Unity Connection 8.5.1 -- purge Operator mailbox

[cooperben]

Call handlers had been set up to send un-addressed messages to the Operator mailbox, which now contains ~600 messages costing almost 200MB.  Not a lot in the big scheme of things I know, but wasted space and longer backups nonetheless.  I've since reconfigured the call handlers to prevent new messages from accumulating.  However, I'd like to purge those that are already there.

I have no idea how to directly access the messages there and purge them.  I've already tried setting up a new Aging Policy that moves everything to Deleted Items after 1 day, then deletes everything after 2 and applied it to the Operator mailbox.  After waiting a few days, all the messages are still there, so that didn't appear to work. 

Pointers on where to start or links to relevant Cisco literature?  TIA

PS-This is a NON-unified messaging environment. 

[Brad Magnani · Accepted solution]

You can enable IMAP or Web Inbox (used to be called PCA) from the class of service for the operator user to login with the Operator account and manually delete the messages.

Hope that helps,

Brad

[cooperben]

Oh I see, I was missing the COS part, wehich is why I was not able to connect using IMAP previously (it is disabled on our users' COSs).  I moved the Operator to the System COS temporarily to enable IMAP connectivity and then connected and removed all the messages.

Thanks for your help!

[Rob Huffman]

Hey Ben,

Just to add a note to my friend Brads great tips (+5 "B-Man!)

You could also use another one of the great tools from the Unity Tools suite by using the reset

portion of;

Unity Connection Bulk User Delete

Overview

The Bulk User Delete tool allows for the easy deletion of large numbers of users on a Connection 2.1(1) or later server.  It also provides a user “reset” option for resetting user mailboxes without removing them on Connection 7.0(1) and later installations.  The tool also provides a way to generate a comprehensive user dependency report that shows all references to selected users from all other objects in the database that can run on all installations of Connection 2.1(1) or later for both CoRes or stand alone installs.

For deleting users It’s considerably faster than the web admin console, allows for much finer granularity in selecting which users to delete and allows for you to select a replacement user to substitute for references to users that are being removed which avoids deletion failures which can plague you in the web based administration interface.  It also provides a fully dependency report showing which objects in Connection reference users you wish to delete.  Currently only users with mailboxes can be removed from the system in bulk.

http://www.ciscounitytools.com/Applications/CxN/BulkUserDelete/Help/ConnectionBulkUserDelete.htm#_Toc239146394

Cheers!

Rob

[Ginger Dillon]

Hello -

In addition to what my friends Brad and Rob have already posted for you (great responses from them), I have a "different" take on how to address.

Call Handler applications like the Opening Greeting have caller input configured by default to the "Operator".  It is recommended you change this behavior to avoid messages going where they were not intended or as you have done, monitor the Operator mailbox or Undeliverable Messages to clean out the messages.  If user mailboxes fill up, messages can end up in the Undeliverable Messages mailbox too. Once you have created your System Administrator roles, I recommend adding one or more of these accounts to the Undeliverablemessages distribution list for monitoring.  The "Operator" account is usually replaced by one or more Receptionists who, once added to Unity, can be added to call handler applications as well as User Templates for 0-out operators.  The 0-out is useful when callers want to reach a "live" operator if they press 0 during a person's voicemail greeting.  However, leaving a message that is not returned or monitored is worse, and you have taken steps to correct that :-)  Until you change the 0-out key, if allowed, callers goes to Operator.  You might want to check your call handlers to see if you have any "hidden" gotchas and have keys that callers can press to leave a message where you may want to direct them elsewhere or ignore the 0-key.

Best regards, Ginger

[jeff.singh_2]

Hey Rob and all

sorry t bring up an old forum question but does this apply to the operator mailbox. I am using bulk delete to flush the mailbox of operator (5k messages !) and i just cant select that account ? are there any restrictions for using it against the operator account.

using ciscopca is not an option to delete the messages.

[Rob Huffman]

Hey Ginger,

Great addition on this my friend +5. Nice to see you back!!

Just as a follow up on the info I linked for Ben, the Unity Connection Bulk User Delete

did not actually work for the Operator mailbox....my bad!

Cheers!

Rob

[cooperben]

Thanks all, for your contributions.  Rob, my fault for also not specifying that this is UC on CUCM Business Edition, where the Unity Tools aren't supported.  Still, the helpful intent was there as always, so let's do +3 on that.

Ginger, thanks for that input, as my 0 key was still pointing to the Operator.  Even though this would not ever end up with a message left somewhere that nobody would get, it still would keep them in digital purgatory until they decided to hit 4, which is mapped to the Directory Handler.  Instead, I mapped 0 to do a Release to Switch transfer to our main extension, which is monitored by two Operators via CUBAC.  That way, they get their real, live person.  This is definitely a better outcome.