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Networking Guide for Cisco Unity Release 5.x (With Microsoft Exchange)
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Chapter 7 VPIM Networking
VPIM Concepts and Definitions
For example, an outgoing VPIM message to Terry Campbell with the remote mailbox number 2233 could
be addressed:
To: 2233@remotevoicemailsystem.com
If it is necessary to accommodate the numbering plan for your organization, the address can also contain
a prefix:
To: 8882233@remotevoicemailsystem.com
VPIM addresses are created by the Voice Connector when sending VPIM messages; they are not entered
by subscribers when addressing messages.
VPIM Networking and Locations
Central to how you set up VPIM Networking is a Cisco Unity object called a location. Each Cisco Unity
server is associated with one location referred to as the default or primary location, which is created
during installation and which cannot be deleted. When setting up VPIM Networking, you use the
Cisco Unity Administrator to give the primary location a new name and a Dial ID (which is an identifier
for the location within Cisco Unity), enter the SMTP domain name, and customize other properties as
applicable. See the “Primary Location Profile Settings” section on page 9-1 for more information.
You create a delivery location in the Cisco Unity Administrator to correspond to each remote voice
messaging system with which Cisco Unity communicates. Delivery locations contain the information
that Cisco Unity needs to exchange messages with other VPIM-compliant voice messaging systems. A
VPIM delivery location contains the SMTP domain name of the system on the TCP/IP network that
handles messages for the remote voice messaging system.
Location data is stored both in the SQL Server database on the Cisco Unity server and in Active
Directory. In organizations with multiple Cisco Unity servers networked together, the location data
replicates to all of the Cisco Unity servers in the network. This means that delivery locations need to be
created only on one Cisco Unity server in the network. The Cisco Unity server on which delivery
locations are created is referred to as the bridgehead server. See the “Considerations for Digitally
Networked Cisco Unity Servers” section on page 7-57 for more information.
VPIM Networking and the Voice Connector
Cisco Unity uses Exchange to provide messaging between Cisco Unity and other VPIM-compliant voice
messaging systems. Exchange is VPIM-transport compliant and provides the ability to send and receive
messages across the Internet or any TCP/IP network to computers that support SMTP.
Before an outgoing message to a VPIM-compliant voice messaging system can be sent, it must be
encoded as a MIME message. The Cisco Unity Voice Connector for Exchange 2000 handles the
conversion to and from the MIME format.
The Voice Connector must be installed on an Exchange 2000 or Exchange 2003 server. If the Exchange
and Cisco Unity servers are in different routing groups, a routing group connector must be installed.
Although the Voice Connector can be installed on the Cisco Unity server (if Exchange is also on the
server), this is not recommended for performance reasons.
The Voice Connector must not be installed on a server in an Exchange cluster. Microsoft does not support
third-party connectors on an Exchange cluster server. In addition, the Voice Connector cannot be
installed on an Exchange 2007 server.