Hi Mike,
Lets try and get you some answers to your questions
We have just got a UCS560 which apparently has to be configured using CCA otherwise it is not supported and you are unable to get support.
This is only partially correct, if you are UC Express certified you can obtain Cisco TAC support and configure the system using CLI... However if you are only Select Certified then for you to receive support and for the system to remain within SBCS support scope, you will need to configure the system using CCA, unless you have a reason not to use CCA then I cannot see a problem with doing this anyway.
Is that correct, there was some suggestion that if you were a CLI expert you could configure thiings using the CLI. If that is true how do you get to be a CLI expert?
As stated above, you will need Cisco UC Express certification and above if you want to work with the UC-500 series using CLI, your Cisco AM should be able to get you going on the right track and point you to any courses or exams you need to do to achieve this level of certification.
The suggestion is that it is not possible to configure everything through CCA, is that true?
This is a half truth, the bulk of a system configuration can be done using CCA, there are some smaller configurations yet to be implemented in CCA and some larger configurations still to be introduced, actually there are quite a few advanced features to be brought into the fold, but CCA can do at least 90% if not 95% of the configuration of the system.
Is it possible to to configure the PBX or phones to automatically dial 9 for an ouside line?
No not in PBX mode, if you go into KTS mode and use CO lines or Line keys then yes you can produce this type of result, but in PBX mode I do not believe you can do this using CCA, and doing it via CLI will most likely result in a breakage in the Dial-Plan and that is not a very nice thing to happen. Plus when you go from PBX mode to KTS mode, you do loose some feature sets, the entire list I do not know but I do know there is some loss in features.
Is it possible to change the ringing tones for individual phones for certain type of calls e.g calls from outside ringing a particular number?
Ahhh yes my favorite topic right now
Yes and No... Basically you have to do some funky configuration to get this to work and you have to burn a minimum of two buttons on the phone, this will allow you to configure a ringtone for internal calls and a ring tone for external calls... However there is also Cadence change which is done by default and only works on the one ringtone which is the default one, Internal calls are long bursts of tone, external calls are quick bursts of tone... But alas 98% of customers don't like it as the tone itself sounds the same and in a busy environment this is not an easy task to listen out for the differences.
All-in-All Mark, I would only recommend using CCA because it can build a system in 1/4 of the time you would be able to do it via CLI even if you used a TXT based template, no two system builds are the same and the configurations will change wildly between deployments, this is where CCA just works, the builds are consistent and support can manage them much easier because every system build is fundamentally the same, which is where CCA does come into its elements.
If you go down the CLI path I wish you all the best, however the forums will become your best friend, but MEH! the same can be said with CCA these days, as there seems to be an ongoing issue of late with the system hardware QA and CCA QA as well, far too many issues arising and an unusual slow response time in getting them resolved fully.
Cheers,
David.
Cheers,
David Trad.
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