Administrator Features

As the system administrator, you can use the GUI or CLI to manage voice mail system parameters and voice mail subscriber accounts. The GUI is more user-friendly for individual operations, and the CLI lends itself better to scripting from another management system for faster configuration.

The voice mail-related features available to a Cisco UE system administrator include the following:

Chapter 14, "Configuring and Managing Cisco IPC Express Systems," covers the configuration steps of the Cisco UE voice mail system in greater detail. This section discusses the features themselves and how they operate.

Voice Mail Pilot Number

The voice mail pilot number is the number subscribers call to retrieve their voice messages (typically triggered by pressing the messages button on the phone), as well as the number IP phones are call forwarded to so that callers can leave a voice message.

Note

For Cisco UE, the voice mail pilot number is always different from the AA pilot number. The same pilot number cannot be used for both applications. You can, however, define multiple pilot numbers for voice mail, as well as multiple numbers for the AA.

Cisco UE uses a single voice mail pilot number for both types of calls. Whether the voice mail system plays a subscriber's mailbox greeting or prompts for subscriber login depends on whether the call has been redirected before entering the voice mail system. How Cisco UE makes this decision depends on the last redirected number and Calling Number fields of the incoming voice call. This process was explained earlier, in the sections "Mailbox Login and PIN" and "Message Leaving and Mailbox Login."

The following Cisco IPC Express configuration elements must match for the voice mail pilot number to work correctly:

Example 10-2 shows the Cisco CME and Cisco UE configuration parameters relevant to the voice mail pilot number (3105, in this example). You can configure the Cisco UE voice mail pilot number in the GUI by navigating to the Voice Mail > Call Handling screen. The configuration in Example 10-2 uses Cisco IOS translation rules (as explained in Chapter 6, "Cisco CME PSTN Connectivity Options") to translate the E.164 PSTN number to the pilot number extension. Translation profile to_aavm is attached to SIP dial peer 3100. The to_aavm profile, in turn, refers to translation rule 10 (applicable to called numbers only), where rule 2 substitutes a called number of 4445553105 with the digits 3105. Alternatively, you could also define a second SIP dial peer with a destination-pattern 44455531.. statement.

Example 10-2. Voice Mail Pilot Number Operation

router#show running-config voice translation-rule 10 rule 1 /4445553100/ /3100/ rule 2 /4445553105/ /3105/ ! voice translation-profile to_aavm translate called 10 ! dial-peer voice 3100 voip description VM-AA translation-profile outgoing to_aavm destination-pattern 31.. session protocol sipv2 session target ipv4:172.19.153.37 ! telephony-service ip source-address 10.10.1.100 port 2000 voicemail 3105 ! ephone-dn 1 number 3001 description User1 call-forward busy 3105 call-forward noan 3105 timeout 10 cue#show running-config ccn trigger sip phonenumber 3105 application "voicemail" maxsessions 8 end trigger

Under the ephone-dn configuration for each extension, calls are forwarded on busy or no-answer (with a ringing timeout of 10 seconds) to extension 3105, which is the voice mail pilot number, defined by the voicemail 3105 statement under telephony-service.

In the last few lines of Example 10-2, the Cisco UE CLI configuration is shown, where the voice mail pilot number 3105 is defined as a SIP trigger to the application. This means that when a call arrives at this number, it triggers the voice mail application.

Mailbox Management

The administrator can create mailboxes up to the maximum number of mailboxes supported by the license installed on the Cisco UE system. When you create a mailbox, you must associate it with an existing user or group. You can modify mailbox parameters in the Mailbox Profile screen in the GUI. You can navigate to this screen either by going to Voice Mail > Mailboxes and clicking the appropriate mailbox or by going to the Configure > Users or Configure > Groups screens, clicking the appropriate user or group, and then selecting the Mailbox tab from the user or group profile.

GDMs cannot be reused as personal mailboxes, because logging into a GDM requires that the member (subscriber) also have a personal mailbox. However, as mentioned earlier, in the "Cisco UE Licensing" section, as of Cisco UE release 2.1 any number of personal mailboxes or GDMs can be defined, up to the maximum number of mailboxes allowed by the Cisco UE license. An existing personal mailbox cannot be converted to a GDM (or the other way around) and keep the existing messages in the mailbox. Making such a configuration change requires you to delete the mailbox and redefine it as the new type, which means that the mailbox will be created new and will be empty of messages.

You may change mailbox parameters at any time, and you also may delete a mailbox. The user definition (information associated with the subscriber) is separate from that of the mailbox, and the user definition may exist without an associated mailbox. However, a mailbox may not exist without being associated with either a user or group.

Parameters such as mailbox size, expiry time, and maximum caller message size are assigned at mailbox creation time. The default mailbox size is calculated based on the hardware form factor and license you are using, as given earlier in Table 10-1. Unless you override the values in the Configuration screen, the system default values are automatically applied. If you change the system defaults, these changes apply only to mailboxes you create after the defaults have changed. Existing mailboxes continue to have the parameter values assigned to them at creation time.

If you foresee that your business will grow, you probably want to set the mailbox size defaults to be smaller than the system defaults. The reason for this is that the total system storage space is determined by the hardware form factor. For example, the NM-CUE provides 100 hours of storage, regardless of the mailbox license installed. If you first purchase your NM-CUE system with 50 mailboxes, the default system mailbox size allocates all 100 hours equally across the 50 mailboxes. If you later upgrade to the 100-mailbox license, there is still only 100 hours of storage in total, and there may not be enough unallocated storage space left to define the new mailboxes. To alleviate this situation, you have to go into the existing mailboxes and make them smaller to release space for the new mailboxes you can now add to the system. The recommendation is to set the default mailbox size to the actual mailbox size you foresee using in your business, as opposed to simply using the system defaults.

MWI

The MWI on the IP phone is turned on when a new message is waiting in the mailbox associated with the extension that appears on the phone. MWI is turned off when the last new message in the mailbox is saved or deleted. Several topics related to MWI operation are discussed in the next sections:

Lamp or Flashing Envelope MWI

Cisco IP phones offer two types of MWI alerts: the red lamp on the handset and a flashing envelope icon that appears on the phone display next to a particular button. Not all phone models provide both types of indicators, but phones with multiple buttons (or lines) do.

Cisco CME and Cisco UE do not offer a direct configuration option where you can select which type of MWI alert you want on the phone. The selection is based on where the extension associated with the mailbox appears on the phone's buttons. The red lamp MWI is used when the extension appears on button 1 of the phone. The flashing envelope MWI is used for extensions that appear on any button except button 1. Therefore, you can indirectly control the type of MWI by selecting the sequence in which extensions appear on a phone.

MWI on Multiple Phones for the Same Mailbox

MWI is turned on per extension, not per phone. A mailbox is associated with a user, the user is associated with an extension (the Primary Extension field in the Cisco UE user profile), and the extension is associated with a button on one or more phones. All phones with extension appearances associated with the mailbox receive MWI. The type of MWI is determined individually per phone, as explained in the preceding section.

For example, assume that User1 is a manager at extension 3001 and User5 is the manager's assistant. Extension 3001 appears on button 1 of User1's phone and on button 2 of User5's phone. When a caller leaves a new message for User1, the red lamp MWI comes on for User1's phone, and the flashing icon MWI comes on for User5's phone. If you want the assistant to also receive a red lamp MWI for the manager's messages, the manager's extension (3001) must be moved to button 1 of the assistant's phone.

MWI for GDMs

MWI for GDMs works exactly the same way as MWI for personal mailboxes. A GDM is associated with a group, a group is associated with an extension, and an extension appears on button 1 or higher of one or more phones.

For example, suppose User1 (3001) and User2 (3002) work in the customer service department of your business. Their manager is User10 (3010). The extension associated with customer service is 3050. The customer service group is associated with extension 3050 and has a GDM so that callers can leave a message for help, regardless of which employee is currently on shift. Both employees (User1 and User2) and their manager (User10) belong to the customer service group, so they all have access to the GDM to check for messages.

You want the customer service employees (User1 and User2) to receive a red lamp MWI for the GDM, because responding to customer service calls is their primary responsibility. The manager (User10) must receive a red lamp MWI for User10's personal mailbox, but the manager also wants to monitor the state of the GDM to respond to customer service messages if the employees in the group should be overloaded or unavailable.

The way to achieve this is to put the customer service group extension 3050 on button 1 of User1 and User2's phones, as shown in Figure 10-7. On the manager's (User10) phone you put the manager's own extension (3010) on button 1 and an appearance of 3050 on button 2 (or higher) so that the manager can see a flashing icon for the GDM message status.

Figure 10-7. MWI for General Delivery Mailboxes

You can use the Cisco CME silent ring option so that calls to extension 3050 do not disturb the manager while still allowing the manager to monitor message status for the GDM. This configuration is shown in Figure 10-8 in the Ring Type/Mode field.

Figure 10-8. Silent Ring for GDM Monitoring

 

MWI DN Operation

Cisco UE has no direct control mechanism over the IP phones and triggers MWI on a phone via the Cisco CME call control engine. When a new voice message is left in a subscriber's mailbox, Cisco UE originates a call to a special extension type, an MWI DN or extension. Two separate MWI DNs must be defined on Cisco CME: an MWI ON DN and an MWI OFF DN. The Cisco CME configuration of the MWI DNs is shown in Example 10-3.

Example 10-3. MWI ON and OFF Control

Router#show running-config ephone-dn 51 number 8000.... mwi on ! ephone-dn 52 number 8001.... mwi off

A call terminating on one of these DNs is handled by Cisco CME call control and results in a message sent to the IP phone of the extension matched by the wildcards in the MWI DN definition.

To illustrate how Cisco UE triggers MWI, consider an example in which a new voice message is left for User1 at extension 3001. The MWI DN definition shown in Example 10-3 is configured on the Cisco CME system. The sequence of events that follow is illustrated in Figure 10-9:

Figure 10-9. MWI with Cisco CME

1.

A new voice message is left for User1 at extension 3001.

 

2.

Cisco UE originates a SIP call to destination number 80003001. 8000 is the MWI ON DN defined in the configuration, and 3001 is the extension where the lamp must be turned on. The call to 80003001 matches the ephone-dn definition for number 8000...., and Cisco CME extracts the wildcard portion of this match (that is, 3001) to determine which phone is to be controlled. The DN type matched by the SIP call destination number (MWI ON or MWI OFF) determines the type of control. In this case, 8000 is the MWI ON DN.

 

3.

Cisco CME sends a Skinny Client Control Protocol (SCCP) message to every IP phone that has an appearance of extension 3001 defined to turn on its MWI.

 

Similarly, when User1 has listened to this message and the lamp must be turned off on the phone, Cisco UE originates a call to extension 80013001. Extension 8001 is the MWI OFF DN defined in the configuration. Therefore, Cisco CME knows to send an SCCP message to turn off the MWI on every IP phone with an appearance of extension 3001.

Note

It is important that the MWI ON and MWI OFF DN definitions contain enough wildcards (the dots) to match the extension length of the phones defined on the system. For example, if four-digit extensions are defined on the system, the MWI ON and MWI OFF DNs must contain four trailing dots. If the MWI DN is defined only as 8000, instead of 8000...., a call originated by Cisco UE to 80003001 cannot match any ephone-dn, and MWI will not work. This process does not work in the same way as Cisco Unity MWI control. The MWI configurations for Cisco Unity and Cisco UE are different.

 

MWI Refresh

If users complain that their MWI alerts are out of synchronization with the message content of their voice mailboxes, you can force a manual refresh of MWI either for an individual user, selected users, or the entire system. You can refresh MWI from the Voice Mail > Message Waiting Indicators > Refresh GUI screen. When refreshing MWI for the entire system, Cisco UE sends one MWI update every 4 seconds until all MWIs on all extensions have been updated.

Getting out of synchronization can happen in some situations when phones are disconnected from the network (and therefore powered off) or are rebooted, and Cisco UE does not know that MWI was lost on the phone. If the phone was not moved or rebooted, getting out of synchronization usually indicates a software error. The Cisco UE MWI refresh ability allows you to synchronize MWI for your users immediately, either individually or for the entire system. However, you should follow the troubleshooting techniques described in Chapter 21, "Troubleshooting Cisco UE Voice Mail Features," to determine the root cause of the problem.

Note

Up to and including Cisco UE release 2.1, Cisco UE does not contain any scheduled or automatic MWI refresh logic. MWI is refreshed either when the Cisco UE system starts up or by a manual refresh triggered by administrator action.

 

Mailbox Storage Allocation

Cisco UE stores voice messages and greetings in G.711 m-law format. This means that every second of stored voice consists of 64,000 bits. You can calculate the size of the audio file representing a voice message with the following formula:

1 minute of stored voice = 60 seconds * 64000 bits = 3840 Kb = 480 KB

This is a good minimum estimate of the size of your Cisco UE backups. If you have 200 minutes of stored voice mail, your backup is at least 96,000 KB, or 96 MB, in size. You can see the total amount of voice mail storage allocation in your Cisco UE system by using the show voicemail usage command, as shown in Example 10-4. You can see the same information in the GUI by navigating to the Reports > Voice Mail screen.

Example 10-4. Total Voice Mail Storage Use

cue#show voicemail usage personal mailboxes: 20 general delivery mailboxes: 1 capacity of voicemail (minutes): 6000 allocated capacity (minutes): 1562.0 message time used (seconds): 1469 message count: 25 average message length (seconds): 58.76 greeting time used (seconds): 149 greeting count: 19

Cisco UE does not provide any disk usage or disk statistics counters. Voice mail storage allocation is always reflected with respect to the number of hours of storage allowed by the license installed on your system.

If your Cisco UE system's storage capacity starts filling up, you will see log file messages issued at 90% usage and 95% usage. Above 95% storage usage, you see another log file message at every additional 1% usage, reminding you that subscribers must start deleting voice messages to keep the system from running out of space.

Storage Allocation Per Mailbox

The administrator can specify, in seconds, the amount of message storage available independently for each individual subscriber's mailbox. This can be done at mailbox creation time or after the mailbox has been created. The total amount of storage allocated for all mailboxes cannot exceed the amount of message storage available on the Cisco UE system. By default, all mailboxes created on a Cisco UE system are the same size. The actual size depends on the hardware form factor (NM-CUE or AIM-CUE) and the mailbox license level on your system. Table 10-1 in the earlier section "Cisco UE Voice Mail Overview" provided the different system defaults.

If you want to change the message storage size for a subscriber after the mailbox already has some messages stored, the new mailbox size cannot be less than the current used space.

System Settings and Defaults

You can configure your own default mailbox message storage size in the Defaults > Mailbox GUI screen, which is used whenever a new mailbox is created.

The GUI screen under Reports > Voice Mail shows you how much storage space has already been allocated to existing mailboxes and how much of the allocated space is used by existing messages in the system. This is shown in Figure 10-10.

Figure 10-10. Voice Mail Storage Allocation Summary

In the GUI screen Defaults > Voice Mail, you see the parameter maximum voice message store. This is the total amount of storage (in minutes) you have on your system, and this value depends on the Cisco UE hardware platform you have. You can make this value smaller if you want to, but you cannot make it larger.

Maximum Message Size

Cisco UE defines a maximum message size for both outbound (message send) and inbound (caller leaving a message) messages. These are independent values with defaults that you can control by setting your own desired system value.

Inbound Message Size

The inbound message size is the maximum size message a caller can leave in a mailbox. This maximum size prevents calls from maliciously or accidentally filling the voice mail system's storage with a single errant message. This inbound maximum message size is a system-wide parameter you can find in the Defaults > Mailbox GUI screen called Maximum Caller Message Size. You can control this parameter individually per mailbox, as shown in Figure 10-11, or you can leave the system default intact for all mailboxes.

Figure 10-11. Maximum Message Size Per Mailbox

 

Outbound Message Size

The outbound message size is the maximum size message a subscriber can record and send to another mailbox. You cannot control this value individually per mailbox, but you can set the system default value to a value you desire. This single value applies to all subscribers on the system.

You can find this parameter in the Defaults > Voice Mail GUI screen, in a field called Maximum Subscriber Recording Size (see Figure 10-12).

Figure 10-12. Maximum Subscriber Recording Size

 

Message Expiry

You can configure each mailbox individually to specify the maximum duration for which messages are stored in the mailbox before they expire. Or you can choose to have the single system-defined default (30 days) apply to all mailboxes. You can find this parameter in the Defaults > Mailbox GUI screen, in a field called Message Expiry Time (see Figure 10-13).

Figure 10-13. Message Expiry Time

When a message, whether new or saved, has been in the mailbox for the specified expiry duration, it is automatically marked as expired. Cisco UE does not automatically delete messages from a subscriber's mailbox.

When the subscriber next logs into his or her mailbox, a system prompt announces that one or more messages have expired and that some action is necessary. The subscriber is prompted to either keep the message (which resets the message's expiry time) or delete the message.

Setting Subscriber PINs and Passwords

The administrator sets the initial value of a subscriber's PIN and password when the user profile is created. The administrator can reset the PIN or password to a known value if the subscriber forgets his or her PIN or password, but the administrator can never display the user-chosen values. After you have reset the forgotten PIN or password, the subscriber can log in again and change the PIN or password to a new private value.

Cisco UE uses its own underlying user administration and authentication functions to keep track of a subscriber's PIN or password. External authentication mechanisms such as authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) cannot be used by Cisco UE up to release 2.1. PINs and passwords are stored in a one-way encrypted form and cannot be displayed or read in any way.

When you create a new user on Cisco UE, a PIN and password are automatically assigned based on the Cisco UE password policy. This policy can be either blank or randomly generated PINs and passwords (the latter policy is recommended). This policy is set in the Defaults > User GUI screen.

The system-generated PIN and password for a new user are displayed in the GUI for you (as an administrator) to remind you what combination the system assigned to the user. You provide the new user with these initial values to log into the system for the first time. The User Profile screen in Figure 10-14 shows that a new user's password is assigned as act772113, and the PIN as 5678.

Figure 10-14. PIN and Password for a Newly Created User

After the user logs on and changes his or her PIN or password, these values are never again displayed or viewable. You, as the administrator, can always reset the values of both fields, but you can never see the values the user chose. Figure 10-15 shows the User Profile screen after User21 has changed the password and PIN. Through the User Profile screen, you can tell whether a user has reset the PIN or password or whether the user is still using the system-assigned defaults.

Figure 10-15. A User Who Has Changed His or Her PIN and Password

 

PINs

PINs are mandatory in all releases of Cisco UE. They are used to log into a mailbox. Until Cisco UE release 2.0, PINs were 3 to 16 digits long, numeric only, and did not expire. As of release 2.1, the administrator can configure a PIN's minimum length (the system default remains three digits) and assign an expiry time in days.

Passwords

Passwords are mandatory in all releases of Cisco UE. Passwords are used to log into the GUI using a web browser. Until Cisco UE release 2.0, PINs were 3 to 32 characters long, case-sensitive, allowed alphabetic and numeric characters, and did not expire. As of release 2.1, the administrator can configure a password's minimum length (the system default is four characters) and assigns an expiry time in days.

Broadcast Messaging

Broadcast messaging is a common voice mail system function. Broadcast capability requires Cisco UE release 2.1 or later software. This section describes sending and receiving broadcast messages.

Sending a Broadcast Message

Only users with broadcast privileges can send a broadcast message. Normal subscribers cannot send broadcast messages. You compose a broadcast message by using the Cisco UE TUI Administration Via Telephony (AVT) (also called the Greeting Management System [GMS] in Cisco UE releases before release 2.1) and selecting option 3 from the menu. Logging into the AVT requires the same user ID and PIN as your personal mailbox login. Therefore, you require a personal mailbox on the system and broadcast privileges assigned to your user ID to have access to sending a broadcast message.

Broadcast message addressing options include the following:

Receiving a Broadcast Message

A broadcast message is sent to all subscribers on any of the Cisco UE systems (local or networked) the message was addressed to. It is played to the subscribers, as explained in the earlier section "Message Playout Sequence."

You can configure MWI for broadcast messages if you are the Cisco UE system administrator. Whether MWI is turned on for broadcast messages is a property of the receiving Cisco UE system; it is turned off by default. The same broadcast message sent to multiple destination Cisco UE systems can, therefore, cause the MWI to light up in one destination Cisco UE system and not on another Cisco UE system, based on the broadcast MWI configuration in each recipient system.

Voice Mail Operator

Cisco UE defines a system voice mail operator where calls are redirected if a caller does not respond to voice mail menus or does not hang up after leaving a voice message for a subscriber. The voice mail "operator" is triggered when the following voice mail prompt is reached: "If you have a mailbox on the system, please press #, or you will be transferred to the operator."

By default, the Cisco UE voice mail operator is set to the Cisco UE AA pilot number. Alternatively, you can set this to the extension of any employee in your office or a PSTN location. To change this attribute, on the Voice Mail > Call Handling GUI screen, change the Voice Mail Operator Number field, as shown in Figure 10-16. (It's set to extension 1100, which is the AA pilot number.)

Figure 10-16. Voice Mail Operator Number

 

Distribution Lists

As covered in the earlier section "Subscriber Features," Cisco UE defines two types of distribution lists: private and public. As the system administrator, you maintain public distribution list definition and membership. Distribution lists may have as one or more of the following as members:

Distribution lists have the following properties:

Public Distribution Lists

If a voice message is sent to a distribution list that has all the member elements just described, the message is placed in the user's mailbox, in the GDM, and in the personal mailbox of each member of the group.

The Cisco UE system has a system default everyone public distribution list. This list automatically contains all the local users of the system (no groups or GDMs are included) and is automatically maintained by the system. If a user is added to the system, that person is automatically also added to the everyone distribution list. Members cannot be manually added to or deleted from the everyone list.

In addition to the everyone list, a maximum of 15 public distribution lists can be defined irrespective of Cisco UE mailbox license level. You can define a total of 1000 public distribution list entries per Cisco UE system.

Private Distribution Lists

When you delete a user from the system, all the private lists owned by that user are also deleted from the system. As the administrator, you cannot create private lists for subscribers, but you can see the lists (and members) belonging to a particular subscriber if you have viewing privileges.

Each subscriber can define a maximum of five private distribution lists and a total of 50 private distribution list entries.

Automatic Gain Control

Cisco UE contains Automatic Gain Control (AGC) code. This means that differences in volume levels between internal calls and PSTN locations are automatically compensated for when callers leave messages.

AGC is active on all calls into Cisco UE and ensures that all messages recorded are of the same volume level. Incoming voice streams are normalized to a standard input value, and the adjusted audio is stored. You have no configuration control over these settings.

Language Support

Before Cisco UE release 2.0, the only language supported by Cisco UE was U.S. English. As of release 2.0, support for Spanish (European), German, and French (European) was introduced. Only a single language may exist on Cisco UE at any one time. Cisco UE does not yet support multiple simultaneous languages. You choose the language for your system during the Cisco UE installation when language-specific prompts are installed and the appropriate language files are downloaded to the system.

Language customization on Cisco UE affects only the voice mail and AA system prompts. The GUI, CLI, and system monitoring and debugging tools, such as log file messages, are always supported in English only.

Your own customized AA prompts and voice mail greetings can be recorded in any language you like, regardless of the system language installed on Cisco UE. Clearly, it would make sense to have the system and custom prompts in the same language, but no Cisco UE system knowledge forces this coordination. For example, your opening AA welcome greeting may be bilingual and lets callers choose which language to use to interact with the remaining AA menus. But if they should encounter any system AA or voice mail prompts during this interaction, the system prompts are provided only in the system language currently installed on your system. You cannot rerecord the system prompts or translate them.

System Reports and Status

Cisco UE up to release 2.1 does not include formal reports, but you can use various GUI screens and CLI show commands to provide system status and statistics to monitor system use and performance:

Call Redirection into Voice Mail
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