Unity Express (CUE) and phones with multiple lines / unique DNs

[john.heyer]

We're running CM 3.3, and have a remote site using CUE 1.1

Each phone is a 7940, 2 lines, with

different DNs. For example:

x2400 - Forward busy x2401 (doesn't work). Forward no answer VM (works)

x2401 - Forward busy and no ansewer to VM (neither work)

So the problem is since CUE doesn't support multiple extensions, calls hitting x2401 (either directly or forwarded due to x2400 being busy) get the "no mailbox assocated with this extension" message.

What is the best practice for this type of setup?

[Markus Schneider]

Is the goal here to provide two line appearances for the same user? Or are you trying to have two separate, distinct extensions that need to go to the same mailbox?

If it's the former, then you can set up two different partitions in CM, e.g. Line1_Partition and Line2_Partition. Then add 2400 as the first line to Line1Partition and 2400 as the second number to Line2_Partition. Of course, you'll need to make sure other devices that need to call this number have a Calling Search Space for Line1 and Line2_Partition. When the call is forwarded to CUE, it will be 2400.

If it's the latter, then what you can do is assign 2401 as the E.164 extension of the mailbox in CUE. That functions exactly as a secondary extension. The only issue is that the MWI light will only be lit for the primary extension (i.e. 2400's light only would come on) and there is only one E164 extension supported (i.e. you can only have 2 extensions mapped to a mailbox, not 10 like in regular Unity).

Side-note: If you still are on CUE1.1 I would strongly suggest planning an upgrade at some point to either 2.0.2 or--even better--to 2.1.2; ESPECIALLY if this is on an AIM card.

[john.heyer]

Thanks for the response. We have distinct extensions now, and would like to keep it that way if possible.

The above solution looks like it will work. The only downside is currently, users are able to login using their 4-digit extension (i.e. 2400) rather than the complete 13-digit DN assigned to the phone line (i.e. 8014085552400). Using this solution, they would have to either login with the long primary number, or short secondary number when coming in from an outside line.

We'll be moving to CM 4.1 soon, so will need to upgrade CUE to 2.1. Is there a list of features or major differences between the two? I haven't found much.

[Markus Schneider]

For sure go to 2.1.2 (not 2.1.1). Feature-wise, there's a few nice things, like being able to get the calling party number spelled to you (if available), but mostly it's stability. If you upgrade and don't touch any of the config settings, it'll work the same way. The major feature for that release was support for networking with regular Unity.

[risilver]

My solution was to create a CTI Route point. I picked a number outside my dial plan to start the pattern + the main number of the mailbox (4+XXXX) and use that as the e.164 extension on the mailbox. For example:

2400 (main) CFNA - VM on CUE, CFB 2401

2401 CFNA 42400, CFB 2402

2402 CFNA 42400, CFB 42400

CTI Route point Line appearance 1 42400, CFA to VM on CUE

That way I could have as many lines ring to the same mailbox on CUE as I needed.

[Markus Schneider]

That's a great idea. This takes advantage of the fact that CUE uses the last redirected number to match a mailbox instead of the original redirected number (as Cisco Unity does). Thanks for pointing this out!

The only thing that I dislike about doing this is that then people really shouldn't use the 2401, 2402,... numbers to call other people. If someone does and that person isn't there, it's not going to show up a message from that particular subscriber (because CUE isn't associating 2401, 2402,... with a mailbox).

Some of the things that are being thrown around (may even be committed by now) is to give admins in CUE the option of using the original called party number instead of the last; as well has providing more 'alternate' extensions, as does Unity.