This blog continues our coverage of the class of service configuration in Cisco Unity 5.0. Cisco Unity has two default classes of service: Default Administrator and Default Subscriber. Any defaults mentioned apply to the Default Subscriber class of service.

MESSAGES

Most of the message configuration options are very self explanatory. The deleted messages option allows a subscriber to undelete deleted voicemail messages.

• Maximum length of message subscribers can record, in seconds (300 by default)

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The class of service configuration of Cisco Unity controls the features available to the subscribers associated with the class of service. The class of service configuration in Cisco Unity 5.0 has eight sub configuration options as follows:

• Profile
• Subscribers
• System Access
• Transfer
• Messages
• Greetings
• Features
• Restriction Tables

We will take a look at each menu’s configuration items. Most of the options are self explanatory, but I will cover them if they are not straightforward. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

PROFILE

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In preparation for adding subscribers into the Cisco Unity system, the following settings should first be configured:

• Account Policy
• System Schedule
• Public Distribution List
• Class of Service
• Subscriber Template

The Unity account policy controls the password restrictions and lockout policy (Subscribers > Account Policy). The phone password restrictions include the following parameters:

• Password expiration policy (in days)
• Minimum TUI password length
• Phone password complexity (uniqueness)

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Microsoft Active Directory has to be properly setup with the necessary permissions for the four critical users. The Cisco Unity Syscheck tool is used to verify the system is setup properly before installing Cisco Unity. The Cisco Unity setup.exe program executes the Cisco Unity Installation and Configuration Assistant (CUICA) tool which is a seven step configuration utility. The seven steps of CUICA are as follows:

1. Install Cisco Unity
2. Install the Cisco Unity License Files
3. Configure the Cisco Unity Services
4. Configure the Cisco Unity Message Store

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There is a critical bug in versions 5.0.x, 5.1.x, 6.0.x, and 6.1.x that will crash the Call Manager and CTI Manager services on the CUCM server after 248 consecutive days of uptime. For full information including patches and workarounds; read the Cisco Field Notice at the following URL: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/ts/fn/631/fn63174.html

The last blog covered some of the CUCM configuration elements required to integrate with Cisco Unity. This blog will cover the Unity setup required to integrate with Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM).

There are two important wizard based utilities used in Cisco Unity to walk engineers through the setup of the system. The Cisco Unity System Preparation Assistant (CUSPA) is run on the Cisco Unity server after Windows 2003 server has been installed. CUSPA is a Microsoft Visual Basic script (CUSPA.vbs) that walks the installer through the setup of the following applications:

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Cisco Unity can be integrated with Cisco Unified Communications Manager over IP infrastructures using Cisco’s proprietary Skinny Client Control Protocol (SCCP) or Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). Cisco Unity can also be integrated with legacy voicemail solutions via PIMG (PBX IP Media Gateway) or TIMG (TDM IP Media Gateways) devices. Earlier versions of Cisco Unity supported Dialogic PCI expansion cards for traditional (TDM) PBX integrations, but Cisco stopped supporting the Dialogic PCI cards beginning with their support of the Windows 2003 server operating system.

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Cisco Unity and Cisco Unity Connections have three different user interfaces. The interfaces are commonly referred to as the TUI, GUI, and VUI. TUI stands for the telephone user interface and represents the options available via the buttons on the phone (1-9, *, and #). The TUI interface results in dual tone multi-frequency digits (DTMF) in traditional telephony. Forwarding digits in voice over IP, is referred to as DTMF-Relay. DTMF-Relay mechanisms are not turned on by default in VoIP dial-peers configured on Cisco H.323 or SIP gateways.

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Cisco Unity and Cisco Unity Connection have the options of allowing fax integration with the Cisco Fax Server and other supported third party fax servers. Cisco Unity has supported this feature for a long time, but Cisco Unity Connection only supports Cisco Fax Server integration beginning with Cisco Unity Connections 7.0. Cisco Unity Connection does not support third party fax integration. Unified messaging creates a unified inbox where E-Mail, voicemail, and fax messages are available from one E-Mail client.

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Cisco Unity is a feature rich voicemail solution for unified communications architectures. In addition to voicemail, the Cisco Unity product family offers the ability to do automated attendant, Integrated Messaging, or Unified Messaging (UM) depending on the Unity product. The Cisco Unity product family is available in three different form factors: Unity Express, Unity Connections, or Cisco Unity. This blog will cover some of the differences of the three different products.

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The next Unselected Softkey in the OnHook call state is the Remove Last Conference Party (RmLstC) softkey. This softkey will allow the conference controller to remove the last party that entered the conference. The next unselected softkey is the select softkey. The select softkey is used to enter menu options on the Cisco IP Phone.

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The next softkey in our coverage of softkey phone features is the Quality Report Tool (QRT) softkey. The QRT Viewer can be used by the CUCM administrative staff to analyze quality issues with a call or missing dial-tone after the end user has clicked the QRT softkey.

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We will continue the coverage of softkey features in this blog with the Mobility softkey. As the writing for this blog developed, the conversation turned into a brief discussion of all the mobility features of CUCM 6.0. Cisco Unified Communications Manager 6.0 includes features that were previously only available via the addition of a Mobility Manager server in the CUCM cluster.

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Cisco has officially announced the End-of-Sale (EoS) and End-of-Life (EoL) of the Cisco Attendant Console on October 17th, 2008. The official announcement is available on Cisco’s website, but requires a valid CCO username and password to access the document. The same announcement is available on ARC’s website. http://www.arcsolutions.com/GeneralDownloads/CAC_end_of_life_notice.pdf This blog will discuss some background on Cisco Attendant Console and discuss the replacement products.

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The next softkey available in the On Hook call state is the Hunt Login/Logout (HLog) softkey. This softkey was introduced in CUCM 6.0 to allow customer service representatives (CSR) to login and logout of call coverage groups. The call coverage that comes with CUCM uses the Hunt Pilot (HP) -> Hunt List (HL) -> Line Group (LG) call routing elements. Directory Numbers (DN) are put into line groups to create basic call coverage capabilities. This softkey allows the CSRs to login and logout of the call coverage included with CUCM.

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This blog entry is a continuation of our conversation regarding phone features and softkeys. The next Unselected softkey in the On Hook call state is the Group Pick Up (GPickUp) softkey. It makes more sense to talk about the Pickup softkey before the GPickup softkey, so we will begin a pickup conversation with the Pickup softkey, progress into GPickup, and wrap up with Other Pick Up (oPickup).

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Cisco IP Phone features are controlled via softkeys. Softkeys are programmable feature buttons that appear while the phone is in a different call state. An idle phone is said to be in the On Hook call state because the handset is in the cradle holding the phone hook down. When the handset is lifted, the phone is in the Off Hook state.

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Incoming phone calls are immediately forwarded to voicemail when the iDivert key is used. The iDivert softkey option is similar to the Ignore key found on Windows Mobile and other popular cell phones. The calling party will probably know that their call has been forwarded to voicemail too soon if the iDivert key is used.

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This blog post contains links to all the posts from my recent series on creating your own Cisco IP telephony environment:

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To allow users of the Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) system to transfer users directly to Cisco Unity voicemail, a new voicemail profile will need to be configured.

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