05-26-2010 10:47 AM - edited 03-19-2019 12:59 AM
We are currently in the process of moving from a 4 digit dial plan to a 5 digit dial plan. Right now I am trying to use COBRAS to edit Unity in order to add the 5th digit to the extension. Currently I am expriencing a problem importing the database. When I try to import, everything says it is successful. However, when i go to look at the individual subscribers, nothing has been changed. Even when I look at the SQL database, nothing is changed. Any ideas or alternate solutions?
Thanks,
Kevin
Solved! Go to Solution.
05-26-2010 12:45 PM
Hi Kevin,
One recommended way to do this is to use the Bulk Edit Tool;
http://www.ciscounitytools.com/Applications/Unity/BulkEdit/Help/index.html
Cheers!
Rob
05-26-2010 02:23 PM
Sometimes it's hard to help past a certain point without system access - this may be one of those times. So, your objective is to change the extension for everyone. Here is what you could do. Use the Bulk Edit utility like Rob said. What you'll need to do is group the users into some form of rhyme or reason as to what digits are being appended to the extension because the Bulk Edit utility can only modify extensions based on a set of criteria. So, for example - you could use your CSV file to sort by changes and then make multiple CSV's to only pull in the users you want to modify for each pass. Example:
OLD_ALIAS,OLD_EXTENSION,NEW_ALIAS,NEW_EXTENSION
009DTDIT2,6251,,46251
009LT1,6217,,46217
ABrackeen,7216,,47216
aBriggs,4653,,44653
Abudzins,4451,,94451
AClymer,7205,,47205
Sort this file by New Extension. That would give you (from this excerpt) a group of 5 aliases where in Bulk Edit, you could say load these aliases and then prepend a "4" to the existing extension.
ALIAS
009DTDIT2 6251,46251
009LT1 6217,46217
ABrackeen 7216,47216
aBriggs 4653,44653
AClymer 7205,47205
You only need the alias in your new CSV file for Bulk Edit - you just need to keep track of what changes need to be made for each group of users. The one user Abudzins would need to be a separate action as he needs a "9" prepended to his extension.
Just be aware that there is no undo with Bulk Edit. You change it, it's changed...so make sure you have your information tight for each group of users with a common extension being added to their current 4 digit.
Make sense? I think COBRAS will work but it's hard to know what's going on there without seeing it. So, this will do what you need to do and you can move on.
Hailey
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05-26-2010 12:45 PM
Hi Kevin,
One recommended way to do this is to use the Bulk Edit Tool;
http://www.ciscounitytools.com/Applications/Unity/BulkEdit/Help/index.html
Cheers!
Rob
05-26-2010 01:01 PM
When you use COBRAS, are you using the Data Viewer tool to try and do this or are you trying to do it on the fly during import?
Hailey
05-26-2010 01:05 PM
I am using the Data Viewer Tool. Everything looks perfect in the tool. Even in the Import Utility it says I'm changing from XXXX digits to XXXXX. But there is no change that takes place when the import is completed.
05-26-2010 01:08 PM
Mike,
I think COBRAS is the best way to do this so let's see if I can help you out. I've done this without issue so it's possible. First, can you verify that these are the steps you are following to a "tee"?
One of the things many sites want to do when migrating directory data to a new installation or merging it into an existing site is to update the extension numbering plan and/or changing their alias naming convention. Some times when moving from a Voice Mail only configuration to a Unified Messaging setup or vice versa it’s also necessary to change the user aliases so they match or don’t match existing accounts in the corporate Active Directory.
The COBRAS Data Viewer includes a function to help with this. The model is to update the alias and/or primary extension numbers and/or alternate extension numbers for subscribers in the MDB backup file and any message backup files found in the same folder before running the import. As such it is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that you make a copy of the backup MDB file and do your edits on that so you always have an unedited version of your original backup.
The basic steps to complete this process look like this:
Then when you run the COBRAS Import tool using that MDB file, the extensions and aliases will be what you wish them to be.
NOTE: Again, can’t stress this enough – this operation changes the data directly in the backup files and cannot be undone. Please be sure to perform this operation on a COPY of your backup file!
The option to export the exiting user data to CSV constructs a simple CSV file with 4 columns in it:
OLD_ALIAS, OLD_EXTENSION, NEW_ALIAS, NEW_EXTENSION
The “OLD” refers to the existing values currently in the database. These two values are used to find subscribers in the backup. The “NEW” values are, not surprisingly, the values that will replace those associated with the subscriber found using the “OLD” values. There’s a specific order to the search logic that you need to understand.
When you load a CSV file, all the valid rows are shown in a simple grid that contains a human readable action COBRAS intends to take with each row in the Info column as shown below:
It’s very important that you review this output carefully and make sure the changes you want are going to be made. You can select individual lines to apply or select/unselect all users by clicking the checkbox in the upper left of the grid header. At least one row much be selected before you will be allowed to apply changes to the backup database.
NOTE: In the screen shot above Shawn O’Maley shows up twice – one row for replacing the user’s alias and one for replacing one of his alternate extensions. This is ok. But please be aware that the CBORAS Backup utility does NOT make sure you don’t apply multiple changes to your directory. If you add the same account into your CSV multiple times, COBRAS will make changes (so long as they’re valid and legal) to that user in the order in which they are shown in the CSV file. Whatever is done last is what “sticks”
When you open a CSV file to parse COBRS Backup Viewer does checks on the file and then each row as it reads it in. If there are problems with any of the rows in the file such as invalid extension strings (i.e. that contain non digits) or illegal alias strings (for instance longer than 64 characters) or the extension conflict with an existing object etc… these rows are not added to the grid and are written out to an error log file which is created in the same folder as the CSV file you selected for parsing. When the CSV file parsing is complete you are told how many rows were read and how many rows are in the grid and then you are given the opportunity to review the error output file. Each line in the original CSV file will be shown in the file along with a human readable failure reason explaining why it failed.
NOTE: Extension conflicts and alias conflicts are not allowed, even temporarily. This includes conflicts with other object’s extension in the backup (for instance you can’t change a subscriber’s extension to conflict with a call handler extension). COBRAS must maintain the integrity of the backup even if you don’t plan to restore anything but users. There is no option to ‘turn this off’. This also means you can’t “swap” extensions around between existing users in one pass. You’d have to make multiple passes assigning users to temporary unique extensions and then applying another pass to put them where you want.
When you apply the changes a log file indicating each database change made is generated – review the log output for warnings and errors as normal. It’s also a good idea to spot check users in the main viewer interface to make sure the updates you expected were made.
Hailey
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05-26-2010 01:29 PM
I followed the steps you posted several times over with no luck. I even watched the instructional videos on unitytools to make sure I was doing this right. For some reason COBRAS is just not updating Unity.
05-26-2010 01:39 PM
OK. Two more questions:
1) When you first modify data with Data Viewer and change the info in the DB - have you used the Viewer to verify that your copy of the DB file is changed?
2) When you import the users into Unity, you should get conflicts for all the Subscribers as they already exist. So, when you get to the "Resolve Subscriber Conflicts" portion of the COBRAS import - you have to manually select every single user and choose "Overwrite an existing subsriber on the voice mail system:" and then save each and every object. Are you doing that? It's tedious - especially with a lot of subscribers, but necessary.
Hailey
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05-26-2010 01:42 PM
Yes I did check. And No, I did not. That is probably where my issue lies. I will check that and see if it works.
05-26-2010 01:44 PM
That would be your issue. It is tedious especially if you have a lot of users. COBRAS is unique in that it looks at every object in singular fashion - hence, the nature of the tool. Let me know if that works and if you have any other questions on COBRAS.
Hailey
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05-26-2010 01:50 PM
I just did a single test to make sure and it still didn't work after I saved the conficted information.
05-26-2010 01:54 PM
Something small must be going on here. Can you post a few lines from your modified CSV file created with Data Viewer?
Hailey
05-26-2010 02:09 PM
Here are a couple of lines out of the modified CSV
OLD_ALIAS,OLD_EXTENSION,NEW_ALIAS,NEW_EXTENSION
009DTDIT2,6251,,46251
009LT1,6217,,46217
ABrackeen,7216,,47216
aBriggs,4653,,44653
Abudzins,4451,,94451
AClymer,7205,,47205
05-26-2010 02:23 PM
Sometimes it's hard to help past a certain point without system access - this may be one of those times. So, your objective is to change the extension for everyone. Here is what you could do. Use the Bulk Edit utility like Rob said. What you'll need to do is group the users into some form of rhyme or reason as to what digits are being appended to the extension because the Bulk Edit utility can only modify extensions based on a set of criteria. So, for example - you could use your CSV file to sort by changes and then make multiple CSV's to only pull in the users you want to modify for each pass. Example:
OLD_ALIAS,OLD_EXTENSION,NEW_ALIAS,NEW_EXTENSION
009DTDIT2,6251,,46251
009LT1,6217,,46217
ABrackeen,7216,,47216
aBriggs,4653,,44653
Abudzins,4451,,94451
AClymer,7205,,47205
Sort this file by New Extension. That would give you (from this excerpt) a group of 5 aliases where in Bulk Edit, you could say load these aliases and then prepend a "4" to the existing extension.
ALIAS
009DTDIT2 6251,46251
009LT1 6217,46217
ABrackeen 7216,47216
aBriggs 4653,44653
AClymer 7205,47205
You only need the alias in your new CSV file for Bulk Edit - you just need to keep track of what changes need to be made for each group of users. The one user Abudzins would need to be a separate action as he needs a "9" prepended to his extension.
Just be aware that there is no undo with Bulk Edit. You change it, it's changed...so make sure you have your information tight for each group of users with a common extension being added to their current 4 digit.
Make sense? I think COBRAS will work but it's hard to know what's going on there without seeing it. So, this will do what you need to do and you can move on.
Hailey
Please rate helpful posts!
05-26-2010 02:27 PM
I appreciate the help here. I'm going to push forward with the Bulk Edit Utility until I can figure out what is going on with COBRAS
.
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