There
are two types of conferences supported by CME
Ad-hoc Conferences
In
ad-hoc conferences, the initiator will use Conf softkey
to dial parties and join them into conference (there
are other advanced methods to establish conference as well) . Ad-hoc conferences can be completed using
software CFB or hardware CFB.
Software CFB
- Software CFB uses router CPU - Software resources can
provide a max of 3 participants (SIP, SCCP, or PSTN) with G711 codec only.
For mixed codecs transcoder should be invoked. In case XCODER isn't
available, conference can't be completed. - The max number of software
ad-hoc simultaneous conferences depends on CME platform. - Each phone can be part of one conference at a time
For
software CFB nothing needs to be configured since its enabled by default and
can't be disabled. A
workaround to disable it is to enable hardware CFB without configuring DSP
resources.
To
change some default configuration for software CFB:
Number of Conference Sessions and Gain
As
mentioned earlier, the maximum number of conferences is platform dependent.
However, this can be limited manually using,
The
gain keyword offers the option to raise
the volume of the stream for all call legs (VoIP/Tele).
Note: Although its applied under
SCCP CME, its applicable for phone SIP/SCCP phones.
Modify Conference End Call behavior
By
default, once the initiator disconnects the call, all conference parties will
be disconnected (regardless if they are SCCP/SIP/Tele). This behavior can be
changed per phone.
For
SCCP initiators, here are the available options:
no keep-conference: This is
the default mode, where the conference is dropped once initiator hangs up
or press EndCall softkey. Also, initiator can use Conf softkey to drop the
last participant
keep-conference (No keywords
used): The initiator can use EndCall softkey to terminate the
conference or hang up to disconnect from conference while other two
parties are connected. Conf softkey can be used to break the conference but
stay connected to both parties while one is on-hold
drop-last: This changes the
action of Conf softkey which will disconnect the last party from
conference.
Endcall: This changes the
action of Endcall softkey which will disconnect the initiator from
conference while keeping other parties connected. The same will be the
case if initiator hangs up
local-only: When the
initiator disconnects, parties will remain connected (using transfer) only
if one of them is local to CME
For
SIP initiators, those options aren't available. Its either all parties
disconnected or leave them joined once the initiator disconnects.
Its very important to know that keep-conference feature requires call transfer to
enabled. Once the initiator disconnects, call transfer will be initiated to
join the remaining parties together. This isn't a problem in case all phones
are part of same CME system since transfer is allowed. However, if one of the
parties is remote (e.g. SIP trunk), in this case call transfer (either blind or
consult) should be enabled to keep the other parties connected.
Note: During call conference,
the display on initiator will be showing last called number. Also, on parties,
initiator will be displayed as calling number. On initiator screen, Conference keyword will be displayed in
the place of system message. In case the initiator disconnects, the display
will be updated to show the on-call parties as calling numbers (assuming
keep-conference is enabled).
Note:
MOH isn't suppressed from the conference call incase any of the parties places
the call on-hold
Hardware CFB
- Once hardware CFB is enabled,
software CFB will be disabled. - Allow more than 3
participants per conference - Does not support the
local-consult transfer method (transfer-system local-consult command) - In case of multi-codec legs,
CFB can do transcoding as well as conferencing (it won't invoke separate
XCODER) - Hardware CFB isn't supported
for SIP phones. SIP phones will still use software CFB with max of 3
participants in case SIP phone is initiator. However, SIP phones can be parties of hardware conference (SCCP
phone will be initiator). - Each phone can be part of one conference at a time - For CFB to work, DNs should
be configured to act as bridges with conference ad-hoc/meetme feature enabled. Those DNs
can't have other features such as call forward and can't be assigned to
ephones. - Once conference is triggered,
each party will be transferred to one of those conference DNs acting as
its bridge. Therefore, the number of
conference DNs configured should be enough to accommodate the max number
of participants configured combined with max number of conference
sessions. - Those DNs can't be
single lines (conference ad-hoc/meetme command won't be taken and will
throw error).
They can be either dual or octo lines. E.g. for one conference with 5
parties, we should have 3 dual-line conference DNs or one octo-line
conference DN.
ephone-dn20octo-line
number 3020
description **** HW CFB ***
conference ad-hoc
SiteC#show call leg active summary
GLElog A/O FAX T CodectypePeer AddressIP R:
G17B4L 372NORGT33g711ulawTELEP3002
G17B9L 374NORGT24g729r8VOIPP3001135.9.75.10:18688
G17B4L 377NORGT21g711ulawTELEP3020
G17B9L 378NORGT21g729r8TELEP3020
G0L 379NORGT21g711ulawVOIPP142.6.66.254:2000
G0L 37DNORGT21g729r8VOIPP142.6.66.254:2000
G17C6L 37ENANST17g711ulawTELEP32143003
G17C6L 37FNORGT17g711ulawTELEP3020
G0L 380NORGT17g711ulawVOIPP142.6.66.254:2000
- Since the parties will be
transferred to conference DNs, then CME call transfer should be enabled
(especially for external parties to join). - Once the conference is
established, the display on all parties will show To
Conference. - If any party disconnect from
conference, the audio stream of other remaining parties won't break and
will remain connected to CFB. If the number of remaining parties become 2,
the CFB will be release and the stream will break to reconnect directly
between parties as point-to-point call. Also, the display will be updated
with new DNs. - The keep-conference feature
under ephones/voice pools is ignored. If theinitiator disconnects from conference,
other parties will remain connected through CFB as long as the number of
participants is more than 2. - Also, max-conferences option
under telephony-service is ignored. The max number of conferences depends
on dspfarm configuration. - Similar to software CFB, MOH
isn't suppressed from conference - Conference initiator should
have at least one dual-line or two single-line DNs to be able to start
conference. - Initiator with octo-line DN
will select an idle channel from that DN to establish new call. In case
free line isn't available, the conference can't be completed. CME won't
select idle channels from other DNs within the same phone similar to single/dual lines behavior. - CME admin can assign admin
role to any of the ephones within a conference. The conference
administrator can:
1.
Dial in to any conference directly through the conference number
2.
Use the ConfList soft key to list conference parties
3.
Remove any party from any conference
Meet-Me
- In meet-me conferences, the
creator presses MeetMe soft key before dialing the conference number. Other
meet-me conference parties only dial the conference number to join the
conference. - In case software CFB is used,
Meet-Me conferences can't be completed. - Max number of Meet-Me
conference parties is 32 for G711 codec and 16 for G729 codecs
Conference Softkeys
The
RmLstC, ConfList, Join, and Select
soft keys are not supported for software-based conferencing. Only Conf softkey is supported with software CFB.
- ConfList: Lists all parties in a
conference. For meet-me conferences, this soft key is available for the
creator only unlike Ad-hoc. Press Update to update the list of parties in the conference - Join: Joins an established call
to an Ad-hoc conference. You must first press Select to choose each connected
call that you want to join in a conference, then press Join to join the selected calls
to the conference. - RmLstC: Removes the last party
added to the conference. This soft key works for the creator only. - Select: Selects a call or
conference to join to a conference and selects a call to remove from a
conference. The creator only can remove other parties by pressing the ConfList soft key, then use the Select and Remove soft keys to remove the
appropriate parties.
Configuration Template
voice-card 0
dsp services
dspfarm
!
voice class custom-cptone CONFERENCE-LEAVE
dualtone
conference
frequency 1800
3210
cadence 1000
1000 2000 1000 3000 1000
voice class custom-cptone CONFERENCE-JOIN
dualtone
conference
frequency 1210
2800
cadence 3000
1000 2000 1000 1000 1000
!
sccp local
sccp ccm identifier version 7.0
sccp
!
sccp ccm group
description
HARDWARE CONFERENCE BRIDGE
bind interface
associate ccm
priority
associate
profile register
switchback
method graceful
!
dspfarm profile conference
codec g711ulaw
codec g711alaw
codec g729ar8
codec g729abr8
codec g729r8
codec g729br8
maximum
conference-participants
maximum
sessions
conference-join
custom-cptone CONFERENCE-JOIN
conference-leave custom-cptone
CONFERENCE-LEAVE
associate
application SCCP
!
telephony-service
conference
hardware
!!!!... Define the
digits that can be used during conference to mute/unmute. You can mute and
unmute your phone using the phone's mute button also. You must unmute the phone
in the same way that you muted it, either with the keypad or the mute button.
sdspfarm
conference mute-on mute-off
sdspfarm units
sdspfarm tag
max-ephones 10
max-dn 20
ip
source-address port 2000
transfer-system
full-consult
!
ephone-dn
dn-tag [dual-line | octo-line]
number number
[secondary number] [no-reg [both | primary]]
conference
{ad-hoc | meetme}
no huntstop
[channel]
!
ephone-template
conference
add-mode [creator]!!!... Enable adding parties to conference.
By default both creator and participants can add parties to conference.
conference
drop-mode [creator | local]!!!... Default is conference never drops.
You can tune it to drop conference when creator drops or when the last local
participants drops.
conference
admin!!!... Configures the ephone as the
conference administrator
CME support
transcoding between G711 and G729 for the following features:
3-way Ad-Hoc software
conferencing
Call-Forward or Call-Transfer
(one leg of a hairpin call is using G711 while the other is using G729).
MoH (G711 MoH stream is
transcoded to G729 phone)
CUE (G729 calls forwarded to
CUE which is using G711 only should be transcoded)
Restrictions
Meet-me conferencing not
supported
Multiple-party ad-hoc
conferencing not supported
By default codec
configuration on SCCP phones will be used for internal calls within CME. Also,
it will always be used in best effort mode trying to achieve minimum bandwidth
and DSPs utilization. For external calls crossing trunks, codec configuration won't
be used at all. External codec will be used by SCCP phones. This has been
changed by introducing dspfarm-assist
keyword which will force codec configuration to be used in internal and
external negotiations.
If the codec g729r8 dspfarm-assist command is
configured for a SCCP phone and a DSP resource is not available when needed for
transcoding, a phone registered to the local Cisco Unified CME router will use
G.711 instead of G.729r8. This is not true for nonSCCP
call legs; if DSP resources are not available for the transcoding required for
a conference, for example, the conference is not created.
CME allow the customization of
softkeys displayed on SCCP or SIP phones in different call states. This is done
using templates which are then assigned to phones. The next table will show
phone states:
*** Seized call state is the initial dial tone state
after going off-hook to place an outbound call. Alerting is the state after the
telephone number has been dialed and the user is waiting for the called number
to answer.
You can block some
softkey features using feature blocked
command. The softkeys will still appear on phone display but they won't be
functional. This is supported for SCCP phones
ONLY.
For features that
aren't listed under feature blocked
command, you can remove
the associated softkey from the template as a workaround to disable them.
Note: Any softkey that is not
explicitly defined in the template will be removed.
Also, you can remove
softkey display using no softkey command.
I don't recall any scenario where its required !!!
Also, just would
like to highlight that phone line keys can have one of the following roles:
Line Buttons
Speed Dials
BLF Speed Dials
URL Service Buttons
Feature Buttons
The following URL
Services types are supported:
myphoneapp: My phone application
configured under phone user interface.
em: Extension Mobility.
snr: Single Number Reach.
Inside myphoneapp service there are multiple
functions present:
• add, modify, or
delete Speed Dial
• add, modify, or
delete Fast Dial
• add, modify, or
delete BLF Speed Dial
• change SNR DN
• perform after-hour
login
• reset the phone
Feature buttons
includes all softkeys functions (Hold, Answer, DND, cfwall, etc).
features
blocked [CFwdAll] [Confrn] [GpickUp] [Park] [PickUp] [Trnsfer]
url-button index type | url [name]!!!... This command can have one of the types mentioned above
(myphoneapp, em, snr) or URL (e.g. external directory URL) BUT not both
I believe every one
knows what is speed dialing and why we use it. Its to simplify dialing
frequently used numbers. Therefore, I am going to cover directly the types of
speed dials in CME.
Local Speed
Dials
This
is a system level list of speed dials which will be presented to all phones
registered to CME. Users can browse this list from their phones by navigating
to Directories > Local Speed Dial Menu.
To
configure this list:
1.
Create an XML file using this template. The file should be named as speeddial.xml.
Local Speed Dial
2.
Using TFTP upload this file to CME's flash using copy
tftp: flash: command
3.
Enable HTTP server in CME using ip http server command
4.
Point HTTP server to CME flash memory using ip
http path flash: command
Note: Before this configuration,
Local
Speed Dial Menu won't
be present under directories. Also, you can’t copy the XML file from flash to system:/its/vrf1 which is
default path for CME files.
Personal
Speed Dials
This menu includes speed dials created per phone based on user's preference.
Users can browse this list by navigating to Directories
> Local Services >Personal Speed Dials Menu.
ephone phone-tag
fastdial dial-tagnumber name name-string
!
voice register pool pool-tag
fastdial dial-tag number
[name name-string]
Speed Dial
Buttons and Abbreviated Dialing
You
can assign speed dial buttons to user's phones which will be associated with
line keys. The first configured speed dial button will be associated with the
first free line key.
Assuming
that line keys are fully consumed, in this case you can still configure speed
dial buttons, however, they aren't assigned to line keys. You can dial them
using Abbreviated Dialing softkey which
is available in Seized state of the
phone. The user will dial the configured speed-tag
then press Abbr Dial softkey.
Adding
to this, phone users can configure their own speed dialand fast dial lists using two methods:
1.
Phone User Web Interface
2.
From the phone itself by navigating to Services
Button > MyPhoneApps > Speed Dials.
ephone-template template-tag
phone-ui
speeddial-fastdial
!
ephone phone-tag
phone-ui
speeddial-fastdial
Note: EM users can add speed
dials from the phone after login but not Fast dial
Similar to call park
monitoring you can monitor speed dials using m
feature in ephones. Example:
ephone-dn 1
number
5001
name PH-01
!
ephone-dn 2
number 5002
name PH-02
!
ephone 1
button 1:1
2m2
speed-dial 1
5002
!
ephone 2
button 1:2
iDivert
This feature allows
you to immediately divert a call to a voice messaging system. Calls can be
diverted in Hold, Ringing, or Active states. iDivert is supported in SIP phones
Only.
No configuration is
required to disable or enable iDivert, however, as workaround to disable
iDivert is to remove its softkey.
Restrictions
iDivert is disabled when CFA
is active
Both calling and called
parties can use iDivert feature
In case iDivert is pressed
before CFNA timeout, the call will be sent to voicemail
In case of conference, if one
party pressed iDivert, other conference parties will hear his voicemail
greeting
Templates
There is nothing
much about this since we have already been using it. Templates have different
types:
E-Phone Template
E-Phone DN Template
Voice Register Pool Template
Note:
Configuration at phone or DN level will override the one at template level
Configuration Template
ephone-template template-tag
[command]
!
ephone phone-tag
ephone-template
template-tag
!
ephone-dn-template template-tag
[command]
!
ephone-dn dn-tag
ephone-dn-template template-tag
!
voice register template template-tag
[command]
!
voice register pool pool-tag
template template-tag
IP Phone Options
As mentioned before,
line keys can have the following functions:
Line Buttons
Speed Dial Buttons
BLF Speed Dial Buttons
Feature Buttons
URL Service Buttons
The assignment of
functions to keys is following first configured fist assigned model. In CME
8.6, you can define which keys can perform which functions using button-layout feature.
ephone template template-tag
button-layout [button-string]
[button-type]
!
ephone phone-tag
ephone-template
template-tag
!
voice register template template-tag
button-layout [button-string]
[button-type]
!
voice register pool pool-tag
template template-tag
E.g.
ephone-template
10
button-layout 1 line
button-layout 2,5 speed-dial
button-layout 3,6 blf-speed-dial
button-layout 4,7,9 feature
button-layout 8,11 url
!
voice register
template 5
button-layout 1 line
button-layout 2,5 speed-dial
button-layout 3,6 blf-speed-dial
button-layout 4,7,9 feature-button
button-layout 8,11 url-button
In CME 8.5, you can
block the display of some options from Phone User Interface. Those are:
EM
MyPhoneApp
Local Directory (also if you disable local directory from telephony-service, it
won't be displayed)
Call History (Missed Calls,
Received Calls, Placed Calls)
Note: EM & MyPhoneApp
canbe accessed using Services phone key.
Optionally, you can
customize the contents of header bar on phone display using the following
configuration template:
ephone-dn dn-tag
description display-text
!
voice register pool pool-tag
description string
In case the
description isn't configured, the number assigned to first button will be used
in header bar.
Note: For SIP Phones, this
feature is supported for phone models 7960/7940.
You can modify the
system message (which appears in prompt and status area)as well as set a screen sever for the phone
using the following configuration template:
telephony-service
system message text-message
url idle url
idle-timeout seconds!!!... Specify the location of screen sever image as well as refresh
intervals
Another feature is
to customize the feature buttons which are Messages,
Directories, Services, and Information (i).The function of those buttons depends on the
URL associated to them. We have seen how we changed the URL of Directories
feature button to point to CUCM.
telephony-service
url
{directories | information | messages | services} url
!
ephone template template-tag
url
{directories | information | messages | services} url
!
voice register global
url {directory
| service} url
Note: Settings button can't be customized since
it depends on the local phone.
Caller ID Blocking
We have higlighted
this in different section at IOS level. Here are we considering it again at IOS
and CME levels.
dial-peer voice
tag [pots | voip]
clid strip
clid strip name
!
telephony-service
caller-id block
code code-string!!!... The user can use a pre-defined code to block caller-id
display for certain outbound calls
