Cisco Unity Connection, Voice Messaging

Cisco Unity Connection (CUC) is a full featured voice messaging, auto-attendant and voice recognition system. CUC can support 20,000 mailboxes on a single cluster. Built in IMAP server allows email access to voice messages. Data and message store database are local to the server using Informix Database Service application.

CUC is installed as a VM guest on supported hardware. CUC 10.x is linux based OS.

CUC supports integrations with traditional PBX systems that support native IP or digital TDM circuit that can be connected via PBX IP Media Gateway (PIMG) or T1 IP Media Gateway (TIMG).

Users can be added manually, with BAT (CSV, imported from CUCM using Administrative XML Web Service (AXL) or synced directly from LDAP.

CUC integrates with MSoft Exchange using Web-Based Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) providing calendar and journal information for integrations with MeetingPlace.

CUC provides traditional Telephone User Interface (TUI) for interaction with DTMF and Voice User Interface (VUI) for handsfree interaction and IP Phone View (Visual Voicemail).

CUC can be setup as redundant active/active pairs

Integrations

CUCM and CME are supported using SCCP or SIP

Voicemail Port Wizard in CUCM simplifies integration with CUC. The system generates voicemail ports in CUCM and adds them to a Line Group. Admins must manually configure the Hunt List and Hunt Pilot to support the Line Group.

The Hunt Pilot is referenced by the voicemail pilot

SCCP Integration with CUCM

• Voicemail Profile
• Voicemail Pilot
• Hunt Pilot
• Hunt List
• Line Group
• Voicemail Port 1 – X

In SCCP integrations the MWI (Message Waiting Indicator) is a unique DN for on and off. The DN’s must match in CUCM and CUC.

SIP Integration with CUCM

Instead of a Hunt Pilot and Voicemail Pilot, SIP points to a route pattern which points to a SIP trunk.

• Voicemail Profile
• Voicemail Pilot
• Route Pattern
• SIP Trunk

SIP is able to handle MWI within it’s signaling

---

CUC Features

General Configuration – System timezone, language, max greeting length

Roles 

• Audio Text Admin – Manage call handlers, directory handlers and interview handlers
• Audit Admin – Enable/disable application and database auditing, config audit settings, view or delete audit logs
• Greeting Admin 
• Help Desk admin – Reset user pins, unlock accounts and view user settings
• Mailbox Access Delegate – Access to all messages, access on behalf of users
• Remote Admin – Allowed to use remote tools
• System Admin – Top level admin role
• Technician – Access to all functions that enable management of CUC and phone system integrations
• User Admin – Manage user accounts

Enterprise Parameters and Service Parameters

• LDAP
• Call Handlers
  • System Call Handlers – Greetings that can be customized to offer user input options and automation for playing different greeting depending on time of day
  • Directory Handler – Search CUC directory for a user they want to contact
  • Interview Handler – Record answers to questions
• Call Routing
• Direct Routing Rules
• Forwarded Routing Rules
• Distribution Lists
  • Send voice message to a group of users
• Authentication Rules
• Dial Plan
  • Concept of partitions and CSS

---

Users and Mailboxes

User Templates provide a way to create new user accounts. Template settings are applied as users are created. Changing the template does not go back and change existing users.

2 default templates exist: administrators and users

Template Basics:

• Name – Name of the template
• Phone – Dial plan, Class of Service and schedule
• Location – Geographic location, language and timezone

Class of Service (CoS), different than L2 QOS CoS, method of assigning and restricting user privileges. Unlimited CoS’s can be defined

• Class of Service
  • Timers
    • Recorded Name Length
    • Greeting Length
    • Message Length
  • Features
    • IMAP
    • Unified Personal Communicator
    • Personal Call Transfer Rules
  • Restrictions
    • Distribution Lists
    • Restriction Tables

End Users

New end users require little configuration because of templates. Unique settings: alias, name, mailbox store, extension and alternate extensions

Extension is required – should be primary users DN, it’s the caller ID CUC uses to determine the owner of the mailbox.

WAN Failures – If the users access CUC over the WAN and its down, SRST using AAR can allow calls to CUC to be routed over the PSTN, the users 10 digit PSTN caller ID will not be recognized unless the alternate extension is entered.

Voicemail Box- admin can choose to list a user in the directory, record the voice name and record a greeting

Private Distribution Lists – Each user can create 99 private DLs with a max of 999 members. The DL is only visible to the user that created it and the administrator of CUC.

Notification Devices – Users can be notified of a new message of up to 3 PSTN numbers and email

User Creation

• Manual
• BAT
• Migration from Unity
• Import from CUCM over AXL
• LDAP

Voicemail Boxes

Associated with each user. Held in the database and synced between the 2 CUC servers in the active/active redundant pair. Admins can set message aging policies and move read messages to deleted items after a specified number of days (disabled by default). Messages in the deleted folder are deleted after 15 days by default.

Mailbox Size – Default 12MB, prevented from sending new messages at 13MB and cannot send or receive at 14MB.

12MB is approx 200 minutes of G.729 or 25 minute of G.711

---

Configuration

CUCM and CUC Integration

Start on CUCM

I ended up going back into the config and deleted 249 voicemail ports to make the config simpler 

Create a new Hunt List

Create DN’s for MWI for SCCP integration – Advanced Features > Voice Mail > Message Waiting

Create Voicemail Pilot

CUCM Config is complete for integration. Moving to CUC, services have already been enabled

Add CUCM for AXL service for user data integration – Telephony Integration > Phone System

Edit Port Group servers

---

Config User Template

Add a user manually

Enabling Mobility Features in CUCM

Mobility features allow users to interact with devices and applications no matter where they are. The intent is to extend users to use their enterprise phone number for both inbound and outbound calls seamlessly.

Mobile Connect

Mobile connect – Single Number Reach (SNR) allows the enterprise phone number to be a single number that will ring multiple other devices (cell phone, desk phone, etc.) This allows users to give out a single number that can reach the user regardless of location. If a user answers their enterprise phone from their cell phone they can move the call back to their desk phone or vice versa. If the call was answered on the desk phone, the mobility softkey can be pressed and the call seamlessly moved to the cell phone without dropping the call.

Mobile Connect is configured using Remote Destination Profiles to configure a virtual phone that share configuration settings with the users primary IP phone. Up to 10 remote destinations can be configured per user.

Access Lists can be configured (not related to router ACLs) to control which calls ring which rdp and time of day.

Mobile Voice Access (MVA)

MVA provides SNR consistency for outbound calls. Accessing CUCM from a cell the user can instruct CUCM to place a call as if it was from the users IP Phone. Users call into a specific PSTN DID to access the MVA service.

---

Configuring Mobile Connect (SNR)

1. Configure softkey template to add Mobility key
2. Configure user accounts for mobility
3. Configure phone to support mobility features
4. Create remote destination profile and assign to user
5. Add remote destinations to remote destination profile
6. Configure ring schedules for remote destination
7. Configure access list and apply to remote destination
8. Configure service parameters

---

Configure MVA

1. Activate MVA service
2. Configure Service Parameters
3. Enable MVA for user
4. Configure MVA media resources
5. Configure MVA VXML application on Voice Gateway

Output below borrowed from CCNA Collaboration CICD 210-060 Official Certification Guide

https://www.safaribooksonline.com/library/view/ccna-collaboration-cicd/9780134171760/ch12lev3sec4.html

! Define the MVA Application and URL
application
 service mva http://10.1.1.1:8080/ccmivr/pages/IVRMainpage.vxml
dial-peer voice 50001 pots
! Associate the MVA application to this dial peer
 service mva
! Match the PSTN MVA access number to this inbound dial peer
 incoming called-number 4085555000
 direct-inward-dial
dial-peer voice 50002 voip
! Match the PSTN MVA access number to this outbound dial peer
 destination-pattern 4085555000
! Identify the CUCM server running the MVA service VXML app referenced above
 session target ipv4:10.1.1.1
 dtmf-relay h245-alphanumeric
codec g711ulaw
 no vad

Enabling Telephony Features with CUCM

CUCM Extension Mobility

Allows users to log into any phone in the cluster. Used when users move desk to desk. Users personal configurations such as DN and speed dials follows the user to whatever phone they log into.

EM is an IP Phone service. It applies user specific device profiles to the phone after login. Administrators have 3 options to set system behavior if a user logs into multiple phones concurrently.

• Allow multiple logins – User can be logged into multiple phones at the same time. Has a shared line effect. All phones will ring when the DN is called
• Deny Login – Users can only log into one device at a time. Will receive error message, must log out of other phone first
• Auto Logout – User can only be log into one device at a time. First device will be logged out of after successfully logging into second phone

When no user is logged into the phone a device profile can be applied (logout device profile).

• MoH
• Phone button template
• Softkey template
• user locale
• DND
• Privacy setting
• Service subscriptions
• Dialing name

Enabling Extension Mobility

1. Activate EM service
2. Configure EM service parameters
3. Add EM service
4. Create a default device profile for each phone model
5. Create device profiles and subscribe to EM server
6. Create end users and associate with device profile
7. Enable EM for phones and subscribe phones to EM service

---

CUCM Telephony Features

Call Coverage – References features and mechanism used to ensure that calls are answered under most circumstances

• Call Forward
  • Call Forward All (CFA) – Forward all calls to a destination number. Call Forward search space is used. Line and device search space are ignored
  • Call Forward Busy (CFB) Internal / External – When phone is offhook, calls to DN are forwarded to a specific voicemail pilot
  • Call Forward No Answer (CFNA) – Forwarded after Ring No Answer Reversion timer has expired, forward to voicemail pilot
  • Call Forward Unregistered (CFUR) – Used with SRST.
• Shared Lines – 2 or more phones with the same DN configured on one of the lines. Calling the DN causes both phones to ring. First phone to pick up answers. 2nd phone cannot pickup without Barge feature
  • Barge – Force a 3 way conference with the first phone in a shared line scenario
    • Conference is hosted on the first phone
  • Privacy – Prevent barging into a call
• Call Pickup
  • DN’s can be assigned to a call pickup group
  • Multiple DNs have the same group number and one of them is ringing another phone can answer by using the Call Pickup softkey
• Call Hunting
  • Allows a single DN to distribute calls to several phones in sequence
  • Call Hunting Components
    • DN and Voicemail ports – Targets for the call hunting system
    • Line Groups – Assigned to hunt list, can be assigned to one or more hunt lists
    • Hunt Lists – Top/down ordered list of line groups
    • Hunt Pilots – Associated with hunt list. Unique DN, shared line or PSTN number
• Call Park – Allows users to temporarily attach a call to a call park slot (DN). Any user can pickup a parked call by dialing the park DN.

Intercom

Allows a button to be configured that calls an intercom line on another phone. The receiving phone auto answers in speakerphone mode with the microphone muted.

Intercom lines cannot call DNs and DNs cannot call intercom lines. They have their own dial plan and permissions (Intercom partition and CSS).

Presence

Presence includes instant messaging status’s (online, offline, busy, in a call, etc) or in the phone system, onhook vs offhook.

Presence status can be monitored with the Busy Lamp Field (BLF) speed dial or preence-enabled call and directory lists.

---

Configuring Shared Lines

---

Configuring Barge

---

Configuring Call Pickup

Change the softkey layout to allow for Call Pickup Group

Device > Device Settings > Softkey Template

---

Configuring Call Park

---

Configuring Call Hunting

Pre-req – phones and DN’s already created

Create Line Group – Call Routing > Route/Hunt > Line Group

Create Hunt List – Call Routing > Route/Hunt > Hunt List

Create Hunt Pilot – Call Routing > Route/Hunt > Hunt Pilot

---

Configuring Intercom Features

1. Call Routing > Intercom > Intercom Route Partition
2. Call Routing > Intercom > Intercom Calling Search Space
3. Call Routing > Intercom > Intercom Directory Number

Change device to add intercom button

Device > Device Settings > Phone Button Template

---

Implementing Phones in CUCM

Tasks behind implementing phones into CUCM

Services and Protocols to support IP Phones

• NTP – Network Time Protocol
  • Standard for providing network based time synchronization
  • Convenience and consistency of the same time on all devices
  • Timestamp for CDR and CMR
  • Some features rely on time (calendar)
  • NTP can be implemented on a core switch or router in the network – configuration examples were done in previous notes
  • During CUCM install NTP is required to be entered before moving forward.
    • Subscriber servers sync their clocks to the Publisher server and IP Phones (SCCP) get their time from the subscriber. SIP based phones need an NTP reference
• CDP – Cisco Discovery Protocol
  • Layer 2 protocol – mapping information of the network
  • Phones generate CDP messages to learn voice vlan ID
• DHCP – Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
  • Allows phones to get IP addresses dynamically
  • IP Address, subnet mask, default gateway, DNS, TFTP (option 150)
  • Router example was done in previous notes
  • I’ll show DHCP being hosted from CUCM later
• PoE – Power Over Ethernet
  • Described in earlier notes
• TFTP – Trivial File Transfer Protocol
  • Phones user TFTP to download their configuration files, firmware and other data
  • Required for phones to function properly
• DNS – Domain Name System
  • Hostname to IP address resolution
  • DNS server must be external to CUCM cluster
  • Asked for during CUCM installation
  • Not required for phones to function, if DNS reliance is disabled (example to follow later)
  • DNS is not hosted by CUCM

---

IP Phone Registration

1. Phone gets power – POE or power adapter
2. Phone loads locally stored firmware imsage
3. Phone learns voice vlan through CDP
4. Phone uses DHCP to learn ip information
5. Phone contacts TFTP server and requests configuration file
   1. Each phone has a customized config file – SEP<mac address>.cnf.xml
6. Phone registered with primary CUCM server in the config file
   1. CUCM sends softkey template to phones using SCCP

SIP Phone Registration

1. Same steps 1 – 4 as above
2. Phone contacts TFTP and request Certificate Trust List File (only if cluster is secured)
3. Phone contacts TFTP server and requests config file – SEP<mac address>.cnf.xml
4. Phone downloads SIP dial Rules
5. Phone registers with primary CUCM in the config file
6. Phone downloads localization files from TFTP
7. Phone downloads softkey configuation
8. Phone downloads custom ringtones

---

Prepare CUCM to Support Phones

Service Activation

Configure and Verify Network Services

• NTP
• DHCP
• TFTP

DHCP Server Configuration on CUCM

First start with defining DHCP server parameters. The DHCP service on CUCM is only meant to host IP Phones. It is limited to 1000 phones.

Only one DHCP server is supported per cluster. Multiple scopes can be configured on the server

Now that the server is define, we need to add subnets for the hosts

Configure Enterprise Parameters

Cluster wide default settings

• Device Pool – common configurations to a group of devices. Template to apply several different settings all at once 
• Cisco Unified CM Group – Top/down ordered list of redundant call processing servers that phones can register to. The list can include a max of 3 servers plus an option SRST reference. Servers can be listed in one or more CM groups
• Region – Virtual assignment to allow for control of bit rates of calls. Influence the codec used between locations
• Location – Defines the max bandwidth to be used for concurrent number of calls. If there is not enough bandwidth to add another call, the call is either dropped or rerouted over PSTN if AAR is configured.
  • This is one mechanism of CAC – Call Access Control
• Date/Time Group – Allows to display the time and date in a desired format. Have the correct timezone show up for sites across the globe
• Phone NTP reference – SIP phones require an NTP server
• Device Defaults – Lists all supported devices, firmware, device pool and phone button template each endpoint uses by default
• Softkey Template – Controls what softkey button functions are available to users
  • Default template provides 2 lines and as many speed dials that are remaining buttons on the phone model
• Phone Button Template
• SIP Profile – Allow for one time configuration of repetitive tasks
• Phone Security Profile – Default is security disabled. Can change to configure the device as secured, encrypt TFTP and modify certificate authority proxy
• Common Phone Profile – Common phone profile settings

Configuration of these settings is shown below

Adding Phones in CUCM

Phones can be added to CUCM multiple ways

• Manual Configuration – Config shown below
• Auto Registration – Phones dynamically add self to CUCMn
• Bulk Administration Tool (BAT) – Template (CSV) that can be filled out and used to upload phone information
• Auto Registration Phone Tool (TAPS) – Uses IVR (Interactive Voice Response) to enhance auto registration and BAT
• Self Provisioning – 

Manually Adding Phone

Add New, choose the phone model type, choose the protocol to register with (SIP or SCCP)

Created an End User and associated with the phone and added to Access Groups: Standard CCM User and Standard CTI User

---

End User and Application Users

Adding a end user was shown above.

End users

• Associated with an actual person
• Individual use
• Assign users features for administrative rights
• Included in the user directory
• Can be synced with LDAP

End users can be added using the following:

• Manual Entry
• Bulk Import with BAT
• LDAP Sync

Application User

• Associated with an application
• no interactive logins
• For application authorization
• Not in user directory
• Locally provisioned 

---

Disable DNS Reliance

I did this task before creating the blog. Screenshots below are after changing hostname to IP address.

Disable DNS reliance means that phones will rely on using IP addresses to reach CUCM instead of trying to do DNS resolution.

Next go to System>Enterprise Parameters, scroll down and change the hostname to IP address in the URL

---

CUCM Configuration

Cisco Unified CM Group

NTP Reference

Date/Time Group

Region

Location

Device Pool

---

Partitions

Calling Search Space

Administrator and End-User Interfaces

Chapter 8 goes over the administrator interfaces for CUCM, CUC, CM-IMP and End-Users in CUCM

CUCM Administration Interfaces

CUCM can be accessed via HTTPS or SSH. There are 7 separate interface

1. CUCM Administration – ccmadmin
2. Unified Serviceability – ccmservice
3. Disaster Recovery System – drf
4. Unified OS Administration – cmplatform
5. Unified Reporting – cucreports
6. Unified IM and Presence Reporting – cucreports
7. CLI

Username and passwords are defined during the installation of CUCM. I do not have pictures of this as I built the VM before I was thinking about doing a blog.

---

CUCM Administration Interface

Comment: Please Ignore the angry messages in the screenshot. I did not put a license of my server yet and don’t have a DNS server setup in my lab

CUCM admin interface has 9 menus

• System – Configuration of CM groups, presence, mobility, locations, device pools, regions, service parameters, etc.
• Call Routing – Define call routing system, call hunting, class of control, intercom, call park, etc
• Media Resources – MOH, media termination, transcoders
• Advanced Features – Voicemail integration, inter-company media, extension mobility, etc
• Device – Gateways, gatekeepers, trunks, phones, remote destinations, etc
• Application – CUCM Assistant Config wizard
• User Management – Application users, end users, access control groups and roles
• Bulk Administration – Perform repetitive configuration tasks in an automated way
• Help – Searchable help rules

---

Serviceability Administration

6 menu options

• Alarm – Configure alarms to monitor for system performance and health
• Trace – Troubleshooting settings
• Tools – Turn on/off services
  • Under service activation is where you can turn on CUCM features
• SNMP – Configure SNMP serttings
  CallHome – Talk back to TAC
• Help – Searchable help content

---

OS Administration

Allows admins to monitor and interact with the linux based OS

---

Disaster Recovery

Provides backup and restore capabilities

Backups can be set on a schedule. Backups must be written to a SFTP server on the network

---

Unified Reporting

Provides access to system reports. The reports gather information from existing logs and format the data into one-click reports. Data is collected across the entire cluster (publishers and subscribers).

---

CLI

Accessed using SSH. Allows for some of the following

•  Shut down or restart the system

• Change versions after an upgrade

•  Start, stop, and restart service

•  Modify network settings (IP address, mask, gateway, and so on)

•  Use network tools such as ping, traceroute, and packet capture

•  Use the DRS

•  Add and modify Platform Administration accounts

•  Display server load and process information

•  Check server status, including software versions, CPU, memory and disk utilization, hardware platform, serial numbers, etc

---

CUCM Roles and Access

• Users are assigned to access control groups
• Access control groups are assigned to roles
• Roles define privileges to resources in the CUCM applications
  • Resources – admin web page, reporting tool, feature section
  • Privledges
    • No Access – Deny access
    • Read – Display but cannot edit
    • Update – Full access to edit, modify, delete, update

CUCM has 46 default roles in version 10.6

CUCM has 28 default access control groups in version 10.6

• Access control groups associate 1 or more roles that provide various levels of access to applications in CUCM. Users inherit privileges based on the role they are a member of. If a user is a part of a multiple roles that have conflicting access levels, the default setting is maximum privileges. This parameter can be modified under enterprise parameters.

---

Unity Connection Administration Interface

CUC has 6 administration interfaces

• Administration – cucadmin
• Unified Serviceability – ccmservice
• Unity Connection Serviceability – cuservice
• OS Administration – cmplatform
• Disaster Recovery – drf
• CLI

Unity Connection Administration

Menu driven items

• Users – Provides access to local user database to create / edit users
• Class of Service – Defines features available to users
• Templates – Provides a way to define common settings for users
• Contacts – System Contact: Account that provides interactions with CUC without a mailbox
• Distribution List – Allow a message to be delivered to multiple users
• Call Management – Defines call handlers
  • 3 types of call handlers
    • System – Foundational structure of CUC: answer calls, play greeting, route calls, take message
    • Specialized – Directory handler
    • Interview – Interact with a caller using a recorded series of questions
• Message Store – Mailbox quotas
• Networking – Configure multple CUC for either digital networking or VPIM environment
• Dial Plan – Create partitions and calling search spaces
• System Settings – Global configuration settings
• Licenses – Licenses available on the system
• Holiday Schedule – 3 system schedules – All hours, weekdays, voice recognition update schedule
• External Services – Calendar and Contact information held in Exchange
• LDAP – Configuration for LDAP synchronization
• SMTP – Notify users of new messages via email
• Advanced – Configure advanced settings such as Short Message Peer to Peer
• Telephony Integrations – Lists and configures phone systems CUC is integration with
• Tools – Bulk admin and task management

Servicability is similar to CUCM

---

CM IM and Presence Administration Interface

CM-IMP provides 7 administration interfaces

• CM-IMP Administration – cupadmin
• IM and Presence Serviceability – ccmservice
• IMP OS Admin – cmplatform
• Disaster Recovery – drf
• IMP Reporting – cucreports
• Unified Reporting – cucreports
• CLI

CM-IMP Administration

• System – Config for CUCM, inbound / outbound access control lists, licensing and management
• Presence – Define gateways for providing presence information from CUCM or calendar integrations
  • SIP or Exchange Messaging and Presence (XMPP)
  • SIP for Office Communication, XMPP for Google Talk
• Messaging – External database for persistent messaging – PostgreSQL
• Application – Desk phone control, and IP Phone messenger configured here
• Bulk Administration – Similar to CUCM and CUC
• Diagnositcs – System status and troubleshooting tools
• Help – Help contents

CM-IMP Serviceability

• Alarms and event monitoring
• Access to trace logs
• Monitor real-time behavior
• Feature activation
• Reports
• SNMP configuration
• Monitor disk usage

---

CUCM End User Interface

Allows users to manage the phone they are associated with. User must be part of the Standard CCM End User role.

Tasks that can be done

• CHange their password or PIN
• Add / remove / edit speed dials
• Download user guide
• Access the directory
• Subscribe or unsubscribe from phone services