System, method and computer program product for diagnostic supervision of internet connections

A system for managing diagnostic information for a communications system, comprising:

• a plurality of terminal endpoints (TEs) capable of communicating over an Internet Protocol (IP) network;
• and
• a Diagnostic Supervisor (DS) capable of being coupled to the IP network,
• wherein said DS transmits a Diagnostic Configuration Message (DCM) to said TEs,
• wherein one or more of said TEs generate Diagnostic Messages (DMs) based on diagnostic information concerning IP network connections in which said one or more of said TEs participate, and
• wherein said DCM instructs the TEs how to format and when to transmit said DM to said DS or to a plurality of DSs and TEs.

A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having control logic stored therein for causing a computer to manage diagnostic and performance information for communications system terminal endpoints (TEs) communicating over an Internet Protocol (IP) network, said control logic comprising:

• a first computer readable program code means for causing the computer to transmit a Diagnostic Configuration Message (DCM) from a Diagnostic Supervisor (DS) to the TEs, wherein the DS is capable of being coupled to the communications systems;
• a second computer readable program code means for causing the computer to generate Diagnostic Messages (DMs) at the TEs based on diagnostic information concerning IP network connections in which the TEs participate, wherein said DCM instructs the TEs how to format and under what criteria to transmit said DMs;
• and
• a third computer readable program code means for causing the computer to transmit said DMs from said TEs to said DS or to a plurality of DSs.