CUCM bulk update - only 1 field?

[TylerChelf]

I'll preempt my question by saying I suspect I already know the answer to this, but am hoping for something easier/cleaner. :)

I am attempting to update the Device Description field on several hundred thousand devices on our CUCM clusters (running 11.x right now). Looking at the available bulk options, it looks like the only way to do this is to perform an export of All Details (by model), then update the 1 or 2 fields and use this updated csv in a Insert Phones - All Details job with overwrite enabled.

The CSV file used by this method contains over 6000 columns, which takes a while for it to chew through, but I am literally only going to update 2 at most. I've looked at the other bulk processes, but they don't seem to help much either. Insert Phones - Specific Details wants to use a template that will break things and require another import or two to resolve (Device Pool, CSS, Owner User ID, etc) and Update Phones seems more about setting the came content on all matching devices. I've also tried performing a All Details import, but removed everything except the Device Name and Description fields, but it skips that line thinking its null.

So my question is this - is there any way to perform a bulk job to update only the Description field, but without having to include all 6000 columns in the import file? If the answer is no that's fine, I have a way to do it, but since we are doing so many devices I'd like to keep it as slim and fast as possible. Even if I had to include 10 or 100 columns per device just to update 1 that would be better than 6000.

[Gregory Brunn]

Not that I have ever found but let me know if you did find it.  I have done this similar task by just export all details change fields need, insert all details of course doing tons of sanity checks first.

[TylerChelf]

That's what I had planned on, but Excel keeps converting speed dials into scientific notation so I have to jump through some hoops before I can save my import file, which is making the process way more tedious than expected.

I have a couple of thoughts after reviewing what limited documentation exists, but haven't had a chance to test it yet.  I'll update with results once I have them.

[Gregory Brunn]

I always got around this by importing the text file as generate format when I open in excel and important as csv.

[scheived]

Ever find an alternate solution?

The probability of an error is high importing this much data.

[mm322]

Based on testing, if you want to update a specific field only you can try the following:

1) create a txt file with the columns as described in the below examples

2) upload it on the CUCM as "insert phones - all details"

3) run the "insert phones - all details" bulk job

Note that the columns to be included in the txt may differ depending on whether you are modifying a Directory Number field or a Phone field.

If you are updating the MRGL the txt file should include the following fields:

Device Name,Media Resource Group List,Device Protocol

If you are updating the CSS of the Directory Number 1 your txt should include the following columns:

Device Name,Directory Number 1,Line CSS 1,External Phone Number Mask 1

If you don't include Device Protocol and External Phone Number Mask 1 the bulk may fail (even meaning that the job runs successfully but the records don't get updated).

Not sure why Device Protocol and External Phone Number Mask 1 are required fields to get the job done, I assume it is db related stuff in terms of dependencies or so, but after some testing I could make it work as above described.

Hope this helps.

MM