Packet Loss Indication in Syslog

The device reports packet loss (PL) of incoming (Rx) RTP media streams (calls) in 15-second intervals. The device obtains packet loss statistics from the RTCP of the RTP streams. When packet loss occurs in the 15-second interval, at the end of the interval the device sends a syslog message with Warning severity level, indicating this packet loss. The syslog indicates the number of calls that experienced packet loss per packet loss range (in percentage) during the interval. It also indicates the number of calls that didn't have packet loss. If no packet loss occurred in all the RTP streams in the 15-second interval, no syslog message is sent.

Below shows an example of a syslog message sent when packet loss occurred in the 15-second interval. This syslog indicates that 6 calls were active during the interval. One call had no packet loss, 3 calls had 1 to 2% packet loss, and 2 calls had 5 to 100% packet loss:

16:47:13.921 192.168.8.70 local0.warn [S=2116] [BID=884772:92] Packets-Loss report [PL range]=#media-legs: [No PL]=1, [up to 0.5%]=0, [0.5% - 1%]=0, [1% - 2%]=3, [2% - 5%]=0, [5% - 100%]=2 [[Time:28-12@00:40:18.550|time:28-12@00:40:18.550]]

Below shows the default packet-loss ranges in the syslog:

[No PL]: Indicates the number of calls without packet loss.
[up to 0.5%]: Indicates the number of calls with up to 0.5% packet loss. This packet loss typically has no effect on voice quality.
[0.5% - 1%]: Indicates the number of calls with 0.5 to 1% packet loss. This packet loss typically has no effect on voice quality.
[1% - 2%]: Indicates the number of calls with 1 to 2% packet loss. This packet loss may affect voice quality for calls using certain vocoders.
[2% - 5%]: Indicates the number of calls with 2 to 5% packet loss. This packet loss affects voice quality and typically indicates a network problem.
[5% - 100%]: Indicates the number of calls with 5 to 100% packet loss. This packet loss affects voice quality and typically indicates a network problem.

You can change these packet-loss ranges, using the [PLThresholdLevelsPerMille] parameter. For more information, see Syslog, CDR and Debug Parameters.

The packet loss report in the syslog message should be carefully considered. For example, for calls that are opened and then closed during the 15-second interval, packet loss statistics may be misleading due to insufficient packets for accurate calculation. Therefore, if the syslog message shows very few calls in the high packet-loss ranges, then you should probably ignore them as it might be due to this scenario. On the other hand, if there is a large number of calls falling into these high packet-loss ranges, then it probably indicates network problems.