Cisco Unity

Document ID: 25441

Contents

Introduction
Prerequisites
      Requirements
      Components Used
      Conventions
Background Information
File Format
Program Operation
Scheduled Operation
Examples
      Importing Directly to the Cisco Unity Bridge Server
      Creating Cisco Unity Bridge Subscribers
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Related Information

Introduction

Cisco Unity Bridge version 2.1(1) comes with a mailbox import tool (MBUpload.exe) that allows bulk editing of the Octel Node directories on the Cisco Unity Bridge. This tool can be used for adding, deleting, or updating records in the Octel Node directory.

Note: All entries created using the Mailbox Tool are permanent entries in the Cisco Unity Bridge Octel Node directory and are not subject to name aging deletion. This is similar to Octel Node directory mailbox entries added manually through the Octel Node Directory administration page.

Prerequisites

Requirements

Readers of this document should be knowledgeable of the following:

• Deployment and configuration of Cisco Unity and Cisco Unity Bridge.

• Manual addition of a remote Octel subscriber entry to the directory of a configured Octel Node on the Cisco Unity Bridge.

• How directory synchronization of Cisco Unity and the Bridge works.

Components Used

The information in this document is based on the software versions below:

• Cisco Unity Bridge version 2.1(1) or later

• Cisco Unity Bridge version 2.1(1) or later

The information in this document was created from the devices in a specific lab environment. All of the devices used in this document started with a cleared (default) configuration. If your network is live, make sure that you understand the potential impact of any command.

Conventions

Refer to Cisco Technical Tips Conventions for more information on document conventions.

Background Information

The mailbox import feature allows the import of a file containing Add, Change, and Delete records to be applied to the Octel node directory. The mailbox import function is implemented as a console application of the Mailbox Tool. The Mailbox Tool is a stand-alone utility that allows the Octel directory information to be maintained from an external source. Directory entries may be added, changed or deleted using this utility. Cisco Unity Bridge automatically retrieves spoken and text names from the Octel server for names added or changed using the Mailbox Tool. All changes are propagated to a corresponding Cisco Unity directory.

File Format

The Mailbox Tool reads an input text file formatted with Comma-Separated Value (CSV) records containing adds, deletes and changes for directory entries. Each record is listed on a new line. The CSV records contain the following fields in the order listed below.

1. Octel serial number of the system the mailbox resides on

2. Mailbox number

3. <reserved for future use — must be an empty value>

4. Type — "A" = add, "C" = change, "D" = delete

5. Text Name — optional

Program Operation

The Mailbox Tool is run using the following command line:

MBUpload [/I:<InFile>] [/O:<OutFile>] <DB Path>

<Infile> —Optional—Specifies the input CSV file. This parameter is optional. If not specified, the default file, MBUploadIn.csv, located in the program’s working directory is used. The infile file can reside anywhere accessible to the machine upon which the program is running.

<Outfile> —Optional—Specifies the output file containing exception reports. This parameter is optional. If not specified, the default file, MBUploadOut.csv, in the program’s working directory is used.

<DB Path> —Required—Specifies the path to the Bridge database file. The path is usually D:\Bridge\Starfish\DB\ Starfish.MDB. The full path name to the database must be provided as the last parameter on the command line.

Scheduled Operation

When running the Mailbox Tool as a scheduled task, the program's working directory should be set to the directory where the input and output files reside. To set the program's working directory, select Start in from the Task tab.

Examples

This section describes how to import directories to the Cisco Unity Bridge server, and how to create Cisco Unity Bridge subscribers.

Importing Directly to the Cisco Unity Bridge Server

The Cisco Unity Bridge is configured with an Octel Node. For this example, the serial number is 12345. No messages have been sent from Cisco Unity subscribers to Octel subscribers at this node. No Cisco Unity Bridge subscribers have been configured on the Unity server for this node. The Octel Node Directory page on the Cisco Unity Bridge is shown in the example below:

The Cisco Unity Bridge administrator creates a folder named "CSVfiles" in the root of C: on the Bridge. It includes an Input.csv file that contains the following entries:

12345,4000,,A,Bugs Bunny
12345,4001,,A,

The Mailbox Tool is run from the command line on the Cisco Unity Bridge with the following parameters:

D:\Bridge\starfish\bin>MBUpload /I:C:\CSVfiles\Input.csv /O:C:\CSVfiles\Output.csv 
D:\Bridge\starfish\db\starfish.mdb

The Output.csv file is created in C:\CSVfiles with the following entries:

12345,4000,,A,Bugs Bunny,Successful
12345,4001,,A,,Successful

The Octel Node Directory page on the Bridge is shown in the example below:

Note that these are permanent entries and are not subject to name aging.

Now the Cisco Unity Bridge makes an administrative phone call to the Octel Node number 12345 to retrieve the recorded voice name.

Note: The Cisco Unity Bridge also retrieves the text name for the remote subscriber from the Octel node. The text name entry created with the Mailbox Tool import is overwritten with the actual text name retrieved from the Octel node. Therefore, it is not necessary to include text names in your Input.csv file.

In a different example below, the text name on the Octel node for subscriber with mailbox 4000 is Easter Bunny and the text name for mailbox 4001 is Santa Claus. Once the administrative analog call to the Octel node is finished, the voice and text names are updated on the Cisco Unity Bridge and the Octel Node directory, as shown in the following example:

Now the text and voice name retrieval is complete, and mailbox 4000 and 4001 have been verified to exist on node number 12345. The Cisco Unity Bridge will send the Cisco Unity bridgehead server these records. Cisco Unity will automatically create Bridge subscribers for these remote Octel users. Cisco Unity subscribers will now be able to:

• Address these remote subscribers using spell-by-name.

• Hear recorded voice name confirmation when addressing messages to these remote subscribers.

Since there were no previously existing Cisco Unity Bridge subscribers for these mailboxes, they will be automatically created with a Cisco Unity Dual Tone Multifrequency (DTMF) ID of <UnityBridgeLocationDialID>+<remoteMailboxID>. For example, if the Cisco Unity Bridge Delivery Location on the Unity bridgehead for node number 12345 had a DialID of 456, the DTMF IDs created for these remote subscribers would be 4564000 and 4564001.

Creating Cisco Unity Bridge Subscribers

In some situations, the Cisco Unity administrator may assign DTMF IDs to the Cisco Unity Bridge subscribers representing remote Octel mailboxes to something other than <UnityBridgeLocationDialID>+<remoteMailboxID>. You can manually edit the DTMF ID for a Cisco Unity Bridge subscriber after it has been created. This will not affect the remote address actually used by Cisco Unity and the Bridge to deliver the message to the remote Octel node. Manually editing the DTMF IDs one at a time is time-consuming if you have a large number of Cisco Unity Bridge subscribers on your system.

This process is made easier by first importing the remote Octel subscribers directly to the Cisco Unity bridgehead server using the Unity ExternalUserImport utility, then using the Mailbox Tool to create the entries on the Bridge and initiate recorded voice and text name retrieval from the remote Octel node.

Using the example found in the Importing Directly to the Cisco Unity Bridge Server section, if the Cisco Unity administrator wants Unity subscribers to be able to address the two subscribers on the remote Octel node using 14000 and 14001 rather than 4564000 and 4564001, you would use the following steps:

1. Use the ExternalUserImport tool on the Cisco Unity server to import mailboxes 4000 and 4001 at Unity Bridge location 456 with DTMF IDs of 14000 and 14001 respectively. (These entries on Cisco Unity are not pushed to the Bridge server.)

2. Use the Mailbox Tool to import mailboxes 4000 and 4001 at node number 12345.

3. The Bridge retrieves the recorded voice names and text names for mailboxes 4000 and 4001.

4. The Bridge then sends these retrieved records to Unity as "Adds."

5. Since Cisco Unity already has Bridge subscribers corresponding with these remote addresses, Unity updates the recorded voice name, display name, first name and last name of these Bridge subscribers.

   Note: Cisco Unity does not alter the orginial DTMF ID.

6. Now Cisco Unity subscribers can address mailboxes 4000 and 4001 at node 12345 using the DTMF IDs of 14000 and 14001, and will hear their recorded voice names from the Octel node as confirmation when addressing.

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