Step 7: Configuring Cisco CME Call Processing Features

Step 7 Configuring Cisco CME Call Processing Features

Your Cisco IPC Express system is fully operational after the completion of Step 6 for all basic features. However, you probably want to configure numerous additional Cisco CME call processing features to better tailor the system to your business needs. The next sections describe configuring the following:

• Phone and user features
• System features such as music on hold (MOH) and paging
• Call forward, transfer, and conference
• Phone applications

Configuring Phone and User Features

In this section, you configure several phone and user-related features:

• Caller ID name display
• Phone name display
• Phone button label customization
• Shared lines
• Hunt group
• Local directory
• Speed dial
• Local speed dial
• Personal speed dial
• Localization
• Autoline selection
• IP phone softkey customization
• Direct FXO trunk line select
• Overlay DN

Caller ID Name Display

Caller ID is the name associated with the calling party's extension when a call is ringing on an IP phone. To customize this field, set the Name field on the ephone-dn, as shown in Example 15-25. The calling name appears only on IP phone-to-IP phone calls.

Example 15-25. Customizing the Caller ID Name

cme-3725#show running-config
ephone-dn 1 dual-line
 number 2001 secondary 2225552001
 name Alice 
!
ephone-dn 2 dual-line
 number 2002 secondary 2225552002
 name Aaron 

 

Phone Name Display

The top line of an idle IP phone display can show the name of the extension or the phone's owner. To show a name in this field, set the Description field on the ephone-dn, as shown in Example 15-26. Note that top-line display customization is supported only on Cisco 7960 and 7940 IP Phones.

Example 15-26. Customizing the Phone Name

cme-3725#show running-config
ephone-dn 1 dual-line
 number 2001 secondary 2225552001
 description Alice Davidson 

 

Phone Button Label Customization

The IP phone displays the extension configured on each button next to the button. For example, on Alice's phone, 2001 is displayed by default next to button 1. To customize this display to a different string, set the Label field on the ephone-dn, as shown in Example 15-27.

Example 15-27. Customizing the Button Display

cme-3725#show running-config
ephone-dn 1 dual-line
 number 2001 secondary 2225552001
 label Alice 

 

Shared Lines

A shared line is an extension that appears on multiple phones. There are different ways of defining shared lines, depending on the operation you want.

To define a shared line that rings on several phones simultaneously, define a single ephone-dn, and place it as a button appearance on multiple phones.

Another way to define a shared line is to have the extensions ring in succession. For example, assume that two employees, Anne (2004) and Alan (2005), work in your office as receptionists. Reception is extension 2060. Anne is the main receptionist, and Alan fills in for Anne while she is not at her desk.

Example 15-28 shows how to configure this. Two ephone-dns are defined with the same extension number (2060). The first has no huntstop configured, and the second has preference 1. A call to extension 2060 is first routed to ephone-dn 6, which appears on button 1 of Anne's phone. If Anne (ephone-dn 6) is busy, the call is routed to Alan's phone (ephone-dn 7 on button 1 of ephone 5). If Alan (ephone-dn 7) is also busy, the calling party hears busy tone. Note that preference 0 is the default configuration on an ephone-dn and does not show in the CLI.

Example 15-28. Configuring Reception as a Shared Line

cme-3725#show running-config
ephone-dn 6
 number 2060 
 label Reception
 name Reception
 no huntstop 
!
ephone-dn 7
 number 2060 
 label Reception
 name Reception
 preference 1 
!
ephone 4
 mac-address 0003.AAAA.0004
 button 1:6 
!
ephone 5
 mac-address 0003.AAAA.0005
 button 1:7 

 

Hunt Group

The hunt group feature redirects incoming calls to a hunt pilot number on busy or no answer from one ephone-dn to another based on a list defined in the ephone-hunt group. The calling party's number is displayed on IP phones with Cisco CME 3.2 or later. There are three types of hunt groups:

• Sequential The ephone-dns ring from first to last in the list specified. If the call is not answered, the call is redirected to the final destination configured.
• Peer In this configuration, the list of ephone-dns in the hunt group are rung in a round-robin manner. The next ephone-dn to ring is the number in the list to the right (as you read the CLI configuration from left to right) of the last ephone-dn that rang when the hunt pilot number was last called. Ringing proceeds in a circular manner through the list, first to last, for the number of hops specified in the hunt group. If the call is not answered in the specified number of hops, it is redirected to the final destination configured.
• Longest-idle A new incoming call is directed to the ephone-dn that has been idle for the longest time. The longest-idle time is determined from the last time a phone registered, reregistered, or went on-hook.

Site B has two employees (User2 at extension 3002 and User3 at 3003) who take customer service calls. The number called internally for customer service is 3050 and 444.555.3050 from the PSTN. To distribute calls equitably across the two employees, a longest-idle hunt group is defined as shown in Example 15-29.

Example 15-29. Configuring a Hunt Group for Customer Service

cme-2691#show running-config
ephone-hunt 1 longest-idle
 pilot 3050 secondary 4445553050 
 list 3002, 3003
 final 3105

The final destination is defined as the voice mail pilot number (3105) so that a caller can leave a message if neither of the customer service employees is available. User2 and User3 are members of a customer service group defined on Cisco UE. A general delivery mailbox (GDM) is associated with extension 3050, as shown in Figure 15-13.

Figure 15-13. GDM for Customer Service

 

Local Directory

A local directory of names and phone numbers is automatically built using the Name and Number fields under the ephone-dn configuration, as shown in Example 15-30. You can configure the local directory to show directory information in first name, last name format or last name, first name format. Phones have to be reset for directory changes to take effect.

Note

The directory command does not automatically reorder names entered under the ephone-dn. If you change the directory format, you also have to manually change all the names under the ephone-dns to match the directory format.

 

Example 15-30. Local Directory

cme-3725#show running-config
telephony-service
 directory last-name-first 
!
ephone-dn 1 dual-line
 number 2001 secondary 2225552001
 name Alice Davidson
!
ephone-dn 2 dual-line
 number 2002 secondary 2225552002
 name Aaron Wilkins 

 

Speed Dial

You may define a number of speed-dial buttons for each IP phone, limited by the number of buttons supported on the phone. This configuration is shown in Example 15-31. If more speed-dial buttons are configured than the number of available buttons on the phone, the extra speed-dial configurations are ignored. If speed dials are mapped to buttons with DNs assigned, speed-dial configurations are ignored. Speed dials cannot appear between buttons with DNs assigned. For example, on a Cisco 7960 IP Phone with six buttons, if button 1 and button 6 have an ephone-dn defined, the entire speed-dial configuration is ignored, even if buttons 2 to 5 are unassigned.

You can configure up to four speed-dial buttons on a Cisco 7960G IP Phone. The following example shows speed dials on buttons 2 and 3.

Example 15-31. Speed Dials

cme-3725#show running-config
ephone 1
 mac-address 0003.6BAA.D1F8
 speed-dial 1 2005 label "Alan" 
 speed-dial 2 3050 label "Customer Svc" 
 type 7960
 button 1:1

 

Local Speed Dial

To work around the number of speed-dial entries limited by the number of buttons per phone, you may create a speeddial.xml file, as shown in Example 15-32 to list all the speed-dial entries. The local speed-dial Cisco CME feature provides a system-wide list of frequently called numbers (up to 32) accessible from the directory button on the phone.

Example 15-32. Speed-Dial XML File

Speed Dials
Record 1 to 2 of 2 
 
 Directory Assistance
 95551212
 
 
 Your friends at Cisco
 4085264000
 

After you have created the XML file, place the speeddial.xml file in the Cisco CME router's Flash memory by using the copy tftp flash command:

Router(config)#copy tftp://ip address/speeddial.xml flash:speeddial.xml

The local speed-dial menu appears when you select Local Speed Dial from the phone's Directory menu.

Personal Speed Dial

The Personal Speed Dial feature adds personal speed-dial entries, on a per-phone basis, to the system-wide speed-dial directory (discussed in the preceding section).

You create personal speed-dial entries by using the fastdial command under an ephone definition, as shown in Example 15-33. Phone users access personal speed-dial numbers through the Directories > Local Services > Personal Speed Dial menu. Personal speed-dial numbers appear in the order in which they are entered into the configuration.

Note

The fastdial command is supported only on the Cisco 7940 and 7960 IP Phones.

 

Example 15-33. Personal Speed Dials

cme-3725#show running-config
ephone 2
 username "awilkins"
 mac-address 0003.6BAA.D362
 fastdial 1 3001 name User1 
 fastdial 2 3002 name User2 
 fastdial 3 2001 name Alice 
 fastdial 4 2005 name Alan 
 speed-dial 1 2004 label "Anne"
 type 7960
 button 1:2

 

Localization

Cisco CME supports country-specific language displays and call progress tones for IP phones. All phones on a Cisco CME system must use the same language settings. You can't configure multiple languages on a single CME router. The default language is set to English/U.S. Example 15-34 shows how to configure a system for Italian. (Both Sites A and B in the sample configuration are configured for U.S. English.)

Example 15-34. Localization

router#show running-config
telephony-service
 user-locale IT
 network-locale IT
 reset all

 

Autoline Selection

Up to Cisco CME release 3.1, the first available line is automatically selected to make or answer a call on an IP phone. Since release 3.1, Cisco CME supports four different modes for selecting the line to answer on an incoming call or to select an extension (by pressing a button) to make an outgoing call:

• autoline
• no autoline
• autoline incoming
• autoline button number

You can find details on these modes in the Cisco CME Command Reference on Cisco.com.

For most of the phones at Site A and Site B, the default (autoline) is sufficient. The exception is the two receptionists, where you want incoming calls to select a line automatically, but you want outgoing calls to explicitly press a button (choosing between their own extension or the receptionist's extension) before making the call. Example 15-35 shows this configuration for Anne's phone.

Example 15-35. Autoline Selection

router#show running-config
ephone 4
 mac-address 0003.AAAA.0004
 auto-line incoming 
 button 1:6 2:4

 

IP Phone Softkey Customization

You can change or disable the display order of softkeys on the Cisco 7960, 7940, 7905, and 7912 IP Phones using the ephone-template command. The template can specify softkey order settings for phone states including alerting, connected, idle, and seized, as shown in Example 15-36. You must restart an IP phone to make the changes in the template take effect. You can define up to five templates.

Example 15-36. Softkey Customization

cme-3725#show running-config
ephone-template 1
 softkeys idle Redial Pickup Dnd Login Gpickup
 softkeys seized Pickup Redial Endcall Gpickup
!
ephone 1
 ephone-template 1

 

Direct FXO Trunk Line Select

Cisco CME can automatically seize an FXO trunk line when you press a line button or lift the handset. This allows you to hear stutter dial tone from the central office (CO) when you lift the handset if you get voice mail service from your PSTN provider. The destination-pattern configured in the trunk's dial peer must match the trunk code defined on the ephone-dn.

Aaron, at extension 2002, is the manager at your Site A office, and you want him to have direct access to a CO line for emergency 911 access. Button 2 on his phone should be labeled "911." When pressed, this button must select dial tone directly from the CO for outside dialing. The configuration shown in Example 15-37 achieves this by making an automatic connection between button 2 on Aaron's phone and the second FXO line (port 2/0/1) on the Cisco CME system. When Aaron goes off-hook on button 2, his phone gets dial tone from the CO. The following things happen behind the scenes:

• Aaron goes off-hook on button 2, which automatically activates ephone-dn 10.
• Ephone-dn 10 has a trunk statement that automatically originates a call to the 911 trunk access code.
• The 911 access code dialed matches POTS dial peer 1004, which connects the outgoing call to FXO port 2/0/1.
• FXO port 2/0/1 goes off-hook and draws dial tone from the CO.

Example 15-37. FXO Line Select

cme-3725#show running-config
voice-port 2/0/1
!
dial-peer voice 1004 pots
 destination-pattern 911 
 port 2/0/1
 forward-digits all
!
ephone-dn 10
 number 2999
 label 911
 trunk 911 timeout 5 
!
ephone 2
 type 7960
 button 1:2 2:10 

 

Overlay DN

To overcome the button limitation on certain phone types and to support more extensions on a phone, you can use overlay DNs to associate multiple ephone-dns to a single button on a phone. That way the phone can receive calls to multiple extensions on the same button.

As the manager of Site A, Aaron has a special extension (2020) where you can reach him directly, but other employees in the office do not know this number. Because he seldom receives calls on this number, Aaron does not want to dedicate a button on this phone just for this number. Instead, he wants these calls to come in on button 1, where his regular calls to extension 2002 also ring. Example 15-38 shows this configuration using overlay DNs.

Example 15-38. Overlay DN

cme-3725#show running-config
ephone-dn 30
 number 2020
!
ephone 2
 button 1o2,30 2:10 3:21

 

Configuring System Features

In this section, you configure several general system features:

• Music on hold (MOH)
• On-hold call notification
• Interdigit timeout
• Intercom
• Paging
• Ringing timeout
• Call park
• Time and date format

Music on Hold

The music on hold (MOH) feature supports the .au and .wav file formats. MOH applies only to G.711 intersite VoIP calls and PSTN calls. All other calls, including local calls between Cisco CME phones on the same system, hear tone on hold.

A sample MOH file, music-on-hold.au, is included in Cisco CME as a .zip or .tar file. It also can be downloaded from the Cisco.com Software Center. You normally download the MOH file to a TFTP server in the network, and then copy the file into Flash from the Cisco CME system CLI by using the following:

copy tftp://ip address/music-on-hold.au flash:

where ip address is the TFTP server's address. Be sure to enter n when prompted to erase Flash. Example 15-39 shows the content of the Flash and the configuration necessary to enable MOH.

Example 15-39. Enabling MOH

cme-3725#show flash
-#- --length-- -----date/time------ path
...
11 496521 Apr 02 2002 11:27:06 -08:00 music-on-hold.au 

cme-3725#show running-config
telephony-service
 moh music-on-hold.au 

 

On-Hold Call Notification

The on-hold call notification feature sends an audible notification on Cisco CME phones to alert the user that a call is on hold. This feature is typically used when multiple lines are configured and the user might forget that a call on a secondary line is still on hold. Three types of on-hold notifications can be configured:

• Idle
• Originator
• Shared

Example 15-40 shows a configuration of an on-hold call notification on Ashley's phone (extension 2003).

Example 15-40. On-Hold Call Notification

cme-3725#show running-config
ephone-dn 3 dual-line
 number 2003 secondary 2225552003
 hold-alert 15 originator 

 

Interdigit Timeout

The interdigit timeout specifies how many seconds the system waits between the initial and subsequent digit presses on the phone keypad when a caller dials a call. This is shown in Example 15-41. If the timeout expires before the destination is identified, a fast-busy is given, and the call ends.

Example 15-41. Interdigit Timeout

cme-3725#show running-config
telephony-service
 timeouts interdigit 20 

The initial timeout, which specifies how many seconds Cisco CME waits before the caller enters the initial digit, cannot be configured and is set to 10 seconds. Phones have to be reset to make the configuration take effect.

Intercom

The intercom feature allows one-way, autoanswer voice connections. Specially configured speed-dial buttons allow a call to be placed to the selected extension. On the destination phone, the call is automatically answered in speakerphone mode with mute enabled. To respond to the intercom call and open two-way voice, the recipient can deactivate the mute button (or, in the case of a Cisco 7910 IP Phone, lift the handset). Intercom lines cannot be used in shared-line configurations. There are three types of intercom features:

• Dedicated intercom
• Intercom to PBX phone
• Dialable intercom

At Site A, Alice is Aaron's assistant. Their phones must be linked via the intercom feature so that Alice can announce a visitor's arrival to Aaron, or Aaron can easily ask Alice something without having to dial a call. The configuration shown in Example 15-42 builds a dedicated intercom facility between button 3 on each of the two phones.

Example 15-42. Intercom

cme-3725#show running-config
ephone-dn 20
 number A2222
 name Intercom from Alice
 intercom A2223
!
ephone-dn 21
 number A2223
 name Intercom from Aaron
 intercom A2222
!
ephone 1
 button 1:1 3:20
!
ephone 2
 button 1:2 2:10 3:21

 

Paging

The paging feature operates in a similar fashion to intercom, but it provides only one-way voice broadcast. Only idle phones receive paging announcements. Paging defines an extension that can be called to broadcast an audio page to a group of idle Cisco CME phones participating in the paging group.

The paging mechanism uses audio distribution using IP Multicast, replicated unicast, and a mixture of both. Therefore, multicast is used where possible, and unicast is allowed on specific phones that cannot be reached through multicast.

The recommended configuration of paging groups is to use a multicast address. If multicast is not configured, IP phones are paged individually using IP Unicast (to a maximum of ten IP phones). When multiple paging extensions are configured, each extension must use a unique IP Multicast address.

At Site A, you want to configure paging to all five employees' phones so that they can make announcements to the entire office staff by dialing extension 2010. This configuration is shown in Example 15-43.

Example 15-43. Paging

cme-3725#show running-config
ephone-dn 25
 number 2010
 name All Office
 paging ip 224.0.1.20 port 2000 
!
ephone 1
 paging-dn 25 

 

Ringing Timeout

You may define how long a phone can ring with no answer before returning disconnect tone to the caller. This timeout is used only for extensions that do not have call-forward-no-answer (CFNA) configured. The ringing timeout, shown here, keeps calls from ringing forever over interfaces such as FXO that do not have forward-disconnect supervision:

telephony-service
timeouts ringing 120

 

Call Park

After you answer a call, you may press the call park softkey on the phone to park a call to one of the following two types of park slots:

• A slot with the same last two digits as the extension the call is on
• Randomly to any configured or designated park slot

The phone display shows where the call is parked so that you, or another employee, may pick up the call again. You can create a call park slot reserved for use by one extension by assigning that slot a number whose last two digits are the same as the last two digits of the extension number. When an extension starts to park a call, the system first searches for a call park slot that shares the same final two digits as the extension. If no such call park slot is found, the system then chooses any other available call park slot.

Example 15-44 defines a park slot for each of the five extensions at Site A so that each employee has a dedicated park slot. Note that in the call park ephone-dns 101, 102 to 105 map to ephone-dns 1, 2 to 5 that have extensions with the same last two digits 01, 02 to 05. Each park slot 101, 102 to 105 is reserved for use by ephone-dns 1, 2 to 5, respectively.

Example 15-44. Call Park

cme-3725#show running-config
ephone-dn 1
 number 2001
ephone-dn 2
 number 2002
ephone-dn 3
 number 2003
ephone-dn 4
 number 2004
ephone-dn 5
 number 2005
ephone-dn 101
 number 7401
 park-slot timeout 30 limit 10
!
ephone-dn 102
 number 7402
 park-slot timeout 30 limit 10
!
ephone-dn 103
 number 7403
 park-slot timeout 30 limit 10
!
ephone-dn 104
 number 7404
 park-slot timeout 30 limit 10
!
ephone-dn 105
 number 7405
 park-slot timeout 30 limit 10

To pick up a call from the same phone where the call was parked, simply press the pickup softkey and dial *. To pick up the call from any other phone, press the pickup softkey, and dial the extension of the call park slot shown on the phone display.

Time and Date Format

Cisco CME phones use time and date information from the router, which in turn is set up using NTP. You can customize the format in which the date and time are shown as follows:

telephony-service
 time-format 24
 date-format dd-mm-yy

 

Configuring Conference Call, Call Transfer, and Call Forward

In this section, you configure several call transfer and conference-related features:

• G.711 conferencing
• Call transfer
• Call forward
• Call forward all restrictions

G.711 Conferencing

G.711 conferencing is the default operation on Cisco CME and requires no configuration. All parties in a conference call must use either the G.711 µ-law codec or G.711 a-law codec. No other codec is supported for conferencing. G.729A endpoints can be supported via transcoding to G.711. Conferencing requires at least two lines configured on the phone initiating the conference. The dual-line configuration entered on the extensions in the earlier section "Defining Extensions" is sufficient to enable conferencing.

Cisco CME also supports conference cascading so that up to a maximum of eight or 16 conference sessions can be supported based on the platform you are using. The maximum number of G.711 conferences supported by Cisco CME varies by platform. If you want to adjust the maximum number of conference sessions, you may use the following CLI:

telephony-service
 max-conferences 8

 

Call Transfer

Call transfer was discussed in Chapter 5, "Cisco CME Call Processing Features." The various releases of Cisco CME have different functionality with respect to the transfer operation. As of Cisco CME 3.2, the following methods of transfer are supported:

• transfer-system blind Performs blind call transfers (without consultation) with a single phone line using a Cisco-proprietary method.
• transfer-system full-blind Performs call transfers without consultation using the H.450.2 or SIP REFER standard methods.
• transfer-system full-consult Performs H.450.2 or SIP call transfers with consultation using a second phone line if available. This method falls back to full blind if a second line is unavailable. This is the recommended mode for most systems. Also use the supplementary-service command under the voice service voip and dial-peer commands for call transfer between multiple Cisco CME and non-H.323 endpoints.
• transfer-system local-consult Performs Cisco-proprietary call transfers with local consultation using a second phone line if available. This method falls back to blind for nonlocal transfer targets.

Example 15-45 shows Site A set up for full-consult transfers between Sites A and B. If transfers to PSTN destinations must also be allowed, you must also define transfer patterns matching PSTN dial plan patterns.

Example 15-45. Call Transfer

cme-3725#show running-config
telephony-service
 transfer-system full-consult
 transfer-pattern 3...
 transfer-pattern 2...

Cisco CME allows you to configure a transfer mode for each ephone-dn to override the global transfer mode set for all phones.

Note

Transferring an incoming PSTN call to another PSTN destination can cause FXO ports to remain connected after both call parties disconnect. For you to avoid this problem, your PSTN provider must support one of the following disconnect methods on analog lines:

• Battery reversal
• Ground start signaling
• Power denial
• Supervisory tone disconnect

Call Forward

You can configure forwarding calls using the call-forward busy, call-forward noan, or call-forward-all commands for an ephone-dn. Cisco CME can forward calls using either a proprietary method or an H.450.3 standard method. If a forward-pattern is configured, as shown here, calls from the pattern (such as 2001, the calling number, not the called number) are forwarded using H.450.3, and all other calling parties are forwarded using the Cisco CME-proprietary forwarding method:

telephony-services
 forward-pattern 2...

 

Call Forward All Restrictions

You may restrict the maximum number of digits that can be entered by using the cfwdall softkey, as shown in Example 15-46. Note that call forward restrictions apply only to destinations entered from the phone keypad, not to destinations entered using the CLI or GUI.

Example 15-46. Call Forward Restrictions

cme-3725#show running-config
ephone-dn 1 dual-line
 number 2001 secondary 2225552001
 call-forward max-length 4
!
ephone-dn 2 dual-line
 number 2002 secondary 2225552002
 call-forward max-length 8

 

Enabling Applications

In this section, you configure the following features used to enable applications:

• Idle URL
• XML services

Idle URL

The Idle URL feature lets you access a URL, and display its content on idle IP phones. As a general rule, the Idle URL page should be hosted on an external web server. Cisco CME does not support the Idle URL for files stored in router Flash. Use the configuration shown in Example 15-47 to turn on this feature.

Example 15-47. Idle URL

cme-3725#show running-config
telephony-service
 url idle http://1.1.1.1/idle.asp

 

XML Services

Each Cisco CME system allows you to configure a single URL for services hosted from a separate server:

telephony-service
 url services http://10.10.10.4/CCMUser/123456/urltest.xml

However, the referenced service page urltest.xml can itself contain multiple URLs pointing to other services. Example 15-48 shows a sample urltest.xml file.

Example 15-48. XML Services

cme-3725#show running-config
Services
 Select an option
 
 App1
 http://10.10.10.4/CCMUser/123456/app.asp1
 
 
 App2
 http://10.10.10.4/CCMUser/123456/app2.asp
 

Step 8 Interconnecting Multiple Cisco IPC Express Systems