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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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).<\/p>\n\n\n\n For syslog provisioning examples that will work on any Polycom or Yealink phone, see this article<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n