Troubleshooting Messages in Cisco Unity Connection 10.x

See the following sections:

Message Quota Enforcement: Responding to Full Mailbox Warnings

When users hear a prompt related to a full mailbox, it means that one or more of the three quotas that limit the size of voice mailboxes has been reached:

  • If a mailbox has reached the size of the warning quota, the user hears a warning that the mailbox is almost full.
  • If a mailbox has reached the size of the send quota, the user is unable to send messages and hears a warning that messages cannot be sent. If the user mailbox contains deleted messages, Cisco Unity Connection offers the option to remove all deleted messages.
  • If a mailbox has reached the size of the send/receive quota:

–blank.gif The user is unable to send messages.

–blank.gif The user hears a warning that messages cannot be sent.

–blank.gif Unidentified callers are not allowed to leave messages for the user.

–blank.gif Messages from other users generate nondelivery receipts to the senders.

–blank.gif If the user mailbox contains deleted messages, Unity Connection offers the option to remove all deleted messages. If necessary, the user can also remove saved or new messages individually until the mailbox size is below the quotas.

Troubleshooting Undeliverable Messages

Occasionally, messages cannot be delivered to the recipient that the caller intended to reach. The system behavior in this case depends on the type of sender and the reason that the message could not be delivered.

In general, if Unity Connection cannot deliver the message because of issues that are not likely to be resolved (for example, the caller was disconnected before addressing the message, or the recipient mailbox has been deleted), the message is sent to the Undeliverable Messages distribution list, and Unity Connection sends a nondelivery receipt (NDR) to the sender.

Note that the sender does not receive a nondelivery receipt in the following cases:

  • When the sender of the original message is an unidentified caller
  • When the sender is a user, but the user is configured to not accept NDRs
  • While the mailstore of the user is offline (in this case, the NDR is delivered when the database becomes available)

However, if the original message is malformed, rather than sending the message to the Undeliverable Messages list, Unity Connection places the message in the MTA bad mail folder (UmssMtaBadMail). This folder is automatically checked nightly by the Monitor Bad Mail Folders task, and if messages are found, an error is written to the application event log indicating troubleshooting steps.

Messages Appear to be Delayed

Following are the tasks to troubleshoot the possible causes for the apparent delay of messages.

1.blank.gif To verify the arrival times of messages, generate a user message activity report for the user. For more information, see the “Generating and Viewing Reports in Version 10.x” section in the “Using Reports in Version 10.x” chapter of the Administration Guide for Cisco Unity Connection Serviceability Release 10.x, available at http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/connection/10x/serv_administration/guide/10xcucservagx/10xcucservag050.html#pgfId-1051587.

2.blank.gif See the applicable information in the “Orientation Task List for Unity Connection Users” section in the “User Orientation in Cisco Unity Connection 10.x” chapter of the User Workstation Setup Guide for Cisco Unity Connection Release 10.x, available at http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/connection/10x/user_setup/guide/10xcucuwsx/10xcucuws040.html#pgfId-1056627.

Some Messages Seem to Disappear

See the following troubleshooting steps for investigating messages that are not being delivered to the intended recipients.

User Has a Full Mailbox

If a user mailbox is no longer allowed to receive messages, Unity Connection handles the message in one of two ways:

  • By default, when an unidentified caller attempts to send a message to a user whose mailbox has exceeded the send/receive quota, Unity Connection still delivers the message. You can instead configure Unity Connection to indicate to the caller that the recipient mailbox is full, and prevent the caller from recording a message for that recipient. (In Cisco Unity Connection Administration, on the Message Storage > Mailbox Quotas page, check the Full Mailbox Check for Outside Caller Messages check box.)

If the recipient mailbox has not yet exceeded the send/receive quota at the time an unidentified caller records a message, but the quota is exceeded in the act of delivering the message, Unity Connection delivers the message regardless of the quota.

  • When a user tries to leave a message for another user whose mailbox has exceeded the send/receive quota, Unity Connection allows the user to record and send the message. However, if the mailbox for the recipient is full, he or she does not receive the message, and if the user account for the recipient is configured to send non-delivery receipts when message delivery fails, Unity Connection sends the message sender a non-delivery receipt.

If the recipient mailbox has not yet exceeded the send/receive quota at the time a Unity Connection user records a message, but the quota is exceeded in the act of delivering the message, Unity Connection delivers the message regardless of the quota.

If a user whose voice mailbox has exceeded the send quota logs in to Unity Connection and attempts to send a message to another user, Unity Connection indicates that the send quota has been exceeded, and does not allow the sender to record the message. If the user calls another user and is forwarded to a voice mailbox, the user is able to leave a message, but the message is sent as an outside caller message.

Read receipts and non-delivery receipts are sent and delivered regardless of the status of the mailbox quota.

Encourage the user to dispose of messages promptly so that the Unity Connection mailbox does not fill up, and explain to users on the Undeliverable Messages distribution list the importance of regularly checking for and forwarding undeliverable messages.

caut.gif
Caution blank.gif If the mailboxes of the users who are assigned to check the Undeliverable Messages list exceed the send/receive quota, the messages sent to the Undeliverable Messages distribution list are lost. To avoid this problem, specify a generous value for the send/receive quota for at least one user who is a member of the Undeliverable Messages list, and encourage the user to dispose of messages promptly.

Undeliverable Messages Not Forwarded to Recipients

Messages returned to the Unity Messaging System mailbox are forwarded automatically to users whose names appear on the Undeliverable Messages system distribution list. The messages then must be forwarded to the intended recipients. Explain to users on the Undeliverable Messages distribution list the importance of regularly checking for and forwarding undeliverable messages.

caut.gif
Caution blank.gif If the mailboxes of the users who are assigned to check the Undeliverable Messages list exceed the send/receive quota, the messages sent to the Undeliverable Messages distribution list are lost. To avoid this problem, specify a generous value for the send/receive quota for at least one user who is a member of the Undeliverable Messages list, and encourage the user to dispose of messages promptly.

Users Assigned to Unity Connection Entities Deleted and No Replacements Assigned

When you delete a user who was assigned to review the messages that are sent to any of the following Unity Connection entities, make sure that you assign another user or a distribution list to replace the deleted user; otherwise, messages may be lost.

  • Undeliverable Messages distribution list (by default, the UndeliverableMessagesMailbox user account is the only member of this distribution list)
  • Operator call handler
  • Opening Greeting call handler
  • Goodbye call handler
  • Example Interview call handler

Unity Connection Unable to Relay Messages

Unity Connection uses the settings on the Message Actions page for a user in Cisco Unity Connection Administration to determine how to handle the different types of messages that it receives for the user. The relay action instructs Unity Connection to send all messages of a certain type to a relay address on a different messaging system (such as a corporate email server) for storage and user access.

If the relay address that is configured for a user matches one of the user SMTP proxy addresses that is configured on the system, Unity Connection does not relay messages to the relay address, to avoid possible delivery loops. If Unity Connection were to relay a message to a proxy address, it is possible that the proxy address would resolve back to the same Unity Connection mailbox that relayed the original message, thus creating an infinite loop.

When configuring relay addresses for message relay, we recommend that you use the precise email address of the destination mailbox, for example, alias@mailserver.

Unable to Play Message Audio in Outlook Web Access

When Unity Connection is configured to relay messages to a Microsoft Exchange server ( using the Relay the Message or the Accept and Relay the Message action), users who use Outlook Web Access to access their Exchange mailboxes may not be able to play the message audio. When this occurs, the message header indicates that the audio attachment is available for the message, but the user cannot view or play the attachment when the message is opened.

Unable to Receive Notification Emails for Quota Overflow

If a user is unable to receive notification emails for quota overflow, verify the following:

  • Verify that the sender (Unity Connection) is not getting an NDR in the mailbox. If the sender is getting an NDR, check the NDR code and take action accordingly. For more information on NDR codes, refer to the " Troubleshooting Non-Delivery Receipts in Cisco Unity Connection 10.x " chapter of this guide.
  • Verify that the corporate email address specified for the user is valid and correctly spelled.
  • Verify that the corporate mailbox of the user has some free space.

Troubleshooting Recorded Messages Not Allowed to Exceed 30 Seconds in Length

If recorded voice messages are not being allowed to exceed 30 seconds, confirm that the Unity Connection license file has the LicMaxMsgRecLenIsLicensed license tag enabled.

To Confirm that LicMaxMsgRecLenis Licensed License Tag is Enabled in the License File

Step 1blank.gif In Cisco Unity Connection Administration, expand System Settings, then select Licenses.

Step 2blank.gif On the Licenses page, under License Count, confirm that the value of Voice Message Recordings Longer Than 30 Seconds Allowed (LicMaxMsgRecLenIsLicensed) is set to Yes.