Phone Insertions

This chapter provides information to add phones, Cisco VGC Phones, CTI ports, or H.323 clients into the Cisco Unified Communications Manager database.

You must have a Cisco Unified Communications Manager Bulk Administration (BAT) phone template for the devices that you are adding, and a data file in comma separated value (CSV) format that contains the unique details for the phones or other IP telephony devices. You can choose the target and method of the data file upload. Phone records must be validated before insertion.

Insert Phones Into Unified Communications Manager

When you insert phone records into the Unified Communications Manager database, you define the target CSV data file and how the phone records get inserted. Select any combination of the listed actions to overwrite the existing phone records, or you can choose to insert the records during upload:
  • Delete all existing Speed Dials before adding new one
  • Delete all existing BLF Speed Dials before adding new one
  • Delete all existing BLF Directed Call Parks before adding new one
  • Delete all existing Subscribed Services before adding new one

Note

Phone records must be validated before insertion.


Note

BAT expects Directory Number URI fields for directory numbers in the following format:

URI 1 on Directory Number 1, URI 1 Route Partition on Directory Number 1, URI 1 is Primary on Directory Number 1.

You can use the dummy MAC address option. When adding CTI ports, this option gives a unique device name to each CTI port in the form of dummy MAC addresses that you can manually update later using the Unified Communications Manager Administration or the Unified CM Auto-Register Phone Tool. Do not use the dummy MAC address option for H.323 clients, VGC phones, or VGC virtual phones.

The dummy MAC address option automatically generates dummy MAC addresses in the following format:

XXXXXXXXXXXX

where X represents any 12-character, hexadecimal (0-9 and A-F) number.

Before you begin

  • You must have a Unified Communications Manager Bulk Administration (BAT) phone template for the devices that you are adding. You can choose the target and method of the data file upload. Phone records must be validated before insertion.

  • You must have a data file in comma separated value (CSV) format that contains the unique details for the phones or other IP telephony devices.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Bulk Administration > Phones > Insert Phones.

Step 2

Specify the file format type for the phone record that you are uploading.

  1. To insert phone records that use a customized file format, click Insert Phones Specific Details radio button and continue with Step 3 and Step 5.

  2. To insert phone records from an exported phone's file that was generated using the All Details option, click Insert phones All Details radio button.

Step 3

In the File Name drop-down list box, choose the CSV data file that you created for this specific bulk transaction. Next, check the Allow Update Phone with Custom File check box to allow updating the phone with the chosen custom file.

Step 4

Check the Override the existing configuration check box to overwrite the existing phone settings with the information that is contained in the file that you want to insert. Next, check the check boxes beside the upload action(s) to perform during the upload.

The following upload actions get enabled for selection after you have checked the Override the existing configuration check box.

  • Delete all existing Speed Dials before adding new one.
  • Delete all existing BLF Speed Dials before adding new one.
  • Delete all existing BLF Directed Call Parks before adding new one.
  • Delete all existing Subscribed Services before adding new one.
    Note 

    Leave the check boxes clear to append those records to the existing records in the CSV data file during the upload.

Step 5

For the Specific Details option, in the Phone Template Name drop-down list, choose the BAT phone template that you created for this type of bulk transaction.

Attention 

If you did not enter individual MAC addresses in the CSV data file, you must check the Create Dummy MAC Address check box. You can update this information manually later. Skip to Step 8. If you supplied MAC addresses or device names in the data input file, do not choose this option.

If you do not know the MAC address of the phone that is assigned to the user, then choose this option. When the phone is plugged in, a MAC address registers for that device.

Step 6

In the Job Information area, enter the Job description.

Step 7

Choose an insert method. Do one of the following:

  1. Click Run Immediately to insert the phone records immediately.

  2. Click Run Later to insert the phone records later.

Step 8

Click Submit to create a job for inserting the phone records.

Use the Job Configuration window to schedule or activate this job.

What to do next

If the phones inserted are of the type Cisco Unified Mobile Communicator, then you must reset the devices after the insert job is completed. You can reset the phones using the Bulk Administration > Phones > Reset/Restart Phones option.