Notes and Limitations¶
The following summarizes some of the limitations concerning the Shared Lines Across Sites feature:
A new Inventory Site is required for each new combination of NDL and Country (a “site group”). In other words, the lines configured at the Inventory Site are specific to the NDL and Country defined for that site.
All real sites that reference lines in an Inventory Site must be defined with the same NDL and Country. Ensure that this requirement is met, as it is not enforced in VOSS Automate.
Shared lines cannot span countries or NDLs. This is necessary because Cisco Unified Communications Manager doesn’t support shared lines across clusters. The country must be consistent so that line CoSs (defined in the Inventory Site) are correct for each device referencing the line (defined in the real site). Ensure that the correct association is made between Inventory Sites and real sites, as it is not enforced in VOSS Automate.
When configuring a phone or subscriber at a real site, any reference to a DN that does not exist in the Inventory Site results in a new line being created at the real site as it did prior to this Cisco HCS release. In other words, if the Inventory Site doesn’t exist, or a line hasn’t been configured in the Inventory Site first, the system behaves as it did in previous Cisco HCS releases (backwards compatible).
If a line can be potentially shared, create it in the Inventory Site before referencing it by any devices. If the DN is used in a device before it is configured in the Inventory Site, the line is created in the real site and may not have the desired CoS or other configuration desired for a shared line.
When a line has been created (either at the Inventory Site or a real site), it cannot be moved. To move the line, delete the line and re-add it. For example, if you forget to define the line at the Inventory Site first and configure a device with a line, the line is created at the real site. You would need to delete the line from the real site and add it to the Inventory Site, then reassign it to the phone.
An Site Administrator logged in to a real site is not able to see the line configuration that exists at the Inventory Site. A Customer Administrator or above can see the line configurations at all of the sites.
The Shared Lines Across Sites feature only works when using a flat dial plan. The reason is that other dial plans have site location codes in the DN which won’t make sense if the DN is shared by multiple sites. The default VOSS Automate template bundle includes a Type 4 flat dial plan, but other custom dial plans that are not site-specific can be used.
Self-provisioning does not work for DNs defined at the customer level.
Although an Administrator can delete Inventory Sites, we do not recommend it. If the Inventory Site is deleted, all hunt groups, call pickup groups, voice mail pilot associations, and lines that are part of the Inventory Site are deleted. If there are devices on the “real” sites that reference these lines, they will no longer reference these lines as they will have been deleted. The customer-level DN inventory is still intact, though no lines are associated with these DNs because they are deleted when the Inventory Site is deleted. The hunt groups and call pickup groups are self-contained to the Inventory Site and are therefore, deleted as part of the deletion of the Inventory Site.
When the inventory site is deleted, this deletes all shared lines, Classes of Service, DNR, and any other configuration added at that site. The shared lines are removed from all devices on “real” sites which may have referenced them.
If an emergency number is dialed from any shared line, the number displayed on the other end should be the Emergency Call Back Number of the corresponding site.