CISCO Message Storage User Guide
- June 15, 2024
- Cisco
Table of Contents
Message Storage
• Message Storage, on page 1
Message Storage
Overview
Cisco Unity Connection uses separate databases to store the system configuration and the information in voicemails.
About Mailbox Stores
Consider the following points to understand the importance of mailbox stores in Unity Connection:
- During installation, Unity Connection automatically creates:
- A directory database to store system configuration information, such as user data and templates.
- A mailbox store database to store information, such as the sender of each message and the location of the .wav file associated with a particular voice message.
- An operating system directory to store voice message .wav files.
- A Unity Connection server or cluster supports up to 20,000 users. You need to create a separate mailbox store for every 5000 users. Creating additional mailbox stores allow you to backup selected mailboxes and ensure that backup gets completed during non-business hours.
- You can modify the default 15 GB size of the Unity Connection mailbox stores depending on your requirements. The maximum mailbox size supported by Unity Connection is 30 GB.
- An administrator with the required permissions can create up to four additional mailbox stores. Each additional mailbox store includes a separate mailbox store database and a separate operating system directory.
- The directory information of all the users in a Unity Connection server or cluster remain in one directory database created during Unity Connection installation.
- After you create a new mailbox store, you can either move the existing mailboxes into the new mailbox store or create new mailboxes in the new mailbox store. For more information, see the Moving Mailboxes between Mailbox Stores, on page 4 section.
- In case of a Unity Connection cluster, all the mailbox stores are replicated to both publisher and subscriber.
User Templates Settings
The user template selected at the time of creating a new user account
specifies some settings that are used as a default value for the user account.
The mailboxes of the user accounts based on the default user template are
created in the default mailbox store. If you create new mailbox stores, you
can change the mailbox settings in the default user templates or in any new
user templates that you create.
Note
If a mailbox store is applied to one or more user templates, you cannot delete
that mailbox store until the user template setting is changed or the user
template is deleted.
For more information changing the mailbox settings in a user template, see the
Configuring User Templates.
Maximum Size Supported for a Mailbox Store
You must specify the maximum amount of disk space that the voice messages for
a mailbox store can occupy at the time of creating a new mailbox store. The
maximum size of mailbox store is not an absolute maximum but specifies a
limit. On exceeding the limit specified for a mailbox, warnings or errors are
logged into Unity Connection.
Consider the following information related to the maximum size supported for a
mailbox store:
- The size of a mailbox store is still less than the maximum specified value if:
- Unity Connection saves new messages in the mailbox store.
- You can create new mailboxes in the mailbox store.
- You can move other mailboxes into the mailbox store.
- When the size of the mailbox store reaches 90 percent of the specified maximum size, a warning is logged in the system log.
- When the size of the store reaches 100 percent of the specified maximum size, an error is logged in the system log. In addition, in Cisco Unity Connection Administration, an error appears in the Status bar on the Edit Mailbox Store page.
- If you want to maintain the mailbox store below 100 percent of the specified maximum limit, do any of the following:
- Increase the maximum size of the mailbox store, if an additional space is available on the hard disk.
- Create another mailbox store and move some mailboxes into the new mailbox store.
- Revise the mailbox size quotas and message aging policy to reduce the individual mailbox size and the size of mailbox store. You can also delete the voice messages to reduce the size of the mailboxes that reduces the total size of the mailbox store. However, before deleting the mailboxes, make sure to backup the mailbox stores to preserve any important information.
Note
When users delete messages, the deleted messages are not removed from the
mailbox store until the next time the Clean Deleted Messages task runs. The
task runs every 30 minutes and the schedule for the task cannot be edited.
Changing the Maximum Size Supported for a Mailbox Store
Step 1 In Cisco Unity Connection Administration, expand Message Storage and
select Mailbox Stores.
Step 2 On the Search Mailbox Store page, select the applicable mailbox store.
Step 3 On the Edit Mailbox Store page, change the value in the Maximum Size
Before Warning field. (For more information on each field, see Help> This
Page).
Note
Do not change the value of this field if the mailbox store is already at the
maximum size that can be backed up during non-business hours.
Step 4 Select Save.
Backup with Multiple Mailbox Stores
The duration of backup depends on the size of a mailbox store. The Disaster
Recovery System takes the backup of an entire mailbox store and the
corresponding database during a single backup session. The default size of a
mailbox store is limited to 15 GB so that the backup can be completed during
non business hours. For more information on how to backup the multiple mailbox
stores, see the “Backing Up and Restoring Cisco Unity Connection Components”
chapter of the Install, Upgrade, and Maintenance Guide, Release 14, available
at
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/connection/14/install_upgrade/guide/b_14cuciumg.html
Configuring Mailbox Stores
Consider the following points when creating, editing, or deleting the mailbox stores:
- You can create or edit the settings of one mailbox store at a time.
- You cannot delete a mailbox store if:
- The mailbox store still contains one or more mailboxes.
- The mailbox store is still referenced by one or more user templates.
- The administrator is trying to delete the default mailbox store (UnityMbxDb1).
Step 1
In Cisco Unity Connection Administration, expand Message Storage and select
Mailbox Stores.
The Search Mailbox Store page displays the currently configured mailbox
stores.
Note A user account without the System Administrator role cannot create a
new mailbox store.
Step 2
Configure one or mailbox stores (For more information on each field, see Help>
This Page):
-
To add a new mailbox store:
On the Search Mailbox Store page, select Add New.
On the New Mailbox Store page, enter the values of the required fields and select Save.
The new mailbox store appears on the Search Mailbox Stores page. The value in the Access Enabled column is Yes and the value of the Status column is OK. -
To edit an existing mailbox store:
On the Search Mailbox Store page, select the mailbox store that you want to edit.
On the Edit Mailbox Store page, enter the values of the required fields and select Save. -
To delete one or more mailbox stores:
On the Search Mailbox Store page, check the check boxes to select the users with mailboxes that you want to delete.
Select Delete Selected and OK to confirm.
Moving Mailboxes between Mailbox Stores
When moving mailboxes from one mailbox store to another, note the following:
- The MWI status is retained after a mailbox is moved from one mailbox store to another.
- (Unity Connection cluster only) Sign in to the server with Primary status to move the mailboxes.
- Moving the mailboxes from one mailbox store to another fails, if:
- The user do not have sufficient permissions in Cisco Unity Connection Administration and is not authorized to move a mailbox.
- The source or the target mailbox store is disabled.
- The user with mailbox that you are moving is a system user. System mailboxes cannot be moved out of the default mailbox store(UnityMbxDb1).
Step 1 In Cisco Unity Connection Administration, expand Message Storage and
select Mailbox Stores Membership.
Step 2 On the Search Mailbox Stores Membership page, in the Choose Membership
Type list, select User Mailbox.
Step 3 In the User Mailbox Search Results section, specify the mailbox store
from which you want to move the mailboxes.
Step 4 Select the mailbox store to which you want to move the mailboxes and
check the applicable check boxes for the users with mailboxes that you want to
move.
Step 5 Select Move Selected Mailboxes.
Disabling and Re-Enabling a Mailbox Store
Each mailbox store is automatically disabled when you take the backup of that mailbox store using Disaster Recovery System. When a mailbox store is disabled:
- You cannot create a new mailbox in the store.
- You cannot move existing mailboxes into or out of the store.
- New messages for users with mailboxes that are in the disabled store are queued for delivery until the store is re-enabled.
Cisco Unity Connection Administration provides an option to manually disable a mailbox store but you should not disable a mailbox store that is in use.
Step 1 In Cisco Unity Connection Administration, expand Message Storage and
select Mailbox Stores.
Step 2 On the Search Mailbox Stores page, select the mailbox store that you
want to disable.
Step 3 To disable a mailbox store: On the Edit Mailbox Store page, uncheck the
Mounted check box and select Save.
Step 4 To re-enable a mailbox store: On the Edit Mailbox Store page, check the
Mounted check box and select Save.
Controlling the Size of Mailboxes
You can specify mailbox size quotas and change the message aging policy in
Cisco Unity Connection Administration to control the size of the user voice
mailboxes.
Mailbox Size Quotas
To help control the size of the user voice mailboxes, Unity Connection allows
you to specify quotas or limits on the maximum size of voice mailbox. You can
configure quotas so that Unity Connection:
- Issues a warning when a mailbox reaches a specified size.
- Prevents a user from sending messages when the mailbox reaches the limit.
- Prevents a user from sending or receiving messages when the mailbox reaches the limit.
By default, Unity Connection is configured with the system-wide mailbox size quotas listed in below Table . However, to handle the varying needs of users in your organization, you can override the system-wide quotas for individual mailboxes and for user templates. Mailbox Size Quotas Defined in Unity Connection
Quota Level| | | Recording Time Before Quota is Reached/ Disk
Space Used 1
---|---|---|---
G.711
Mu-Law
| G.711
A-Law
| G.726| PCM 8 kHz| PCM 16
kHz 2
| G.729a| GSM 6.10
Warning| 12 MB| The user| 18 min./| 18 min./| 37 min./| 9 min./ 22| 4.5 min./|
122| 91 min./
| | is| 11| 11 KB/sec| 5.53| KB/sec| 44 KB/sec| min./| 2.25
| | warned| KB/sec| | KB/sec| | | 1.67| KB/sec
| | that the| | | | | | KB/sec|
| | mailbox| | | | | | |
| | is| | | | | | |
| | reaching| | | | | | |
| | the| | | | | | |
| | maximum| | | | | | |
| | size| | | | | | |
| | allowed.| | | | | | |
Send| 13 MB| The user| 20 min./| 20 min./| 40 min./| 10 min./| 5 min./ 44|
132| 98 min./
| | is| 11| 11 KB/sec| 5.53| 22 KB/sec| KB/sec| min./| 2.25
| | prevented| KB/sec| | KB/sec| | | 1.67| KB/sec
| | from| | | | | | KB/sec|
| | sending| | | | | | |
| | any| | | | | | |
| | more| | | | | | |
| | voice| | | | | | |
| | messages.| | | | | | |
Send/| 14 MB| The user| 21 min./| 21 min./| 43 min./| 10 min./| 5 min./ 44|
143| 106
Receive| | is| 11| 11 KB/sec| 5.53| 22 KB/sec| KB/sec| min./| min./
| | prevented| KB/sec| | KB/sec| | | 1.67| 2.25
| | from| | | | | | KB/sec| KB/sec
| | sending| | | | | | |
| | or| | | | | | |
| | receiving| | | | | | |
| | any| | | | | | |
| | more| | | | | | |
| | voice| | | | | | |
| | messages.| | | | | | |
- Here “Disk Space Used” is not limited to size of the file but includes complex metadata.
- Here Recording Time and Disk Space Used are calculated using Opus codec as advertised codec.
However the default advertised codec is G.711 Mu-Law.
Caution
Quotas alone can control the size of mailboxes for the users who regularly
check Unity Connection voice messages using the telephone user interface. Web
Inbox and Cisco ViewMail for Microsoft Outlook do not notify users that the
mailbox has reached its limit. If users check messages using Web Inbox or
Cisco ViewMail for Microsoft Outlook, you need to configure message aging so
that the old messages are automatically deleted.
Changing the Default System-wide Mailbox Quotas in Unity Connection
Step 1 In Cisco Unity Connection Administration, expand Message Storage > > >
Mailbox Quotas > and select Mailbox Quotas.
Step 2 On the Edit System-wide Mailbox Quotas page, enter the values of the
required settings. (For more information on each field, see Help> This Page).
Step 3 Select Save.
Note For information to override system-wide mailbox quota settings for
Unity Connection users and user templates, see the “User Attributes” and
“Users” chapters.
Mailbox Quota Alert
Unity Connection allows you to specify the maximum quota for the voice mailbox
of every user. In Unity Connection 10.0(1) and later releases, when the
mailbox size of a user starts reaching its specified threshold limit, the user
receives a quota notification message.
A quota notification message is an email that is sent automatically by Unity
Connection to the corporate email address of the mailbox of the user when its
exceeds the threshold limit. You can use Cisco Unity Connection Administration
to view the default quota notification message or to create, view, and edit
the quota notification messages. The quota notification message is sent by the
Quota Notification Mail task to the configured corporate addresses of the
users whose mailbox has reached the size specified for warning quota.
Configuring the Quota Notification Settings
Step 1 In Cisco Unity Connection Administration, expand Tools and select Task
Management.
Step 2 On the Task Definitions page, select Quota Notification Mail.
Step 3 On the Task Definition Basics (Quota Notification Mail) page, select
Edit > Task Schedules.
Step 4 On the Task Schedule page, enter the values of the required fields and
select Save. (For more information on each field, see Help> This Page).
Note
The quota notification messages are not sent to the users that do not have
corporate email addresses configured.
You can also execute the following command through CLI to run the Quota
Notification Mail task: run cuc sysagent task Umss.QuotaNotificationMailTask
Umss.QuotaNotificationMailTask is the name of the Quota Notification Mail
task.
For more information on the above command, see the “run cuc sysagent task”
section of the “Run commands” chapter of Command Line Interface Reference
Guide for Cisco Unified Communications Solutions, Release 10.0(1), available
at
Customizing the Subject Line or Body Text of Mailbox Quota Alert Text
Step 1 In Cisco Unity Connection Administration, expand Message Storage>
Mailbox Quotas and then select Quota Alert Text.
Step 2 On the Edit Mailbox Quota Alert Text page, in the Language list, enter
the values of the required fields. (For more information on each field, see
Help> This Page).
Step 3 Select Save.
Step 4 Repeat Step2 through Step3 for each language installed on the system.
Message Aging Policies
In a single inbox configuration, messages that users delete using Outlook are
only moved to the Deleted Items folder in Outlook but are not permanently
deleted. To keep a check on the mailbox size for users, you need to configure
a message aging policy for the Unity Connection users.
Message aging policies ensure that the databases storing the voice messages
are not filled up. The message aging policies are managed through Cisco Unity
Connection Administration> Message Storage> Message Aging> Aging Policies.
Each policy allows you to specify message aging rules that automatically
perform the following operations mentioned on the Message Aging Policy page:
- Move New Messages to the Saved Messages Folder after the specified number of days.
- Move Saved Messages to the Deleted Items Folder after the specified number of days.
- Permanently Delete Messages in the Deleted Items Folder after the specified number of days. This is the only rule enabled in the Default System Policy message aging policy, this is the only rule that is enabled.
- Permanently Delete Secure Touched Messages That are Older Than a specified number of days. The secure messages are considered as touched messages if we mark the messages as new, read or deleted messages.
- Permanently Delete All Secure Messages That are Older Than a specified number of days. This policy is regardless of whether users have listened to or touched the messages in any way.
For each policy, you can enable or disable each message aging rule and can
specify a different number of days for each rule. For each message aging rule,
you can also specify whether Unity Connection sends an email alert to the
users prior to aging the message.
Depending on the system requirement of a company, Unity Connection may need
only one or additional message aging rules. If you are using only one set of
message aging rules, you can change the specifications for the default message
aging policy and apply it to all users and user templates. If you need to
allow some users to retain messages longer than other users or send messaging
alerts only to a few users, you can create additional policies and assign
different policies to user templates and to individual users.
You can also enable or disable an entire message aging policy. Unity
Connection includes a default policy, Do Not Age Messages, that is disabled
and for which all of the rules are disabled.
Some of the message aging rules are based on when a message was last modified.
To edit a message, you must do one of the following:
- In the Web Inbox mark the message as new, mark the message as deleted, or change the message subject, and select Save.
- From the phone interface, select the options to mark the message as new, save the message again, delete the message, or restore a deleted message as saved.
Note
The schedule for message aging is controlled by the message aging task that
can be managed from the Task Management page in Cisco Unity Connection
Administration.
Configuring a Message Aging Policy in Unity Connection
Step 1 In Cisco Unity Connection Administration, expand Message Storage>
Message Aging > and select Aging Policies.
Step 2 Configure message aging policies, do the following steps (For more
information on each field, see Help> This Page):
-
To add a new message aging policy:
On the Search Message Aging Policy page, select Add New.
Enter the display name of the policy and select Save.
On the Message Aging Policy page, enter the values of the required fields and check the Enabled check box. Select Save to apply the changes in the policy. -
To edit an existing message aging policy:
On the Search Message Aging Policy page, select the policy that you want to edit.
On the Message Aging Policy page, change the values of the required fields and select Save.
Caution
Do not change the settings of the Do Not Age Messages policy.
- To delete a message aging policy:
On the Search Message Aging Policy page, check the check boxes for the
policies you want to delete.
Select Delete Selected and OK to confirm.
Note
You should not delete the Default System Policy and the Do Not Age Messages
policy. If you do not want to age messages, disable the Default System Policy
instead of deleting it.
Message Aging Alerts
For each message aging rule, you can specify whether Unity Connection sends
email alerts to users prior to taking the aging action associated with the
rule. This gives the users time to review and act on the applicable messages.
You specify the number of days between the time that Unity Connection sends
the alert and the time that the message aging action takes place.
Alerts cannot be sent to users unless the Corporate Email Address field for
each user on the Users > Users > Edit User Basics page contains a valid email
address. Unity Connection must also be configured to relay messages through an
SMTP smart host.
You can customize the text in the email alerts or you can use the default
text. The default subject line and body text are different for the alerts
related to each aging rule and they can be customized separately.
Note
As all the message aging policies use the same five rules, if you customize
the alert text for a rule, the text is the same for any policy that uses that
rule. (For example, if you customize the email subject line and body text for
the Move Saved Messages to the Deleted Items Folder rule, that text is used
for all alerts that are sent to users who are assigned to any message aging
policy for which that rule is enabled with alerts.)
Message aging alerts can be customized for multiple languages.To enable Unity
Connection to send message aging alert emails to users, you must configure the
Unity Connection server to relay messages through an SMTP smart host. For more
information on SMTP smart host, see the Messaging chapter.
Customizing the Message Aging Alert Text in Unity Connection
Step 1 In Cisco Unity Connection Administration, expand Message Storage >
Message Aging and select Aging Alert Text.
Step 2 On the Edit Message Aging Alert Text page, in the Language list, select
the applicable language.
Step 3 Enter the values of the required fields. (For more information on each
field, see Help> This Page).
Step 4 Select Save.
Step 5 Repeat all the above steps for each language installed on the system.
Message Recording Expiration
The Message Recording Expiration feature allows you to specify an expiration
date after which the voice message stored in Unity Connection database is not
accessible, regardless of whether the message has been forwarded to another
Unity Connection recipient. Message recording expiration is a system-wide
setting and cannot be applied only to a subset of users. At expiration,
message recordings are automatically replaced with a decoy recording that
says, “The message has expired.”
Beginning with Unity Connection 11.5 and later, you can specify the Message
Recording Expiration policy for video messages also. This feature allows you
to specify the expiration days for video messages, after which the video part
of a video message get expired and only audio part is retained as a voice
message.
Typically, message aging rules are sufficient for enforcing message-retention
policies. However, when a message is forwarded, it is considered as a new
message and its age is reset. If you are concerned that users may forward
messages in an attempt to circumvent the message-retention policy, consider
enabling the Message Recording Expiration feature. The message recording and
transcription (if any) expire based on the date when the original copy of the
message has arrived, regardless of user forwarding.
By default, the Message Recording Expiration feature is not enabled.
Enabling and Configuring Message Recording Expiration in Unity Connection
Step 1 In Cisco Unity Connection Administration, expand Message Storage>
Message Aging and select Message Recording Expiration.
Step 2 On the Edit Message Recording Expiration page, specify the number of
message expiry days and check the Enabled check box. (For more information on
each field, see Help> This Page).
Step 3 Specify the number of message expiry days for a video messages in Video
Message Recordings Expire in field (For more information on each field, see
Help> This Page).
Step 4 Select Save.
Note The Message Recording Expiration feature does not apply to messages
that have been forwarded to personal email addresses or to message recordings
that have been saved locally to user workstations.
To prevent users from saving local copies or forwarding voice messages to
personal email addresses, consider configuring Unity Connection to mark all
messages as secure. Unity Connection applies the Message Recording Expiration
feature to messages in the mailboxes of recipients that are homed on the Unity
Connection server. For example, if User A homed on Unity Connection server A
sends a message to User B homed on Unity Connection server B, the message is
subject to message expiration only if the Message Recording Expiration feature
is enabled on server B.