Cisco Unity Express operates on a Linux platform with command-line installation and upgrade procedures. Administration is performed with either the command-line interface (CLI) or a graphical user interface (GUI). There are three primary hardware components used to implement Cisco Unity Express: the Advanced Integration Module CUE (AIM-CUE), the Network Module CUE (NM-CUE), and the Network Module Extended Capacity CUE (NM-CUE-EC).

AIM-CUE

The AIM-CUE platform is a daughter card installed in the Cisco Unified Communications Express router and uses flash memory for the Linux file system and message store. Table 11.1 shows the capacities and capabilities of the AIM-CUE.

Table 11.1 AIM-CUE Capacities and Capabilities

NM-CUE

The NM-CUE platform requires a Network Module slot in the Cisco Unified CME router and uses a hard drive for the Linux file system and message store. Table 11.2 covers the capacities and capabilities of the NM-CUE.

Table 11.2 NM-CUE Capacities and Capabilities

NM-CUE-EC

The NM-CUE-EC platform requires a Network Module slot in the Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express router and uses a hard drive for the Linux file system and message store. Table 11.3 covers the capacities and capabilities of the NM-CUE-EC.

Table 11.3 NM-CUE-EC Capacities and Capabilities

Exam Alert

Platforms (AIM versus NM), voice sessions (ports), message storage components, and mailbox storage hours are key elements.

The following is a quick look at the features and capabilities of Cisco Unity Express:

There is a minimum CLI configuration required on the host router before any installation and configuration commands can be issued on the Cisco Unity Express module.

Use the show run command to identify the service engine slot and module for the Cisco Unity Express module. Create a loopback interface and configure the service engine interface to reference the loopback interface with the ip unnumbered loopback command. This IP addressing option reduces the number of subnets that are used but requires a static route used to direct Cisco Unity Express traffic through the service engine interface. Listing 11.1 shows the configuration of the service module interface.

With this configuration in place, you can issue a series of commands to control and connect to the Cisco Unity Express module from the host router command line. The command format follows:

The following is a brief description of the options for the preceding service-module command:

There are additional commands required to complete the Cisco Unity Express integration, as shown in Listing 11.2:

There are several telephony-service commands that complete the integration between the Cisco Unified CME host router and the Cisco Unity Express module, as shown in Listing 11.3:

With these commands in place, you can proceed with the Cisco Unity Express installation, upgrade, or integration process.

Cisco Unity Express modules are distributed with the latest version of software. If there is a newer version that you want to upgrade to, you can connect to the Cisco Unity Express module and perform the installation or upgrade as needed.

Let’s walk through the upgrade process step by step:

Integration with Cisco Unified CME is simplified by using the GUI initialization wizard. This and the following sections describe the process of using the initialization wizard:

A screen-by-screen walk-through is the best way to understand the Cisco Unity Express Initialization Wizard process.

Step 1: Log In to Cisco Unity Express

From a workstation, use the appropriate browser to access the Cisco Unity Express web interface using the following URL: http://<ip address of the CUE module>. Enter the username and password created during the Cisco Unity Express module initialization (see Figure 11.1).

Figure 11.1 Logging in to Cisco Unity Express for the first time.

Step 2: Initiate the Cisco Unity Express Initialization Wizard

After logging in to the Cisco Unity Express web page, you have several choices. The recommended choice is the Initialization Wizard (see Figure 11.2).

Figure 11.2 Starting the Cisco Unity Express Initialization Wizard.

Step 3: Set Cisco Unified CME HTTP Access Parameters

After you have started the wizard, enter the Cisco Unified CME IP address and web administrator username and password in the first screen, and then click Next (see Figure 11.3). If the address or credentials are not correct, you will be denied further access.

Figure 11.3 Entering the Cisco Unified CME IP address or host name and web administrator credentials.

Step 4: Select Cisco Unified CME Users to Import

Using the Cisco Unified CME credentials and the HTTP interface, the Cisco Unity Express module extracts the usernames from Cisco Unified CME and presents the users found for import in Cisco Unity Express. There are three important check boxes on the import screen, as shown in Figure 11.4:

Mailbox: Creates a mailbox for each user

Administrator: Determines whether this user is an administrator

Set CFNA/CFB: Programs Cisco Unified CME for the default Call Forward No Answer (CFNA) and Call Forward Busy (CFB) settings.

Figure 11.4 Select users to be imported.

When the users have been selected and their options have been checked, click Next.

Step 5: Set User Mailbox Defaults

The next screen is where you set the default settings for creating user mailboxes. After they are created, the individual user and group General Delivery Mailboxes (GDMs) can be individually modified. On this screen, you define the following fields, as shown in Figure 11.5:

The default language

Generated or blank passwords and PINs

Total mailbox size

Maximum message length

Message expiry time in days

Figure 11.5 Set user mailbox defaults.

Step 6: Set Call Handling Parameters

The last entry screen is where you define the default directory numbers used to access voicemail, the voicemail operator extension, the Auto Attendant, the Auto Attendant operator extension, the Administration via Telephone (AVT) number, and the SIP notification method (see Figure 11.6). The SIP notification methods are as follows:

Subscribe-notify: Registered users constantly poll and receive the status of the MWI.

Unsolicited-notify: Contacts the user using the extension number to turn the MWI on or off.

Caution

The unsolicited-notify option might require periodical manual resynchronization.

Outcall: This option uses the MWI on-and-off mechanism, where changes to the MWI indicators are sent through the MWI ephone-dn mechanism. If this option is selected, the wizard opens the MWI on and off fields.

Figure 11.6 Set call handling access extensions and MWI options.

When you have completed this screen, click Next to go to the review screen.

Caution

The outcall option might require periodical manual resynchronization.

Step 7: Review Integration Options and Set the Save Configuration Backup

All the settings have been entered and are presented for review, as shown in Figure 11.7. At the bottom of the screen is a check box that when selected, causes the running configurations to be copied to NVRAM. This occurs for the Cisco Unity Express module and the Cisco Unified CME router when the wizard has completed the updates.

Figure 11.7 Review Cisco Unity Express integration options and select configuration save option.

Exam Alert

The review screen is where you trigger configuration backups after the Cisco Unity Express Initialization Wizard completes.

Step 8: View the Initialization Wizard Results

After the Initialization Wizard has completed all the updates and saved the configurations, a final screen is presented, as shown in Figure 11.8. This screen contains a list of imported users with generated passwords and PINs, if those options were selected.

Figure 11.8 Initialization Wizard report.

Caution

You should capture and save the information on this final screen for future reference so that users can log in to voicemail and user web pages.

To activate the AA, place a call to the pilot number for the AA and respond to the prompts. The default AA allows a user to enter an extension, search for a user by name, and be connected to the AA operator. Figure 11.9 shows the AA main screen.

Figure 11.9 Main AA screen.

To disable and enable the default AA, choose Voice Mail > Auto Attendant.

The default AA actions cannot be modified, but there are several parameters that you can change and update to modify the basic functionality. Click autoattendant to edit these operational parameters.

The top half of the AA edit screen, which is shown in Figure 11.10, allows an administrator to set the call-in number, the script (upload a new one if developed offline), the language for this AA, the maximum sessions (should be approximately 60 to 75 percent of the total integration ports), and whether the AA script is enabled or disabled.

Figure 11.10 Top section of the AA Edit screen.

The bottom section of the AA screen lists the operational parameters that can be modified to change the operation of this AA script, as shown in Figure 11.11. The fields that can be changed are as follows:

Figure 11.11 Bottom section of the AA Edit screen—parameters that can be modified.

An administrator can log in using the Administration via Telephone (AVT) pilot number, also referred to as the Telephony User Interface (TUI), and can change the global alternate greeting for weather conditions, business closings, and so on. Another AVT option is to create and manage nonstandard AA prompts.

When recorded through AVT, the filename that gets created on the Cisco Unity Express module is UserPrompt_mmddyyyyhhmmss.wav, for example, UserPrompt_09112008090500.wav.

Prompts can be managed from the System > Prompts menu, and the default recording filename can be renamed to be more meaningful (see Figure 11.12).

Figure 11.12 Prompts management screen.

Figure 11.13 displays the list of available prompts that can be used with the default AA busClosedPrompt parameter. There is a good reason why the prompt names should be changed. Unless you have perfect memory recall, you probably wouldn’t be able to remember what is recorded on the UserPrompt_01022008111256.wav (date and time stamp) file. A name such as BBbusinessClosed.wav is more appropriate.

Figure 11.13 Using AVT recorded prompts.

There are two methods that can be used to create custom AA scripts: the Cisco Unity Express Editor Express, built into the Cisco Unity Express GUI, and an external JavaBeans development tool, the Cisco Unity Express Editor.

From the host router CLI, the administrator can verify the current status using the service-module service-engine 1/0 status command, as shown in Listing 11.5. The service module normal operational state is the Steady state.

On the host router, there are many ephone debug options, which are shown in Listing 11.6.

One of the easiest Cisco Unified CME and Cisco Unity Express integration tools is the mwi option, used to troubleshoot MWI status.

The vm-integration option is used to troubleshoot a plain old telephone service (POTS)–connected voicemail system.

Because SIP is used for integrating Cisco Unified CME with Cisco Unity Express, the debug ccsip commands are often used to check call setup messages between Cisco Unified CME and Cisco Unity Express, as shown in Listing 11.7.

There are three additional Cisco IOS debug commands that are useful: