Configuring Distribution Lists

This chapter describes distribution lists and contains the following sections:

Overview of Distribution Lists

Distribution lists allow subscribers to send a voice-mail message to multiple recipients at the same time. The sender can send voice messages to distribution lists only on the local system. The sender cannot address a voice message to a distribution list on a remote system.

Cisco Unity Express supports two types of distributions lists:

  • Public distribution lists
  • Private distribution lists

Properties of Distribution Lists

Cisco Unity Express distribution lists have the following properties:

  • Members of a distribution list can be any combination of the following:

–blank.gif Local and remote subscribers

A remote subscriber that is statically configured on the local system can be a member of a distribution list. However, that remote subscriber cannot own a distribution list on the local system.

–blank.gif General delivery mailboxes (GDMs)

–blank.gif Groups

–blank.gif Other distribution lists

–blank.gif Blind addresses

Specify the location ID and extension of the blind address. The system verifies the location ID and the extension length.Members—Distribution lists can comprise a variety of members: local subscribers, remote subscribers, blind addresses, GDMs, groups, and other lists.

A public list member can be another public list but may not be a private list.

A private list member can be any public list and may be another private list owned by the same subscriber.

When a subscriber addresses a voice message to a public or private distribution list, the system verifies that the list has members. If the list is empty, the system plays a prompt indicating that the list contains no members and does not allow the list to be used as a recipient of the message.

  • Recursive distribution lists are permitted. For example, list A can be a member of list B, and list B can be a member of list A.
  • The system generates a special public distribution list, the everyone list, which contains all the local subscribers. It does not contain the local groups, GDMs, and other lists. You cannot add to or delete members from this list, assign an owner to this list, or delete this list.
  • Each list must have a unique name or number.

Valid names have a maximum of 64 characters and include the letters A to Z, a to z, digits 0 to 9, underscore (_), dot (.), and dash (-). Names must start with a letter. Spaces are not allowed.

  • The owner of a public or private distribution list can record a spoken name for the list using the TUI. Recording or uploading the spoken name cannot be done through the GUI or CLI.

The everyone public list has a default spoken name. An administrator can change this name using the TUI.

  • If a local or remote subscriber is deleted from the system, the subscriber is no longer a member or owner (in the case of local subscribers) of any public or private distribution list on the system. The system deletes all private lists owned by the deleted local subscriber. If the local subscriber was the sole owner of a public distribution list, the Administrators group assumes ownership of that list.

This same rules apply to the removal of a group, except that the system does not delete any private lists.

  • Access to remote distribution lists—A local subscriber cannot modify a remote distribution list and cannot use a remote distribution list as the recipient of a voice message.

Public Distribution Lists

All local subscribers of the system can use a public distribution list to address their voice-mail messages.

Use the Cisco Unity Express graphical user interface (GUI), telephone user interface (TUI), or command-line interface (CLI) to create and manage public distribution lists.

Table 15-1 describes the features of a public distribution list.

Table 15-1 Features of Public Distribution Lists
Feature
Limits
Description

Maximum number of lists

Depends on the Cisco Unity Express hardware. See the Release Notes for Cisco Unity Express for more information.

Maximum number of lists allowed on the system This number does not include the everyone list.

List number

Maximum 15 digits

A public distribution list must have a unique number.

The everyone list has the number 9999 by default. The administrator can change this number using only the GUI menu option Voice Mail > Distribution Lists > Public Lists.

Number of owners of a single list

Minimum=0
Maximum=50

The everyone list cannot have an owner.

The owner can be any local subscriber or group. If the owner is a group, all the members of that group are owners of the list.

Members of the Administrators group are implicit owners of all public distribution lists. If all the owners of a list are deleted, the Administrator group continues to have ownership of the list.

A list owner does not have to be a member of that list.

Maximum number of list members on the local system

Depends on the Cisco Unity Express hardware. See the Release Notes for Cisco Unity Express for more information.

This total is the sum of all members in all public lists on the local system, excluding the everyone list.

Maximum number of list owners on the local system

50

This total is the sum of all owners of all public lists on the system, excluding the everyone list.

This maximum applies to all voice mailbox license levels.

Creating, editing, and deleting a public list

Not applicable

Local subscribers belonging to the Administrators group, or to any group with the ManagePublicList privilege, can create public lists.
Owners of a public list can edit or delete it.

Private Distribution Lists

Any local subscriber can create private distribution lists that are accessible only to that subscriber.

Table 15-2 describes the features of private distribution lists.

Table 15-2 Features of Private Distribution Lists
Feature
Limits
Description

Maximum number of lists per subscriber

5

Maximum number of lists a local subscriber can create.

List number

1-5

Valid range for private list numbers.

Number of owners

1

The owner of a private distribution list is the local subscriber who created it. The owner of a private list cannot be changed.

List creation and management

 

Use the GUI or TUI to create and manage private lists. No CLI commands are available to create or manage private lists.

Maximum number of members per subscriber

50

The sum of all members in all private lists owned by a subscriber.

Viewing private lists

Not applicable

The list owner, members of the Administrator group, or any group with the ViewPrivateList privilege can use the GUI to view the details of private lists owned by a specific subscriber.

CLI commands are available to view private lists owned by any local subscriber. No special privilege is required to use the CLI commands.

Differences Between Cisco Unity Express and Cisco Unity Distribution Lists

Table 15-3 describes important differences between the Cisco Unity Express and Cisco Unity distribution lists.

Table 15-3 Differences Between Cisco Unity Express and Cisco Unity Distribution Lists

Feature
Cisco Unity Express Implementation
Cisco Unity Implementation

Managing distribution lists through the TUI

Permitted for public and private distribution lists.

Extra TUI menu options are available for managing public lists.

Key presses for private distribution lists are the same as for Cisco Unity.

Not permitted for public distribution lists.

Permitted for private distribution lists.

Creating distribution lists

Created and deleted by the subscriber using TUI menus.

Implicit list creation is available for both public and private lists. If a subscriber tries to add a member to a nonexistent list, the system creates the list and adds the member to it. If a subscriber tries to record the spoken name for a nonexistent list, the system creates the list and records the spoken name. In both cases, the subscriber hears a prompt stating that a new list was created.

Created by the system.

No TUI options are available for subscribers to create or delete distribution lists.

Removing members of a list

The subscriber removes a list member by name or extension, similar to the dial-by-name and extension flow for addressing voice messages.

The system assigns a sequence of numbers to the list members’ names and extensions. The subscriber presses the sequence number to remove the member.

Adding private lists to another list

A private list may be added to another private list owned by the same subscriber.

Not permitted.

Configuring Public Distribution Lists

Use this procedure to create or modify public distribution lists.

note.gif

Noteblank.gif Use the TUI or GUI to create private distribution lists. No CLI commands are available for private distribution lists.

Beginning in release 3.2, you can add nonsubscribers to distribution lists. This enables the delivery of voice messages to people who do not have a mailbox on the system by using a single address to reference a list of addresses when sending the message. By using this single aggregated address, a subscriber can send a single message to all the recipients included in the distribution list.

When nonsubscriber numbers are submitted for addition to a distribution list, they are checked against the nonsubscriber restriction table. If a nonsubscriber address is restricted, it is not added to the distribution list. If you change a restriction table after a list has been created, the system does not revalidate distribution lists. Instead, distribution lists are revalidated when they is used to send outgoing mail to nonsubscriber addresses and any addresses that are restricted are removed from the list of recipients. In addition, there is no change in the way the existing system sends the message. The system still checks the nonsubscriber restriction table before sending a message to a nonsubscriber, future message queues, a backup restore, and so on.

Prerequisites

  • Local and remote subscribers must be previously defined on the system.
  • To add nonsubscribers to distribution lists, you must have Cisco Unity Express 3.2 or a later version

Required Data for This Procedure

The following information is required to create a public distribution list:

  • List name and number
  • (Optional) List description—The description can have a maximum of 64 characters.

The following information is required to add members to a distribution list:

  • Member type local (subscriber, group, GDM, distribution list, remote subscriber, or blind address)
  • Member name or extension

SUMMARY STEPS

1.blank.gif config t

2.blank.gif list name list-name number list-number create

3.blank.gif list number list-number owner owner-ID

4.blank.gif list number list-number member { member-name | extension } type { group | user | gdm | list | remote | blind | nonsubscriber }

5.blank.gif (Optional) list number list-number description description

6.blank.gif exit

DETAILED STEPS

 

Command or Action
Purpose

Step 1

config t

 

se-10-0-0-0# config t

se-10-0-0-0(config)#

Enters configuration mode.

Step 2

list name list-name number list-number create

 

se-10-0-0-0(config)# list name engineers number 5 create

Creates a list named list-name with the number list-number.

  • list-number can be up to 15 digits in length.
  • An error message appears if list-name or list-number already exists.
  • An error message appears if the maximum number of public lists already exists.

Step 3

list number list-number owner owner-ID

 

se-10-0-0-0(config)# list number 5 owner user12

Assigns an owner to the list. The owner can be a local subscriber or a local group.

  • An error message appears if listnumber or owner-ID does not exist.
  • An error message appears if the maximum number of owners on the system has been reached.
  • Use the no form of the command to remove the owner of the list.

Step 4

list number list-number
member { member-name | extension }
type { group | user | gdm | list | remote | blind | non-subscriber }

 

se-10-0-0-0(config)# list number 5 member user8 type user

se-10-0-0-0(config)# list number 5 member managers type group

se-10-0-0-0(config)# list number 5 member sale type gdm

se-10-0-0-0(config)# list number 5 member mylist3 type list

se-10-0-0-0(config)# list number 5 member user15 type remote

se-10-0-0-0(config)# list number 5 member user5555 type blind

Assigns a member to the list. Valid member types include:

  • group —Local or remote group
  • user —Local subscriber
  • gdm —Local or remote GDM
  • list —Any local public list that belongs to the list owner
  • remote —Remote subscriber
  • blind —Blind address of a remote subscriber
  • nonsubscriber —nonsubscriber (someone who do not have a mailbox on the system)

Valid members include:

  • Local or remote subscriber
  • Group ID
  • GDM name
  • Voice mailbox extension (blind address)
  • List number
  • List name

An error message appears if the list or member does not exist.

An error message appears if the maximum number of public list members has been reached.

Use the no form of this command to delete the member from the list.

Step 5

list number list-number description description

 

se-10-0-0-0(config)# list number 5 description “SJ Engineers”

(Optional) Adds a description to the public list. Enclose the description in quotes if the description is more than one word.

An error message appears if the list does not exist.

Use the no form of this command to delete the description.

Step 6

exit

 

se-10-0-0-0(config)# exit

se-10-0-0-0#

Exits configuration mode.

Examples

The following example creates public distribution list number 5 for engineers:

se-10-0-0-0# config t
se-10-0-0-0(config)# list name engineers number 5 create
se-10-0-0-0(config)# list number 5 owner User1
se-10-0-0-0(config)# list number 5 owner progmgrs
se-10-0-0-0(config)# list number 5 member User1 type user
se-10-0-0-0(config)# list number 5 member User2 type user
se-10-0-0-0(config)# list number 5 member betamgrs type group
se-10-0-0-0(config)# list number 5 member tech type gdm
se-10-0-0-0(config)# list number 5 member 87777 type blind
se-10-0-0-0(config)# exit

Configuring Private Distribution Lists

Local subscribers can configure their private distribution lists using the GUI menu option VoiceMail > Distribution Lists > My Private Lists or by using the TUI.

No CLI commands are available for configuring private lists.

Displaying Distribution Lists

Several commands are available to display distribution lists and their members.

Displaying All Public Distribution Lists

The following Cisco Unity Express EXEC mode command displays all the public distribution lists on the local system:

show lists public

This command displays the lists in alphabetical order with each list name, number, and type, followed by the details of each list.

Output from this command may appear similar to the following:

se-10-0-0-0# show lists public
 
List number List Name Type
5 engineers Public
9999 everyone Public
Number: 5
Name: engineers
Type: Public
Description:
Owners:
user15 Local User
progmgrs Group
Members:
user15 Local User
user23 Local User
progmgrs Group
techs General Delivery Mailbox
tech25 Remote User
nyc5555 Blind Address
 

Displaying Details of a Public Distribution List

The following Cisco Unity Express EXEC mode command displays details of a specific public distribution list:

show list detail public { name list-name | number list-number }

where list-name is the name of the list and list-number is the number of the list.

This command displays the list number, list name, list type, owners, and members of the list with their type categories.

Output from this command may appear similar to the following:

se-10-0-0-0# show list detail public name engineers

Number: 5

Name: engineers

Type: Public
Description:
Owners:
user15 user
progmgrs group
Members:
user15 user
betamgrs group
techs gdm
tech25 remote
nyc5555 blind
 

The command show list detail public number 5 would display the same output as shown above.

Displaying an Owner’s Lists

The following Cisco Unity Express EXEC mode command displays the public and private lists owned by a specific subscriber or group:

show lists owner owner-id

where owner-id is the name of a subscriber or group. An error message appears if owner-id does not exist.

This command displays the list number, list name, and list type for all the public and private lists that belong to the specified owner. The lists appear in alphabetical order, private lists first followed by public lists.

Output from this command may appear similar to the following:

se-10-0-0-0# show lists owner user15
 
Owner: user15
List Number List Name List Type
4 projectteam Private List
5 engineers Public List
25 managers Public List

Displaying Details of a Private Distribution List

The following Cisco Unity Express EXEC mode command displays the details of a specific private distribution list for a specific subscriber:

show list detail private { name list-name | number list-number } owner owner-id

where list-name is the name of the private list, list-number is the number of the private list, and owner-id is the name of a subscriber. An error message appears if list-name, list-number, or owner-id does not exist.

This command displays the list number, list name, owner, members, and member types of the specified private distribution list.

Output from this command may appear similar to the following:

se-10-0-0-0# show list detail private name projectteam owner user15
Number: 4
Name: projectteam
Type: Private
Description:
Owner:
user15
Members:
tech1 user
tech2 user
testers group
tech10 remote
 

The command show lists detail private number 4 owner user15 would display the same output as shown above.

Deleting Distribution Lists

The TUI and GUI have options for deleting private and public distribution lists. Additionally, the CLI has a command for deleting public lists on the local system.

Use the following Cisco Unity Express configuration mode command to delete public distribution lists:

list number list-number delete

where list-number is the number of the public distribution list.

The following example deletes list number 10 from the local system:

se-10-0-0-0# config t
se-10-0-0-0(config)# list number 10 delete
se-10-0-0-0(config)# exit
se-10-0-0-0#