Cisco company phonebook not generated

[eug]

Hi everyone,

I just purchased the 8-line version of 3CX and have it mostly working... I just can't get the company phonebook to work.

I'm running v8.0.10824.716 with a mixture of SPA504, 508, 509 phones, with a 525G+300S for the reception.

They are autoprovisioned with DHCP option 66, and the server runs IIS. Calls work fine and sound great on the SPAs.

I've got a few questions, the first one is... how do I get the company phonebook to work? So far, I have entered in the provisioning url into the phones in the right spot as described by 3cx' instructions. The URL I used is:

http://<server ip>/management/provisioning/cisco_phonebook.xml

When I try to access it on the phone, i get a 404 error. I tried checking the URL with a web browser and also get a 404 error.
I checked the folder "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\3CX\Data\Http\Interface\provisioning" and sure enough, there is no cisco_phonebook.xml.

When I click on Generate in the management console Company Phonebook page, only the following files are updated:

yealink_phonebook.xml
snom_phonebook.xml
gs_phonebook.xml
aastra_phonebook.xml
000000000000-directory.xml

There is no cisco_phonebook.xml. Why is that so?

Also, is there a way to automatically send the phonebook URL to the phones, so I don't have to manually configure each phone with it?

Is this company phonebook the main or only way of transferring calls? i.e. Reception receives a call, hits Xfer, hits dir, selects the 3CX Phonebook, and finally the user? Is it possible to program the line keys on the phone to display the status of all the phone lines?


Thanks!

 

[mfm]

Hi, the Cisco phonebook is currently not implemented, but will be shortly.

 

[eug]

Ouch.. I would have thought it was a pretty basic feature for a PBX... otherwise transferring calls or making internal calls would be quite inconvenient. I assumed that 3CX supported it since the instructions on how to configure it are there.

Would 'soon' be a few days, a few weeks, or a few months?

What other phonebook-configuring methods can I use in the meantime? It would be a rather huge hassle if I had to manually enter in 10 extensions into 10 phones - that's a hundred manual entries.

 

[mfm]

This will be released with the upcoming version of 3CX, Version 9. A release date for this version is yet to be announced.

As for transferring calls you may enter the extension number directly after you hit XFER.

 

[eug]

Good thing I bought upgrade insurance then!
Is there a rough timeframe? 2nd quarter 2010, 3rd quarter 2010?

Getting users to manually type in extension numbers is less convenient than the current analog pbx they're using, which simply displays a list of names when Transfer is hit. How do people today normally program in the list of extensions into Cisco SPA phones?

BTW, shouldn't 3CX remove the company phonebook instructions from the Cisco page? It's rather misleading. I was expecting it to work because the instructions clearly state that it would work, and it seems like a pretty basic feature. It has just created more unexpected work for me.


http://www.3cx.com/sip-phones/ Updated link

Configuring the Company Phonebook on a Cisco SPA5xxG

[....]

4.Click the “Submit All Changes” button at the bottom of the page. Your phone will restart. After rebooting, the phone will register with the 3CX Phone System and retrieve the 3CX Company Directory.

 

[comresource]

If you want to do this manually. Create a file in the provisioning directory such as directory.xml. Add the directory link to the Phone Tab in the phone (or provision the link yourself).

Here is the format.

- <CiscoIPPhoneDirectory>
  <Title>Cisco Coporate Directory</Title> 
  <Prompt>Select the User</Prompt> 
- <DirectoryEntry>
  <Name>Shze Chew Lee</Name> 
  <Telephone>140</Telephone> 
  </DirectoryEntry>
- <DirectoryEntry>
  <Name>Sherman Scholten</Name> 
  <Telephone>130</Telephone> 
  </DirectoryEntry>
- <DirectoryEntry>
  <Name>Josh Bottum</Name> 
  <Telephone>186</Telephone> 
  </DirectoryEntry>
  </CiscoIPPhoneDirectory>

Here is the Phone Tab settings

 

[eug]

Thanks, I'll give that a go in the morning!

 

[FBW]

I know that this is probably not what you want to hear in this case but if I can be totally honest... give Snom phones a try.
You's be surprised what features work 'all of a sudden' without any extra effort.
We've been playing around with Linksys (Cisco), Grandstream and Snom. And honestly, as long as there are Snom phones, I'll stick to them.
The price difference is easily understood once you start using them. And, no, I'm not working for Snom

 

[eug]

sigh, too late! I bought the SPAs as they were highly recommended on another forum.

I got the manually-generated phonebook to work. Thanks, commresource!

Now, to figure out how to get the BLFs and call parking running easily. brr..