| Basic Queuing in CUCM (CallManager) without using UCCX |
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The feature I am thinking of is the Attendant Console application (or the Unified CM Attendant Console feature in the CUCM appliance models). When Cisco released Call Manager 4.1, they added a feature which allowed an administrator to enable queuing on an AC Pilot Point so that callers to the pilot point can be queued (with Music On Hold no less) while they wait for a hunt group member to become available. For those folks still using 4.1, 4.2, or 4.3 you can see what I mean by going to the console of your publisher node (or subscriber, if you prefer) and running the following: "c:program filesciscoCallManagerAttendantinacconfig.bat" You'll get something like the following:
The app will load displaying the "Basic" tab and you can click the "Advanced" tab to configure a pilot point for queuing! It is kinda clunky since you have to go the console of the server to do this, but it is functional. In the appliance models, you have the same capability but you can configure it directly on the Pilot Point configuration page. The Procedure (on CUCM appliance, tested on 6.x and 7.x) Before you can use the Attendant Console application for call queuing you must configure the following:
NOTE: You don't have to use the "ac" and "ACDeviceAuthenticationUser" user IDs. You can modify the actual names of the IDs by configuring the Attendant Console service parameters. After creating these users the first time, you will need to restart the "Cisco CallManager Attendant Console" service. (BTW, for those still on 4.x builds, this service is the Cisco Telephony Call Dispatcher service) Now, to create the Pilot number, go to Application>Cisco Unified CM Attendant Console>Pilot Point. Click on Add New, you will have something similar to the following:
You will need to configure the following:
If you are going to queue calls, then the Queue Size and Queue Hold Time parameters are of particular importance. When you have reached the max queue size or a particular caller's queue time exceeds the maximum queue time the calls are "de-queued" and sent to a Hunt Group member that has the "Always Route" option flagged. Typically, this could be another AC Hunt Pilot number or a voicemail system. After you specify the parameters for the Pilot, click on Save. You will now have the options to add a pilot number and assign members to the hunt group. To add a pilot number, click on "Line [1] - Add a new DN". You configure the pilot directory number much like any other line DN. After configuring the pilot DN, you can add Hunt Group members. When adding Hunt Group members you can only add specific dial plan objects (such as phone lines, Unity VM ports, or other Pilot points). You can flag a Hunt Group member as an "Always Route Member". This means that calls will always be routed to this member, regardless of the line state of the member. This option is useful when chaining Hunt Groups together and when sending callers to voicemail if all other Hunt Group members are busy or unavailable. A sample config:
This is a simple test where calls to the "7777" pilot number are routed to either 1003, 1004, or 1006. The 8019951 DN is an always route member that sends callers to Voicemail. If the 1003, 1004, and 1006 lines are all busy (on a call) then the next caller will actually be queued and will hear the "Sample Audio Source" MOH stream while in queue. After 60 seconds in queue, callers are sent to the voicemail number. Some considerations:
When looking at this option, make sure you keep in mind that this is a CTI application and you want to make sure you take appropriate measures when sizing your cluster design. While creating hundreds of these queuing applications is not ideal, it may be something you keep in your back pocket "just in case".
Comments (13)
  written by James Williams, February 10, 2011
William,
Good information. I'm looking to proceed with your article above for CUCM v7.1.3. But before I do I wanted to inquire as to whether having CUEAC running has any bearing on activating the CM AC on subscribers as mentioned in your artifcle above in step 1? thanks, james
 written by William Bell, February 14, 2011
James,
I have not worked with CUEAC so I cannot provide a definitive answer. My lab is in flux as I try to stand up a UCS box and move things over. So, I am unable to test this out. That being said, I reviewed the admin guide. Based on the config steps for integrating CUEAC with CUCM 7x, I do not see a conflict. HTH. Regards, Bill
written by William Bell, November 10, 2011
Hans,
Unfortunately, this method will not work in CUCM 8.0 or later (including 8.5). Cisco has removed the built-in AC application. Regards, Bill
 written by Darren Lee, November 22, 2011
Hey Bill,
When I apply everything that you said above, I get a busy tone when i try and call the number. As well I notice that under Registration and IPv4 yours shows information while mine says Unknown. Is this because I have to Call Manager Service? Thanks
written by William Bell, November 22, 2011
Darren,
You need to ensure you have the "Cisco CallManager Attendant Console" service running (in 4.x versions this was called Telephony Call Dispatcher, not sure when they changed the name). You may need to restart the service after adding the configuration. If you are still having trouble, take a look at the application logs to see if you see any authentication errors or other indications of service instability. HTH. Regards, Bill
 written by Lip, December 08, 2011
With CUCM 8 and greater would the ARC console be the replacement to get this functionality or use IPIVR?
written by William Bell, December 08, 2011
Lip,
To be honest, I am not sure. I will be doing a build out of CUBAC (Cisco's OEM version of ARC) in January. So, maybe as part of that build out I will gain data needed to answer your question more directly. Thanks, Bill
 written by Andy Collins, March 07, 2012
Hi
First off, this is a great article! I've just set this up on my CM7 servers, and i've gotten to the point where i can put a call in, and get to the default holding music. However, i can't get it to ring to either of the DN's i specified, it even goes to hold music if we're not on the phone! any suggestions?
written by William Bell, March 13, 2012
Hey Andy,
It has been a while since I have played with this config. I would check the following: 1. ACDeviceAuthenticationUser. Look at the members of your Hunt Group and check to make sure these devices are associated with the ACDeviceAuthenticationUser application user. 2. Check your application log to see if you are getting a bunch of authentication errors for ACDeviceAuthenticationUser or the ac user. I recall that at one point (after an upgrade) we had an issue similar to what you are describing and the problem came down to authentication. Specifically, we were told we had to set the password for the ac and ACDeviceAuthenticationUser to 12345. Not kidding. 3. You may want to restart the Cisco CallManager Attendant Console Server service. 4. Check to make sure you don't have the option "always route member" selected for your Hunt Group members. This should only be used on the "member of last resort" (i.e. voicemail pilot number). HTH. Regards, Bill follow me on twitter: @ucguerrilla
 written by Corri Eaves, March 22, 2012
I have had this setup for 6 months or so, now the CC would like to see calls in the queue. Do you know if there is anything to monitor this? I have looked in RTMT even but have not been able to see anything. We use Circular not Broadcast.
Thanks, Corri
written by William Bell, March 25, 2012
Corri,
Right now, my 7.x lab is in a holding pattern and all of my lab systems are running 8.5 or 8.6. RTMT is where I would look first and it sounds like you have already explored that option. The counters I was going to look at are here: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/doc...#wp1011768 Unfortunately, the counters that appear to provide what you want are all listed with the caveat of "do not use this counter". I guess Cisco determined that the counters aren't very accurate and since they are retiring this product they didn't plan on fixing the issue. Sorry I don't have a more definitive answer at this time. Regards, Bill
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Recently I have had a few customers that needed to have a basic queuing function but did not want to have a Contact Center/ACD application in their environment. In one instance, the customer was led to believe that they would need a UCCX server to do basic queuing. This is simply not true, there is an option available to administrators.
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