Avaya Messaging Pilot numbers

[avayaguy23]

I wanted to give a heads up for individuals wanting to migrate from AAM to Avaya Messaging and have multiple Pilot numbers. Avaya Messaging is unable to support multiple pilot numbers unless you have dedicated Session Managers per pilot number. So if you have two Pilot numbers you would need 4 session managers. My environment has 5 pilot numbers with only two session managers. I found out today I need 10 session managers (redundancy support) total to support Avaya Messaging. I have been working on this upgrade path for 3 years and Avaya never once mentioned this as a limitation. My suggestion, avoid this product at all costs and find a product that is actually an enterprise grade solution. Xmedius might be a good alternative.

 

[lopes1211]

I do not believe that to be correct. TDM, h323, or SIP phones? I just added a VDN 555-5555. The vector had 2 steps, ring for 2 seconds, then goto messaging skill 99 for extension active. I dialed 555-5555 from a SIP phone and a TDM phone and both of them I got "please enter your password" just like I get on my real pilot number. Am I missing what you're trying to do other than let people dial multiple different number to access the single vmail platform? Tested on IXM 10.8 with CM/SM 8.1.

-CL

 

[avayaguy23]

I am doing port pooling with domain based routing connecting into two session managers (redundant). The issue is my main pilot number works as it pegs to my set of session managers. If a user with another pilot number presses their message button, Avaya Messaging doesn't recognize them as a subscriber. However, external calls properly route to their voicemail to leave a message. The problem with Avaya Messaging is you can't re-use IP addresses in pbx nodes. So if I have two pilot numbers I would need to connect into 2 different session manager (4 if you are talking redundancy). Basically Avaya Messaging is a horrible product.....

These are the options Avaya has presented us.

1. Connect Avaya Messaging directly into CM. This still probably won't work since my one PBX houses 3 pilot numbers.
2. Stand up 8 additional session managers (10 total)
3. Stand up 4 additional Avaya Messaging instances
4. Potentially create a session manager adaptation that changes the from IP address to something arbitrary (unlikely a workable solution).
5. Stay on Aura Messaging and upgrade from version 7.1 to 7.2 and enable notify me (no office365 support)
6. Migrate to "Virtual Voicemail" since Avaya Messaging is no longer being developed.

 

[lopes1211]

I'm still not seeing where the major roadblock is. Is the only complaint that the message button and direct dialing pilot numbers 2-4 don't work? If that's the case couldn't you just setup Pilot #'s 2-4 as vdn's like I did above pointing to the messaging skill. That would follow your redundancy routes. You can program the message button on the phone to go wherever you want. Straight to the main pilot number or straight to one of the 3 VDN's which then go to the main messaging skill. I just proved this setup myself recognizes me as a subscriber dialing pilot #2 from a SIP phone and dialing from a TDM phone.

-CL

 

[avayaguy23]

I tried your suggestion about the vdn/vector but it still doesn't work. I am prompted with "to access your mailbox press #" instead of asking for a password. This is because I have multiple pilot numbers going through the two session managers. This is not a supported method. I need dedicated session managers per pilot number per Teir4.

 

[kyle555]

Can you break that down a bit further step by step?

Not doubting you, just want to know the exact config and what the exact limitation is.

If you need an IP per pilot and you're on new R10 with subscription licensing, I'd just put the SBC in between SM and Messaging and have as many IPs as you need on the SBC to give Messaging what it wants

 

[avayaguy23]

So I have 3 CMs connecting into two session managers. PBX 1 has 1 pilot number, PBX 2 has 3 pilot numbers, PBX 3 has 1 pilot number. All of the PBXs connect into the same two session managers. Avaya Messaging 11.0 SP2 HA is hanging off of the two session managers. I am doing port pooling in Avaya Messaging. The documentation doesn't spell it out but makes sense now since you can't enter in the same session manager IPs in the pbx node under the company. I should add that this same setup has worked for years in AAM so Avaya Messaging is just absolute garbage.

I didn't have a problem in my lab/dev environment because I have 1 Avaya Messaging 11.0 SP2 HA instance connecting into two different sets of session managers. 1 pilot number on my lab CM and 1 pilot number on my DEV connecting into TWO different session manager cores.

 

[kyle555]

Is it restricted to different IPs, or would different IP/port pairs work? Say ports 5071-5075 from SM to Messaging?
If you lab it out, you can try playing with the ini file that the SIP configurator makes for the service and see if maybe there's a configuration that works for you but that happens to not be available to configure through the configurator tool.

Otherwise, if you need a different IP for each pilot, I'd put a SBC between

 

[avayaguy23]

The problem isn't on the Voice servers as the Pilot numbers work fine with the Sip configurator. Everything works fine externally. The problem is internally. That configuration is housed on the Consolidated server when you create your PBX nodes which is based on IP address (not port) and Avaya doesn't allow you to setup different pilot numbers using the same IP address. Regarding your thoughts about an SBC, that probably will work but my frustration is NO WHERE does Avaya have this documented as a limitation nor do they offer an SBC as a solution. Even if an SBC was an option I highly doubt Avaya would list it as a supported configuration. I’m assuming mwi wouldn’t work either. I can't be the only customer running multiple pilot numbers using the same Session Manager core. Avaya Messaging is the replacement of AAM so you would think the replacement would offer at least like-for-like features.

 

[kyle555]

Funny you mention it, I believe we're planning on putting 4 AAMs with 2 sites/pilots each onto a single Messaging.
It's beefy, so we do have 8 core SMs. But with what you said, that's 8 pilots, so 8 unique IPs for 1 SM each. 16 for redundancy.

MWI is just SIP notify, so that would work fine. If your remote worker can get his blinky lamp on, then it's the same message that the SBC in a trunk configuration would pass along.

If it makes you feel better, you probably helped me out!

 

[avayaguy23]

My business partner (not Avaya) came up with a solution that works. Avaya Messaging has the limitation of 1 pilot number per pbx core. In order to get around this limitation, you need to change the following:
1. Dedicate 1 pilot number when you create your PBX nodes on the consolidated server.
2. On the other CMs you will need to alter the hunt group. The group extension (page 1) will be the pilot number the user dials for that client. Voice Mail Number and Voice mail Handle (page 2) will be the dedicated pilot number you used on step 1.
3. Add the pilot number used in step 1 to your AAR and point it to the correct trunk groups so it routes to session manager.
4. The Pilot number the user dials in step 2 will need to be added to session manager and then pointed to Avaya Messaging. This is so users can dial different pilot numbers externally.

The one nice thing about this design is you no longer need to assign PBX nodes to any users like you did in AAM.

Hopefully this helps other people out.