SIP maintenance unit

A system for managing voice and multimedia sessions over a network, the system comprising:

• at least one SIP proxy configured to control at least one media path including a plurality of spans;
• at least one SIP session initiator configured to select a SIP proxy from a list of available proxies and signal the selected SIP proxy to initiate a communication session using at least one of the plurality of spans;
• a plurality of error counters;
• and
• at least one SIP maintenance unit configured to communicate with the at least one SIP proxy, the at least one SIP session initiator, and the at least one error counter over a network and perform tests on the at least one SIP proxy.

A system for managing voice and multimedia sessions over a network, the system comprising:

• at least one SIP proxy configured to control at least one media path including a plurality of spans;
• at least one SIP session initiator configured to select a proxy and signal the selected proxy to initiate a communication session using at least one of the plurality of spans;
• a plurality of error counters;
• means for identifying attributes of the at least one SIP proxy;
• means for generating a list of available proxies;
• means for testing the at least one SIP proxy;
• means for adjusting a value of at least one error counter of the plurality of counters based on results of the means for testing;
• and
• means for managing the voice and multimedia sessions based on the results of the means for testing.

A computer program product storing program instructions for execution on a computer system, which when executed by the computer system causes the computer system to perform a method for managing voice and multimedia sessions over a network, the method comprising:

• initializing at least one SIP maintenance unit based on a configuration data;
• performing tests on a plurality of SIP proxies each controlling a media path and having a plurality of spans using the SIP maintenance unit;
• adjusting a value of at least one error counter based on results of the performing tests;
• and
• managing the voice and multimedia sessions based on results of the performing tests.