Cisco Emergency Responder Administration Guide Release 10.0

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Cisco Emergency Responder Administration Guide Release 10.0

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Cisco Emergency Responder user preparation

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Updated:: December 7, 2013

Chapter: Cisco Emergency Responder user preparation

Cisco Emergency Responder user preparation overview
Emergency Responder onsite alert personnel preparations
Emergency Responder ERL administrator role
Emergency Responder network administrator role
Emergency Responder system administrator role

Cisco Emergency Responder user preparation

Cisco Emergency Responder user preparation overview
Emergency Responder onsite alert personnel preparations
Emergency Responder ERL administrator role
Emergency Responder network administrator role
Emergency Responder system administrator role

Cisco Emergency Responder user preparation overview

This chapter describes the various roles for Cisco Emergency Responder (Emergency Responder) users. The topics describe not only the use of the software, but help you understand the larger policy and procedure decisions your organization must make to determine how Emergency Responder fits into your organization's emergency response needs.

Emergency Responder onsite alert personnel preparations

You probably already have emergency response policies and procedures in place. Consider how Cisco Emergency Responder (Emergency Responder) fits into these policies and procedures, and work with your emergency response teams (onsite alert or security personnel) to update these procedures if necessary.

Consider training these personnel on these aspects of Emergency Responder:

How to use the Emergency Responder web interface. See the Emergency Responder user web interface online help for information about these topics. The online help includes a user's guide in PDF format that you can print out and distribute to your users. The information in the user's guide is the same as the information in the online help. Train users on these areas:
- How to log into the user web interface.
- How alerts show up on the screen.
- How to obtain more information about the location of the call. Summary information includes the actual extension of the caller; the ELIN, which is the phone number the PSAP gets as the number of the emergency caller; the phone location associated with the switch port; and the location field of the ALI. Users can also view the entire ALI.
- How to acknowledge the call and add comments to it. Consider developing rules for these procedures to ensure consistent behavior from your emergency response teams.
- How to look up emergency calls in the emergency call history.
Explain how they receive notification of an emergency call.
- A web alert appears for everyone logged into the Emergency Responder user web interface.
- All personnel assigned to an ERL receive a telephone call when an emergency call is made from the ERL. The telephone call includes information about the extension of the caller.
- If you configure email addresses for the personnel, they also receive an email, which includes more information than the phone call, including ERL name and phone location. If the email address is for an email-based pager, they are paged. Paging is the most efficient way of getting information to users who are not at their desks. If the standby Cisco Emergency Responder server handles an emergency call, all onsite alert personnel get notified of the call, and of the fact that the standby server handled the call. Decide how you want people to respond to these notifications.
Explain the ERL naming and phone location you are using. This is the primary information the personnel have for identifying the location of the emergency caller.
Explain the organization's policy for responding to emergency calls. Work with the emergency response teams to develop an acceptable policy if you do not already have one.

Related Information

Preparing your staff for Emergency Responder

Emergency Responder ERL administrator role

The following table lists the recurring tasks for which an ERL administrator is responsible. A system administrator can also perform these tasks.

Table 1 Cisco Emergency Responder ERL administration recurring tasks
Recurring Task	Description	More Information
Assign ERLs to new or changed switch ports	If switches are added to the network, or if modules with additional ports are added to existing switches, assign the new ports ERLs.	Switch port configuration
Create ERLs as required	As your business expands, create new ERLs as required. Work with the telephony administrators to obtain ELINs for the ERLs, and with the network administrator to get the new switches defined in Emergency Responder.	ERL creation Switch port configuration
Export ALI data and submit to your service provider	If you make changes to ALI data, add or remove ERLs, or change the ELINs assigned to an ERL (for example, by adding or removing them), export the ALI and resubmit it to your service provider.	Export ERL information Export ALI information for submission to your service provider ERL creation ALI submission and service provider requirements
Audit the manually defined phones	Regularly check your manual phone definitions to ensure each phone is still assigned to the correct ERL. Work with the telephony administrator to get notification of any adds, moves, or changes that involve these phones. Add phones as required.	Manually define phones
Audit the unlocated phones list	Regularly audit the unlocated phones list, and work with the network administrator to determine why Cisco Emergency Responder cannot locate the phones and to resolve the problems.	Identify unlocated phones Unlocated phones
Add new onsite personnel or remove old ones; update phone numbers	As onsite alert personnel are added, define them in Cisco Emergency Responder and assign them to the appropriate ERLs. Likewise, as personnel are removed, remove them from their ERLs and then from Cisco Emergency Responder. Update phone numbers, email address, and other contact information as they change.	Add onsite security personnel ERL creation
Add IP subnet for the IP subnets to be tracked	If there is a new IP subnet that needs to be discovered by Emergency Responder, then perform the following tasks: Configure an ERL spanning the new IP subnet's geographical location. Configure this new IP subnet and the appropriate mask and assign this IP subnet to the created ERL.	Set up IP subnet-based ERLs

Related Information

Phone management

Emergency Responder network administrator role

The following table lists the recurring tasks for which a network administrator is responsible. A system administrator can also perform these tasks.

Table 2 Cisco Emergency Responder network administration recurring tasks
Recurring Task	Description	More Information
Add new switches	Add any switches that you add to the network to the Cisco Emergency Responder configuration. A switch is considered new if it has an IP address not defined in Cisco Emergency Responder.	LAN switch identification Manually run the switch-port and phone update process
Remove old switches	Remove switches from the Cisco Emergency Responder configuration if you remove them from the network. Nonexistent switches in the Cisco Emergency Responder configuration do not create problems, but they do increase the time required to do phone tracking, because Cisco Emergency Responder attempts to connect to the switch must time out before moving on to the next switch.	LAN switch identification
Update the SNMP read community if it changes	If you change the read community string on any defined switch, you must update the SNMP settings in Cisco Emergency Responder. Until the setting is updated, Cisco Emergency Responder cannot track phones attached to the switch.	Set Up SNMPv2
Update or remove Unified CM servers	If a Unified CM cluster is added to the network, or one is removed, update the configuration for the Cisco Emergency Responder group that supports the cluster. Although you have the authority to make these updates, your organization might assign the primary responsibility to the Cisco Emergency Responder system administrator.	Identify Cisco Unified Communications Manager clusters
Check ERL assignments	Use the ERL Debug Tool to check that the correct and expected ERL is used for a selected phone.	Emergency Responder Admin Utility

Related Information

Emergency Responder switch configuration

Emergency Responder system administrator role

The following table lists the recurring tasks for which a system administrator is responsible. A system administrator might also be responsible for some or all of the ERL and network administrators' tasks, as explained in the Emergency Responder ERL administrator role and the Emergency Responder network administrator role.

Table 3 Cisco Emergency Responder system administration recurring tasks
Recurring Task	Description	More Information
Add additional Cisco Emergency Responder groups	As telephones are added to the network, you might need additional Cisco Emergency Responder groups. Install and define them and their telephony settings. Work with the telephony administrator to complete the required Unified CM configuration.	Installation on a new system Set up server group Set up group telephony settings for server Configure servers Identify Cisco Unified Communications Manager clusters
Monitor the system and troubleshoot any problems	Help resolve any problems that arise. Work with the network and ERL administrators, and the telephony administrator, as appropriate.
Create new Cisco Emergency Responder users; remove old users	As onsite alert personnel change, or as Cisco Emergency Responder system, network, and ERL administrators change, add or remove them as required.	Emergency Responder user management
Add or remove Unified CM servers	If a Unified CM cluster is added to the network, or one is removed, update the configuration for the Cisco Emergency Responder group that supports the cluster. Although you have the authority to make these updates, your organization might assign the primary responsibility to the Cisco Emergency Responder network administrator.	Identify Cisco Unified Communications Manager clusters
Monitor the email alerts that Cisco Emergency Responder generates	If your email ID is configured in the server group settings, Cisco Emergency Responder sends email alerts about critical errors to you. You are expected to understand the error and take action to correct the problem. See Troubleshoot email alerts for information to help you understand the email alerts and resolve problems.	Set up server group