Cisco CUCM - Self Provisioning, Feature Groups, User Device Templates, User Profiles - What it all means and how to use it to get zero-touch deployment! - Part 2

CUCM Self Provisioning


Hi Guys

In part 1 of CUCM provisioning we talked about the new features available in CUCM 9 to make life easier for adding users, in continuation of this theme we are going to look at Self-provisioning, which allows the user to provision their own phone. LDAP is used to provide this information.

The feature is available in CUCM 10 and is quite nifty.

If you have not read part 1 of this blog, I strongly recommend you do so before continuing.

Overview

The basic premise of this feature is very similar to a technology many of you will already be familiar with: Cisco TAPS. Cisco TAPS allowed you to bulk insert phones and then, using a UCCX script have users phone a number in order to self-provision their phones. This is like TAPS but with a few important differences:

- You don't need UCCX
- You don't bulk insert the phones.


Configuration

The first thing you will need to do (other than setting up the universal device template and user line template that I already outlined in blog post 1) is configure a CTI route point and assign it a number, this CTI route point doesn't have to be anything special but you should assign it a DN that is reachable by phones configured for auto-registration




Second thing, is to enable auto registration with a CSS that can reach the number you assigned to your CTI Route point


Next, you must create an application user, ensure it is enabled for "Standard CTI Enabled" access control group and also ensure that it controls this CTI device you just created


Once this is done, go to the self-provision section under User Management -> Self provisioning


 Once this is done, you will be prompted to reset the service, obviously this is a good idea.

The final step is to configure our LDAP directory:

Go to your LDAP directory page after configuring your LDAP system and specify a directory containing the users, note you could use filters here to control which users from which area in your business are imported into LDAP, so for example, if you had users in NJ who should receive a CSS that is allowed to call international, you would create a seperate LDAP directory entry for these groups that uses a custom LDAP filter that looks for membership in a particular Windows Group. Or you could place them into a separate OU, the point is that you will need to create multiple LDAP directories.
 
 In the example below I have just pointed to the default AD CN for simplicity


 Next, you will assign the "Feature group" that controls what universal device template and what user line template are assigned to users contained in this LDAP directory.

It's important to select "Apply mask to Synched Telephone numbers to create a new line for the inserted users" also, and enter the mask as you want it to appear based on the imported telephone number field.

Once this is done. Sync the directory, what should happen is that every entry in your LDAP directory with a phone number assigned in LDAP will now create a DN in CUCM that has not yet been associated with a phone:

 When a user first plugs in a phone, and then dials the CTI Route point number (in our case, 9999) they will be prompted to enter the extension of the phone they wish to provision. Once this is done, the phone will be created based on the settings in the line and device template!!

See below an example:




 There you have it!!! Now all you have to do to create a user is simply create it in LDAP, grab a phone, dial 9999 and enter your extension, you could even have the users do this, and the phone will be provisioned!

Finally LDAP integration worth configuring!!

I hope this helps someone out there






Cisco CUCM - Self Provisioning, Feature Groups, User Device Templates, User Profiles - What it all means and how to use it to get zero-touch deployment!

How to enable self-provisioning for CUCM 10.5

The problem


A customer once asked me to enable LDAP integration for their CUCM deployment.

"How long will it take?" they asked, "maybe an hour max" I replied. The customer was suprised it was so easy and I found it funny they thought it would take a while!

I enabled it for them, and the disconnect quickly became apparent: They thought enabling LDAP sync would have it so their phone info was automatically pulled from LDAP! Back then this was note the case.

CUCM 10.0 finally gives us this ability! In combination with a feature that has been available since CUCM 9 that allows you to add phones/lines in a template-like configuration. The feature can still be useful for those of you not using LDAP integration.


Building Blocks

Let's look at the parts involved so we can work out what all these new options are and what they do for us. When you create these "building blocks" you would basically create one for each separate set of discreet users, in my example I live in New Jersey, so I have created a collection of these building blocks to represent the settings of the New Jersey site users.


Universal Line Template
The universal line template is where we configure the settings for the line such as partition, call forward settings etc. You can access this via User Management -> User/Phone Add -> Universal Line Template. The settings are shown below


As you can see you can edit the call forward settings, calling search spaces etc. You will also notice the #FirstName# and #LastName#, these are called tags and allow you to have these fields filled in by information pulled down about the user from LDAP or entered by you manually when you create the user in the quick phone/add page (if you don't use LDAP.) I personally feel not enough "tags" exist, for example there is no DirectoryNumber Tag which would be useful, I personally like to put the directory number into the description of each device and each line.

Once you have saved this, it's onto the next building block

 Universal Device Template
Here is where you configure the device itself's CSS, MRGL, Device pool etc. These settings can be customized to what KIND of device your adding (example, you would have a separate universal device template for soft phones and remote destination profiles as an example)

These settings can be found under:
 User Management -> User/Phone Add -> Universal Device Template


User Profile
The user profile can be found under User Management -> User Settings -> User Profile. This links together the device and line template as well as controlling if the user is allowed to self provision or not. As you will see in the screenshot below, you can specify a separate user template for each type of device.
Feature Group Template
Finally, a feature group is used to set some restrictions for the user and to tie their user profile to us



Non-LDAP Users Quick Phone/User add

Let's assume for a minute that your either not using LDAP, not interested in self-provisioning OR your stuck on CUCM 9. All the settings you just configured where not in vain, you can still get great use out of the templates you just created


You can either create a new user with a new username and details:



Or click on either a non-LDAP integrated user or an LDAP integrated user (as per the screenshot below)
Once you have clicked on an existing user and/or created a new user, you can assign that user an extension

Once an extension is assigned you can then click "manage devices" and either move an existing phone over to them (cool! Great for changes) or add a new phone:




Part 2 of the blog will cover how to integrate this with LDAP 

Sources: I got some really good information from the following blog Entry  http://blog.gdt.com/hood-pop-session-cisco-unified-collaboration-manager-10-x-self-provisioning/

Cisco Unity Connection Call back feature

Hi Guys!

This was a feature a customer of mine wanted quite a bit, but I could not find it anywhere!


Main reason is, it's not always called "call back", infact the "Feature" call back on unity connection is some crazy feature in unity connection where if you hang up before a message is finished when you ring back within a certain timeframe it automatically resumes the call from where you left off. I think that's a solution looking for a problem.

Anyway let's talk about traditional callback, so what I specifically mean here is, a user gets a voicemail left for them, they want to call back that caller who the left the message by pressing a button on the phone.

The button they need to press is:

44

This is NOT an option presented to you unless you select "more options" for the message, it's not a default option so it was a PITA to find out this option exists

Here is the user guide showing all the options users can press during a call

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/voice_ip_comm/connection/2x/user/guide/2xcucug070.html


OK, a few things you might want to check if this does not work, first of all the user must have the ability to "reply" enabled in their Class of Service:



If you still get a voicemail greeting instead of transferring to someone who left you a message, if they are an internal user, check that users transfer rules:

If it's an external person, think about how the number is being presented to Cisco Unity, are you dropping the leading 0 or leading 9 for an outside line before sending it to unity? if so you will need to prefix it when unity sends the call back out to CUCM using any method of your choosing.

It can also be the restriction table within unity itself, the table used is the Default Transfer restriction table, be sure to look at that and make sure the number is allowed to be dialled:







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