CUCME-CUE Lab 9 – New York City Messaging

Users in New York also require voicemail features and functionality. The tasks in this lab pertain to extending access to the CUE in Baltimore to the users in New York.

CUCME-CUE Lab 9.1 – New York City Messaging Tasks

1. Configure users in New York with Cisco Unity Express voicemail.

2. Ensure that users in New York have their MWI lamp lit when a user leaves a voicemail.

3. Make sure that messages can be forwarded via either dial by name or by extension.

4. Ensure that in the event of a WAN failure, users can still access and retrieve voicemail.

5. Also ensure that external callers can leave messages for users in New York in the event of a WAN failure.

6. Users in off-net should be able to dial into the system to access their messages remotely.

7. Configure the mailboxes with the same size restrictions as described in Lab 8.1.

CUCME-CUE Lab 9.2 – New York City Messaging Task Verification
Please note, the tasks described in this lab “may or may not be” supported by Cisco. According to the Cisco datasheet for CUE:

“Cisco Unity Express (on NME-CUE only) can integrate with up to 10 Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express remote sites. This solution allows voicemail and Automated-Attendant features to be centralized for up to 10 sites when voicemail at each remote site is not essential and only a small number of users are at each site.”

Therefore, I do not officially endorse, nor would I advocate, this type of solution in a production environment on an AIM-CUE module, which I have used in my home lab. With that disclaimer, I based much of the configuration based on this document, along with some careful study of the Cisco Unity Express Voice-Mail and Auto-Attendant CLI Administrator Guide for 3.0 and Later Versions and some additional troubleshooting.

1. First, add the users to CUE in much the same way as was done in Lab 8. In the interest of space, I will omit a full description of the tasks; refer to Lab 8.2.


2. Next step is to add a dial-peer on the New York CUCME router pointing to the Baltimore-CUE module. Here is where I ran into my first series of problem. Originally, I used the Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express: SIP Implementation Guide as my reference, building out the CUE integration based on the “Configure connection to Cisco Unity Express” of this document. However, I encountered a few issues, namely DTMF relay and MWI issues, which I while address separately below.


3. DTMF Relay issue & resolution:

First problem was that while SIP phones could dial into the CUE at ext. 1999 when pressing the voicemail button, the system was not responding to any inputs on the keypad. My initial configuration under both the phones and the corresponding dial-peer used the suggested “dtmf-relay sip-notify” commands.

After a fair amount of troubleshooting, including changing and eliminating transcoding as a possible cause, I decided to opt with the “dtmf-relay rtp-nte” as referenced here. Note, I modified this configuration for all SIP phones, the voip dial-peers on the NYC CUCME, and voip dial-peers on the Baltimore CUCME. For example:

NewYork#sh run
!
voice register global
voicemail 1999
!
voice register pool 1
number 2001
call-forward b2bua busy 1999
call-forward b2bua mailbox 1999
call-forward b2bua noan 1999 timeout 20
dtmf-relay rtp-nte
!
!
dial-peer voice 1000 voip
description VOIP Peer to Baltimore
preference 1
destination-pattern 1...
session protocol sipv2
session target ipv4:172.16.1.1
dtmf-relay rtp-nte
codec g722-64
no vad
!
!
dial-peer voice 1999 voip
destination-pattern 1999
b2bua
session protocol sipv2
session target ipv4:10.1.12.3
dtmf-relay rtp-nte
codec g711ulaw
no vad
!

Finally, the change to “dtmf-relay rtp-nte” necessitated the following changes to the Baltimore CUE.

baltimore-cue# sh run
!
ccn subsystem sip
dtmf-relay sip-notify rtp-nte

With the changes and configurations described above, users in New York are now able to access their voicemail on the Baltimore CUE.


4. The next challenge was sending MWI to and from CUE in Baltimore to the phones in New York. Once again, the Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express: SIP Implementation Guide was used as reference, but the MWI lamps failed to light on the phones. The resolution was to configure MWI based on the Sub-Notify Notification described in the Cisco Unity Express Voice-Mail and Auto-Attendant CLI Administrator Guide for 3.0 and Later Versions combined with SIP: Configuring a Directory Number for MWI NOTIFY from the CUCME Admin Guide.

On the New York CUCME Router:

NewYork#sh run
!
voice register global
mwi stutter
mwi reg-e164
!
!
voice register dn 1
mwi
!
!
sip-ua
mwi-server ipv4:10.1.12.3 expires 3600 port 5060 transport udp

And on CUE in Baltimore:

baltimore-cue# sh run
!
ccn subsystem sip
mwi sip outcall sub-notify
!


5. Enabling callers to leave messages during a WAN failure requires some changes and modifications to various dial-peers. First, rather than create a new series of dial-peers out to the PSTN pointing to 410-555-1999 on the New York router, I chose to leverage the existing dial-peers and PSTN fallback capabilities described in Lab 4.0. However, those existing dial-peers used a destination-pattern of “10..”, which excludes “1999”. Therefore, changing the pattern to “1…”, as shown above in the DTMF discussion, takes care of this. The previously translation pattern will manipulate 1999 to 410-555-1999, resulting in the call routing out the PSTN to Baltimore.


6. However, inbound calls from the PSTN to 1999 will not reach CUE unless a new VOIP dial-peer is added, with in outgoing translation pattern (to CUE) for digit manipulation. Below provides the configuration changes required to allow inbound callers to reach the voicemail pilot point.

Baltimore#sh run
!
voice translation-rule 2
rule 1 /4105551999/ /1999/
!
!
voice translation-profile to-cue
translate called 2
!
!
dial-peer voice 1998 voip
mailbox-selection orig-called-num
description VM-AA-PSTN
translation-profile outgoing to-cue
destination-pattern 4105551999
session protocol sipv2
session target ipv4:10.1.12.3
dtmf-relay rtp-nte
codec g711ulaw
no vad
!

7. The easiest way to test the voicemail failover to the PSTN is to shut down the VOIP dial peers between the two CUCME locations and place a test call. In the example below, Nick Markakis at ext. 1002 is attempting to call Ari Gold at ext. 2005. First, you’ll notice the call being routed to Ari, who is not available to answer.

NewYork#
Mar 10 02:54:13.812: //-1/xxxxxxxxxxxx/DPM/dpMatchPeersCore:
Calling Number=2005, Called Number=2005, Peer Info Type=DIALPEER_INFO_SPEECH
Mar 10 02:54:13.812: //-1/xxxxxxxxxxxx/DPM/dpMatchPeersCore:
Match Rule=DP_MATCH_DEST; Called Number=2005
Mar 10 02:54:13.812: //-1/xxxxxxxxxxxx/DPM/dpMatchPeersCore:
Result=Success(0) after DP_MATCH_DEST
Mar 10 02:54:13.812: //-1/xxxxxxxxxxxx/DPM/dpMatchPeersMoreArg:
Result=SUCCESS(0)
List of Matched Outgoing Dial-peer(s):
1: Dial-peer Tag=40005
Mar 10 02:54:13.816: //-1/xxxxxxxxxxxx/DPM/dpAssociateIncomingPeerCore:
Calling Number=4105551002, Called Number=, Voice-Interface=0x0,
Timeout=TRUE, Peer Encap Type=ENCAP_VOIP, Peer Search Type=PEER_TYPE_VOICE,
Peer Info Type=DIALPEER_INFO_SPEECH

Once the call-forward no answer timing is reached, CUCME attempts to forward the call to ext. 1999.

NewYork#
Mar 10 02:54:33.968: //-1/xxxxxxxxxxxx/DPM/dpAssociateIncomingPeerCore:
Calling Number=2005, Called Number=, Voice-Interface=0x0,
Timeout=TRUE, Peer Encap Type=ENCAP_VOIP, Peer Search Type=PEER_TYPE_VOICE,
Peer Info Type=DIALPEER_INFO_SPEECH
Mar 10 02:54:33.968: //-1/xxxxxxxxxxxx/DPM/dpAssociateIncomingPeerCore:
Result=Success(0) after DP_MATCH_ORIGINATE; Incoming Dial-peer=40005
Mar 10 02:54:33.968: //-1/xxxxxxxxxxxx/DPM/dpMatchPeersCore:
Calling Number=, Called Number=1999, Peer Info Type=DIALPEER_INFO_SPEECH
Mar 10 02:54:33.968: //-1/xxxxxxxxxxxx/DPM/dpMatchPeersCore:
Match Rule=DP_MATCH_DEST; Called Number=1999
Mar 10 02:54:33.968: //-1/xxxxxxxxxxxx/DPM/dpMatchPeersCore:
Result=Success(0) after DP_MATCH_DEST
Mar 10 02:54:33.968: //-1/xxxxxxxxxxxx/DPM/dpMatchPeersMoreArg:
Result=SUCCESS(0)
List of Matched Outgoing Dial-peer(s):
1: Dial-peer Tag=1001
2: Dial-peer Tag=1003
3: Dial-peer Tag=1002

Finally, you’ll notice the call now being forward out the PRI circuit in New York to the PSTN, back to CUE in Baltimore at 410-555-1999, where Nick can leave a message for his agent, Ari.

NewYork#

Mar 10 02:54:34.244: %ISDN-6-CONNECT: Interface Serial0/0/0:3 is now connected to 4105551999 N/A
Mar 10 02:54:34.244: %ISDN-6-CONNECT: Interface Serial0/0/0:3 is now connected to 4105551999 N/A

Mar 10 02:54:34.252: //-1/xxxxxxxxxxxx/DPM/dpMatchPeersCore:
Calling Number=, Called Number=4105551999, Peer Info Type=DIALPEER_INFO_SPEECH
Mar 10 02:54:34.252: //-1/xxxxxxxxxxxx/DPM/dpMatchPeersCore:
Match Rule=DP_MATCH_DEST; Called Number=4105551999


CUCME-CUE Lab 9.3 Wrap-up

Labs 8 and 9 represent just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Unity Express. For a relatively inexpensive voicemail solution, it is very powerful with many robust features, including an IVR, Auto Attendant, Time Card application, and integrated messaging via IMAP. While I may explore a few more CUCME and CUE topics, I also want to begin moving on to the other core CCIE Voice topics.

References:
Cisco Systems. Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express: SIP Implementation Guide. Available online.

Cisco Systems. Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express System Administrator Guide. Available online.

Cisco Systems. Cisco Unity Express Voice-Mail and Auto-Attendant CLI Administrator Guide for 3.0 and Later Versions. Available online.

Cisco Systems. Failure to Set MWI on Phones Connected to the Remote CallManager Express. Available online.