IP Office/Voicemail Pro frustrations

[BryanSSI]

Hello everyone,

My company uses IP Office to handle the phone systems. Lately, we have had the misfortune of Voicemail Pro crapping out on us. Last Tuesday, somehow, every employees saved voicemail messages were whiped from the server. We contacted our reseller and their answer was simply "its a known problem that happens, but we have no way of fixing it, or even preventing it". This is simply unacceptable, I cannot have employees being afraid of voicemail! Can any of you please direct me on a proper "best practice" approach to running our IP Office system? Whats a solid production environment config? Below is the specs of our setup.

IP Office Manager v3.0
IP Office 403 Hardware
Voicemail Pro v3.0 on a Windows Server 2003 box (Sun V20z, dual opterons, 2 gig of ram).

I'd like to note that when the Voicemail Pro software is ran, the welcome screen displays garbled/unreadable symbols. To me, this is also unacceptable.

I config'd a new server to run Voicemail Pro for us, for now. Its an XP box, but the same welcome screen error comes up.

I also created a batch script that moves anything in the /Accounts/ folder to a diff folder on the harddrive.

Any support would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.

 

[yipster]

Downgrade both IPO and VMPro back to 2.1.x which is more stable.

 

[BryanSSI]

yipster,

Would IPO/VMPro 2.x run OK on Windows Server 2003? I may just put Windows Server 2000 on a box instead.

I am downloading IPO 2.1.35 and VMPRO 2.1.19 now, would these 2 be OK together?

 

[hohumIPO]

2.1(35) is supposed to be for DT models only. Be vewy vewy carefull, were hunting bugs. Unfortunately for 2003 servers and as such really requires version 3.0.

 

[BryanSSI]

would 2.1.31 be ok hohum?

I'm going to do a Windows 2000 Server install on an extra Sun V20z.

If any of you would like, I could post my batch script contents in the morning. This moves all messages to a diff folder.

 

[hohumIPO]

Hey Brian,
Check out following link for archiving messages, just read it further down the list. Might be quite handy for you

http://www.vtechnet.com.

P.s. There is a new release of the version 3.0 Software (3.0(44)). This is supposed to hate a bucket load of fix's in it and I would recommend that your vendor supply you with this version. Uninstall old version (backing up wav files and scripts before hand). Reset server. Re-install newest version and reset and then reload wav files and scripts. I would recommend this path first. Also make sure you have the US english packs loaded for server 2003. Depending on the language packs loaded this was also known to cause the garble you are seeing on the splash screen.

 

[BryanSSI]

thanx hohum. i'll give 3.0.44 a shot.. i kind of feel better going back to 2.1.x though. which IPO/VM Pro work well together on 2.1.x? you mentioned 2.1.35 is for DT.. would IPO 2.1.31 work well with VMPRO 2.1.19 ?

 

[NuggiFirst]

@hohumIPO:
Why is 2.1(35) only for DT-systems?!?

I would instead give the following advice:
If you have some of the following DS-phones on the system: 2410 or 54xx, it's not possible to go below 3.x firmware.

If you're still planning on running 2.1 firmware, and have none of the mentioned phones, then run 2.1(35). We use this on a large number of systems now, and it's running very well!

On the mailbox-problem:
A possible workaround could be to make "Name" and "Full Name" on the users identical. If they are different the VM Pro will create a mailbox for each name, which is a bug. It could very well be your problem. This bug should be solved in the next maintenance release.

 

[IPGuru]

you seem to be dooing ok with the upgrade options
the Garbled details on the splash screen are due to poor programming by avaya, they have assumed thet you are running a 24 bit display mode & I suspect tha your monitor is set to 256 colour.
this problem causes no actual harm (but does make identifying the version dificult)

 

[JeSTeROCK]

I've found the garbled display when opening voicemail pro using terminal services or remote desktop.

 

[SuperJenks]

You were askin which version of 2.xx is the best. I found that 2.1.27 for IPO and 2.1.14 for vmpro works the best and is most stable. I know they released a another version after this but not sure of its stability.

 

[BryanSSI]

I cannot find 2.1.27 IPO or 2.1.14 VMPRO on the Avaya site. Could you point me in the right direction for these files?

I was set to install VMPRO 2.1.19 with IPO 2.1.35 but would rather go your route.

 

[SuperJenks]

I just went to the site to find IPO 2.1.27 and VM 2.1.14 and they are no longer on the download section of their site. I think the vamil 2.1.14 is just a service patch file. So if you have 2.1.10 you can upgrade the service's file to 2.1.14. As far as 2.1.27, I think that was a whole admin suite upgrade and not just the bin. I would have no way of getting that to ya. The best I could do for ya is upload it to a ftp if you have one..

 

[BryanSSI]

Thanx for your support Jenks. Have you guys heard anything about the how VMPRO 2.1.19 and IPO 2.1.35 inter-operate? I'm pretty set on using these, and have a Windows 2000 Server handle the VMPRO software/messaging.

I just need stability with no headaches. =]

 

[NuggiFirst]

As mentioned before, we have upgraded alot of our 2.1 sites to 2.1(35). I guess we are between 20 or 30 sites till now. We have had no stability issues.

2000 Server would be a good stable platform. If your maschine is quite new, with a hyperthreading capable processor, then turn HT off! This has caused serious headache on earlier releases!

 

[BryanSSI]

Thanx Nuggi. If you are based in NJ, we are looking for a new company to do our Avaya Maintenance. Our current reseller seems to lack support in IP Office.

 

[BryanSSI]

Looking deeper into the issue. I believe our reseller had us install Voicemail Pro 2.0 on our Server 2003 box. It ran for two months or so. Somehow the IPO 3.0 blew away the VMPRO 2.0 messages on the server. Our reseller suggested this setup, IPO3.0 and VMPRO 2.0. I don't get how Avaya can have resellers giving this kind of consulting.

Once again, thank you all for your help.

 

[yipster]

Bryan,

This is my setup
Dell SC420 P4 2.8mhz
1 gig ram
80 gig hd raid 1
windows 2003

406v2
8 4412D digital phones

IPO 2.1.35
VMPro 2.1.19
running autoattendant and winamp as my music on hold

Very stable

I would not go to 3.0.44 until they release the next major release which is 3.1.

Plus you are running a Sun V20 server which is a over kill.
How many users are on this system? Plus what phones are you using?

-yipster

 

[BryanSSI]

I'm going to save the V20z for a app/file server. Instead, I decided on using a Dell desktop P4 2.8Ghz, 1.5gb of ram, 40gb hd, on windows server 2000. We have 30 inhouse users, and use the Avaya/Lucent 4412D Phones.

I read somewhere that VMPRO 2.x doesnt work well on Server 2003. I see you are using this practice. Any problems?

I have a bunch of Sun V20z boxes because my company is a Sun partner. (We got a nice rate on them ;] )

 

[yipster]

Bryan

Just use the Dell box install win2003 and you'll be fine.

Just use 2.1.35 and 2.1.19 both are very stable.

I tried 3.0.40 which was too buggy.