Data syncs can be performed from within Automate or directly on a device. For this reason, cached Automate data should be periodically synced with data on devices.

Automate data syncs allow you to dynamically synchronize cached Automate data with data on devices. The data sync instance is associated with the connection parameters of a device type in Automate.

Individual add, update, and delete operations carried out by a data sync instance can be disabled on the user interface. If no operation is selected, the default behavior is maintained.

To view the summary list of configured data syncs in Automate, go to (default menus) Administration Tools > Data Sync. The list view displays basic details for each available data sync, including a number of summary attributes that provide additional details about the data sync.

To view data sync settings, click on a data sync in the list to open the configuration page.

By default, a data sync is asynchronous; that is, other tasks can be carried out while the sync is in progress.

However, a data sync can be set to be synchronous so that a workflow step can, for example, wait for the sync process to complete.

Asynchronous imports initiated by a data sync are standalone transactions; that is, they aren't child transactions of the data sync execute transaction. Synchronous imports initiated by a data sync are children of the data sync execute transaction.

Data Sync

Data of the various devices can be updated on VOSS-4-UC, or also directly on the device. Therefore, it is necessary to periodically synchronize cached VOSS-4-UC data with the data on devices.

Consider an example: when an instance of a Unified CM is added to the system, its data is imported and cached. However, when instances are added, updated or removed from the Unified CM, the cached data in VOSS-4-UC becomes out of sync with data on the device.

If data is deleted from Unified CM before it is deleted from VOSS-4-UC, the error "The specified resource could not be found" is displayed. This means the resource is out of sync and VOSS-4-UC may need to re-sync with Unified CM to delete or update it.

The Data Sync feature provides a means to dynamically synchronize cached VOSS-4-UC data with data on devices. The data sync instance is associated with the connection parameters of a device type in VOSS-4-UC.

Individual Add, Update and Delete operations carried out by a data sync instance can be disabled on the user interface. If no operation is selected, the default behavior is maintained.

Key Settings for Data Sync

Data Sync Types

Settings	Description
Model Type lists	Define the entities to pull in a given sync. For example: Only pull in `device/cucm/User` records from CUCM.
Model Instance filters	Limit a sync to a subset of entities in a sync. For example: Pull in users with a primary extension starting with 1. A system-level administrator will need to expose this setting in the Admin Portal.
Disabled Operations	Choose which operations are enabled for a sync (Add/Update/Remove). Update requires more effort to run because this typically involves a GET API call for each record, which must then be compared to Automate data. Add/Remove can be determined from the initial list API calls. To save time on the sync, you may wish to disable Update if you only require Add/Delete. Important Remove is disabled by default if you've selected a model instance filter for the sync. You'll need to enable Remove if you intend for the sync to purge (remove) cache records that are excluded in the model instance filter. If you're upgrading to 21.4-PB4 from an earlier version of Automate, a migration script disables Remove for any syncs that have a model instance filter applied. This is to prevent the sync from unexpectedly removing a large number of records after the upgrade.
Quick Import	Uses the list API responses to update the Automate cache, and won't perform individual GET calls for each entity for the update. Recommended when the list response contains all values for the entity, or where only the key settings must be updated. Removing individual GETs speeds up the sync, since Automate is not waiting for the API responses when there are a many entities to update. This is useful if the list and GET responses are required, or if you only need the summary data from the list view. This setting is disabled by default for syncs related to device/spark/user syncs (SyncSparkUsers and SyncSpark).

Data sync type	Description
Pull from Device	Available to all device types. Pull all data from the device Pull only the schema from the device (used for LDAP) Pull data from the Change Notification Feature local data collection
Purge Local Resources	Available to all device types. Purge data from the cache
Push to Device	Available only to Cisco Unified CM devices Push data in the cache to the device
Change Notification Sync	Available only to Cisco Unified CM devices

Generally, for all sync types, VOSS Automate builds up the lists of entities from both VOSS Automate and the device, and compares them, using the key for the device entity. The key is typically the unique identifier (ID) for the record in the device we're syncing with. For example, for Unified CM, the ID is the pkid, which is the internal Unified CM database ID.

For subscribers, a sync builds up the list of device/cucm/Users in VOSS Automate and then requests from the Unified CM the lists of users it currently has for the comparison. Differences in the lists are handled according to each sync type.

For sync type Pull from Device, the VOSS Automate resource is updated where the same key is present in both lists. In this case, the device data is the master and the VOSS Automate system model data is updated with the device data.

For example, let's say new data is added to the Unified CM, so that the VOSS Automate system data state for a Unified CM device/cucm/User does not show instances that are shown on the Unified CM.

In this case, a pull data sync synchronizes the system data with the Unified CM data. For example, a user's Department may be updated on the Unified CM, but the update only shows on the system after a Pull from Device sync. If a user resource is created in Unified CM but not in VOSS Automate, this adds the device/cucm/User instance into VOSS Automate at the level the pull sync was run from, for example, at the customer level.

When deleting a VOSS Automate resource from the device, so that the key is in the VOSS Automate list but not in the device list, a pull sync removes the resource in VOSS Automate. For example, if the resource is a user in VOSS Automate but not in Unified CM, the pull sync removes the device/cucm/User record in VOSS Automate.

To restrict the number of records removed in VOSS Automate, ensure you have the following named macro at the hierarchy where the sync takes place:

For details, see Pull Sync Delete Threshold topic in the Advanced Configuration Guide.

When pulling device data, for example LDAP users from an LDAP device, the results returned to VOSS Automate depend on the LDAP server configuration. For example, if the returned results exceed the LDAP server configured maximum, and if the server does not support paging, an appropriate error message is returned.

For Microsoft 365 syncs, a Max page size (default 1000) setting can be adjusted if the error "Template output exceeded memory limit" is shown.

For details, see the Configure Microsoft Tenant Connection Parameters topic in the Core Guide.

In a Push to Device sync type, devices are synchronized with the VOSS Automate system data state, which is the primary data state.

Keys found in both lists are ignored. Existing records are not updated in either direction.

In the device/cucm/User example, if the same user exists on both VOSS Automate and on Unified CM, no update occurs in either direction. Detailed settings may still not match after a Push to Device sync.

Sync type Change Notification Sync is available only to Cisco Unified CM device types.

A Change Notification Sync is a pull sync of changes stored in the local collection that is updated by the Change Notification Collector service.

For more details on Change Notification Sync, see the related topics in Data Sync section of the Core Feature Guide.

In a Purge Local Resources sync type, all resources or instances of device information that exists in the system are deleted. Entities in the device are not deleted.

This sync type is typically used when cleaning up the system. The system displays a warning before executing an enabled purge sync.

Data Sync Types

A quick import option is available to fetch only summary data that is contained in a list operation response and not the data for all instances/fields.

Full Sync

A full pull sync, when it runs, empties the changes from the data collection as they don't need to be processed by the Change Notification Sync. Use the disabled operations and the model type list (MTL) of the full sync to filter the changes to remove. If a model instance filter is included, no changes are removed.

It is recommended to use the CUCXN Exclude ImportUser MTL on Cisco Unity Connection Data Syncs in order to avoid unneeded data and slowing the sync time.

Device and Instance Data Sync Filters and Lists

The Data Sync can include only specific device objects. This allows the sync to be focused on the items where the work policy or process is to manage the objects directly in the UC applications.

A filter can be set up to indicate which instances of device objects should be synchronized (for example certain phones where the protocol is in a list of protocols). The filter attribute operations include Equals, Not Equals, Greater Than, Less than, In, Not in.

Synchronization can be focused on specific devices by filtering on various attributes, for example all devices with a certain version or with a description containing a certain string, and so on.

Particular models to be synchronized can be configured in a Model Type List instance, for example a list called "CUCM Users & Phones" may only include device/cucm/phone and device/cucm/user from device/cucm.

Any data/DataSync instances that are created with an empty Model Type List attribute will result in the subsequent import(s) synchronizing all device models for the corresponding devices.

A Model Type List instance with selected List Type as Ordered List is created to order the items in a created Model Type List if ordering is required during the synchronization.

Specific instances of Model types that belong to a Device Type can be included or excluded from the synchronization using a Model Instance Filter model that contains a specification of particular Device Filters with values to test against attributes.

For example, if the Model Type was selected to be data/Countries and the attribute is country_name, then a test that matches "In" with a list containing say Spain, Italy and Germany will only apply data synchronization against these particular instances. Where the attribute is a numeric value, the test can match by comparison (for example greater than, less than).

The synchronization order of models can be specified if it is necessary for models to be synchronized in a particular order, for example if dependencies exist in the data of the models.

Synchronous and Asynchronous Data Sync

A Data Sync is by default set to be asynchronous, in other words other tasks can be carried out while the sync is in progress. However, it can be set to be synchronous so that a workflow step can for example wait for the sync process to complete.

Asynchronous imports initiated by a Data Sync are standalone transactions, in other words they aren't child transactions of the Data Sync execute transaction. Synchronous imports initiated by a Data Sync are children of the Data Sync execute transaction.

Enable a Scheduled Data Sync

Synchronous and Asynchronous Data Sync

A Data Sync is by default set to be asynchronous, in other words other tasks can be carried out while the sync is in progress. However, it can be set to be synchronous so that a workflow step can for example wait for the sync process to complete.

Asynchronous imports initiated by a Data Sync will be standalone transactions, in other words they will not be child transactions of the Data Sync execute transaction. Synchronous imports initiated by a Data Sync will be children of the Data Sync execute transaction.

Manually Run the Default Data Sync

You can always manually run the default data sync when there have been updates to Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) or Cisco Unity Connection (CUC) devices that need to be synced into VOSS Automate.

Data Sync Workflows

As part of a Data Sync, workflows can be set up to take place either before or after synchronization. The workflows will be triggered to run following a specified type of operation on a selected model type. In this way, the results of a data sync can add to the transaction log. The workflow can also for example trigger an SMTP event so that a message is sent following the type of operation on the model, for example when a Unified CM user is added.

Controlling a Data Sync with a Model Type List

Using a Model Type List (MTL), you can control the types of data that are synced into VOSS Automate from devices from vendors, such as:

Controlling the types of data that are synced can greatly improve sync performance. The MTL is a list of device models associated with the device type, for example, Phone and Line device models that are associated with the Unified CM device.

A data sync created with an empty Model Type List attribute results in the subsequent import(s) synchronizing all device models for the corresponding device.

A data sync using this MTL will sync all Media Resource Group, Media Resource Lists, Music on Hold servers and audio sources, and Media Termination Points. No other data will be synced from Unified CM.

It is recommended to define MTLs for sets of data that are being modified on the device directly. An example is Unified CM because this is where the bulk of the configuration data for each customer resides.

By defining MTLs that target specific data sets rather than doing a full sync, the performance of VOSS Automate can be maintained with better response times and quicker transaction execution.

Data sync overhead can be further reduced if you want to sync only new and deleted instances of the device model and not updates to existing instances. This can be done by unchecking the Refresh Existing (Changed) Data check box on the Data Sync configuration page. This check box controls whether existing device model instances are updated in VOSS Automate in addition to importing new instances and removing deleted instances. If checked, all device model instances must be synced and examined. If unchecked, only new and deleted instances need to be imported and the data sync will run considerably faster.

Perform Publisher Actions

You can always manually run the default data sync when there have been updates to Cisco Unified Communications Manager or Cisco Unity Connection devices that need to be synced into VOSS-4-UC.

Data Sync Schedules

A Data Sync instance can also be selected to be scheduled, in other words a Schedule can be created where the Action is to execute a DataSync.

As with any schedule, the action can be once-off or it can recur at a specified date and time. Care should be taken when data sync transactions are scheduled - this should prefereably be outside of peak times. The size and scope of the transactions that run determine the length of the time that they need to run. This also impacts on the schedule start time. The number of clusters on the system and their size need to be considered as part of a Data Sync approach.

Create a Custom Data Sync

To run the custom data sync, click the data sync from the Data Sync list and click Execute.

Data Sync Errors

Only one data sync transaction at a time can be run on the same device. Attempting to run a data sync transaction on a device while another one is already running on the same device will result in one of the following error messages:

The transaction ID referred to is the same as the one displayed in the transaction log view page.

CUCM Change Notification Alerts

The Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) change notification (CNF) feature is enabled to display alerts. There is no need to configure CNF alerts manually in Automate - admin users receive alerts when the collector process is in an error state.

Administrators can view and delete alerts at the hierarchy they log in at, and at lower hierarchies. For example, Provider, Reseller, and Customer administrators can view alerts raised at the Customer level (sys.hcs.provider.reseller.customer), but a Site admin cannot view such alerts.

When a CNF alert is raised, you're notified of the alert via the toolbar Messages icon in the Admin Portal. Click the Messages or Notifications toolbar button to view the alerts, or go to (default menus) Administration Tools > Alerts.

VOSS Automate displays change notification (CNF) alerts for the following error scenarios:

The administrator reads, inspects, acts on (for example, run a full sync on the device), and then manages alerts of the CNF collection service. The administrator can delete the alert from the list only when the issue that raised the alert has been resolved.

Create a Targeted Model Type List

If you manage data on Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Unified CM) or Cisco Unity Connection directly on a regular basis, perhaps for configuration that is not orchestrated from VOSS-4-UC, such as media resources, it is recommended to create a Model Type List and Data Sync specifically targeting the data items you are managing. This ensures each data sync is highly optimized for the data being changed on Unified CM directly and minimizing the load on VOSS-4-UC. To create a targeted Model Type List:

Data Sync Blacklisted Attributes

Administrators with permissions to access the Global instance of the settings in the data/Settings model, can create a list of device attributes that will not trigger any update workflows that may have been defined to execute during the data sync. These attributes are here called "blacklisted" attributes.

The reason for blacklisted attributes is that while data sync operations can have a performance impact, some data sync attribute changes do not require data sync workflows to be carried out.

A number of blacklisted attributes of the device/ldap/user model have been added to these settings by default:

Note however that the local device cache will still be updated with the updated attribute data. No update workflows will be run, though. The transaction logs will indicate the updated device cache, but the transactions for blacklisted attributes instances will show as:

"Device changes on blacklisted attributes only. Updating cache, skipping workflows."

Data Sync Allow list and Deny list

Administrators with permissions to access the Global instance of the settings in the data/Settings model (sysadmin), can create lists of device attributes affected by data sync under the Data Sync Workflow Execution Control section:

From release 24.1, the following allowlist model attributes have been added and the previous denylist has been removed:

From release 21.4-PB2, the following allowlist model attributes have been added:

View List of Device Models

Use this procedure to see the device models available to use in Model Type Lists for custom data syncs from Cisco Unified Communications Manager or Cisco Unity Connection.

When including the device model in a Model Type List, use the format: device/<device_type>/<device_model>. For example, device/cucm/BillingServer.

Create a Data Sync

If required, this data sync instance can be scheduled by administrators with the necessary privileges.

Create a Custom Data Sync

To run the custom data sync, click the data sync from the Data Sync list and click Execute.

Alert Field Descriptions

Data Sync and LDAP Referrals

When performing a data sync of an LDAP server and the OU that is synchronized contains any LDAP referrals (continuation references), then VOSS-4-UC skips the referrals.

A warning message is added to the transaction log and will be visible if the log level is set to "Warning" or "Info". In particular, the data sync transaction log, the warning message has:

Data Sync of Product Specific Data

Field	Description
ID *	The unique ID of the alert.
Code *	The code of the alert.
Category *	The category of the alert.
Severity	The severity of the alert.
Message	The message describing the alert.
Count	The number of times this alert has occurred.
Latest Alert	The last time this alert occurred.

If changes to product specific information are made on Unified CM, such as vendor configuration information on device/cucm/PhoneType and device/cucm/GatewayType, then a data sync that includes these model types should be created and run before the changes will be available on VOSS-4-UC.

Enable the Refresh Existing Data check box to re-create the model instance for all products and in the case of PhoneType, include any new phone button templates in the model for the products to which may have been added on Unified CM.

However, note that when Configuration Templates are used with Phones that have added product specific information, such as models of for example device/cucm/PhoneType, these names need to be typed into the Product field of the Phone Configuration Template.

The reason for blacklisted attributes is that while data sync operations can have a performance impact, some data sync attribute changes do not require data sync workflows to be carried out.

Note however that the local device cache will still be updated with the updated attribute data. No update workflows will be run, though. The transaction logs will indicate the updated device cache, but the transactions for blacklisted attributes instances will show as:

"Device changes on blacklisted attributes only. Updating cache, skipping workflows."

Model Details: data/DataSync

An asterisk * in the title indicates the field is mandatory.
If a field has a default value, it is shown in the Description column.
If the field type is an array, the Field Name has a .[n] suffix, where n is the array index placeholder.
Object and array field names are listed to provide context. If a field belongs to an object or an array, the full field name is shown in dot separated notation.

Title				Description	Details
Name *				The name that is given to the Data Sync instance.	Field Name: name Type: String
Description				A description for the Data Sync instance.	Field Name: description Type: String
Device Type *				The type of devices to be synchronized. Choices are based on connection parameter data models of the devices supported by the current system.	Field Name: device_type Type: String Choices: ["Active Directory", "Active Directory Hybrid", "Assurance Arbitrator", "AudioCodes", "AzureADOnline", "BroadsoftOCIP", "Call Manager AXL Generic Driver", "Call Manager Control Center Services", "Cisco HCM-F", "Cisco Unified CM", "Cisco Unified Contact Center Express", "Cisco Unity Connection", "Cisco WebEx", "Exchange", "Exchange Hybrid", "Exchange Online", "IMP GUI", "LDAP", "MSExchangeOnline", "MSGraph", "MSOperatorConnect", "MSTeamsOnline", "Microsoft Online", "OracleECB", "OracleSBC", "PRSCallControl", "Pexip Infinity Conferencing Platform", "PowerShell", "Roomos", "Service Now", "SkypeForBusiness", "SkypeForBusiness Hybrid", "SkypeForBusiness Online", "Spark", "Unity Connection GUI", "Zoom", "sfb2015"]
Sync Type				The selected Sync Type. The Type can be Pull from Device, Push to Device, Merge with Device, or Purge Local. For Push, the system data state is the master state and the model types of the connection parameter are synchronized with it. For Pull, the model type states of the connection parameter is the master and the system model data is synchronized with these. For Merge, data synchronization takes place in both directions without overwrite of either data. For Purge Local, resources all resources that exist in the system will be deleted, although the entities in the device are not deleted - this is useful when cleaning up the system.	Field Name: sync_type Type: String Choices: ["Pull from Device", "Push to Device", "Merge with Device", "Purge Local Resources", "Change Notification Sync"]
Dependency Resolution				The strategy for handling failures due to missing dependencies. Only 'Best Effort' resolution is supported. 'Best Effort' resolution attempts to brute force the synchronization as much as possible by re-iterating over failed imports until there are no errors.	Field Name: dependency_resolution Type: String Choices: ["Best Effort", "Default"]
Quick Import (Warning: Summary Data Only)				Enable with caution: Indicates whether import operations will fetch full data for all instances or just use the summary data. Only use with Model types where all of the required data is in the summary data eg: device/cuc/ImportUser model.	Field Name: quick_import Type: Boolean
Import Schema Only				Indicates whether import operations will fetch schema only and no data.	Field Name: schema_only Type: Boolean
Import Data Only				Indicates whether import operations will fetch data only and no schema.	Field Name: no_schema Type: Boolean
Execute Asynchronously				Indicates whether the Data Sync must be executed Asynchronously or Synchronously. Default: True	Field Name: asynchronous Type: Boolean Default: True
Refresh Existing (Changed) Data				Indicates whether the Data Sync refreshes existing data that has changed on the device.	Field Name: refresh_existing_data Type: Boolean
Force Refresh Of Data				Indicates whether a update action is executed regardless of whether the device has changed or not	Field Name: force_update_flag Type: Boolean
Number of Changes To Process				Specifies how many changes to process during a device notification.	Field Name: num_changes_to_process Type: Integer
Disabled Operations				Indicates which operations should be disabled for this Data Sync.	Field Name: disabled_operations Type: Object
	Add			Disable the "add" operation.	Field Name: disabled_operations.add Type: Boolean
	Update			Disable the "update" operation.	Field Name: disabled_operations.update Type: Boolean
	Remove			Disable the "remove" operation.	Field Name: disabled_operations.remove Type: Boolean
Model Type List				The selected 'exclusion/inclusion' model type list that was created as a model instance of the Model Type List. See: Model Type List.	Field Name: model_type_list Type: String Target: data/ModelTypeList Target attr: name Format: uri
Synchronization Order				The selected 'ordered' model type list that was created as a model instance of the Model Type List. This list dictates the order in which models will be synchronized. See: Model Type List.	Field Name: sync_order Type: String Target: data/ModelTypeList Target attr: name Format: uri
Model Instance Filter				An instance of Model Instance Filter data model. This instance defines the rules for filtering out the models to be synchronized. See: Model Instance Filter.	Field Name: model_instance_filter Type: String Target: data/ModelInstanceFilter Target attr: name Format: uri
	Device Filters			A refinement on devices that the data sync applies to. These filters are optional. If they are not specified, data sync will be applied to all instances of the device type supported by this Data Sync instance. If specified, only the devices that match the given filters will be synchronized.	Field Name: device_filters.[n] Type: Array
		Attribute Name *		The model attribute name to which the condition applies.	Field Name: device_filters.[n].attr_name Type: String Choices: [""]
		Condition *		If the Condition is Equals or Not Equals, then the Value to test the condition against. If the Condition is In or Not In, then Value is a list of values to test against.	Field Name: device_filters.[n].condition Type: String Choices: ["Equals", "Not Equals", "In", "Not In"]
		Value		The selected Attribute Name is tested against the Value that can also be a list of values, such as a list of host names. The Condition tests against the Value or list of values.	Field Name: device_filters.[n].value Type: String Choices: [""]
			Values	If the Condition is In or Not In, then the Values list the items to test the condition against.	Field Name: value_list.[n] Type: Array
	Workflows			A list of workflows that is to be executed as part of data sync actions eg. when a resource is added, modified, or deleted	Field Name: workflows.[n] Type: Array
		Model Type		The model type for which the workflow is to be executed.	Field Name: workflows.[n].model_type Type: String Format: uri
		Operation *		The operation for which the workflow is to be executed.	Field Name: workflows.[n].operation Type: String Choices: ["Add", "Update", "Delete"]
		Phase *		The operation phase at which the workflow is to be executed eg. Pre-Execution (before the operation is performed) or Post-Execution (after the operation is performed)	Field Name: workflows.[n].phase Type: String Choices: ["Pre Execution", "Post Execution"]
		Workflow *		The workflow instance that will be executed.	Field Name: workflows.[n].workflow Type: String Target: data/ProvisioningWorkflow Target attr: name Format: uri
		Synchronous		If selected the workflow will be executed synchronously, otherwise asynchronously (default).	Field Name: workflows.[n].synchronous Type: Boolean
Transaction Log Level				The transaction log level to be used for this Data Sync and its immediate sub-transactions. Default is Warning when this field is not set. Default: 30	Field Name: transaction_log_level Type: Integer Default: 30 Choices: ["Use System Settings", "Debug", "Verbose", "Info", "Warning", "Error", "Disabled"]

ID	A generated unique identifier of the target device of the collector. For CUCM, the ID displays the host name, port, and hierarchy.
Code	An error or warning code associated with the alert.
Category	The alert category - Device Change Notification Collector
Severity	VOSS Automate displays severity codes and messages as follows (“{}” indicate device or number placeholders in the messages). Each alert has some properties, for example, severity (Error, Warning or Info), the number of times that the same alert has been raised, and the time stamp of the last alert instance.
Message	Displays error message description and the statement to fix the error.
Count	Displays the number of times the alert has occurred for a specific device.
Latest Alert	The last time this alert occurred.

Model: data/DataSync

Data Sync

Data Sync

Key Settings for Data Sync

Data Sync Types

Data Sync Types

Full Sync

Device and Instance Data Sync Filters and Lists

Synchronous and Asynchronous Data Sync

Enable a Scheduled Data Sync

Synchronous and Asynchronous Data Sync

Manually Run the Default Data Sync

Data Sync Workflows

Controlling a Data Sync with a Model Type List

Perform Publisher Actions

Data Sync Schedules

Create a Custom Data Sync

Data Sync Errors

CUCM Change Notification Alerts

Create a Targeted Model Type List

Data Sync Blacklisted Attributes

Data Sync Allow list and Deny list

View List of Device Models

Create a Data Sync

Create a Custom Data Sync

Alert Field Descriptions

Data Sync and LDAP Referrals

Data Sync of Product Specific Data

Model Details: data/DataSync