8.1 Alarm Handling Overview

Global Call alarms originate from alarm source objects (ASO). An alarm source object can be a network library, such as the Springware DTI network library, or a call control library, or it can reside within a call control library. Some alarm source objects are for internal Global Call use only and are not available to the application.

There are basically two sources of Global Call alarms:

• Layer 1 alarms (physical alarms)
• "Logical" alarms, such as remote side out of service, or layer 2 or layer 3 out of service

Note: Not all technologies support physical alarms. Refer to the appropriate Global Call Technology User's Guide to determine if a particular technology supports physical alarms.

The portion of the Global Call call control library that manages alarms is called the Global Call Alarm Management System (GCAMS). GCAMS is initialized automatically when Global Call is started.

GCAMS provides Global Call applications with the ability to receive extensive alarm information. Some of the ways this information can be used include:

• Managing the network
• Troubleshooting hardware
• Monitoring line quality
• Working with the central office to solve line problems
• Generating status reports
• Modifying alarm source object properties and characteristics based on alarm history
• Manual handling of alarms for drop and insert applications.

The following sections describe the components and operation of GCAMS.

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