Cisco Unity Troubleshooting Guide (With IBM Lotus Domino), Release 4.0(3)
Messages

Table Of Contents

Messages

About Problems with Messages

Messages Appear to Be Delayed

Subscriber Misunderstandings

Cisco Unity Domino Server Is Down or Is Disconnected

Some Messages Seem to Disappear

Undeliverable Messages Have Not Been Forwarded to Recipients

Subscribers Assigned to Cisco Unity Entities Were Deleted and No Replacements Were Assigned

Cisco Unity Stops Recording Before a Caller Has Finished Leaving a Message

Dialogic Quiet Parameter Is Incorrect

Cisco Unity, the Phone System, or the Central Office Disconnected the Call

Dial Tone or Reorder Tone Is Present at the End of a Message


Messages


About Problems with Messages

Message problems fall into the following categories:

Messages appear to be delayed

Some subscriber errors or misconceptions can lead to the impression that Cisco Unity is delaying messages. See the "Messages Appear to Be Delayed" section.

Messages seem to disappear

Some Cisco Unity situations can affect message delivery. See the "Some Messages Seem to Disappear" section.

Messages are incomplete

A setup problem may cause callers to be cut off when they try to leave a message. See the "Cisco Unity Stops Recording Before a Caller Has Finished Leaving a Message" section.

Messages include dial tone or reorder tone

See the "Dial Tone or Reorder Tone Is Present at the End of a Message" section.


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Begin your troubleshooting by gathering information about the message problem. By discussing the problem with the subscriber, you can determine whether a problem is due to a misunderstanding of how Cisco Unity works. If you encounter a message problem that is not described in this section, contact the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC).

Messages Appear to Be Delayed

The following sections describe possible reasons that messages may appear to be delayed. Use the "Task List for Troubleshooting Delay in Appearance of Messages" to troubleshoot the possible causes.

Task List for Troubleshooting Delay in Appearance of Messages

1. Investigate whether the subscriber misunderstands how Cisco Unity delivers messages. See the "Subscriber Misunderstandings" section.

2. Check to see if the Domino server is down or disconnected. See the "Cisco Unity Domino Server Is Down or Is Disconnected" section.


Tip To confirm the arrival times of messages, generate a subscriber message activity report for the subscriber. For more information, refer to the "Subscriber Message Activity Report" section in the "Reports" chapter of the Cisco Unity System Administration Guide. The guide is available at http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/voice/c_unity/unity40/sag/sag403/dom/index.htm.


Subscriber Misunderstandings

A Subscriber Who Is Using Optional Conversation 1 Misunderstands the Effect of Pressing the # Key Twice During Message Playback

When a subscriber presses the # key twice while listening to a message, Cisco Unity saves the message as a new message and skips to the next message. Later, the subscriber checks messages again, hears the same message, and believes the message arrived after a delay.

Explain to the subscriber that pressing the # key twice while a message plays saves it as a new message. Refer subscribers to the end-user documentation available at http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/voicesw/ps2237/products_user_guide_list.html.

A Subscriber Who Is Using the Standard Conversation Misunderstands the Effect of Pressing the # Key Twice During Message Playback

When a subscriber presses the # key twice while listening to a new message, Cisco Unity saves the message as a new message and skips to the next message. Later, the subscriber checks messages again, hears the same message, and believes the message arrived after a delay.

Explain to the subscriber that pressing the # key twice while a new message plays saves it as a new message. Refer subscribers to the end-user documentation available at http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/voicesw/ps2237/products_user_guide_list.html.

System Clock Time Is Incorrect

When the system clock is slow or when a desk clock is fast, the subscriber may believe messages were delayed.

Confirm that the system clock on the Cisco Unity server is reporting the correct time.

Cisco Unity Domino Server Is Down or Is Disconnected

Messages recorded while the Domino server (the message store) is down or disconnected are stored in the Unity Messaging Repository (UMR) until the server is brought back up. The delay experienced between the time a message is recorded and its delivery is entirely dependant on the amount of time that the message store was down or disconnected.

Some Messages Seem to Disappear

The following sections describe possible reasons that messages may not be delivered to the intended recipients. Use the "Task List for Troubleshooting the Disappearance of Some Messages" to troubleshoot the possible causes.

Task List for Troubleshooting the Disappearance of Some Messages

1. Verify that subscribers who are assigned to the Unaddressed Messages distribution list have been forwarding messages to the intended recipients. See the "Undeliverable Messages Have Not Been Forwarded to Recipients" section.

2. Confirm that you or another administrator did not inadvertently delete a subscriber who was assigned to review the messages for Cisco Unity entities. See the "Subscribers Assigned to Cisco Unity Entities Were Deleted and No Replacements Were Assigned" section.

Undeliverable Messages Have Not Been Forwarded to Recipients

Messages returned to the Unity Messaging System mailbox are forwarded automatically to subscribers whose names appear on the Unaddressed Messages public distribution list. The messages then must be forwarded to the intended recipients. Explain to subscribers on the Unaddressed Messages public distribution list the importance of regularly checking for and forwarding undeliverable messages.

Subscribers Assigned to Cisco Unity Entities Were Deleted and No Replacements Were Assigned

When you delete a subscriber who was assigned to review the messages sent to any of the following Cisco Unity entities, make sure that you assign another subscriber or a public distribution list to replace the deleted subscriber; otherwise, messages may be "lost."

Unaddressed Messages distribution list

System Event Messages distribution list (by default the Example Administrator is the only member of this distribution list)

Operator call handler (by default the Example Administrator is the only member of this distribution list)

Opening Greeting call handler

Goodbye call handler

Example Interview call handler

To identify call handlers that are associated with improperly deleted accounts, run the Unresolved References report. Then you can fix any "stranded" call handlers that you find by running the DbWalker utility. Refer to the "Reports" chapter of the Cisco Unity System Administration Guide for more information. The Cisco Unity System Administration Guide is available at http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/voice/c_unity/unity40/sag/sag403/dom/index.htm.

Cisco Unity Stops Recording Before a Caller Has Finished Leaving a Message

The following sections describe possible reasons that Cisco Unity may stop recording before a caller has finished leaving a message. Use the "Task List for Troubleshooting Recordings That Are Being Cut Off" to troubleshoot the possible causes.

Task List for Troubleshooting Recordings That Are Being Cut Off

1. Check to see whether the quiet parameter is set to recognize low voice volume. See the "Dialogic Quiet Parameter Is Incorrect" section.

2. Calls may be cut off by Cisco Unity, the phone system, or the central office. See the "Cisco Unity, the Phone System, or the Central Office Disconnected the Call" section.

Dialogic Quiet Parameter Is Incorrect

A caller may report hearing a prompt and being prevented from completing a message, or a subscriber may report this problem after noticing that a recording ends before the caller finished leaving a message. This can happen when the quiet parameter is not set to recognize low voice volume. It can also happen when a changed quiet parameter is not retained after a Cisco Unity upgrade.

To Change the Dialogic Quiet Parameter (Systems Equipped with Dialogic Voice Cards Only)


Step 1 Shut down the Cisco Unity software.

Step 2 On the Windows Start menu, click Programs > Dialogic System Software > Dialogic Configuration Manager-DCM.

Step 3 On the Service menu, click Stop Service. A second Dialogic Configuration Manager window appears.

Step 4 When the message "Success: Dialogic service stopped" appears, click Close.

Step 5 In the Service window, select a Dialogic voice card.

Step 6 In the DCM-Properties dialog box for the card, click Misc.

Step 7 Click ParameterFile.

Step 8 Under Edit in the Value field, enter quiet50.prm, and click OK.


Note If spandti.prm or any other values exist in the Value field, enter a space at the end of the existing value, and enter quiet50.prm. The space ensures that both .prm entries exist in the field.


Step 9 Repeat Step 5 through Step 8 for each additional Dialogic voice card.

Step 10 On the Service menu, click Start Service. A second Dialogic Configuration Manager window appears.

Step 11 When the message "Success: Dialogic service started" appears, click Close.

Step 12 Restart the Cisco Unity server.


Cisco Unity, the Phone System, or the Central Office Disconnected the Call

If a caller reports being cut off while leaving a message and if the caller did not hear a prompt prior to the disconnect, Cisco Unity, the phone system, or the central office may have disconnected the call.

To Determine Why the Call Was Disconnected


Step 1 On the Windows Start menu, click Programs > Administrative Tools > Event Viewer.

Step 2 On the Log menu, click System.

Step 3 In the System Event log, look for an error that occurred at the time of the reported disconnected call.

If an error appears, double-click the error and skip to Step 6.

If no error appears for the date and time of the disconnected call, continue with Step 4.

Step 4 On the Log menu, click Application.

Step 5 In the Application Event log, look for an error that occurred at the time of the reported disconnected call. Double-click the error.

Step 6 In the Event Detail dialog box, review the contents of the Description box.

If you need assistance interpreting or resolving the error, or if no error appears in the Application Event log that matches the date and time of the reported disconnected call, contact Cisco TAC.


Dial Tone or Reorder Tone Is Present at the End of a Message

A possible cause may be that the switch disconnect tone and/or the PSTN disconnect tone are incorrect in the Switch.ini file (for circuit-switched phone systems only). Running the Learn Tones utility will correct the Switch.ini file so that Cisco Unity will recognize dial tone and reorder tone, preventing them from being recorded as part of a message.

To Run the Learn Tones Utility


Step 1 Run the Learn Tones utility. See the "Learn Tones" section on page 12-5 for detailed instructions.

Step 2 If running the Learn Tones utility does not resolve the problem, contact Cisco TAC.