Swap/Move Extensions

[navar126]

Hi,

I am new in this forum and in the Avaya world. We just upgraded our phone system from Cisco to Avaya, having on premise IP Office Manager 11.x.x, with J139, B179, and J179 phones.

So in our environment I have to change extensions multiple times because of our staff coming and going all the time. I just learned that the phone has an extension (base extension) and the user has an extension as well. Our installer informed me that one way to swap extensions from one phone to another is to:

1. Change the extension numbers in the Extensions Tab making sure they correspond to their Extension ID .
   
2. Then Save the configuration and Merge.

However, when I do that, while the phones now will depict the correct extensions physically, under System Monitor the base extension and the user extension will still show a mismatch, which means that when the system reboots again the extensions will be back to where they belong, which will be back to step 1.

Can somebody please educate me in this matter? I just want to make sure there is a way to make this change remotely, WITHOUT rebooting the system (on the fly kinda way)

Thank you and will see if this community is active!! :P

[thiel2]

You have a bit of a conundrum because the phones are IP phones. IP phones retain the extension number that they are registered to the system with. This is why you can unplug an IP phone, move it to a different location, and it will still be the same extension number.

Digital phones take on the extension number associated with the physical station port that they are connected to, so if you move a phone, you either move the jumper from the jack to the correct station port, or you do the renumber that you've outlined, AND either reboot the system or go to each phone involved in the swap and dial *36 to log out the current user and return to the base user.

I would suggest that you use Hot Desking for your users that come and go. They sit down at an extension and dial a code to log in with their extension number, and dial another code to log out when they are done.

So that the phones can be usable when no one is logged in, create a set of users and extension numbers for when no one is hot desked in, perhaps restrict them to internal and emergency calling only, only put a single call appearance and a Login button to remind the user to login when they sit down. If your regular users have extension numbers in the 100's, make a bunch of extensions and users in the 200's and register the phones to those numbers for when no one is hot desked in.

[navar126]

@thiel2: Thank you for your reply.

In a school district environment I cannot disallow the staff to not call outside or ask them to log in and our repetitively over the course of the day.

Keeping in mind the steps I am following, that is changing the extension numbers making sure they match their Extension ID, is there a way that after making a change, I can possibly send a remote command to log out the phone instead of going physically to the location and dial *36? Maybe either through SysMon or System Status?

Thank you in advance!

[thiel2]

So during the course of the day, you are changing the base extension to match the user extension as the users move around the campus and use different phones?

Or are you trying to line up your base and user extensions, and nothing will change until you get a new person with a new extension number take over an old telephone?

Go to a phone where the base and user extensions do not match, go into the Admin menu of the phone, and select Logout. This is different from *36, it removes the base extension from the telephone set, and puts you at the login prompt as if this is the first time the phone was ever plugged in. Now you can input the extension number and login code. HOWEVER, you can't have another telephone somewhere already logged in with that base extension number. So if Base 101 has User 102, and Base 102 has User 101, you need to do a Logout on BOTH phones, then log them back in. Once the Base and User extensions match, they will always stay on those numbers.

[markgallagher]

How frequently is this an issue?

If its daily then you and the staff will have to accept the need to use either hot desking or authorization codes. Those are the features specifically designed for users who regularly work from different physical phones.

Beyond that you're into softphone applications that move with the user on their PC or mobile device.

[navar126]

So during the course of the day, you are changing the base extension to match the user extension as the users move around the campus and use different phones?

No. This happens only when staff no longer works with us or needs to move to another campus, not within the building. This is most prominent during our summer time when we have about 150 +- new staff that needs the extension of the person that left.

During summer this isnt gonna be a big deal since the change is reflected when the system reboots. I am not very concerned about rebooting the system at 11pm when changes have been made....theoretically speaking.....

Or are you trying to line up your base and user extensions, and nothing will change until you get a new person with a new extension number take over an old telephone?

I don't line them up. we used to have Cisco phones and that system allowed you to change the extension of the phone on the fly without rebooting the whole thing. I was not part of the meetings but the person that left, and i took the position for him, was and I assume they were told it was possible.

Go to a phone where the base and user extensions do not match, go into the Admin menu of the phone, and select Logout. This is different from *36, it removes the base extension from the telephone set, and puts you at the login prompt as if this is the first time the phone was ever plugged in. Now you can input the extension number and login code. HOWEVER, you can't have another telephone somewhere already logged in with that base extension number. So if Base 101 has User 102, and Base 102 has User 101, you need to do a Logout on BOTH phones, then log them back in. Once the Base and User extensions match, they will always stay on those numbers.

That is the process I recently found out that worked. The thing is, it is a manual process and its not that the new staff will know what their extension is. That is why I was hoping for something remotely..

Is this the process Avaya SysAdmins should follows to make extension changes? If not, what do they do without Aura?

[navar126]

How frequently is this an issue?

If its daily then you and the staff will have to accept the need to use either hot desking or authorization codes. Those are the features specifically designed for users who regularly work from different physical phones.

Beyond that you're into softphone applications that move with the user on their PC or mobile device.

Hi,

I appreciate your reply. We did not pay for a system where staff is responsible for what extension they use. In my mind they will be mistakes on their side and will probably end up typing the wrong extension...yes...sounds surreal but it will happen, it has happened.

It isnt daily, for instance, right now the water is calm, during summer though it is a dang tsunami. I am just trying to see what I can and cannot do, what i need to know and will need to implement before chaos erupts. Staff uses laptops and we want the phones to be up and running all the time in case of emergency or catastrophic events. Someone that has their laptop closed will not get any calls.

Then again, is this what you meant by softphone applications, like equinox? we have some licenses for less than 10 but it is buggy and our installers were still working on that even though we started in June...

[lucas36]

you can change the names in the user tab and save the changes with a merge. You do not have to reboot just to change a user name.