LDAP

[admin_2]

How does Unity use an LDAP directory, specifically in the addressing of messages to a number of users? The scenario is to be able to broadcast a message to all users (or groups of users) using an existing LDAP schema from iplanet which acts as the global directory for their existing email network. I am assuming all users that are not on the Unity system as users will need to have the player installed to listen to the message? If I add a unique phone number field to the LDAP schema, which in turn gets replicated on all the email servers, how does Unity use this? Or does it? Bottom line is I need to be able to use the Company wide directory to address and send messages to users, even though they are not users on Unity. Migration to all Unity servers at all locations will take time.<br><br>

[#2]

Ok, first off it’s important to understand we don’t have our own directory. Reading over your question a couple times I get the impression you want to simply point Unity to another schema somewhere… that’s not possible. We use Exchange for our directory entirely in our current product. We use LDAP to gain access to the Exchange 5.5 directory and add our own custom properties to existing mail users to make them “unity subscribers”. We’re bound to the schema and the objects in Exchange tightly, it’s not a system where you can remap properties to different field names. We “bundle” a lot of properties into blobs since we have a lot of data to store and Exchange 5.5 doesn’t allow you to add new field names/properties/types (as Active Directory will… which will be nice).

I’m not sure what the iplanet site is doing, exactly, or what you’re trying to do. They have a separate directory you want to get at and create distribution lists based on that info?

With regards to your other question, yes… folks who are not using VMO to listen to their voice mail from the desktop will need to be sure to have the appropriate Codec installed on their box. By default, however, our message format is MuLaw which is supported by both Windows and Mac clients so that shouldn’t be an issue unless you want to use one of the ADPCM formats or the new G729a stuff coming out with 2.4.5 or whatever. These folks will get voice mail as an email with an attached WAV file they can play.


Jeff Lindborg
Unity Product Architect
Active Voice
jlindborg@activevoice.com
http://members.home.net/jlindborg