Cisco UC Automated Phone/Voicemail Setup Based on LDAP Sync

[JChilson_KPBSD]

I'm not sure if this is possible or not, but I'm building a new CUCM/Unity (14.X) deployment and am trying to automate it for the following workflow:

• Extension assigned to a user's ipPhone attribute in Active Directory.
• User with extension in LDAP syncs into CUCM and Unity.
• Any directory number matching the user's extension is updated so that both the Description and Alerting Name are set to "LAST NAME, FIRST NAME".
• Any phone with that extension assigned to it has the description set to "LAST NAME, FIRST NAME".
• Any phone with that extension assigned has the line configuration for that extension updated so that both the Display (Caller ID) and ASCII (Caller ID) are set to "LAST NAME, FIRST NAME".
• Voicemail is enabled for that user and linked to that extension in Unity.

Is this possible without a custom program/service hooking into UC APIs? I saw a product called Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning, that looks like it might do some of this, but couldn't get full clarity on that.

[Jonathan Schulenberg]

Not possible natively and Prime Collab Provisioning is end of sale (thankfully, it was problematic). Look at ecosystem vendors such as Akkadian Labs, Kurmi, Stack8, or Unimax; I tend to gravitate toward Akkadian, FWIW.

Also, overwriting existing config of phones and DNs would be dangerous since AD doesn’t enforce uniqueness in the telephone number attributes. It’s one thing to ask for auto-provisioning but I doubt any of the aforementioned vendors will have a zero touch workflow that blatantly repurposes existing config.

PS- It’s a little surprising to hear of a greenfield deployment of the on-prem stack. Nearly every customer wants a SaaS solution these days - such as Webex Calling.

[JChilson_KPBSD]

Thank you for the clarification that Prime Collaboration is going EOL, that would explain why I wasn't able to find a lot of information. I've starting tinkering with the CUCM AXL API and it's not that bad, so I might look into some custom Python scripts leveraging this for the basic stuff, but will also looking into Akkadian.

[SaiPreethi]

@JChilson_KPBSD , Were you able to achieve the automation for the workflow you had mentioned? I am looking for similar kind of solution. If you could please share knowledge on how this can be implemented. 

Thank you in advance!

[Pranjol Saikia]

@JChilson_KPBSD , SaiPreethi
If you are open to 3rd party solutions then you can look at  

MARS CUCM and Active Directory Process Automation
https://developer.cisco.com/ecosystem/cpp/solutions/183983/

[Maren Mahoney]

Yes, you can do all of that using Universal Device Templates, Universal Line Templates, Feature Group Templates along with User Profiles and LDAP integration. It is complicated and messy, but it is absolutely doable.

Do yourself a favor and do it in a lab first. If you do it wrong it's hard to back out, so you'll want to practice.

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/cucm/admin/14SU2/adminGd/cucm_b_administration-guide-14su2/cucm_b_test-adminguide_chapter_011.html

I taught this procedure in one of my classes so I know it works. Let me know what questions you have.

Maren