Voicemail Settings
This page allows you to control various aspects of your voicemail system and individual voicemail account settings. To access the page, perform the following steps:
- Open the UCX Web-based Configuration Utility
- From the PBX tab, select PBX Configuration
- From the left side column, select Voicemail Settings
At the top of the page, System View Links provide access to four different system level settings, Usage is the default page shown. On the right hand side you will see a list of existing voicemail boxes on your system. Clicking any of these boxes will bring up the page to control the account level settings.
System View
Account View
System View
1 - Usage
The page provides a system level usage of voicemail resources and allows the administrator to easily delete data.
|
Field
|
Description
|
|---|---|
| Number of Accounts | Total number of accounts (activated / unactivated / disabled). |
| Number of Messages |
Total number of messages (inboxes / other folders). Delete will remove all messages. |
| Recorded Names |
Number of recorded name greetings. Delete will remove all recorded names. |
| Unavailable Greetings |
Number of recorded unavailable greetings. Delete will remove all unavailable greetings. |
| Busy Greetings |
Number of recorded busy greetings. Delete will remove all busy greetings. |
| Temporary Greetings |
Number of recorded temporary greetings. Delete will remove all temporary greetings. |
| Abandoned Greetings |
Number of abandoned greetings. Greetings recorded by the user but not accepted. The sound file remains on the disk but is not used as a greeting. Delete will remove all abandoned greetings > 1 day old. |
| Storage Used | Disk space currently in use by the voicemail system. |
2 - Dialplan Behavior
This page controls a few key voicemail settings and the VmX locater settings.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| General Dialplan Settings | |
| Disable Standard Prompt | Check this box to disable the standard voicemail instructions that follow the user recorded message. |
| Direct Dial Mode | The greeting to be played when direct dialing voicemail. |
| Voicemail Recording Gain | The amount of gain to amplify a voicemail message that is being recorded. The gain is in decibels, which doubles for every 3 db. |
| Operator Extension |
Default number to dial when the user presses the "0" key, if enabled. This can be any number, including an external number. There is no validation and hence should be tested after configuration. |
| Advanced VmX Locater Settings | |
| Msg Timeout | Time to wait after the recorded message has been played before timing out. |
| Times to Play Message | Number of times to play the recorded message. One attempt means it will not repeat. More than one attempt means the message will repeat after timing out. |
| Error Re-tries |
Number of times to repeat the message upon receiving an undefined option. One retry means it will repeat once after the initial failure. |
| Disable Standard Prompt after Max Loops | If Max Loops is reached and the call goes to voicemail, checking this box will disable the standard voicemail prompt that follows the user's recorded greeting. |
| Disable Standard Prompt on 'dovm' Extension | If the special advanced extension of "dovm" is used, checking this box will disable the standard voicemail prompt that follows the user's recorded greeting. |
3 - Settings
There is a long list of parameters that you can set on this page. Additional information is provided for the more commonly used settings.
Voicemail to Email and Greetings
|
Field
|
Description
|
|---|---|
| attach | Option to attach voicemails to email. |
| emailbody |
This is the text that will appear in the email sent to users. Typically you would want to change the placeholder AMPWEBADDRESS to the actual IP address or hostname of your UCx Server.
${VM_NAME},\n\nThere is a new voicemail in mailbox ${VM_MAILBOX}:\n\n\tFrom:\t${VM_CALLERID}\n\tLength:\t${VM_DUR} seconds\n\tDate:\t${VM_DATE}\n\nDial *97 to access your voicemail by phone.\nVisit http://AMPWEBADDRESS/recordings/index.php?login=${VM_MAILBOX} to check your voicemail with a web browser.\n
See Voicemail to Email for usage. |
| emailsubject |
The subject of the notification email sent to the user. See Voicemail to Email for usage. |
| envelope | Turn on envelope playback before message playback. |
| externnotify |
The external application to be notified. See Unified Messaging for M1/CS1000 Users for usage. |
| forcegreetings | Force new users to record greetings. |
| forcename | Force new users to record their name.and change password. |
| format |
Format(s) used for recording voicemail. Multiple codes can be entered using the pipe [ | ]. if using IMAP storage then only the first one specified will be used. Emails are also sent with the first codec listed. Formats are:
|
| fromstring |
The name of the FROM email address of the notification email sent to the user. See Voicemail to Email for usage. |
Customizing control keys during Message Playback
You can customize the keys used for message control during message playback. The key values must be single digit.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| listen-control-forward-key | Key to forward the message. |
| listen-control-pause-key | Key to pause the message.. |
| listen-control-restart-key | Key to restart the message. |
| listen-control-reverse-key | Key to rewind the message. |
| listen-control-stop-key | Key to stop the message. |
Setting maximum and minimum values in messages
Note that three of the values below (maxsecs, maxsilence, minsecs) and one value in the Voice mailbox operational settings grouping (silencethreshold) set boundaries on the size of the messages left in voicemail. Use care in adjusting these parameters. E-MetroTel recommends to leave the silencethreshold value at the deault unless it is truly required for dealing with unusual amounts of background noise, and that adjusting the value should be done in minor increments if changes are truly necessary.
|
Field
|
Description
|
|---|---|
| maxmsg | Maximum number of messages per folder. The maximum value is 9999. The default value is 100. |
| maxsecs | Maximum message length (in seconds). When the recording duration reaches the configured maxsecs value, the recording is ended and the voicemail message is saved. The default value is 240 seconds. |
| maxsilence | Duration of continuous silence (in seconds) that ends the recording of a voicemail message. When silence detected during a recording reaches the maxsilence value, the recording is ended. Note: When recording is ended due to maxsilence, the silence is removed from the voicemail message before the minsecs check is performed. |
| minpassword | Minimum password length. When a user sets or changes their password from a phone, this minimum length is checked. |
| minsecs | Minimum message length (in seconds). If the recording is shorter than the configured minsecs value, the voicemail message is not saved. The default value is 2 seconds. |
Voice mailbox operational settings
|
Field
|
Description
|
|---|---|
| review | Allow sender to review/re-record their message before saving it. |
| sayextension | Say the extension number as part of the default unavailable and busy messages |
| serveremail |
The FROM email address of the notification email sent to the user. See Voicemail to Email for usage. |
| silencethreshold |
The threshold used to determine if a voice frame contains silence or noise/tone/speech. The default silencethreshold value is 256, which is also the minimum value. The maximm value is 32767. Note: Increasing the silencethreshold value above the default value (256) can be useful in order to properly detect silence on calls with an unusual amount of background noise. Setting this value too high may lead to problems with audio detection.
E-MetroTel recommends to leave the value at the deault unless it is truly required for dealing with unusual amounts of background noise, and that adjusting the value should be done in minor increments if changes are truly necessary. |
| skipms | Number of milliseconds to skip forward/backward when fast forwarding and rewinding in message playback. |
| externpasscheck |
This field points to a script that will perform checks on the password. The default value is /usr/bin/ucx_vm_check_password. This script will perform the following complexity checks: - Cannot be shorter than 2 digits - Cannot be the same as the mailbox (extension) number - Cannot contain only one digit (e.g. 111111, 222222, 0000, etc.) - Cannot contain the same digit from the beginning or from the end with the exception of the last/first digit (e.g. 111112, 211111, 1000, 007, etc.) - Cannot be in sequences (e.g. 012345, 1234, 987654, 3210, etc.) |
4 - Timezone Definitions
Timezone definition specifies how the voicemail system announces the time. The definitions that you specify will overwrite the defaults.
|
Field
|
Description
|
|---|---|
| New Name | Enter a name for the timezone |
| New Timezone Definition | Time announcement for message playback |
The format of the timezone defintition is: timezone| values
A list of supported time zone names is avaialble in the TZ column of the time zone table on this page.
The supported values are:
- 'filename' - the name of the sound file in single quotes
- variable - the supported variables are listed on the page
Examples of Timezone Definitions:
- America/New_York| 'vm-received' Q 'digits/at' IMp [Note: The timezones definitions need to be valid entries from the website referenced above.]
- Asia/Shanghai| 'vm-received' a d b 'digits/at' HM
Account View
Select an extension on the right hand side to view the account level settings. Settings at the account level will overwrite the system level settings.
1 - Settings
2 - Usage
Self Assessment Quiz
- Do you know where to configure the system wide "dial 0" operator number?
- Do you know where to change the text of the email message sent to users when voicemail to email is enabled?
- Which field would you set to yes, to force new users to record their greetings?
- If a user reports a problem saying a message left by a caller was not saved, which setting would you check?