Gathering Information for AMIS Administration

Once you have decided how you are going to implement the network, you need to collect information about both the local and remote machines (or telephone numbers) in your network.

The following information is needed to plan and design your network:

• Local machine information
• Remote machine information
• Remote subscriber information

Collect Local Machine Information

Because the local machine must be up and running before you begin remote machine administration, collect the following information about the local machine:

1. Type change machine at the AUDIX command prompt to view the Local Machine screen.
2. Record the following information for the local machine:
• Local machine name (all machine names have to be unique).
• Extension length (for local address ranges).
• Default community (used by the Message Sending Restrictions feature).
• Address ranges (up to 10): This includes the address prefix (typically none), the starting extension number in each range, and the ending extension number in each range.
2. Record the callback number or numbers (the complete telephone number the remote node uses to dial the local voice mail system).
3. Record the local machine's outcalling cycles (used for message transmission; up to three cycles are allowed). See the System-Parameters Outcalling screen for this information.

Collect Remote Machine Information

Because address ranges cannot conflict (no overlaps or duplications are permitted), you need to collect information about each remote machine or telephone number that you intend to administer for AMIS analog networking and/or message delivery. Usually, collecting this information involves contacting the system administrator or the individual responsible for the remote machine or telephone number that you want to add to the network.

Note: This step is the most crucial phase in designing your network. If you have address range conflicts, you must assign unique prefixes to identify each machine. Whatever AMIS prefix and/or address prefixes you assign must be communicated to the subscriber population so that subscribers can correctly address AMIS analog networking and/or message delivery messages.

The following information is required for each remote machine or message delivery number you intend to administer:

• Remote machine name: all machine names must be unique.
• Extension length (for remote numbers or address ranges).
• Default community (used by the Message Sending Restrictions feature).
• Connection type: Either AMIS one-step addressing (amisap), AMIS two-step addressing (amisac), or message delivery (calld).
• Message transmission cycles to the remote machine: must be equal to or a subset of the local machine's outcalling cycles.

  Note: For more efficient use of system resources, you might want to limit the times of day for sending AMIS analog networking or message delivery messages to those that are known to be less busy.

• Dial string: A dial string includes either the complete telephone number that is used by the local machine to call the remote machine for AMIS preadministered systems or as much of the number that you want the local machine to dial for AMIS casual or Message Delivery systems.
• Address ranges (up to 10): These ranges include the AMIS prefix and/or address prefix (typically required), the starting extension number in each range, and the ending extension number in each range.

Collect Remote Subscriber Information

Individual message delivery recipients and subscribers on remote machines administered for AMIS one-step (preadministered) addressing can be administered on the local machine. This kind of addressing allows local subscribers to address messages to these recipients by name (last name-first name) and to hear name voiceback to confirm addressing (if you record a name). Subscribers on remote systems administered for two-step addressing cannot be administered on the local system.

The local system administrator must input all administered remote subscriber information and keep the information current (there is no machine-to-machine update available for remote machines over an AMIS analog/message delivery network). For this reason, you might want to administer only those remote subscribers expected to receive messages regularly.

 

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