Configuring the Unified Messaging Exchange 2007 Server – Part-2

In my last article I have briefly explained you all some of the components used in unified messaging server. In this article we will see how to configure the unified messaging exchange 2007 server.

Note: Unified Messaging is a feature in Exchange 2007 Server however inorder to function it properly we need to have IP\PBX or VoIP Gateway. For this we need to have 3rd Party Product.

If you would like to see which are  the vendors support unified messaging click on this link Exchange Server 2007 Partners: Unified Messaging

Requirements for Exchange Unified Messaging integration

Before looking into this article please go through the basic overview of unified messaging server.

My Lab Setup:

Server Name	Role	Domain Name	Ip Address
E2K7	AD\DNS\E2K7 Server Role	Happy.com	192.168.0.1
PBX	Installed PBX Software	Happpy.com	192.168.0.2

I have one Server called as E2k7.happy.com which is hold the AD role and installed all the Exchange 2007 Server Role (HUB,CAS, MBX & UM Server Role)

Another Server (PBX) I am using for UM IP Gateway.

Requirement:
 Windows 2003 with sp2 (recommended)
 Exchange 2007 any version (I am using Exchange 2007 with sp1)
 PBX software ( I am using 3cx Phone System)
 Demo Phone : either you can use Microsoft Demo Testing Phone or any third party phone (I am using X-Lite)

Step-by-Step Guide:
 Installed Windows 2003 with sp2 Successfully
 Promoted the E2K7 Server as Active Directory
 Made E2K7 Server as DNS Server
 Met the prerequisite of Exchange 2007 – Having MMC 3.0, Installed Powershell
 Enabled IIS, Installed .net framework sp1 & hotfix, Installed DTC hotfix
 For unified Messaging installed msxml6.0
 Made the Active directory domain level as pure windows 2003 Native Mode
 Installed Exchange 2007.

Figure 1:

 

Inorder to Configure Unified Messaging:
 We need to create a Dial Plan
 We need to create Gateway
 We need to create a Auto Attendant
 Associate the Dial Plan with Your Unified Messaging Server.
 Finally enable the unified messaging feature for your users.

Creating a Dial Plan:
 Open Exchange Management Console
 Expand Organization Configuration
 Click on Unified Messaging
 Choose “New UM Dial Plan” from the Action Menu
Figure 2:
 

Name : Happy Dial Plan
Number of digits in extenstion numbers : 3
Rest I kept it has default

 Then Click on New button as per the figure 2
 Once you click on New it will show you the completion process.

Figure 3:

 

Creating an IP Gateway:
 Open Exchange Management Console
 Expand Organization Configuration
 Click on Unified Messaging
 Choose “New UM IP Gateway” from the Action Menu
Figure 4:
Name : Happy IP\PBX Gateway
IP Address : Give the ip address of the PBX Device Server who is going to responsible for delivery the response to Unified Messaging Server. In my case it is 192.168.0.2 which is non other then PBX.happy.com server (FQDN of my second server)
Under Dial Plan : Select the new dial plan which we have create . In my case I named it as Happy Dial Plan.

After filling the above information click on NEXT, then it will display the confirmation for the setting you created just click on Finish
Figure 5:

 

After creating UM IP Gateway you will see Default Hunt Group below that
Figure 6:

 

Creating Auto Attendant:
 Open Exchange Management Console
 Expand Organization Configuration
 Click on Unified Messaging
 Choose “New UM Auto Attendant” from the Action Menu
Figure 7:
Name : Happy Auto Attendant
Selected the newly created dial plan : Happy Dial Plan
Then click on Extension Number : Type 3 digit number, I have selected 600 then click on Add.

Tips: Before you configure Unified Messaging plan it properly like how many digit extension you require and which are the auto set number you will have. Don’t forget to have a copy of standard digit method like setting number 9 for external call, setting 0 for calling receptionist extension and make sure you are not using any emergency dial number like 100, 101 etc.

Once you set the information click on New, then it will complete the process and then click on finish
Figure 8:
 

Associating the Dial Plan with our Unified Messaging Server
 Open Exchange Management Console
 Expand Server Configuration
 Click on Unified Messaging
 Right Click the Exchange Server
 Click on Properties
 Then click on UM Settings
 Click on ADD & Select Happy Dial Plan
Figure 9:
 

Create two test users and enable unified messaging feature
 I have created two test account
Figure 10:

 

Enabling the Unified Messaging Feature:
 Open Exchange Management Console
 Expand Recipient Configuration
 Select that particular User
 From the Action Menu Select “Enable Unified Messaging”
Figure 11:

 

Then it will display the unified message setting for the user
Figure 12:
 

Then click on Next and set an extension for the user
Figure 13:

 

Then click on Enable and then click on Finish
Figure 13-1:

 

I followed the above step for smile user as well.
Happy User Extension is 301
Smile User Extension is 302.

We are done with Exchange Server. Now we need to configure the IP/PBx device to communicate with our Exchange Server.

Configuring IP/PBX:
 Installed 3cxPhone System
During installation it will ask for an account that can access the configuration part, my suggestion would be create a separate account. It will ask for FQDN for PBX Server, during this time give the fqdn name as : pbx.happy.com

Note : Don’t try to test this software on the same system where you have exchange server installed because both i.e Unified Messaging Server and 3cx require to communicate on 5060 Port.
 Click on Start => Programs => 3cx Phone System => Management Console, it will display the below browser
Figure 14:

 
 

Creating Extension for the users:
 When the management console open
 Click on Extension and then Click on Add
Figure 15:
 

Follow the above step for Smile User as well
Figure 15-1:

 

Integrate your Exchange Server with 3cx
 Open the console
 Expand General (This option is available on the left hand side of the corner
 Click on General Setting
 Click on Microsoft Exchange 2007 Integration
 Enable it and give the Exchange Server Ip Address and restart your 3cx Server
Figure 16:

 

How to enable Subscriber Access:
Note : By default it will number 999 which will directly connect to your unified messaging. If you want to modify it then follow the below steps:
 Open the console
 Expand General (This option is available on the left hand side of the corner
 Click on General Setting
 Expand Voicemail & Fax Delivery Setting
Figure 17:
 

Enabling Auto-Attendant Feature:
 Open the 3cx Management Console
 Expand Digital Recipionist
 Then click on ADD
Figure 18:
 

Virtual Extension Number : 600 ( I have given the same extension in UM Auto Attendant)
Name  : Unified Messaging Auto Att
Enabled “Redirect to MS Exchange”

Now we are done with 3cx configuration.

 Now install X-Lite Phone software. For download click here:
 I have installed it on both machine because I am going to do a test on both users. (It requires reboot)
 When you open X-Lite for the first time it will ask you to add the user account
Figure 19:

User Display : Happy
User Name : 301 (This is the extension number we have set for the happy)
Password : Password should be the value which you have set in 3cx browser.
Domain : FQDN of your UM Gateway Server
Rest all, keep it default and then click on apply.

Follow the same step for smile
User Display : Smile 
User Name : 302 (This is the extension number we have set for the happy)
Password : Password should be the value which you have set in 3cx browser.
Domain : FQDN of your UM Gateway Server

After Registration : your phone should display like this
Figure 20:
 

Now it’s a time to test the configuration,

Illustration 1:
Calling the smile user extension i.e user 301 will call 302
 Just Dial 302
 Under 301 User you will see : Ringing
Figure 21:
 

Under 302 Phone you will see the below screen
Figure 21-1
 

And it will display as miss call (miss call notification)

Demo Video for the above illustration Click here
Note : I have zipped two format of video .avi (Normal Quality) & another one is .camrec (Good Quality) Kindly adjust with it. For Camrec you need to have Camtasia software installed for downloading click here

2) Illustration 2:
User Name is : smileGoing to call my mailbox.
Going to accept a meeting request from happy user
Going to reply back to mail which has been sent by happy user
Demo Video for the above illustration (Only .camrec available) Click Here
Note: Inorder to view the demo video please install 7-zip software for extracting the file for that please click here

Accepted the meeting request by smile via phone
Figure 22:
 

Now let me check whether I am able to see the voice message of smile user who has given reply for happy user mail
Figure 23:
 

3) Illustration3:
I am going to enable a voice message so that if user call me and if I am not available he can leave a message for me, which will get stored in my mailbox.

Inorder to do this first thing we need to enable voice mail.
 Open your 3cx Management Console
 Click on Extension then manage
 Select the user
 Expand “Destination unreachable /forwarding
 Click on Phone Registered Tab
 Select Forward a Voice mail
Figure 24:
 

Now lets see our demo:
Call Forwarding
Demo click here

4) Illustration:
Lets call up our autoattendant : dail extension is 600
Either you can call up the searching guy by his alias or if extension number as well. I am not able to create a video for this due, but theoritical it will call up our exchange server and it will ask you to dial the extension where you to contact or alias name or his first name and last then you will reach to destination user either you can leave a voice message or speak with him.

I hope this article is being very informative to you all and you all enjoyed it I guess.

Thanks Giving:
There are many guys and vendors are involved inorder to publish this article and of course without them I won’t get an oppurunity to publish it. Their help directly or indirectly was tremendous.

1) Microsoft, 3cx Phone System and X-Lite because without them i won't be able to publish this article, their invention is just amazing.
2) Ryan Newington : He is the guy for me a moral support who made me believe that in VMware also it is possible and helped me for answering my queries. He has made an excellent article on configuring unified messaging keeping the Centos (Linux) as PBX device. Thanks Ryan for your wonderful article.
3) My unisys team member :  My other team member from whom I took assistance for configuring IP/PBX in linux – Centos are Reddy, Jakki Reddy Ganesh & Angiya, Gopinath Subramanian because without them I can’t be able configure PBX in my linux box, it was unsuccessful for me which is a different story but I came toknow about some of the basic commands. Thanks dude
4) Finally I was able to configure Unified Messaging PBX software in my windows OS and for searching out the best software, one of our v-9 guy helped me and also clearing out some of the queries… hey v-9 do you know who is that Kochhar guy, he is none other then Kochhar, Rahul Rajesh.  Without him it might take long time to search and hunt on which software can be used for demo purpose. Thanks a lot Rahul for small time effort which is most valuable for us.

Thanks to all of you once again for helping me out.

Reference Link:

Unified Messaging - Exchange 2007-Part1

Understanding Unified Messaging Hunt Groups

Accessing Exchange 2007 Unified Messaging: Introduction 

3cx Phone System

Planning, Deploying, and Managing Unified Messaging with Exchange Server 2007

Microsoft Exchange 2007 Unified Messaging PBX Configuration Note for Cisco Call Manager 5.1