Separated phone books 101: getting started

[floatingpurr]

Hi folks, I started to wrap my head around how to build a custom solution around the CUCM to simulate several separated phone books and to allow users to search data only in their specific phone book, without accessing other pieces of info. I'm reasoning on 2 ways UDS and LDAP. I'm starting from scratch, therefore all kinds of pointers, and dos & dont's are very welcome.

[dstaudt]

If you're looking to build an app using the phone display API, you'll need to investigate IP Phone Services: https://developer.cisco.com/site/ip-phone-services/

This Node.js sample has a fairly complete implementation of an IPPS app that connect to LDAP on the back end to affect custom searches: https://github.com/CiscoDevNet/ipps-javascript-samples

[floatingpurr]

Hi @dstaudt! My app should be twofold: it should serve custom phone books both for IP phones and for Jabber clients. Not sure if IP Phone Services alone can fulfill such needs. I guess that my problem is similar to this one (they seem using UDS). I'll review your repo to get some insights. Excuse me if this question is too broad.

Side question: can I set up a sandbox to get a playground for testing my scenario? Maybe such a lab requires that my demo app is somehow freely available over the internet to reach it!

[dstaudt · Accepted solution]

For Jabber, assuming the user directory data is in LDAP, this config page seems to be a good solution, i.e. create different Directory UC Profiles, with LDAP search base unique for each: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/unified-communications/jabber/213803-configure-ldap-as-a-directory-contact-so.html

A 3rd party article that goes into some more depth: https://unifiedguru.com/cisco-jabber-directory-options/

DevNet has UC Manager cluster sandboxes (including IM&P, Unity Connection and Windows AD host) available for free here: https://devnetsandbox.cisco.com/RM/Topology?c=1c4570f4-4199-41e4-b677-fb3a6346f345

The sandbox is accessed via VPN, and doesn't have external internet connectivity, so if you need to use an external host (like an LDAP) you may need to consider using a hardware router that connects to the sandbox via VPN, so you can share the connection with your PC/LDAP/phones, etc.

[floatingpurr]

Sounds great. I'll check all those pointer out. I'm going to accept your last post as a solution. Do you mind if I'll drop here eventual questions arising about this topic?