Cisco Unity System Administration Guide (With IBM Lotus Domino), Release 4.0(3)
Setting Up Client Applications

Table Of Contents

Setting Up Client Applications

Overview: Client Applications

Setting Up Subscriber Phones

Setting Up Lotus Notes with DUCS for Cisco Unity

Setting Up the Cisco Personal Communications Assistant

About Cisco Personal Communications Assistant Authentication

Defining Subscriber Account Policies for Logons, Passwords, and Lockouts

Configuring Subscriber Browsers to Use the Cisco PCA

Setting Up Recording and Playback Devices

Using the Phone as a Recording and Playback Device

Using a Microphone and Speakers as the Recording and Playback Device

Determining Recording and Playback Devices for Subscriber Use

Specifying Recording and Playback Device Preferences in Cisco Unity Applications

Using TTY Phones with Cisco Unity


Setting Up Client Applications


Overview: Client Applications

Cisco Unity subscribers can send and manage voice, fax, and e-mail messages by using a touchtone phone or by using Lotus Notes with IBM Lotus Domino Unified Communications Services (DUCS) for Cisco Unity. In addition, the Cisco Unity Assistant lets subscribers personalize the Cisco Unity phone settings that control how they interact with Cisco Unity by phone.

This chapter reviews the preparations necessary for setting up subscriber phones and workstations so that subscribers can use Cisco Unity client applications. See the following sections for details:

Setting Up Subscriber Phones—This section summarizes what you must do so that subscribers can access Cisco Unity by phone.

Setting Up Lotus Notes with DUCS for Cisco Unity—This section lists the tasks for setting up e-mail clients for unified messaging subscribers.

Setting Up the Cisco Personal Communications Assistant—This section summarizes what you must do so that subscribers can use the Cisco Personal Communications Assistant to access the Cisco Unity Assistant.

Setting Up Recording and Playback Devices—This section explains how subscribers make and play recordings from the various Cisco Unity applications, and what you need to do to set them up.

Related Documentation

Once you have set up subscribers to use the Cisco Unity client applications, review the tasks presented in the "Subscriber, Operator, and Support Desk Orientation" chapter to orient subscribers and operators to Cisco Unity.

For a list of supported versions of Cisco Unity combined with the supported versions of the software on subscriber workstations, refer to the Compatibility Matrix: Cisco Unity and the Software on Subscriber Workstations, available at http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/voice/c_unity/cmptblty/clientmx.htm.

For supported languages, refer to the Cisco Unity System Requirements, and Supported Hardware and Software, available at http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/voice/c_unity/sysreq/40_sysrq.htm.

Setting Up Subscriber Phones

For each subscriber phone, do the following tasks, as applicable:

Enable call forwarding to Cisco Unity, so that busy and unanswered calls to the subscriber extension are transferred to Cisco Unity to handle. Cisco Unity then uses the call transfer settings for each subscriber to determine, for example, whether callers are put on hold or sent directly to the subscriber greeting.

Enable easy message access, so that the subscriber can use a "Messages" button or a similar speed-dial button on the phone to dial the internal Cisco Unity phone number for your organization. This makes calling Cisco Unity to check messages or to change personal settings by phone quick and easy for the subscriber.

You can also change the phone password for individual subscribers. By default, subscriber template settings include an initial phone password for subscribers, which is 12345. To protect Cisco Unity from unauthorized access, the default phone password should be changed. As a best practice, specify a long—eight or more digits—and non-trivial password whenever you set subscriber passwords, and if you allow subscribers to change their own passwords, encourage them to do the same. (The minimum phone password length is specified on the Subscribers > Account Policy > Phone Password Restrictions page).

If the default password has not already been changed, or if you need to reset the subscriber password for any other reason, you can do so for an individual subscribers on the Subscribers > Subscribers > Phone Password pages in the Cisco Unity Administrator. Alternatively, you can use the Cisco Unity Bulk Import wizard to change the phone passwords for multiple subscribers at the same time. (Refer to the Cisco Unity Bulk Import online Help for details.)

If their accounts are configured to allow them to do so, subscribers can use the Cisco Unity phone conversation or the Cisco Unity Assistant to set their phone passwords. Note that Internet subscribers cannot log on to Cisco Unity by phone or use the Cisco Unity Assistant.

Setting Up Lotus Notes with DUCS for Cisco Unity

By using Lotus Notes with DUCS for Cisco Unity, Cisco Unity subscribers can send and manage voice, fax, and e-mail messages from their IBM Lotus Notes Inbox. Subscribers can use Lotus Notes with DUCS for Cisco Unity to send voice messages to other subscribers, to non-Cisco Unity subscribers, and to public distribution lists. They can play and record voice messages by using the VCR-style recording and playback controls presented in the message form.

Cisco Unity activates a message waiting indicator (MWI) on the subscriber phone whenever a subscriber receives a new voice message. After the subscriber listens to all new messages over the phone, Cisco Unity immediately turns off the MWI—unless the subscriber chooses to save a message as new—to reflect that the subscriber has no new messages. However, when a subscriber listens to new messages by using Lotus Notes with DUCS for Cisco Unity, Cisco Unity relies on the Domino server to determine whether the subscriber has listened to new messages. As a result, subscribers who work with Lotus Notes offline will report that MWIs on their phones do not turn off in a timely manner. Advise subscribers that once their Lotus Notes client replicates with the Domino server, the MWI will be turned off.

Lotus Notes with DUCS for Cisco Unity is not a licensed feature, nor does it require that you give subscribers special class of service privileges or passwords to use it. To set up Lotus Notes with DUCS for Cisco Unity, install Lotus Notes with DUCS for Cisco Unity on each subscriber workstation, as applicable. Refer to the Lotus Notes with DUCS for Cisco Unity documentation for details.


Note If you are upgraded from an earlier version of Cisco Unity to Cisco Unity version 4.0(3), you must also upgrade to DUCS for Cisco Unity version 1.2 on all subscriber workstations.


Setting Up the Cisco Personal Communications Assistant

Subscribers use the Cisco Personal Communications Assistant (PCA) to access the Cisco Unity Assistant. The Cisco Unity Assistant is a website that gives subscribers the ability to customize personal settings—including recorded greetings or message delivery options—on their workstations.

The Cisco PCA is not a licensed feature, nor are subscribers required to have class of service rights to access it. Any Cisco Unity subscriber can access the Cisco PCA at http://<Cisco Unity server>/ciscopca. (Note that the URL is case-sensitive.) However, subscribers do require proper class of service rights to the Cisco Unity Assistant.


Caution In order for the Cisco Unity Assistant to work properly on subscriber workstations, on the Cisco Unity server you must exclude the directory in which Cisco Unity is installed (the default directory is CommServer) and all subdirectories under that directory from virus scanning. Typically, this is done during Cisco Unity installation. Refer to the online Help for the virus-scanning software for information on excluding directories from scanning.

In version 3.1 and earlier, the Cisco Unity Assistant was known as the ActiveAssistant, or AA. Subscribers who use the following ActiveAssistant URLs will be automatically redirected to the Cisco PCA website:

http://<Cisco Unity server>/web/aa

http://<Cisco Unity server>/ActiveAssistant

Cisco PCA is installed on the Cisco Unity server during installation. To allow subscribers to access it, you do not need to install any additional files on subscriber workstations; however, you must complete the following tasks:

1. As applicable, give subscribers proper class of service rights to the Cisco Unity Assistant. See the "Class of Service Features Settings" section on page 14-9.

2. Understand how authentication works with the Cisco PCA, and any security issues that may affect your organization. See the "About Cisco Personal Communications Assistant Authentication" section.

3. Confirm that you have defined an appropriate logon, password, and lockout policy for all subscribers who will access the Cisco PCA. See the "Defining Subscriber Account Policies for Logons, Passwords, and Lockouts" section.

4. Configure subscriber browsers to use Cisco Unity web applications. See the "Configuring Subscriber Browsers to Use the Cisco PCA" section.

About Cisco Personal Communications Assistant Authentication

Cisco Unity offers application-level authentication to allow subscribers to access the Cisco Personal Communications Assistant (PCA). This means that IIS is configured so that the Cisco PCA uses Anonymous authentication, and therefore Cisco Unity authenticates the credentials that subscribers enter when they log on to the Cisco PCA. Note that unlike the Cisco Unity Administrator, you cannot change the authentication method used by the Cisco PCA.

By default, when subscribers log on to the Cisco PCA, their IBM Lotus Notes user names and Internet passwords for their Domino user accounts are sent across the network to Cisco Unity in clear text. The information that a subscriber enters on the Cisco PCA pages is also not encrypted. For increased security, we recommend that you set up Cisco Unity to use the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol. See the "Manually Setting Up Cisco Unity to Use SSL" chapter for details.

As a best practice, we recommend that Cisco Unity administrators not use the same subscriber account to log on to the Cisco Unity Administrator that they use to log on to the Cisco PCA.


Caution If you want to use the Upgrade to More Secure Internet Password Format option that is available in the Domino Administrator, you must install Notes version 5.0.11 or later on the Cisco Unity server. Otherwise, Cisco Unity subscribers will not be able to log on to Cisco PCA.

How Authentication for the Cisco Personal Communications Assistant Works

1. A Cisco Unity subscriber starts Internet Explorer and attempts to browse to the Cisco PCA website.

2. Internet Explorer tries to get the home page for the Cisco PCA from IIS.

3. IIS allows access to Cisco Unity based on the privileges for the IUSR_<Computer name> account. (This is the anonymous account that by default IIS uses for Anonymous authentication.)

4. Cisco Unity presents the Cisco Unity Log On page, which is displayed in the browser.

5. The Log On page prompts subscribers to enter the Domino credentials, as shown in Table 8-1.

Table 8-1 Cisco Unity Log On Page for Domino Credentials 

Field Name
Description

Full Name

Subscribers enter the full Lotus Notes user name that is associated with their Cisco Unity subscriber account.

The full name consists of the user name, any organizational units that the Domino Person document resides in, and the IBM Domino certifier domain. (For example, a subscriber enters Terry Campbell/Sales/Cisco.)

Internet Password

Subscribers enter the Internet password for their Domino user account.


6. Internet Explorer sends the credentials—in clear text—to Cisco Unity. (To mitigate this security risk, you can set up Cisco Unity to use SSL.)

7. Cisco Unity searches the Domino Address Book for a Person document associated with the user name that the subscriber entered on the Log On page. When the user name is found, Cisco Unity retrieves the encrypted password from the Person document and compares it with the password that the subscriber entered on the Log On page.


Note By default, the connection between the Cisco Unity server and the Domino server is not encrypted. Refer to the Domino documentation for details on encrypting network data on a server port. It is also a good idea to discuss potential performance issues with the Domino administrator for the organization before enabling encryption on the Domino server.


8. If Cisco Unity can authenticate the Domino credentials, Cisco Unity confirms that there is a subscriber account associated with the Domino Person document used to authenticate the subscriber, and that the subscriber account has the proper COS rights. If the subscriber account exists and it has the proper COS rights, Cisco Unity presents the first page of the Cisco PCA website, which is displayed in the browser.

If the Domino credentials cannot be authenticated, or if the subscriber account does not exist or does not have the proper COS rights, Cisco Unity presents a web page that indicates that the subscriber does not have permission to view the Cisco PCA website.

Defining Subscriber Account Policies for Logons, Passwords, and Lockouts

Subscribers use their IBM Lotus Notes user names and the Internet passwords for their Domino user accounts log on to the Cisco PCA. The account policy that you specify on the Authentication page in the Cisco Unity Administrator determines how Cisco Unity handles situations when subscribers attempt to log on to the Cisco PCA and repeatedly enter incorrect passwords; the number of failed logon attempts that Cisco Unity allows before the subscriber account cannot be used to access the Cisco PCA; and the length of time that a user remains locked out.

The password for accessing the Cisco PCA is inherited from the password settings in Domino.

Subscribers cannot use the Cisco Unity phone conversation or the Cisco Unity Assistant to change their Cisco PCA passwords, nor can administrators change them in the Cisco Unity Administrator. Instead, they must use Notes to change their password. However, for increased security, you can use the settings on the Authentication pages to prohibit the use of blank passwords, even when the Domino account allows them.

To customize the logon, password, and lockout policies that Cisco Unity applies whenever subscribers use the Cisco PCA to access Cisco Unity, see the "Authentication Settings" section on page 28-11.

Configuring Subscriber Browsers to Use the Cisco PCA

To allow subscribers to access the Cisco PCA, configure their browsers to:

Enable Active scripting

Download and run ActiveX controls

Enable Java scripting

Accept all cookies

Bookmarking Web Pages

When subscriber browser settings are set to cache temporary Internet pages automatically, subscribers can create a bookmark or Favorite to access a Cisco Unity Assistant web page, but the page will be read-only. Explain to subscribers that they should bookmark the Cisco PCA home page, rather than individual pages in the Cisco Unity Assistant.

Using SSL

If you set up Cisco Unity to use SSL, consider that the Cisco PCA website automatically uses an SSL connection every time that a subscriber points the browser to either website. However, until the digital certificate is added to the trusted root store on the subscriber workstation, the browser will display a message to alert the subscriber that the authenticity of the site cannot be verified and therefore, its content cannot be trusted.

To prevent the browser from displaying the security alert, you can distribute the certificate to the trusted root store for all users in the domain by adding it to the Group Policy, or you can tell subscribers how to add the certificate to the trusted root store on their own workstations by providing them with the following procedure. See the "Manually Setting Up Cisco Unity to Use SSL" chapter for additional details about SSL.

Depending on your organization, it may be a good idea to provide subscribers with the following procedure even if you distributed the certificate to the trusted root store for all users in the domain, as the browser will display the security alert any time that subscribers access the Cisco PCA from a workstation that does not belong to a trusted domain (for example, from a computer at home).

To Add the Cisco Unity Certificate to the Trusted Root Store on Subscriber Workstations


Step 1 On each subscriber workstation, start Internet Explorer.

Step 2 Go to http://<The Certificate Authority server>/certsrv.

Step 3 On the Microsoft Certificate Services page, under Select a Task, click Retrieve the CA Certificate or Certificate Revocation List.

Step 4 Click Next.

Step 5 Click the Install This CA Certification Path link.

Step 6 When prompted, click Yes to add the certificate to the Root Store.


Setting Up Recording and Playback Devices

Subscribers can make and play recordings in the Cisco Unity Assistant, either by using the phone, or by using the computer microphone and speakers and clicking the Media Master controls. Lotus Notes with DUCS for Cisco Unity offers a similar, VCR-style recording and playback device in the message form. Subscribers with the applicable class of service settings can also use the Media Master in the Cisco Unity Administrator to make and play recordings.

Figure 8-1 Media Master Control Bar

See the following sections for more information:

Using the Phone as a Recording and Playback Device

Using a Microphone and Speakers as the Recording and Playback Device

Determining Recording and Playback Devices for Subscriber Use

Specifying Recording and Playback Device Preferences in Cisco Unity Applications

Using TTY Phones with Cisco Unity

Using the Phone as a Recording and Playback Device

When subscribers use the phone as a recording and playback device in the Cisco Unity Administrator, the Cisco Unity Assistant, or Lotus Notes with DUCS for Cisco Unity, the following occurs:

a. The subscriber clicks the applicable option in the client application to make or play a voice recording.

b. The client application asks Cisco Unity to place a call to the subscriber extension, and Cisco Unity calls the extension.

c. When making a recording, the subscriber answers the phone, and begins recording the message, name, or greeting. When the subscriber hangs up, the client application tells Cisco Unity that the recording is finished.

When playing a recording, the subscriber answers the phone, and the client application asks Cisco Unity to play the message. Cisco Unity streams the recording over the phone.

Using a Microphone and Speakers as the Recording and Playback Device

When subscribers use a computer microphone and speakers as a recording and playback device in the Cisco Unity Administrator, the Cisco Unity Assistant, or Lotus Notes with DUCS for Cisco Unity, the following occurs:

a. The subscriber clicks the applicable option in the client application to make or play a voice recording.

b. When making a recording, the subscriber begins speaking into the microphone. When the subscriber clicks the applicable option in the client application to stop recording, the client application tells Cisco Unity that the recording is finished.

When playing a recording, Cisco Unity streams the message to the client application. Streaming occurs on demand, regardless of network traffic. The client application begins to play the message through the speakers as soon as a few seconds of the message are buffered in memory on the subscriber workstation.

Determining Recording and Playback Devices for Subscriber Use

When determining which recording and playback devices that you want subscribers to use, consider the following:

The phone offers the best sound quality for recordings, and serves as the default recording and playback device for the Media Master.

In order for subscribers to use the phone as a recording and playback device, Cisco Unity must have at least one port designated for this purpose (see the "Voice Messaging Port Settings" section on page 28-14 for more information). Note that when a subscriber listens to messages or other recordings by using a computer microphone and speakers, no ports are used, which decreases the load on the Cisco Unity server and leaves ports open for other functions.

You must provide sound cards, speakers, and microphones to subscribers who do not want to use the phone as their recording and playback device.

Media Master relies on DCOM (Distributed Component Object Model), and does not work through a firewall. Keep this in mind when setting up subscribers for remote access.

Specifying Recording and Playback Device Preferences in Cisco Unity Applications

Subscribers can set their own recording and playback device preferences. For example, the Media Master Options menu allows subscribers to choose their own recording and playback devices. Media Master recording and playback settings are saved per user, per workstation. This means that:

A subscriber who is logged on to the Cisco Unity Administrator or the Cisco PCA can change recording and playback devices from any Media Master Options menu. The recording and playback devices that a subscriber chooses apply to all Cisco Unity applications, as long as the subscriber accesses the applications from the same workstation on which the changes were initially made.

If multiple subscribers share the same workstation, each subscriber who uses the workstation must indicate a choice of recording and playback devices.

If a subscriber has updated the choice of recording and playback devices from one workstation, but also accesses the Cisco Unity Assistant, or Lotus Notes with DUCS for Cisco Unity on a different workstation (for example, from a computer at home), the choice of recording and playback devices must be indicated for the second workstation as well.

Using TTY Phones with Cisco Unity

Beginning with Cisco Unity version 4.0(3), a TTY prompt set, available in U.S. English (ENX) only, can be installed and used just like any other supported phone language. When the TTY prompt set is installed, subscribers and outside callers who use TTY can call in to Cisco Unity and use the same features that a hearing caller can use. However, note the following exceptions:

TTY tones are not available for use in navigating through the Cisco Unity conversation.

Some TTY phones do not have the capability to send DTMF tones. In this case, TTY users may need to use the phone keypad for system navigation.

For information on installing the TTY prompt set, see the "TTY Overview" section.