Cisco Unified IP Phone Services Application Development Notes, Release 7.1(2)

IP Phone Service Administration and Subscription

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Cisco Unified Communications Manager administrators maintain the list of services to which users can subscribe. Administrators must use Cisco Unified Communications Manager Administration to add and administer Cisco Unified IP Phone services.

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Note This chapter provides just a brief overview about managing IP Phone services. For detailed up-to-date instructions, refer to the Cisco Unified Communications Manager Administration Guide available at the following URL:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/voicesw/ps556/tsd_products_support_series_home.html

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These sections provide an overview about administering Cisco Unified IP Phone Services using Cisco Unified Communications Manager Administration.

•Accessing Phone Service Administration

•Adding a Phone Service

•Defining IP Phone Service Parameters

•User Service Subscription

Accessing Phone Service Administration

To access phone service administration, open Cisco Unified Communications Manager Administration and choose Device > Device Settings > Phone Services:

•Phone services can have any number of parameters associated with them.

•You can specify phone service parameters as optional or required, depending on how the phone service application defines them.

•Users can subscribe to any service configured in their cluster, using their User Options web pages.

•Service subscriptions currently occur on a device basis.

A URL constitutes the core of each service. When a service is chosen from the menu, the URL gets requested via HTTP, and a server somewhere provides the content. The Service URL field shows this URL entry. For the services to be available, the phones in the Cisco Unified Communications Manager cluster must have network connectivity to the server.

Example

http://<servername>/ccmuser/sample/sample.asp

Where

<servername> designates a fully qualified domain name or an IP address.

Adding a Phone Service

To access phone service administration, open Cisco Unified Communications Manager Administration and choose Device > Device Settings > Phone Services:

The Cisco Unified  Services Configuration page in Cisco Unified Communications Manager Administration contains the fields as shown in Table 8-1.

Table 8-1 IP Phone Service Configuration Settings 

Field	Description
Service Information
Service Name	Enter the name of the service as it will display on the menu of available services in Cisco Unified CM User Options. Enter up to 32 characters for the service name.
ASCII Service Name	Enter the name of the service to display if the phone cannot display Unicode.
Service Description	Enter a description of the content that the service provides.
Service URL	Enter the URL of the server where the IP phone services application is located. Make sure that this server remains independent of the servers in your Cisco Unified Communications Manager cluster. Do not specify a Cisco Unified Communications Manager server or any server that is associated with Cisco Unified Communications Manager (such as a TFTP server or directory database publisher server). For the services to be available, the phones in the Cisco Unified Communications Manager cluster must have network connectivity to the server. When defining the service URL, you can embed a special #DEVICENAME# substitution tag within the URL. This tag provides a convenient method for IP phones to pass their device name to a web application server. For example, if a service URL was defined in Cisco Unified Communications Manager Admin as: http://myserver/myscript?name=#DEVICENAME#, when a phone actually makes the HTTP request for the service, the requested URL will appear as: http://myserver/myscript?name=SEP000123456789
Service Category	Select a service application type.
Service Type	Select whether the service will be provisioned to the Services, Directories, or Messages button.
Service Vendor	For XML services, you can leave this field blank.
Service Version	You can leave this field blank for XML services.
Enable	Select this check box to enable the service, or clear the check box to disable the service without deleting it. Note You cannot delete default services. Use this field if a default service exists, but you do not want to make it available for subscription.
Enterprise Subscriptions	Select this check box to automatically provision the new service to all devices in the enterprise without requiring individual subscription. If this option is selected, the service automatically gets provisioned and does not get presented for user subscription. Note Be aware that this check box is available for selection only when the service is created. You cannot modify it.

Defining IP Phone Service Parameters

Each service can have a list of parameters. You can use these parameters, which are appended to the URL when they are sent to the server, to personalize a service for an individual user. Examples of parameters include stock ticker symbols, city names, or user IDs. The service provider defines the semantics of a parameter.

The Cisco Unified IP Phone Service Parameter Configuration page in Cisco Unified Communications Manager Administration contains the fields as described in Table 8-2.

Table 8-2 IP Phone Service Parameter Settings 

Field	Description
Service Parameter Information
Parameter Name	Enter the exact query string parameter to use when you build the subscription URL; for example, symbol.
Parameter Display Name	Enter a descriptive parameter name to display to the user in Cisco Unified CM User Options; for example, Ticker Symbol.
Default Value	Enter the default value for the parameter. This value displays to the user when a service is being subscribed to for the first time; for example, CSCO.
Parameter Description	Enter a description of the parameter. The user can access the text that is entered here while the user is subscribing to the service. The parameter description should provide information or examples to help users input the correct value for the parameter.
Parameter is Required	If the user must enter data for this parameter before the subscription can be saved, check the Parameter is Required check box.
Parameter is a Password (mask contents)	You can mask entries in Cisco Unified CM User Options, so asterisks display rather than the actual user entry. You may want to do this for parameters such as passwords that you do not want others to be able to view. To mask parameter entry, select the Parameter is a Password (mask contents) check box in the Configure IP phone service Parameter window in Cisco Unified Communications Manager Administration.

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Tip If you change the service URL, remove a Cisco Unified IP Phone service parameter, or change the Parameter Name of a phone service parameter for a phone service to which users are already subscribed, be sure to click Update Subscriptions to update all currently subscribed users with the changes. If you do not do so, users must resubscribe to the service to rebuild the URL correctly.

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User Service Subscription

End users can configure service subscriptions using the Cisco Unified CM User Options. After users log in and choose a device, a list of services that are assigned to the phone displays. The user can then configure these services, adding additional ones or removing un-used services. These password-protected windows are authenticated via the LDAP directory.

Users can personalize their services using the User Options pages to:

•Customize the name of the service.

•Enter any available service parameters.

•Review the description of each parameter.

After all the required fields are set, the user clicks Subscribe to add the services. A custom URL gets built and stored in the database for this subscription. The service then appears on the device services list.