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Unity 4.2 Dial Plan Change

Kevin Martin
Level 1
Level 1

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

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2 Accepted Solutions

Accepted Solutions

Rob Huffman
Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame

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

View solution in original post

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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View solution in original post

13 Replies 13

Rob Huffman
Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame

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

David Hailey
VIP Alumni
VIP Alumni

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

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.

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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"?

Changing Alias and/or Extensions in Backup Prior to Restore

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:

  1. Copy the backup done by a  COBRAS export      tool and any message backup files created by the backup.
  2. Open that copy of the  backup MDB file with      the COBRAS data viewer.
  3. Export the user data to a  CSV using the      “Export users in backup to CSV” option under the Edit menu.
  4. Edit the resulting CSV  file with new alias      and/or extension strings you wish to apply.
  5. Apply the changes to the  MDB file using      the “Remap subscriber alias or extension” option under the      Edit menu.  NOTE, this will      also run through and change those aliases in all message backup  files      found in the same folder as the directory backup file you’re      updating.

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. 

  1. If an old alias value is  provided in the      CSV, this is used to search for a user.  If a  user is found then it will use      the new alias and/or the new extension value for that subscriber’s      alias and primary extension.
  2. If an old alias is not  provided or does      not match a user in the backup, then the old extension value is  used to      search for a subscriber’s primary extension.  If  a user is found then it will use      the new alias and/or the new extension value for that subscriber’s      alias and primary extension.
  3. If an old alias is not  provided or does      not match a user in the backup and the old extension value does not  match      an existing user’s primary extension, then the old extension is      searched for among all the alternate extensions in the backup.  If a match is found for a      user’s extension then that alternate extension is replaced with the      new extension value.  Nothing      is done in this case with the new alias string if its provided.

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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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.

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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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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.

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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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I just did a single test to make sure and it still didn't work after I saved the conficted information.

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Something small must be going on here.  Can you post a few lines from your modified CSV file created with Data Viewer?

Hailey

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

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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!

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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