Cisco Systems 5.x Assigning Dial IDs

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Networking Guide for Cisco Unity Release 5.x (With Microsoft Exchange)

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Chapter 9 Primary Location Settings

Primary Location Profile Settings

Assigning Dial IDs

The primary location profile settings contain a Dial ID, which Cisco Unity uses as an identifier for the

location. You need to carefully plan the numbers that you choose as Dial IDs—for both the primary

location and for any delivery locations—particularly when your organization has multiple Cisco Unity

servers networked together. Without careful planning, it is possible to assign Dial IDs that have the effect

of preventing Cisco Unity from finding a message recipient at another location.

In installations with multiple Cisco Unity servers networked together, be sure to consult with the

administrators of the other Cisco Unity servers about the numbers that you can use for the Dial IDs of

the primary location and for any delivery locations that you create. You need to verify that the Dial IDs

on the local Cisco Unity server do not conflict with the Dial IDs and extensions used on other

Cisco Unity servers.

The numbering plan for assigning Dial IDs and extensions can affect how easily Cisco Unity matches

the number that a subscriber enters when addressing a message. We recommend the following

guidelines:

• Establish a fixed length for Dial IDs, and if possible, a fixed length for extensions.

• Assign unique Dial IDs. A Dial ID must not be the same as any other Dial ID or any extension

assigned to a subscriber, call handler, interview handler, or public distribution list. (Note that in

installations with multiple Cisco Unity servers networked together, it is unfortunately possible to

assign a non-unique Dial ID due to directory replication lag time.)

• Assign a numbering range for Dial IDs that extensions do not use. For example, you can assign Dial

IDs with leading zeros—001, 002, and so on.

• If you use variable-length Dial IDs and extensions, the Dial IDs should be in a different numbering

range than the range for extensions. For example, if there is a local extension 750123, do not assign

a location the Dial ID of 750 if there is a possibility that this location will have the extension 123.

• If you use variable-length Dial IDs, the first digits of each ID should be unique with respect to other

Dial IDs. For example, if you have a location with an ID of 750, do not assign another location the

ID of 7503. In this example, during a blind addressing search, Cisco Unity would always match the

blind address entered by the subscriber to location 750 and fail to find location 7503.

If you do not follow these guidelines, subscribers may encounter the following problems when

addressing a message:

• A delay while Cisco Unity searches for a match

• Multiple matches for the number

• Failure to find the recipient at another location

If necessary to accommodate the numbering plan for your organization, the minimum length for primary

location Dial IDs can be reduced to one or two digits by changing a registry key, as described in the

following “To Change the Minimum Length of a Location Dial ID” procedure. Note, however, that one-

and two-digit Dial IDs may conflict with private distribution list IDs during an address search. When a

subscriber addresses a message by entering a one- or two-digit number, Cisco Unity first searches for a

matching private distribution list. If a match is found, the search stops. Therefore, when a subscriber

addresses a message by entering a location Dial ID in order to narrow down the search scope to a