Configuring Cisco UE Voice Mail

Cisco UE offers both personal and GDMs, as covered in Chapter 10, "Cisco IPC Express Integrated Voice Mail." The following sections cover configuring the Cisco UE voice mail system, personal mailboxes, GDMs, and MWI. You also learn how to delete a mailbox.

Configuring the Voice Mail System

You have to set several system-level voice mail configuration parameters, including system attributes such as the voice mail pilot number, voice mail operator number, and mailbox system defaults. You also define individual mailboxes for users and groups.

Pilot Number

The voice mail pilot number is the extension subscribers call when they want to retrieve their voice mail. It is also the number that IP phones are forwarded to so that callers are deflected into voice mail to leave a message. The configuration of the pilot number is shown in Figure 14-25.

Figure 14-25. Voice Mail Pilot Number Configuration

 

Voice Mail Operator

The voice mail operator is the extension number where callers are deflected if they leave a voice mail and do not hang up. This configuration is shown in Figure 14-25. The default voice mail operator is the AA.

System and Mailbox Defaults

When you create a new mailbox for an existing user, or when you add a user at the same time as the mailbox, you can use the default system mailbox parameters. As the administrator, you can override the values of these parameters for each mailbox at creation time or later, or you can reset the system defaults so that all newly created mailboxes are assigned the same parameters.

You should set the per-mailbox parameters carefully before creating a large number of user mailboxes. When the system defaults are changed, existing mailboxes are unaffected. The default settings apply only to creating new mailboxes. For example, if the message expiry time default parameter is set to 30 days, all mailboxes created are assigned a 30-day expiry time. If you create 25 mailboxes before deciding that the expiry time should instead be 60 days, you then have to change each of the 25 existing mailboxes individually to reset the expiry time to 60 days. Changing the default value to 60 days affects only new mailboxes you create after you change the default value. The per-mailbox parameters are set in the Defaults > Mailbox window, shown in Figure 14-26. They include the following:

• Mailbox size in seconds
• Maximum caller message size
• Message expiry time

Figure 14-26. Mailbox Parameter Default Configuration

You set the system-level voice mail parameters in the Defaults > Voice Mail window, as shown in Figure 14-27.

Figure 14-27. Mailbox System Default Configuration

 

Configuring Personal Mailboxes

Mailboxes cannot exist without being associated with a user. You typically add a user and his or her mailbox at the same time, as shown in Figure 14-28. You add a user in the Configure > Users window. When the Add a New User window appears, fill in all the user-related parameters, and then click the Create Mailbox checkbox at the bottom of the window.

Figure 14-28. User and Mailbox Configuration

You can also later add a mailbox to an existing user definition. You can do this in one of two ways. The first is to select the user from the Configure > Users GUI screen, and then click the Mailboxes tab in the user's profile. If the user already has a mailbox associated, you see the mailbox's parameters. If no mailbox exists, you can create one, as shown in Figure 14-29.

Figure 14-29. Adding a Mailbox from the User Profile

The second way to add a mailbox to an existing user definition is to look at a list of existing mailboxes in the Voice Mail > Mailboxes window, and click Add on this screen. The Add a New Mailbox window appears, as shown in Figure 14-30. It lets you define the mailbox's owner (the associated user) and the mailbox parameters.

Figure 14-30. Adding a Mailbox from the Mailbox List

MWI for a personal mailbox is controlled by the extension associated with the user (and, by implication, with the mailbox). If the extension appears on button 1 of a phone (any phone or multiple phones), the lamp is lit on that phone for MWI. If the extension appears on button 2 or higher of a phone (again, any phone or multiple phones), a flashing envelope is displayed next to the extension appearance.

Configuring General Delivery Mailboxes

A GDM is a mailbox associated with a group as opposed to an individual user. In most respects, it works just like an individual mailbox, except that multiple people (all members of the group) have access to the mailbox. Also, you cannot log into a GDM itself, because no PIN is associated with it. Members of the group log into their personal mailboxes first (where system authentication occurs), and then choose number nine from their mailbox menu to gain entry to all GDMs they have access to.

Like a personal mailbox, you can define the mailbox at the same time as the group, as shown in Figure 14-31. Or you can go to the Voice Mail > Mailboxes window, click Add on this screen, and then define the owner of the new mailbox as a group in the Add a New Mailbox window.

Figure 14-31. Group and GDM Configuration

The customer service group defined in the system shown in Figure 14-31 has three members. Any of these three people can log into the GDM to retrieve messages. Each of the three has a personal mailbox and PIN used to log into and then access the GDM from there. The group definition is shown in Figure 14-32.

Figure 14-32. Group Member Configuration

Note

Members of a group can access the GDM to retrieve messages. A group's owner can change the group's configuration (the membership list). Unless the owner is also specified as a member of the group, he or she cannot log into the GDM.

MWI for GDMs works just like MWI for personal mailboxes. If the extension associated with the group appears on the button of any phone, that phone's lamp is lit when a message is left in the GDM. (The lamp is not lit automatically for every member of the group; it is lit only if the group's extension appears on the phone.) If the extension appears on button 2 or higher of a phone, a flashing envelope icon appears. If the extension does not appear on any phone, no MWI exists for the GDM.

Grace Garrett is a member of the customer service group, as shown in Figure 14-32. The extension associated with customer service is 1050. Extension 1050 appears on button 2 of Grace's phone (whose own extension is 1001), so Grace sees a flashing envelope icon as an indication of MWI for messages in the GDM. Grace's phone button layout is shown in Figure 14-33.

Figure 14-33. Phone Configuration for GDM MWI

 

Deleting a Mailbox

One way to delete a mailbox (but keep the subscriber definition) is to select the mailbox(es) to be deleted from the mailbox list shown in the Voice Mail > Mailboxes screen, and click the delete button at the top of the screen.

A more common way is to delete the subscriber from the Configure > Users window. When you do that, the subscriber's associated mailbox is automatically deleted as well.

In the GUI, a mailbox is deleted when the subscriber is deleted. This is not true for the CLI. In the CLI, deleting a subscriber leaves the mailbox intact. That mailbox is not associated with any subscriber. Therefore, it shows up as an orphaned mailbox in the listing, as shown in Figure 14-34.

Figure 14-34. Orphaned Mailbox

 

Configuring MWI

You define the MWI DNs on the Cisco CME system as ephone-dns. You see them in the GUI in the Voice Mail > Message Waiting Indicators > Numbers window, as shown in Figure 14-35.

Figure 14-35. MWI Configuration

MWI is controlled using two special-purpose DNs: an MWI-on DN and an MWI-off DN. You can also see the MWI DNs in the Configure > Extensions window. The router CLI definitions for the MWI DNs are shown in Example 14-12.

Example 14-12. MWI DN Definition

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

The dots in the preceding definitions are critical. MWI does not work if the dots are not configured correctly. You must have one dot for each digit in your extension dialing plan, so the definitions shown in Example 14-12 are applicable to a four-digit extension number dialing plan.

Note

You can define only one set of MWI DNs on a Cisco CME system for Cisco UE mailboxes. This means that Cisco UE can support only Cisco CME configurations that have fixed-length dialing plans. Because the number of dots in the definitions must match the number of digits in the dialing plan, MWI does not work if the extensions are a different length than the number of dots. Because you can specify only one set of MWI DNs, Cisco UE cannot support MWI for variable-length extension dialing plans.

If everything works correctly, MWI lamp states on the phones should always be synchronized with the mailboxes' message content. However, through moving phones around, turning phones off, and changing configurations, it is possible to get lamp states out of synchronization with the mailbox content.

If MWI needs to be resynchronized, you can force a manual refresh of an individual phone's MWI or of the entire system's MWI (all phones). You can do this from the Voice Mail > Message Waiting Indicators > Refresh window. Select the checkboxes of individual phones where you want to reset MWI, or click the Refresh All button to reset all phones on the system, as shown in Figure 14-36.

Figure 14-36. MWI Refresh

The refresh all function resets all phones in a serial manner at the rate of one MWI every 4 seconds, so for a system with 100 mailboxes, a full MWI refresh might take up to 7 minutes.

Configuring Voice Mail Networking

Voice mail networking allows you to send and forward messages between multiple Cisco UE or Cisco Unity sites in your network using Voice Profile for Internet Mail (VPIM). At a particular Cisco UE site, every location in the network that you want to send messages to or receive messages from must be defined on the local system. Therefore, every networked location contains voice mail networking definitions for itself (the local location) and all the remote locations you want to be able to network to from this site.

Configure voice mail networking locations by navigating to the Administration > Networking Locations screen, shown in Figure 14-37. You can access the same functionality by using the network location Cisco UE CLI command. In Figure 14-37, five sites are configured, and the local location is Site8.

Figure 14-37. Configuring Voice Mail Network Locations

To see the configuration of a particular location (both local and remote sites), click the site's location ID. The resulting screen for Site3 (location 333) is shown in Figure 14-38. You see the individual networking parameters for the selected site.

Figure 14-38. Networking Parameters for Location Site3

Note

Location IDs might be a one- or two-digit number if you are networking only a handful of Cisco UE sites. However, if you are also networking Cisco Unity sites, the location ID must be at least three digits long.

The CLI for the configuration shown in Figures 14-37 and 14-38 is shown in Example 14-13. The network local location id 888 command identifies which networking location is the local site.

Example 14-13. Configuring Voice Mail Network Locations

cue#show running-config
ip name-server 172.19.2.133 
network location id 222 
 abbreviation "S2"
 email domain site2.xyz.com
 name "Site2"
 voicemail extension-length 4
 end location

network location id 333 
 abbreviation "S3"
 email domain site3.xyz.com
 name "Site3"
 voicemail extension-length 4
 end location

network location id 444 
 abbreviation "S4"
 email domain site4.xyz.com
 name "Site4"
 voicemail extension-length 4
 end location

network location id 666 
 abbreviation "S6"
 email domain site6.xyz.com
 name "Site6"
 voicemail extension-length 4
 end location

network location id 888 
 abbreviation "S8"
 email domain site8.xyz.com
 name "Site8"
 voicemail extension-length 4
 end location

network local location id 888 

If domain names are used for networking, as shown in this configuration example, ensure that a DNS server is configured where Cisco UE can resolve the domain names to IP addresses. Figure 14-39 shows the GUI screen for configuring a DNS server.

Figure 14-39. DNS Server Configuration

Cisco UE networking uses blind addressing by default, which means you address a voice message to a remote location with numbers only, using the location ID followed by the extension at the remote site. For example, a message from local Site8 to extension 2444 at remote Site2 is addressed as 2222444. The address confirmation heard by the sending subscriber says "extension 2444 at site S2," using the abbreviation S2 of Site2 to construct the confirmation.

You can provide a limited amount of spoken-name address confirmations on Cisco UE by configuring the following options:

• You can record spoken names for all remote locations, such as "Vancouver" instead of "S2" for Site2. You can record the names associated with the remote location IDs by using the Cisco UE AVT.
• You can use the static directory to configure certain remote users who are frequently addressed in voice mails, and record spoken names for them.
• You can turn on the dynamic directory cache so that vCard information from messages received from remote sites is available for use if a subscriber addresses one of these subscribers or clicks Reply on the received message.

The Cisco UE static directory of remote users is populated using the Configure > Remote Users screen, as shown in Figure 14-40. You can use the AVT to record initial spoken names associated with these users (until a message is received and the spoken name is updated with the subscriber's real name).

Figure 14-40. Remote User Static Directory

Example 14-14 shows the Cisco UE CLI resulting from this GUI configuration.

Example 14-14. Configuring the Remote User Static Directory

cue#show running-config
remote username User22 location 222 create
remote username User66 location 666 create
remote username user44 location 444 create
remote username User22 phonenumber 2444
remote username User66 phonenumber 6444
remote username user44 phonenumber 4444

The Cisco UE dynamic cache keeps a least recently used (LRU) cache of remote user information based on messages received from other networking locations. The cache is of limited size, so entries age out of this cache based on usage statistics. The cache is turned on by default, as shown in Figure 14-41 (see the parameter Enable remote user information cache). You can disable this operation by turning off this parameter.

Figure 14-41. Enabling the LRU Cache

Configuring the AVT