Problem with public distribution list

Brandon Buffin · ‎01-17-2005

I am running Unity 4.0(4) with Exchange 2003 and CCM 3.3(4). I have setup a public distribution list with 14 members. When I send a message to the PDL, it comes through as an email with a .wav attachment. It is not seen as a VM, therefore the users get no MWI and cannot access the message by phone. Also, instead of saying Message from NAME, the email says Message from EXTENSION.

tomchan · ‎01-19-2005

Distribution lists can contain both subscribers and non-subscribers. When a voice message is sent to a distribution list, it is delivered as an e-mail with a WAV attachment to the mailboxes of non-subscribers.

Anyone who has an account on Cisco Unity is a subscriber. Typically, each subscriber account is associated with a Windows domain account and an Exchange mailbox in which Cisco Unity stores voice messages.

In addition to regular subscriber accounts, Cisco Unity has a number of "external" subscriber accounts for people who do not have mailboxes on the local Exchange network. There are different types of external subscribers: AMIS, Bridge, Internet, and VPIM.

Brandon Buffin · ‎01-19-2005

All members of the list are subscribers, but they still receive the message as an email with a WAV attachment and not as a voicemail.

lindborg · ‎01-19-2005

Well, Unity is sending the voice mail with extended MAPI properties that "tag" it as a voice mail (you'll see it as IPM.Note.Voice.Unity message class for instance). Are these messages being routed through a gateway that's stripping these out? I've seen this before - there's no way Unity is sending the messages without these tags (it can't even if it wanted to) so you need to look further up stream to see who is stripping them off the message before it shows up in the user's inbox. Check for virus packages and the like as well.

Brandon Buffin · ‎01-19-2005

All normal voicemail messages work fine. It seems that if the tags were being stripped, they would be stripped for these as well. Am I missing something that would be involved for a PDL that would not for an individual voicemail?

lindborg · ‎01-19-2005

Unity uses the same mechanism to send messages regardless of who the adressee is - it doesn't matter that it's a DL or a person or multiple people (Exchange and Domino takes care of the address flattening on the back end). We are always sending messages the same way - I swear. Unity is not, and cannot, send "naked" messages just because the target is a DL.

Something is happening on the back end or up stream thst is stripping your messages - you need to look further up stream. I know it seems like Unity is just being obstinate with regards to DLs here but that's not very likely at all.

Brandon Buffin · ‎01-19-2005

Since the mechanism is the same for all messages, wouldn't that seem to say that if the tag is being stripped for one message, it would be stripped for all? But this is not happening. An individual voicemail shows up as a voicemail. A voicemail to a distribution list does not. Exchange and Unity are on the same LAN. The only thing separating them is a switch. I wouldn't think the switch is stripping the tag. I'm not sure where else to look.

lindborg · ‎01-19-2005

I know you don't believe me but I swear to you, we don't know or care that the message is being addressed to a DL or not. Honest. We create the message, it's attachments and tags exactly the same way, then put the address list on (in the case of a DL it's just the alias of the DL) and then pass it to Exchange or Domino to send. That's it. There is no special treatment based on the address list whatsoever. You can convince yourself of this by addressing a message to a DL that’s having this issue AND to some individual users and seeing what happens. I'll betcha the users in the DL get a plain message and the individual users get it as a voice mail. Right? If that's the case then you know we can't be involved since it was one message that gets sent, not multiple. Therefore the message itself was constructed properly and some process somewhere is causing the extended MAPI properties to be stripped.

I'd take a look at your DLs and do a message trace. The back end may be sending messages to a DL through a mailer (I've seen this before) and I've seen sites do weird things with public folders as DLs (I'm assuming not the case here). but regardless, these are all up stream from Unity and there's nothing at all we can do about it from our end of the pond.

How were these DLs created? How were the members added? If you use VMO to send a message to the DL does it go through as a voice mail or do they show up as plain emails as well? Presumably if you address to a user in the DL who received a plain text message using the same address as is in the DL (make sure it's not bouncing out to an alternate SMTP address or something) they get it as a voice mail? If you create a new DL and add a user to it and send it a message, does it come through as voice (I guess I’m assuming you’re using preexisting DLs and having issues).

Something is strange about the DLs themselves, the members or something. The chances that Unity has special code in there that somehow determines you are addressing to a DL and then decides to not mark it as a voice mail as a result is very, very low.

Brandon Buffin · ‎01-20-2005

I didn't mean to imply that I didn't believe you. I just didn't understand how if the messages are identical, one gets stripped and one does not. But, you were right. We use SurfControl for spam filtering. I disabled the filter and the message went through fine. I applied SurfControl's latest service pack, reenabled the filter and everything works great. Thanks for your help.