Brief Background
I have built custom corporate directories before using the Cisco IP Phone SDK. For those who don’t know, the IP Phone SDK contains a bunch of different ASP (Classic ASP) and JSP applications. (IIRC most of these apps were developed by Berbee. The same folks that put together the original InformaCast).
Anyway, building a new application using Classic ASP didn’t seem like a good idea. So, this time around, I built it from scratch using ASP.NET and C#. Right now the app is called the “NetCraftsmen Enterprise Directory” but we may change that.
The App
Version 1.0 (actually, it is the third or fourth version but with a complete re-write) was built with the goal of providing the following key features:
Directory Lookup Rules
The ability to provide “Directory Lookup Rules” similar to what is found in CUCM. In a later release, I may even just absorb the Directory Lookup Rules from CUCM. For now, we provide a method via a local config. The main reason I went this route is to tie the lookup rules to different tenants on the system.
Multi-tenant Support
This was a feature from 1.0. Basically, we use the IP address to determine location and then apply dial rules based on the device’s location. This can come in handy when you have different abbreviated or off net dialing rules.
In a future release, I plan on adding some features from a previous version. Specifically, the ability to have different dialing rules for intra-cluster (i.e. inter-site) dialing rules. Perhaps adding in “filters” to allow some segmentation based on “who” is calling “whom”.
Multi-Directory
In previous “versions”, I used code which leveraged LDAP. This method was essentially based on the LDAP COM+ component Cisco provides in the SDK. I also had a separate “train” (if you will) that leveraged AXL/SOAP from CUCM.
In the new app, we added a few things. First, we have built in a way to have more than one directory and each directory can have more than one source. In the “dot zero” release, the sources can be a local directory cache and a CUCM cluster (via AXL/SOAP). The app blends the two sources into one. In the future, I expect to re-add an LDAP capability (rewritten, of course). I also plan to expand the app to allow for more than one CUCM cluster.
The Wrap
There are some other little bells and whistles, but nothing mind blowing (or even all that interesting?). I am thinking I may put in a few other features and possibly approach my fellow NetCraftsmen to see if we should package this app up for general availability. Of course, it wouldn’t be the first of its kind but I think we can add some interesting features that differentiate our offering.
If you think this would be something of interest, let me know.
Hi Bill,
I just stumbled across this whilst doing some research on directories for a customer who is not satisfied with the Corporate Directory provided by Cisco.
I have used the old multidirectory.asp from the SDK to search their AD but it is not ideal as I need to set up three separate URLs to search ipPhone, telephonenumber and mobiletelephone. What they ideally want is a single directory that returns all three contact numbers for a user – similar to the way that Personal Directory works.
I guess that I could learn asp and javascript and modify the SDK script to do this but having little programming experience it is not something that would be easy for me and I would resent spending time learning a legacy technology.
The other requirement that they have is to look up incoming PSTN numbers in a directory and display the name of the caller.
I think that people would be willing to pay for a good quality directory app for CUCM. I have tried a couple of evals that claim to do this and they either have limitations (e.g. no support for E.164+ format) or are very expensive.
Hope this helps.
James
James,
Thanks for the comment, I really appreciate the feedback. Yeah, I wouldn’t spend time with the SDK and .ASP. Not that there is anything wrong with ASP, it is still very widely used. But, if you were going to start something new might as well try to be current.
Processing the incoming PSTN call to display name would be interesting. We could look into building a TCL agent or something similar to pull directory information from the same app server feeding the phones. Avoiding duplication of information would be a key requirement.
We have the E.164 handling down. The first version focused on building in digit manipulation functions akin to dial rules on UCM. Personally, I was always amused that directory lookup rules in UCM never worked with the Corporate Directory.
Thanks,
Bill
Any more info on this app? I have been looking for something similar to the asp scripts in the sdk but want to use axl instead of ldap. I have seen some of your blogs and netpro post referencing this integration but no samples to build off of. You have anything you could release as a reference? Will this be a product that will be available for purchase?
Hey Brent,
I just saw the comment post. Thanks for the interest. I have replied to your earlier email on the topic and look forward to hearing from you.
Regards,
Bill (@ucguerrilla)
Hi Bill,
Brilliant article. Like Brent, I have also read your forum comments and other blogs. I’m looking into how we build a Multi-Phone-Directory for a private Multi-tenant environment. Each environment has their own Active Directory, and as per Cisco documentation we are building an AD LDS environment to be the common LDAP source. As for the phone directory, we were looking at the asp script in the SDK, which I have used before. But reading all your comments I would much rather go down a more modern path. Is this a product that we can purchase or trial? Do you have any further documentation, or a diagram that will help explain the connectivity.
Cheers,
Jeremy
Hi Jeremy,
Thanks for the comment and the interest. Presently, the application has evolved beyond its original build but I still have not packaged it for direct resale or download as a standalone package.
However, we do sell the solution as a custom integration package. Either on its own or as part of a Dial Plan customization/redesign package. The base package includes integration, configuration, customization, testing, and support services.
If you would like a demo or more information, drop me a line at info@netcraftsmen.net. Just reference the UC Enterprise Directory Application and this blog entry and I can work with you on getting more information.
Regards,
Bill (@ucguerrilla)