instead of the name. If the alarm is set in a preprocessor plug-in unit, the plug-in unit name and index are output in this field (for example PCU_S-1). In this case, the alarm concerns the functioning of the plug-in unit in question.

Cont..

12) Trial information If the network element has been divided into a traffic transmitting part and a trial part, this field displays the text TRIAL if the alarm was issued in the trial side. 13)Recovery information When recovery is informed of the alarm in order to start the automatic recovery actions, this field displays *RECOV*. 14)Processing information If the alarm is set before the start-up of the distributed part of the alarm system, this field displays LIB. Note that this kind of alarm does not stay as an active alarm and thus there will be no cancel printout for it. 15)Consecutive number Failure printouts (***, **, *) are numbered in ascending order. With the help of the number the operating personnel can follow the update and cancel printouts of the original failure printout. 16)Alarm number Alarm number is an unambiguous identifier for an alarm. It is also a search index for the description of the alarm. 17)Alarm text Alarm text is a short description of the alarm. 18)Supplementary information fields 19)Supplementary text A more detailed text printed out in some alarms. 20)Alarm operating instructions The user defines an operating instruction with the AOA MML command for an alarm. If the instruction has been defined, then it is displayed in the alarm printout.

Structure of a BTS alarm

1.Type of alarm printout

Standard alarm printout <HIST> Alarm history printout

b.Exchange c.BCF number d.BTS number e.Event type

COMM communication failure QUAL quality of service PROCES processing failure EQUIPM equipment failure ENVIR environmental failure
f.Date g.Time h.Urgency level

*** requires immediate actions ** requires actions during working hours * no actions required
The urgency level is output in all alarm printouts except notices (NOTICE). The urgency levels of terminated alarms are indicated by dots (.) instead of asterisks (*). Printout type

ALARM fault situation CANCEL fault terminated DISTUR disturbance NOTICE notice
c.TRX number d.BTS name (15 characters) e.Alarm object (FU/CU/LAPD/PCM/RTSL/TRE/DMR/TRU) State of the alarm object

ENABLED The alarm object is able to provide traffic services DISABLED The alarm object is not able to provide traffic services

14) Consecutive alarm number 15) Alarm number Alarm number is a search index in the alarm reference documentation. 16)Text The text is a short description of the alarm.

17) Supplementary text In the case of alarms number range 7600...7699 this field indicates the fault reason. 18) Supplementary information fields A maximum of 16 fields which are separated from one another by one or several spaces.

Reasons for Alarm triggering

Tramsmission Problem
Cable/Connector Mux M/W ODU/IDU M/W fading/interference Configuration problem

Hardware problem at BTS. VSWR/loose cables at BTS. Configuration Problem in BSC. Hardware Problem at BSC. Configuration Problem in BTS. Equipment failure(BSC/BTS) Environmental failure(High Temp) Configuration Problem in MSC. Configuration Problem in SGSN. Wrong RF parameters.

How to get the Alarms in the network

GNSC is sending a list of active alarms in the network daily. GNSC is preparing a daily report for alarm history of the circles and store it at the given locations. Report can be collected from there.
OSS Name
Bharti-Mah

IP ftp
10.64.2.1

Report available for Circles

Maharstra and MP

Path
m/home/nocldr/system_alarm_count

Bharti-Mum Bharti-WB Bihar

10.115.16.129 10.133.1.1 10.137.16.131

Gujarat and Mumbai Kolkata, Orissa and WB Bihar

m/home/nocldr/system_alarm_count /home/nnocld/system_alarm_count m/home/nocldr/system_alarm_count

Cont..
Net doctor report 34 and 35 can be taken for alarms count in the circle. Performance report for transmission equipment. MML alarms logs ZEOL,ZAHO,ZEOH and ZAHP output for each NE. Daily MAPA also provide information about KPI degradation in cells.

Owner for alarms

Owner:- BSS OMC Rectification Responsibility:Transmission :RF :BSS FLM :BSS OMC:Switch:SGSN:-

Major performance alarms observed in networks

Text
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 BCF FAULTY BCF OPERATION DEGRADED BCF NOTIFICATION BTS FAULTY BTS OPERATION DEGRADED TRX FAULTY TRX OPERATION DEGRADED OSCILLATOR ADJUSTING TEMPORARILY INTERRUPTED PCM FAILURE LAPD FAILURE CONTINUOUS RESTARTS OF BCF/TRX TRAFFIC CHANNEL ACTIVATION FAILURE CONFIGURATION OF BCF FAILED BTS WITH NO TRANSACTIONS MEAN HOLDING TIME BELOW DEFINED THRESHOLD EXCESSIVE TCH INTERFERENCE CHANNEL FAILURE RATE ABOVE DEFINED THRESHOLD CH CONGESTION IN CELL ABOVE DEFINED THRESHOLD FREQUENCY ERROR SUBRACK HAS MISSING UNITS
ROUTE SET UNAVAILABLE LINK SET UNAVAILABLE FAILURE IN SIGNALLING LINK ACTIVATION OR RESTORATION FAULT RATE MONITORING BTS AND TC UNSYNCHRONIZATION CLEAR CALLS ON A INTERFACE BTS AND TC UNSYNCHRONIZATION CLEAR CALLS ON ABIS INTERFACE NETWORK SERVICE ENTITY UNAVAILABLE NETWORK SERVICE VIRTUAL CONNECTION UNAVAILABLE RECEIVED BIT ERROR RATIO (BER) > 1E-3 FAR-END ALARM BCCH IS NOT AT PREFERRED BCCH TRX BTS/WBCx: TX ANTENNA FAULTY TRANSCODER CHANNEL FAILURE

Alarm No. Alarm count

7600 7601 7602 7603 7604 7606 7607 7616 7704 7705 7715 7725 7730 7738 7743 7744 7745 7746 8112 8139 2064 2070 2072 2915 2992 2993 3019 3020 8099 8179 7734
2955

Team need to work on alarm

*** ** * *** ** ** ** * ** * * ** ** ** ** ** ** ** * *** * *** ** *** ** ** ** * *** ** BSS FLM BSS FLM BSS FLM BSS FLM BSS FLM BSS FLM BSS FLM BSS FLM BSS FLM BSS FLM BSS FLM BSS FLM BSS FLM BSS FLM BSS FLM BSS OMC BSS FLM BSS OMC BSS FLM BSS FLM BSS OMC BSS OMC BSS OMC Transmission Transmission Transmission Transmission Transmission Transmission Transmission BSS FLM BSS FLM BSS OMC

179 487 6926 472 421 9418 388 3241 23691 149 239 155 1684 338 5052 1020 817 1037 279 148 369 6312 1413 3549 248 232 3160 970 140
41

BSS OMC BSS OMC BSS OMC Transmission Transmission BSS OMC Transmission BSS OMC BSS OMC BSS OMC BSS OMC RF RF BSS OMC RF RF Transmission Transmission Transmission BSS FLM Transmission BSS FLM Transmission BSS FLM BSS FLM BSS OMC BSS FLM BSS FLM BSS FLM BSS FLM BSS FLM BSS OMC

SGSN SGSN

7600 BCF FAULTY : Power unit is probably broken. Oven oscillator is broken. Temperature inside the TRX is dangerously high. Temperature inside the BTS is too high. The TX output power is out of limits (over maximum or under minimum). RF Impacted KPI : High TCH and SDCCH Blocking.

7601 BCF OPERATION DEGRADED

Cabinet I2C bus is jammed. Incompatible unit presence has been detected in the BTS. Instructions: AC is off and the battery voltage is too low or battery is being charged Difference between the PCM and BTS frequency reference. The TX output power has dropped at least 3 dB. Oven oscillator control is close to its margins. Power unit output voltage fault Power unit input voltage fault. No connection to power unit. Power unit temperature is dangerously high. Transmission unit temperature is dangerously high. RF Impacted KPI : High TCH and SDCCH Blocking & Drops, TASR and HOSR.

7602 BCF NOTIFICATION

Temperature inside the TRX is high. External synchronisation signals disabled Instructions: Power unit output voltage fault. Power unit input voltage fault. No connection to power unit. Instructions Mismatch between BSC/MMI configuration file and the actual configuration. External synchronisation signals disabled RF Impacted KPI : TASR and HOSR.

7604 BTS OPERATION DEGRADED

7606 TRX FAULTY 7607 TRX OPERATION DEGRADED Rx levels differ too much between main and diversity antennas RF Impacted KPI : High TCH and SDCCH Drops, TASR and HOSR.

7603 BTS FAULTY

7606 TRX FAULTY RF Impacted KPI : High TCH and SDCCH Blocking.

7606 TRX FAULTY

Failure detected during TRX configuring. Antenna connection faulty. External frame clock synchronisation failed. External frame clock missing. External frame number synchronisation failed. Fault in VSWR antenna monitoring. BOI detected that connection to TRX is lost. No connection to dual variable gain duplex unit. There is disturbance in the serial DL bus or bus is broken. RF Impacted KPI : High TCH and SDCCH Blocking.

7607 TRX OPERATION DEGRADED

Fault in the chain between power unit and MHA. Fault in VSWR antenna monitoring. No connection to dual variable gain duplex unit. TRX is unable to implement EDGE services. IDD main/auxiliary TRX frequency band mismatch. Mismatch between BSC/MMI configuration and/or IDD TRX. RF Impacted KPI : High TCH and SDCCH Drops, TASR and HOSR.

7616 OSCILLATOR ADJUSTING TEMPORARILY INTERRUPTED

Oven oscillator adjustment function interrupted. The Abis frequency is too high or too low, or it fluctuates so much that the master clock tune is unreliable and tends to oscillate too much. Another reason for this alarm can be that the oven adjustment scenario has tuned the oven too near the edge. When the tune is stopped, the master clock can go by itself out of specification and therefore calls may drop after several hours or days. This is a non-fatal alarm but it indicates decreased traffic capacity in the base station. RF Impacted KPI : High TCH and SDCCH Drops, TASR and HOSR.

7743 MEAN HOLDING TIME BELOW DEFINED THRESHOLD

Mean holding time on a channel is below the operatordefined minimum during the measurement period. The alarm is used to supervise the functioning of traffic channels and to detect the possible faulty channels. Restore the channel by first locking it out of use and then unlocking it minimum mean holding time for a TCH (10 s) length of TCH supervision measurement (120 min) channel seizure threshold value (10) RF Impacted KPI : High TCH and SDCCH Drops, TASR and HOSR.

7744 EXCESSIVE TCH INTERFERENCE

During the supervision period, the TCH time slot has suffered excessive interference in idle mode that is equal to or higher than the operator-defined alarm threshold percentage. The alarm is used to supervise the BTS traffic capacity. Measure the interference level on the traffic channel in question. TCH interference level threshold value (50 %) excessive interference level threshold value (4) TCH interference supervision measurement (120 min) RF Impacted KPI : High TCH and SDCCH Drops, TASR and HOSR.

7745 CHANNEL FAILURE RATE ABOVE DEFINED THRESHOLD

The rate of calls terminating in failure on a channel is above the threshold value set by the operator. The alarm is used to supervise the functioning of traffic and signaling channels, and to detect the possible faulty channels. Restore the channel by first locking it out of use and then unlocking it TCH failure rate (20 %) SCHFR SDCCH failure rate (80 %) Length of supervision period (60 min) CS = channel seizure threshold value (10) Supervision start time (08-00) Supervision end time (18-00) RF Impacted KPI : High TCH and SDCCH Drops and HOSR.

7746 CH CONGESTION IN CELL ABOVE DEFINED THRESHOLD

The percentage of rejected channel seizure requests due to congestion as opposed to all channel seizure requests in the base station is above the operator-defined alarm threshold. Increase the network capacity if necessary. Channel seizure request threshold value (10) SDCCH congestion threshold value (20 %) TCH congestion threshold value (20 %) length of congestion supervision period (120 min) RF Impacted KPI : High TCH and SDCCH Blocking.

8112 FREQUENCY ERROR

A frequency error has been detected in the input signal. This alarm affects the provided services. RF Impacted KPI : High TASR and HOSR.

8139 SUBRACK HAS MISSING UNITS

An installation or usage error has been detected in a piece of equipment. This alarm may affect the provided services. RF Impacted KPI : High TCH and SDCCH Drops.

2064 ROUTE SET UNAVAILABLE

The signalling point cannot be reached because none of the signalling routes of the signalling route set can be used. Signalling traffic to the signalling point concerned is totally blocked. RF Impacted KPI :Complete service area of BSC is impacted (100% outage).

2070 LINK SET UNAVAILABLE

All signalling links in the signalling link set are unavailable. There is no direct connection to the partner exchange to which this link set is connected. There is something wrong with the data transmission connections of the links of this link set, and/or links have been blocked. RF Impacted KPI : Complete service area of BSC is impacted (100% outage).

2072 FAILURE IN SIGNALLING LINK ACTIVATION OR RESTORATION

The activation or restoration of a signalling link fails. If there are other available signalling links in the signalling link set, signalling traffic is transmitted through them. Signalling transmission capacity is, however, decreased. RF Impacted KPI : Complete service area of the BSC is impacted. SDCCH and TCH drops of all cells of BSC shall have an severe impact.

2992 BTS AND TC UNSYNCHRONIZATION CLEAR CALLS ON A INTERFACE

Calls have been cleared repeatedly on the same A interface circuit due to BTS and transcoder unsynchronisation and the number of successive releases has exceeded the limit defined. This alarm only informs the user that calls are cleared due to unsatisfactory transmission or equipment failure but it does not directly indicate the faulty equipment, for example a plug-in unit. Block the circuit. Check the transmission between (the BTS) the BSC and transcoder. Check other active alarms concerning (the BTS) the BSC and transcoder transmission or transcoder plug-in units. RF Impacted KPI : High TCH and SDCCH Drops.

 Calls have been cleared three successive times on the same Abis interface channel due to BTS and transcoder unsynchronisation. This alarm only informs the user that calls are cleared due to unsatisfactory transmission or equipment failure but it does not directly indicate the faulty equipment, for example a plug-in unit. Lock the channel. Check the transmission between the BTS and the BSC (and transcoder). Check the alarms in transcoder plug-in units. RF Impacted KPI : High TCH and SDCCH Drops,TASR and HOSR.

2993 BTS AND TC UNSYNCHRONIZATION CLEAR CALLS ON ABIS INTERFACE

A Network Service Virtual Connection is unavailable. It cannot be used for General Packet Radio Service, that is, the data transfer capacity has decreased. In FR transport mode Check first if the other end has manually taken down the Network Service Virtual Connection. Check the possible hardware and configuration problems mentioned below. Check that the pcm lines carrying the Frame Relay bearer channel and Network Service Virtual Connection are operational. Check that the plug-in units terminating the Network Service Virtual Connection, the AS7 in the SGSN's PAPU and the PCU in the BSC's BCSU, are operational. Check also that the identification parameters (NS-VCI, NSEI) of the connections are the same in both ends. Check that the DLCI is configured right. It has to be same in both ends of a point-topoint link. In IP transport mode (value of the first supplementary information field is 0xFFFF). Check first if the other end has manually taken down the Network Service Virtual Connection. check the possible hardware and configuration problems. RF Impacted KPI : Complete EDGE/GPRS service unavailable on the cells defined in the NS-VCI.

3020 NETWORK SERVICE VIRTUAL CONNECTION UNAVAILABLE

8099 RECEIVED BIT ERROR RATIO (BER) > 1E-3

The bit error rate has been exceeded in the input signal. This alarm affects the provided services. RF Impacted KPI : Complete outage of the site or severely impacts all the RF KPI if link is fluctuating.

8179 FAR-END ALARM

Transmission equipment has received a far-end alarm. This alarm does not affect the provided services. RF Impacted KPI : Complete outage of the Site.

7734 BCCH IS NOT AT PREFERRED BCCH TRX

The BTS has at least one TRX defined as the preferred BCCH TRX but the BCCH channel is not on such a TRX so the BCCH coverage may have decreased (If ICE feature used). RF Impacted KPI : EDGE might get disabled.

 3019 NETWORK SERVICE ENTITY UNAVAILABLE ( Complete outage) 7704 PCM FAILURE (Complete Outage) 7705 LAPD FAILURE (TCH and SDCCH blocking) 7715 CONTINUOUS RESTARTS OF BCF/TRX (TCH and SDCCH blocking & Drops ) 7725 TRAFFIC CHANNEL ACTIVATION FAILURE(TCH Drop and Blocking) 7730 CONFIGURATION OF BCF FAILED ( SDCCH and TCH blocking or Complete outage) 7738 BTS WITH NO TRANSACTIONS ( 2915 FAULT RATE MONITORING

BTS alarm system

The BTS alarm system receives alarm indications from the following sources in the radio network: BTS equipment alarms BTS software alarms external alarms from the BTS site alarms concerning PCM circuits in the radio network alarms from LAPD links in the radio network alarms from Abis interface equipment alarms from application programs of the BSC transmission equipment alarms. This block diagram illustrates the structure of the BTS alarm system:

Displaying alarms
Alarms are written in a logical file. From the logical file, they can be directed to a local printer or to Nokia NetAct. The table below shows the logical files used with alarms. For further information on the logical files used with alarms, refer to the Logical files directed to terminal devices section of Logical Files. Table: The logical files used with alarms

LOGICAL FILE SWITCH1 TRANSM1 POWER1 EXTERN1 OPERMA1 SWITCH2 TRANSM2 POWER2 EXTERN2 OPERMA2 BTSALARM1 BTSALARM2 BTSALARM3 BTSALARM4

Explanation Two- or three-star switching equipment alarms Two- or three-star transmission equipment alarms Two- or three-star power equipment alarms Two- or three-star external alarms Two- or three-star operation and maintenance equipment alarms Switching equipment alarms whose type is notice, disturbance, or one-star alarm Transmission equipment alarms whose type is notice, disturbance, or one-star alarm Power equipment alarms whose type is notice, disturbance, or one-star alarm External alarms whose type is one-star alarm Operation and maintenance alarms whose type is notice, disturbance, or one-star alarm Three-star BTS alarms Two-star BTS alarms One-star BTS alarms BTS notices and disturbances

Each alarm event, alarm and its cancellation, not filtered by the alarm system, is saved in a log file. This log data is called alarm history. Using the AH command group commands, you can display the history data concerning the system's alarm situation. For further information on displaying alarm history, refer to Alarm History Handling (AH ) for DX 200 alarms, and Base Transceiver Station Alarms Handling (EO ) for BTS alarms. You can either display the alarm history, or merely the active alarms, on the selected output device. The printout format is the same as in alarm printouts. It is recommended that you print out the active alarms every day. Check if they require maintenance actions. A DX 200 alarm whose object unit is not in the normal working state is normally filtered by the alarm system. When the alarm is filtered (by any means), it is neither printed out nor stored in the alarm history. However, an alarm that is filtered purely on the basis of the state of its object unit is printed out when displaying active alarms. You can print out active DX 200 alarms with the command AHO , and active BTS alarms with the command EOL . You can display the DX 200 alarm history data with the command AHP , and the BTS alarm history data with the command EOH .