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New Unified Messaging Functionality and Voice Mail Features in Exchange 2010 SP1

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Applies to: Exchange Server 2010 SP1

The Unified Messaging server role has been improved in Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 1 (SP1), and new features have been added. To use some of these new features, you must correctly deploy Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 or Microsoft Lync Server 2010 (the next generation of Office Communications Server) in your environment. This topic discusses the new and improved features that are added when you install Exchange 2010 SP1.

UM Features Found in Exchange 2010 SP1

The following is a list of the new features in Exchange 2010 Unified Messaging (UM) and a description of the features:

  • UM management in the Exchange Control Panel   The UM management user interface in the Exchange Control Panel makes it possible to manage all components of Unified Messaging in a Web browser. You can create UM dial plans, UM mailbox policies, UM IP gateways, and UM auto attendants, and enable users for Unified Messaging. This feature is available to tenant administrators (also called specialists) and to administrators in cross-premises Exchange environments. For details, see Managing Administrator and Specialist Users.

    Administrators can also use the Exchange Control Panel to manage some on-premises and cross-premises tasks. The following is a list of some of the additional administrative features available in the Exchange Control Panel for all server roles, including:

    • Text messaging integration

    • Voice messaging integration

    • Multiple mailbox search

    • Additional proxy addresses for mailboxes

    • Moderation and approval for distribution list submission

    In addition, end users can perform common administrative tasks in the Exchange Control Panel without having to call their helpdesk. This helps them to be more productive and reduces support costs.

    Although the Exchange Control Panel is available to Exchange administrators for managing Unified Messaging in a cross-premises environment, as a best practice, the Exchange Management Console and the Exchange Management Shell are the preferred tools for creating and configuring UM components.

  • UM reporting   The UM reporting features added in Exchange 2010 SP1 include call summaries and statistics and call details for UM-enabled users. These reports are displayed in the Exchange Control Panel. You can access Unified Messaging statistic reports by using Call Statistics in EMC and access call logs by using User Call Logs, also in the EMC. Both tools are located under the Toolbox node. They provide aggregated statistical information about calls for UM servers and calls for UM-enabled users. To support the UM reporting tools in the EMC, the following cmdlets have been added for SP1:

    • Get-UMCallSummaryReport

    • Get-UMCallDataRecord

    In the EMC toolbox, Call Statistics provides aggregated statistical information about calls forwarded to or placed by UM servers and can be used by administrators interested in overall statistics for the Exchange 2010 Unified Messaging servers in their organization. The results of the call statistics reports you request in the EMC are displayed in the Exchange Control Panel user interface. They can be filtered to show call statistics by month or by day for the past 90 days or since UM was deployed in your organization. You can then filter these results by UM dial plan and UM IP gateway within your organization.

    Call statistics reports display:

    • The total number of calls organized by type of call (for example, missed calls, Outlook Voice Access calls, or fax calls).

    • Whether the call was accepted or rejected.

    • The average audio quality.

    • The day or the month covered in the report, or all calls.

    You can export the call logs to a Microsoft Office Excel template, or copy the call statistics information to the Clipboard so that it can be pasted into another application. You can use the Audio Quality Details button to display more specific information about the call, including:

    • Date

    • UM dial plan

    • UM IP gateway

    • Type of audio codec

    • NMOS

    • NMOS degradation

    • Jitter

    • Pack loss

    • Round trip time

    • Burst Loss Duration

    • Number of calls sampled

    For more information about the specific information that's available for calls, see Using Unified Messaging Tools.

    You can use User Call Logs in the EMC toolbox to view the call statistics for a selected UM-enabled user. The report is displayed in the Exchange Control Panel and is useful in helpdesk-type situations where you have to gather information about specific calls for a UM-enabled user to assist them in diagnosing and fixing issues. After you click Select a user and specify the user, the following information will be displayed for calls of the UM-enabled user you selected:

    • Date and time

    • Duration of the call

    • Type of call

    • The calling number

    • The called number

    • The UM IP gateway

    • Audio quality

    You can copy the user's call statistics to the Clipboard and then paste them into another application. You can use the Audio Quality Details button to display more specific information about the call including:

    • Date

    • UM dial plan

    • UM IP gateway

    • Type of audio codec

    • NMOS

    • NMOS degradation

    • Jitter

    • Pack loss

    • Round trip time

    • Burst Loss Duration

    For more information about the specific information that's available for calls, see Using Unified Messaging Tools.

  • Cross-forest migration of UM-enabled mailboxes   Before Exchange 2010 SP1, there wasn't a way to efficiently move UM-enabled mailboxes from a source Exchange 2010 forest to a target Exchange 2010 forest when performing any kind of Enterprise cross-forest migration. The only way to do this was to first disable the mailbox for UM in the source forest, and then move the mailbox to the target forest. If you were moving an Exchange Server 2007 mailbox, you would use the Move-Mailbox cmdlet. If you were moving an Exchange 2010 mailbox, you would use the New-MoveRequest cmdlet. After you moved the mailbox to the target forest, you would then enable the mailbox for UM.

    Following this process created several issues. The process took a long time to complete, the user's voice mail was taken offline, and the UM-enabled user's PIN would be reset, which forced the user to set up a new PIN for Outlook Voice Access.

    In SP1, the New-MoveRequest cmdlet is used with the Mailbox Replication service (MRS) to move a UM-enabled mailbox within a forest, or between multiple forests in on-premises deployments. Using the New-MoveRequest cmdlet with the MRS to move the UM-enabled mailbox lets you speed up the process, leaves the user's voice mail online, and doesn't require an Outlook Voice Access user to reset their PIN.

    The process for moving UM-enabled mailboxes works as follows in Exchange 2010 SP1:

    In your source forest, you have UM-enabled mailboxes that are associated with a UM mailbox policy in the same source forest. You then:

    1. Identify the target UM mailbox policy that you want to associate with the UM-enabled mailboxes after you have moved them to the target forest.

    2. Use the Set-UMMailboxPolicy cmdlet and specify the name of the UM mailbox policy in the source forest using the SourceForestPolicyNames parameter on the UM mailbox policy in the target forest.

    3. Start moving the UM-enabled mailboxes to the target forest without disabling them. As you migrate the mailboxes, the mailboxes in the source forest will continue to receive voice mail messages and e-mail messages.

    4. Directly after the migration of the UM-enabled mailbox, the MRS will automatically disable the mailboxes in the source forest.

    5. In addition to the UM mailbox policy in the target forest, the MRS must have the extension numbers that are already assigned to the users whose mailboxes were moved. The MRS will use the extension numbers to locate the matching UM mailbox policy in the target forest by searching the SourceForestPolicyNames parameter on the UM mailbox policy. After the extension numbers and the name of the UM mailbox policy are found, MRS will UM-enable the mailboxes in the target forest.

      Note

      The MRS uses RPC over HTTP for cross-forest migrations and RPC over TCP for intra-forest migrations.

  • Outlook Voice Access improvements   In Exchange 2007 and the RTM version of Exchange 2010, UM-enabled users can listen to their voice messages using Outlook Voice Access. By default, a Unified Messaging server retrieves and lists voice messages by date in descending order. For example, if two voice messages are sent, one at 10:00 a.m. and another at 1:00 p.m. the same day, UM will first play the voice message left at 1:00 p.m. and then play the voice message that was left earlier. Now, in SP1, when Outlook Voice Access users sign in to their Exchange 2010 mailbox, they can chose the play order for unread voice mail messages, either oldest first or newest first. Users can configure this order by using the Voice Mail tab in Outlook Web App, by managing their voice mail settings in Microsoft Outlook 2010, and by using the menu system in Outlook Voice Access.

  • Caller Name Display   Caller ID resolution has been enhanced in SP1. Names can now be displayed for voice messages from unresolved numbers using Caller Name Display. With Caller Name Display, IP gateways or IP PBXs pass caller name information as part of the SIP FROM header. In some countries, including the United States, the public telephone networks can supply the name of the registered subscriber for the calling phone number. This is administered by the telephone service provider that provides service to the caller. Phones with alphanumeric displays will show the registered name for the caller when the call offers it. With Caller Name Display, instead of displaying “Voice Mail from 4255551234”, the Unified Messaging server can send a voice message that displays “Voice Mail from Tony Smith”.

  • New UM Dial Plan Wizard and Set-UMServer   When you deployed Unified Messaging in Exchange 2010 RTM, you had to add or associate a UM server with a UM dial plan after you created the dial plan. In SP1, you can add or associate a UM server with a UM dial plan when you create a UM dial plan. An additional page has been added to the New UM Dial Plan wizard that lets you add a UM server to the dial plan.

    Add a UM server to a UM dial plan

    Add a UM server to a UM dial plan

  • Microsoft Lync Server 2010 feature support (cross-premises)   You must deploy Lync Server 2010 if you're deploying UM in a cross-premises environment. UM is fully supported and functional with Lync Server 2010, including Message Waiting Indicator (MWI) notifications.

  • Office Communications Server migration (non-cross-premises)   If you're deploying or migrating from Exchange 2007 to Exchange 2010 and your Exchange deployment is integrated with Office Communications Server, Exchange 2010 SP1 includes support for migration of SIP URI dial plans that are used with Communications Server. Also, in Exchange 2010 SP1, it's no longer required that you have a Communications Server location profile that has the same name as the phone context property of the SIP URI dial plan.

    The following table summarizes the supported deployments for Microsoft Exchange, Office Communications Server, and Lync Server 2010.

    Supported Deployments

     

    Exchange 2007 SP1, SP2, or SP3 Unified Messaging

    Exchange 2010 RTM Unified Messaging

    Exchange 2010 SP1 Unified Messaging

    Office Communications Server 2007

    Supported only in an Enterprise deployment. Location profile names and UM dial plan phone contexts must match.

    Supported only in an Enterprise deployment. Location profile names and UM dial plan phone contexts must match.

    Not supported

    Office Communications Server 2007 R2

    Supported only in an Enterprise deployment. Location profile names and UM dial plan phone contexts must match.

    Supported only in an Enterprise deployment. Location profile names and UM dial plan phone contexts must match.

    Supported only in an Enterprise deployment. Location profile names and UM dial plan phone contexts don’t have to match.

    Lync Server 2010

    Supported only in an Enterprise deployment. Location profile names and UM dial plan phone contexts must match.

    Supported only in an Enterprise deployment. Location profile names and UM dial plan phone contexts must match.

    Supported in a cross- premises or Enterprise deployment. Location profile names and UM dial plan phone contexts don’t have to match. 

    > [!NOTE]
> Exchange Server 2010 SP1 Unified Messaging no longer supports Office Communications Server 2007. You must use Office Communications Server 2007 R2 or Microsoft Lync Server 2010.

    • Secondary UM dial plan support   In SP1, you can add a secondary UM dial plan for a UM-enabled user. Secondary dial plans allow administrators to assign two extension numbers to a UM-enabled user. Or, you can assign a primary extension number in a UM-enabled user's primary dial plan on one PBX or IPX PBX and a secondary extension for that user within a secondary dial plan that exists on a different PBX or IP PBX.

      When an Exchange 2007 or Exchange 2010 user’s mailbox is enabled for UM, the administrator is required to specify an extension number and a UM mailbox policy. The extension number is needed by a UM server to identify the user when they call in to Outlook Voice Access to access their mailbox. The UM mailbox policy contains a collection of configuration properties, with values that UM uses to apply to a UM-enabled mailbox that's associated with that UM mailbox policy. One of the properties on the UM mailbox policy is the UM dial plan. The dial plan also contains a set of configurable properties that includes a numbering plan. The numbering plan defined on the UM dial plan doesn't allow for duplicate extension numbers. This ensures that the extension number is unique within the dial plan. By linking the extension number to a user in the UM dial plan, Unified Messaging uniquely identifies a UM-enabled user in an organization.

    • New UM language packs   Unified Messaging language packs make it possible for the Exchange 2010 UM server to speak additional languages to callers and recognize languages other than US English (en-US) when callers use Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) or when voice messages are transcribed. The following is a list of additional UM language packs that are now available but don't contain support for Voice Mail Preview:

      • Catalan (ca-ES)

      • Chinese (Hong Kong) (zh-HK)

      • Danish (Denmark) (da-DK)

      • English (India) (en-IN)

      • Finnish (Finland) (fi-FI)

      • Norwegian (Bokmal) (nb-NO)

      • Russian (ru-RU)

      The following is a list of additional UM language packs that are now available that do contain support for Voice Mail Preview:

      • English (Canada) (en-CA)

      • Polish (pl-PL)

      • Portuguese (Portugal) (pt-PT)

      • Spanish (Spain) (es-ES)

        Note

        The RTM version of the Spanish (Spain) (es-ES) UM language pack didn't include support for Voice Mail Preview. Voice Mail Preview support was added in SP1. For more information about Voice Mail Preview, see Voice Mail Preview for End Users.

      By default, when you install the Exchange 2010 Unified Messaging server role, the server will send voice mail previews to UM-enabled users if a supported UM language pack is installed.

      There are Exchange 2010 Unified Messaging Voice Mail Preview partners that offer enhanced transcription support for the Voice Mail Preview feature. These partners employ people to correct voice mail transcriptions that were created using Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR). Each Voice Mail Preview partner must meet a set of requirements to be certified to interoperate with Exchange 2010 Unified Messaging.

      If you determine that the voice mail previews sent to your users aren't accurate enough, you can contact one of the certified Voice Mail Preview partners listed on the Microsoft PinPoint web page and sign up with them at an additional cost. For more information, see Voice Mail Preview Advisor for Exchange 2010.

      You can download the Exchange 2010 UM language packs for SP1 from the Microsoft Download Center. For details, see Install a Unified Messaging Language Pack on a UM Server.

      Important

      To ensure that all Unified Messaging features are available in the UM language packs you install, you must install the Exchange 2010 Client and Server Language Pack on each UM server in the dial plan. If you don’t install the Client and Server Language Pack, some features may not work as expected. Some features, like Voice Mail Preview, will work in the language that is configured on the dial plan but when only the UM language pack is installed. However, features like Outlook Voice Access and user interface text won’t work in the language by the user without having both the UM language pack and the Client and Server Language Pack installed. To download and install additional client and server language packs on servers in your organization, see Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 SP1 Language Pack Bundle.

    • Call Answering Rules improvements   Using Call Answering Rules, end users can control how their incoming calls should be handled. Call Answering Rules are applied to incoming calls much as Inbox rules are applied to incoming e-mail messages. For details, see Understanding Call Answering Rules.

      There are two updates to Call Answering Rules in Exchange 2010 SP1:

      • In the RTM version, when a caller who's greeted by a call answering rule selects the voice mail option, a UM server first plays the called party's voice mail greeting before prompting the caller with the instruction to leave a voice message. This can be confusing if the user has created custom greetings. In Exchange 2010 SP1, the voice mail greeting is skipped if the caller has chosen to leave a voice message via a call answering rule that's configured.

      • In Exchange 2010 SP1, a missed call notification won't be left for a user if the inbound call reaches the called party using the Find Me feature, if a call transfer succeeds, or if a voice message is successfully left for the user.

    • Unified Communications Managed API/Speech Platform improvements   Beginning with Exchange 2010 SP1, the UM server relies on Unified Communications Managed API v. 2.0 (UCMA) for its underlying SIP signaling and speech processing. This dependency requires that the UCMA platform and prerequisites be installed on the UM server before Exchange 2010 UM SP1 installation or upgrade. For details, see Overview of Unified Messaging.

      As part of this integration with UCMA, you receive the following benefits when you've integrated UM and Lync Server 2010:

      • Unified Messaging reports Quality of Experience (QoE) data to Lync Server 2010 Quality of Experience Monitoring or QMS servers. This is available in both on-premises and cross-premises integrated environments.

      • UM doesn't drop the first incoming call if the first call to the UM server is being made from an Enterprise Voice user who's connected the Internet.

      • In earlier versions of Office Communications Server, the A/V Edge resources that were associated with the Office Communications Server pool didn't communicate with a specific UM server for a specific call. This led to less-than-optimal media quality in some scenarios. With SP1, you can set, on a per UM-server basis, the Office Communications Server pool and associated A/V Edge server resources that should be used for all calls to and from that specific UM server.

    • UM auto attendant update   In the RTM version of Exchange 2010, a UM auto attendant would play the after hours greeting and the holiday greeting on holidays. In SP1, UM auto attendant will play only the holiday greeting on a holiday.

    • Exchange 2010 UM Troubleshooting Tool   Use the Test-ExchangeUMCallFlow cmdlet to test call flow between UM servers, IP gateways, and SIP servers. With the Test-ExchangeUMCallFlow cmdlet, you can diagnose configuration errors found in telephony components, Exchange 2010 SP1 Unified Messaging settings, and connectivity issues between on-premises and cross-premises Unified Messaging deployments.

      The Test-ExchangeUMCallFlow cmdlet can be used to diagnose configuration errors specific to call answering scenarios and to test whether voice mail is functioning correctly in Office Communications Server 2007 R2 or Microsoft Lync Server 2010 and non-Office Communication Server 2007 R2 or Lync Server 2010 deployments for both on-premises and cross-premises UM deployments. This cmdlet emulates calls, runs a series of diagnostic tests, and outputs the cause and possible solutions for potential issues that are detected. It also outputs general audio quality metrics for diagnosing audio quality issues related to network connectivity such as jitter and average packet loss. The Test-ExchangeUMCallFlow cmdlet supports testing UM components in Secured, SIP Secured, and Unsecured calls and can be run either in Gateway or SIPClient modes.

      Important

      The Test-ExchangeUMCallFlow cmdlet must be used to test only the voice mail functionality of a Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Unified Messaging server that has Service Pack 1 (SP1) installed.

      The Test-ExchangeUMCallFlow cmdlet can be installed on a local Unified Messaging server or on another 64-bit computer running:

      • The Windows Vista or Windows 7 operating system

      • The Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system

      The Test-ExchangeUMCallFlow cmdlet requires the components below be installed on a Windows 7, Windows Vista, or Windows Server 2008 64-bit computer prior to installing the cmdlet:

    The Test-ExchangeUMCallFlow cmdlet isn't included on the Exchange 2010 SP1 DVD or the Exchange 2010 SP1-only download. However, you can download the cmdlet from the Microsoft Download Center.

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