Category: ShoreTel Configuration

Add ShoreTel Extension Lists to your Automated Attendant

Posted on by DrVoIP

Extension Lists are a unique solution for a variety of challenges in the Call Flow War! Does your Automated Attendant have a “spell by name” directory? Does the CEO want to be listed in the spell by name directory? In ShoreTel it is easy enough to disable a name from appearing in the directory, but what about that nasty ability to take action on the famous “if you know your parties four digit extension number, dial it at any time during this greeting….”. Think about it, anybody can bounce around the company telephone system after they hear that announcement! Sooner or later they may even find the CEO! So what is to be done about this possibility? In ShoreTel, you can create Extension Lists.These lists can be used for setting up paging groups, but they can also be used in the Automated Attendant.When setting up the Automated Attendant you have a drop down list of each of the digits and the ability to define what should happen when someone pushes that digit(i.e. send to a menu, transfer to an extension, take a message).There is a special entry list that includes what to do if the caller “Time Out”; or “invalid entry” or hits “multiple digits”.Typically, this last option: “multiple digits”, is set through the drop down menu to “Transfer to Extension” echoing the digits the caller entered.If look at the right of that drop down list, similar to the other menu items, you can click and select an Extension List!How wonderful!You can actually create a list of extensions that the caller can dial and limit the digits that the Automated Attendant accepts to only the extensions on that list!This assures that the caller will not accidentally hit the extension that activates the overhead paging system or ring the CEO’s office!

ShoreTel AA drop down list!

How to backup your ShoreTel IPBX!

Posted on by DrVoIP

Prior to version 7 of  ShoreTel, backing up your ShoreTel system was very straight forward. There was a single folder in the root directory named d:\ Shoreline data. This folder contained all the information that was required to completely restore your ShoreTel system from a bare metal server in the event of a major disaster. The folder contained the configuration database, which at the time was kept in Microsoft Access. It also contained all of your recorded prompts for Automated Attendant, your voice mail messages, all of your Call Detail Records and softswitch related information. You could easily identify this one folder and make it a part of your normal system backup process for your company. With the introduction of Version 7 of ShoreTel the company began to migrate away from the Microsoft Access database and move toward the MySQL database. First they moved the Call Detail Records and with Version 8, the entire configuration database had migrated to MySQL. For this reason the database backup process for a ShoreTel system has changed. The process must now include the backup of two MySQL databases and the aforementioned Shoreline data folder. ShoreTel does provide a few BAT file examples of how you might do this, but if you want to automate the process complete with a schedule you will want to consider using some other tools. We recommend the use of SQLyog and include a copy on every server that we support or install (just another reason to have DrVoIP do your ShoreTel maintenance). Send an email request to drvoip@drvoip.com and we will send you a tech note that details this process or you can watch this silent video linked below!

How to Backup a ShoreTel IPBX Version 7+

Your ShoreTel Provider – What does it take to implement VoIP!

Posted on by DrVoIP

If you ask your average IT professional what a T span is, the usual response will be that it is a 1.5MB connection to the internet. Ask your average telecom tech what a T span is and you will be told it is 24 channels of dial tone! As a VoIP Engineer what a T span is and you should get the answer:, “what do you want it to be”? One of the great challenges of implementing a VoIP solution is the absolute requirement that the implementation team possess an interdisciplinary skill set. The solution demands expertise in a range of specialized skills including IP network, switching, routing, supplementary telephony services , server technology management and application call flow integration. If the user group is going to fully realize the benefits of a VoIP implementation, then each of these specialized areas of technology are going to be necessary to a successful deployment. Traditional telephony vendors are comfortable with all things TDM. They like to punch things down on 66 blocks and use “butt sets” to test for “dial tone”. Network professionals have their area of comfort as to Microsoft or Linux server professionals. Call Center professionals understand caller greeting, salutation, screening, call routing, message acquisition and message retrieval at the application level, but seldom understand the underlying technology. At the end of the day, you can shop the internet and find out who can sell you a shiny new telephone thing cheaper, but finding a team that can execute the delivery of a VoIP solution is worthy of the time you would invest selecting a new CFO! You need to work with a team that can demonstrate proficiency in each of the required discipline and accept responsibility for every aspect of the implementation. From concept to “go live”, the voip solution provider you select  must know the difference between a “dress rehearsal” and a “take”.

What is a ShoreTel DVM and why do I need one?

Posted on by DrVoIP

What exactly is the value of a Distributed Voice Mail Server (e.g. DVM)?   What are the pro’s and con’s of installing one?  Does it have any impact on resiliency (not redundancy) as it relates to business continuity in the event of server failures?  ShoreTel has a distributed architecture but like all other VoIP solutions there is only one “read/write” database and that is a component of the ShoreTel architecture aptly named the HQ server.   IF this server goes down and the R/W database is unavailable configuration changes can not be made throughout the “single image” installation.

Installing a DVM at the same level, or in the same site as the HQ server, provides a high degree of resiliency at comparatively low cost.     At the HQ site, put all your HQ users on a DVM.   If the DVM goes down, the HQ will pick up the heavy lifting for the Users on the DVM.  If the HQ goes down, the DVM users will still have VM and AA services.  As of today, there are three services, however,  that are NOT distributed in the ShoreTel architecture. These services are known as Workgroups, Route Points; and Account codes.   If you lose the HQ server, you will lose these services for all sites, even if they have a DVM installed at that site!

As it relates to low cost business continuity options, we like to install a DVM at the HQ site, but we want all switches at all sites to be managed by the HQ server.   This usually provokes a heady discussion, but here is our reasoning.   The real value of a DVM is to keep VM and AA media streams off the very expensive WAN connections. Remember that a DVM can fail up, which means the HQ server can take over Voice Mail and AA processing for the users at a site that has a failed DVM.   It makes sense to put the users at a remote site on the DVM at that site, but does it really make sense to have the switches at that site managed by the DVM at that site?

We think not.   Lets separate the issue of Users and Voice Mail from issues like TAPI, Workgroups and Personal Call Managers.   We need to remember that if a server goes down, the switches managed by that server will lose all the TAPI information for the phones that it controls.  This means you will have no functioning Workgroup Agents and not ability to monitor those Agents. Additionally, the Personal Call Managers will not work for any extensions on switches managed by the down server.

Given that Workgroups is not a distributed service, if the HQ server goes down, you will not have Workgroups anyway.   If the DVM at a remote site goes down, the HQ server will proxy for that sites Voice Mail and Automated Attendants.  Given that the HQ server was managing the switches at that remote site, you will not lose any of the PCM functionality highlighted above.  It occurs to us that this is a better place to be.   Let the HQ manage all switches and use the DVM’s for Voice Mail services for the users at remote sites!  Use a DVM at HQ for additional resiliency.