Communication Manager: How to upload .wav files to VAL / vVALs and create Announcements

Author: Massimo Croci

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Details

Avaya Aura all releases

Communication Manager (CM) all releases

This guide 'll help you to upload audio file to VAL boards through Communication Manager.

Another way is through VAL manager software, for details see F104071.

At the end, there are several appendices if you want to go deeper with Avaya Aura knowledge.

If you want to use audio file for Music-on-Hold, see F105002 .

In order to help readers, I used:

• user@server# as CLI prompt of MGC;

• Command: as CLI prompt of CM;

• Strings to be typed are light green colored, all customizable generic names in italic light green;

• comments between {{ }}, note in NOTE: and important thing to remember in REMEMBER:

Table of Contents:

>>>01) Prepare the audio file to be uploaded in the correct manner

>>>02) Look for all VAL boards and Virtual VALs registered on the system and their IP Addresses

>>>03) Look for VAL boards and Virtual VALs present in all Audio groups and the Companding Mode

>>>04) Upload .wav file / files to the Avaya ToolSA via FTP and after to MGC

>>>05) Create new Login ID / Password for each Virtual VAL and VAL board

>>>06) On MGC upload files on Virtual VAL and all VAL boards

>>>07) Sometimes at this point you receive error messages, some possible solutions

>>>08) Create a new Announcement on CM and bind it to your .wav file

>>>09) Create a vector, VDN and Test Number in order to verify if the Announcement is audible

>>>10) Save translation and log off

>>>11) APPENDIX A: Companding Modes settings in the Aura system and encoding for Announcements

>>>12) APPENDIX B: Topology of Avaya Aura systems

>>>13) APPENDIX C: Connect to Media Server used as MGC and after to CM

>>>14) APPENDIX D: Look for all CP and VMM-MG cabinets present in the system

>>>15) APPENDIX E: Display all Circuit Packs present in the system

>>>16) APPENDIX F: VAL boards and Virtual VALs (vVALs)

>>>17) APPENDIX G: Add a VAL board to the system

>>>18) APPENDIX I: Register a Virtual VAL on VMM-MG cabinets and enable it

>>>19) APPENDIX J: Backup and Restore of Announcements for VAL boards and Virtual VALs

Suppose that an end-user sent New_Announcement.wav audio file via mail and asked you to upload it to his Avaya Aura sys

>>>01) Prepare the audio file to be uploaded in the correct manner

REMEMBER: If the file is in a different format, please, convert it into .wav using an appropriate name.

Audio file names cannot contain blank spaces, nor any of the following characters:

• Period (.)

• Comma (,)

• Colon (:)

• Asterisk (*)

• Question mark (?)

• Less than (<)

• Greater than (>)

• Forward slash (/)

• Backward slash (\)

The filename itself is case sensitive, but the file extension .wav must be lowercase.

Messages that are recorded in this format occupy 8 KB per second of file space for each second of recorded speech.

For example, a 10 seconds message creates an 80 KB .wav file.

Avaya Aura systems work properly with .wav files CCITT G.711 µ-Law / CCITT G.711 A-Law encoded.

If you don’t know how to encode, see step >>>11) APPENDIX A

>>>02) Look for all VAL boards and Virtual VALs registered on the system and their IP Addresses

For VAL boards, see F105949.

For Virtual VAls, see F105921.

For info and technical details regarding VAL boards and Virtual VALs (vVALs), see F104299.

For all details regarding a specific VAL board, type

Command: display ip-interface location_of_the_VAL_board {{ ex. display ip-interface 01A08 }}

and click ENTER

Since now, we'll consider to work in the below typical scenario:

• One G650 CP-MG cabinet as main MG cabinet

• One VAL 01A08 inside G650 CP-MG cabinet, IP Address: XY.XY.XY.XY

• One VAL 01B08 inside G650 CP-MG cabinet, IP Address: YX.YX.YX.YX

• Virtual VAL 001V9 inside one Remote G700 VMM-MG cabinets, IP Address: XX.XX.XX.WW

>>>03) Look for VAL boards and Virtual VALs present in all Audio groups and the Companding Mode

>>03a) Look for all Audio groups present in the system and all VAL boards and Virtual VAL inside

See F105958.

>>03b) Look for the Companding Mode Set in the system

Avaya Aura works with audio files treated using particular Companding Modes, for details see >>>11) APPENDIX A.

All Companding Modes have to be present on IP-Codec-Sets to be recognized by the system, see F105238.

>>>04) Upload .wav file / files to the Avaya ToolSA via FTP and after to MGC

For FTP client, I suggest WinSCP or Filezilla (both free, the second is multiplatform).

>>04a) Copy you file / files to the Avaya ToolSA server

Run your FTP or SCP client using

as ' File protocol ' : SFTP

as ' Port number ' : 22

as ' Host name ' : IP_Address_or_name_of_Avaya_ToolSA_server

as ' User name ' and ' Password ' : your_Avaya_global_handle

Following an example using WinSCP

Via FTP, you are on /agss/users/your_Avaya_global_username on ToolSA server, create a new directory ANN and move into it

your .wav file/ all .wav files from local directory on your PC using drag & drop

>>04b) On MGC, move to directory /tmp and create a new subdirectory /tmp/ANN

{{ for a shorter way, see substep >>04e) }}

Type

user@server# cd /tmp

press ENTER. Now type

user@server# mkdir ANN

and press ENTER

or, directly on current directory, type

user@server# mkdir /tmp/ANN

and press ENTER.

>>04c) Upload files from Avaya ToolSA server to directory /tmp/ANN on MGC

Type

user@server# ~scp s /agss/users/your_Avaya_global_username/ANN/New_Announcement.wav /tmp/ANN

and press ENTER

REMEMBER: type always extension " .wav " after file name, otherwise the file can’t be recognized as an audio file

{{ In case you want to transfer all files from from Avaya ToolSA server to directory /tmp/ANN on MGC Server, type

user@server# ~scp s /agss/users/your_Avaya_global_username/ANN/* /tmp/ANN

and press ENTER; in case you want to transfer New_Announcement.wav file from MGC Server to Avaya TooolSA server, type

user@server# ~scp r /tmp/ANN/New_Announcement.wav /agss/users/your_Avaya_global_username/ANN

and press ENTER; in case you want to transfer all files from MGC Server to Avaya TooolSA server, type

user@server# ~scp r /tmp/ANN/* /agss/users/your_Avaya_global_username/ANN

and click on ENTER. Remember always to check if the file was correctly moved }}

>>04d) On MGC, copy the file New_Announcement.wav from /tmp/ANN to /var/home/ftp/pub

Type

user@server# cp /tmp/ANN/New_Announcement.wav /var/home/ftp/pub

and press ENTER

{{For coping all files inside /tmp/ANN to /var/home/ftp/pub, type

user@server# cp /tmp/ANN/* /var/home/ftp/pub

and click ENTER

>>04e) Move files from Avaya ToolSA server to /var/home/ftp/pub (shortest way)

Instead of performing substeps >>04b) -> >>04c) -> >>04d), It’s possible to move audio files directly to /var/home/ftp/pub.

Type

user@server# ~scp s /agss/users/your_Avaya_global_username/ANN/New_Announcement.wav /var/home/ftp/pub

and press ENTER.

You can do if you want, but I don’t recommend it because sometimes, for policy, the end-user’s MGCs have particular configurations

and don’t allow it. Instead, the chain >>04b) -> >>04c) -> >>04d) should always work fine.

>>04f) On MGC, check if the new .wav file is present

Move to /var/home/ftp/pub typing

user@server# cd /var/home/ftp/pub

and press ENTER. Type

user@server# ls

or

user@server# ls -al

or

user@server# ls -ahl

and click on ENTER.

>>04g) Transcode G.711 A-Law / G.711 µ-Law encoding to the audio file

If you didn't perform G.711 A-Law / G.711 µ-Law encoding, suggested at step >>>01), because customer has Sox software

installed on his system, you have to do it now. For more details regarding encoding, see F104454.

>>>05) Create new Login ID / Password for each Virtual VAL and VAL board

If you already have Login ID and Password for Virtual VALs and VAL boards, jump to next step.

Here I use ' coyote' as Login ID and ' coyote123 ' as Password (you can use whatever you prefer, just remember that for Login

you can’t use more than 6 characters and for Passwords no more than 9 characters ).

>>05a) Create your Login ID / Password for each Virtual VAL (if needed)

Connect to CM (see F104616), type

Command: enable filexfer

press ENTER

insert typing a as below

as Login : coyote

as Password : coyote123 {{ not visible }}

as Reenter Password : coyote123 {{ not visible }}

as Secure? : n

as Board Address : 001v9

click on F3 to save.

>>05b) Create your Login ID / Password for each VAL board (if needed)

If you already have Login ID and Password for all VAL boards, jump to step >>>06).

Below we continue to work with 1A08 and 1B08.

Here I use ' pippo ' as Login ID and ' pippo123 ' as Password (you can use whatever you prefer, just remember that for Login

you can’t use more than 6 characters and for Passwords no more than 9 characters).

Type

Command: enable filexfer

press ENTER and insert typing a as below

as Login : pippo

as Password : pippo123 {{ not visible }}

as Reenter Password : pippo123 {{ not visible }}

as Secure? : n

as Board Address : 1A08

click on F3 to save

Type again

Command: enable filexfer

press ENTER and insert typing as below

as Login : pippo

as Password : pippo123 {{ not visible }}

as Reenter Password : pippo123 {{ not visible }}

as Secure? : n

as Board Address : 1B08

click on F3 to save.

Log off from CM typing

Command: logoff

and press ENTER.

>>>06) On MGC upload files on Virtual VAL and all VAL boards

For login via FTP, use Login ID and Password created at step >>>05) and after type bin for binary transfer.

FTP session puts directly to the /annc directory of the Virtual VAL and VAL boards.

Move to /var/home/ftp/pub typing

user@server# cd /var/home/ftp/pub

and press ENTER

Upload files on Virtual VAL via FTP typing (and after ENTER) as below

{{ when requested, type exactly credentials you chose at substep >>05a) or credentials you already had }}

user@server# ftp XX.XX.XX.WW {{ now press ENTER }}

Connected to XX.XX.XX.WW (XX.XX.XX.WW).

220 FTP server ready

Name (XX.XX.XX.WW:inads): coyote {{ now press ENTER }}

331 Password required

Password: coyote123 {{ now press ENTER }}

230 User logged in

ftp> bin {{ now press ENTER }}

200 Type set to I, binary mode

ftp> put New_Announcement_encoded.wav {{ now press ENTER }}

ftp> exit {{ now press ENTER }}

Upload files on VAL board 01A08 via FTP typing (and after ENTER) as below

{{ when requested, type exactly credentials you chose at substep >>05b) or credentials you already had }}

user@server> ftp XY.XY.XY.XY {{ now press ENTER }}

Connected to XY.XY.XY.XY (XY.XY.XY.XY).

220 FTP server ready

Name (XY.XY.XY.XY:inads): pippo {{ now press ENTER }}

331 Password required

Password: pippo123 {{ now press ENTER }}

230 User logged in

ftp> bin {{ now press ENTER }}

200 Type set to I, binary mode

ftp> put New_Announcement_encoded.wav {{ now press ENTER }}

ftp> exit {{ now press ENTER }}

Upload files on VAL board 01B08 via FTP typing as below {{ when requested, type exactly credentials you chose at substep

>>05b) or credentials you already had }}

user@server> ftp YX.YX.YX.YX {{ now press ENTER }}

Connected to YX.YX.YX.YX (YX.YX.YX.YX).

220 FTP server ready

Name (YX.YX.YX.YX:inads): pippo {{ now press ENTER }}

331 Password required

Password: pippo123 {{ now press ENTER }}

230 User logged in

ftp> bin {{ now press ENTER }}

200 Type set to I, binary mode

ftp> put New_Announcement_encoded.wav {{ now press ENTER }}

ftp> exit {{ now press ENTER }}

>>>07) Sometimes at this point you receive error messages, some possible solutions

If you don't have any error message, go directly to next step.

Otherwise see A112584.

>>>08) Create a new Announcement on CM and bind it to your .wav file

>>08a) Check for last Announcement present in the system

Enter on CM, type

Command: list announcement

and press ENTER. Check for number of last Announcement already uploaded, for example

in this case the last one is ANNOUNCEMENT_13 with extension 71671.

You should create a new Announcement with a no used extension

{{ on next steps I'll use ' 71672 ' as ' Name_Of_File_encoded.wav ' , you can use any free extension you prefer }}

>>08b) Create a new Announcement

Click on F1, type

Command: add announcement number_of_the_extension {{ ex. add announcement 71672 }}

and press ENTER.

You can see that as Extension is already present the number of extension.

insert typing

as Annc name : New_Announcement_encoded {{ here you tie new Annoncement to an existing .wav file }}

as Group/Board : G1 {{ here you specify the audio board or group used as source }}

as Annc Type : see NOTE below {{ here you specify how the system has to play .wav file }}

NOTE: as Annc Type field you can insert

• integrated to make the system playing .wav file just 1 time;

• integ-rep to make the system playing .wav file continuously with blank intervals (pauses);

• analog-m to make the system playing .wav file for analog endpoints.

and press F3 to save.

If .wav file was correctly uploaded on Virtual VAL and all VAL boards previously, now it’s tied to your new Announcement.

>>08c) Check if Avaya system can see the new Announcement present on all Virtual VALs and VAL boards

Type

Command: list integrated-annc-boards

press ENTER.

For example, on first pages you can see all Announcements for VAL board 01A08

and going ahead to next pages (press F7), all Announcements for VAL board 01B08

and ahead again for Virtual VAL 001V9

Whether on last position there's your .wav file present with Length and Size different from 0, everything it's ok.

>>>09) Create a vector, VDN and Test Number in order to verify if the Announcement is audible

NOTE: Someone says ‘ Black Number ‘ instead of ‘ Test Number ‘.

For any details, see A112020.

If you are interested to create a phone numbers whitelist for incoming calls , see F105884.

If you are interested to create a phone numbers blacklist for incoming calls , see F105289.

>>>10) Save translation and log off

Type

Command: save trans all

press ENTER, after type

Command: logoff

press ENTER, press ENTER again (be sure ' y ' is already selected), type

user@server# exit

and press ENTER.

>>>11) APPENDIX A: Companding Modes settings in the Aura system and encoding for Announcements

Avaya Aura works with 3 different Companding Modes ( called ‘ codecs ‘):

• CCITT G.729 compresses digital voice in packets of 10 milliseconds duration. It is mostly used in VoIP

applications where bandwidth must be conserved because of its low bandwidth requirements (ex. call

conferences ) . There are 4 different kinds of G.729 - G.729 Main Body (original), G.729A (Lower Complexity),

G.729C (Floating Point), G.729G+ (Floating Point with DTX and multiple bit rates). Bit rate is 8 kbps ( C+ can

use 6.4 or 12.4 kbps as well);

• CCITT G.711 A-Law for Annoncements, following specs

Bit Rate: 64kbps

Audio Sample Size: 8 bit

Channels: 1 (Mono)

Audio Sample Rate: 8 kHz

Audio Encoding: CCITT G.711 A-Law

Audio Format: .wav

• CCITT G.711 MU-Law (often called ‘µ-Law ’) for Annoncements, following specs

Bit Rate: 64kbps

Audio Sample Size: 8 bit

Channels: 1 (Mono)

Audio Sample Rate: 8 kHz

Audio Encoding: CCITT G.711 µ-Law

Audio Format: .wav

REMEMBER : CCITT G.711 µ-Law is used in USA and Japan only, all other counties use CCITT G.711 A-Law.

>>11a) Set Companding Mode Sets in the system

See F105238.

>>11b) Encode (Transcode) .wav audio files for Announcement

See F105925.

>>>12) APPENDIX B: Topology of Avaya Aura systems

See F204301.

>>>13) APPENDIX C: Connect to Media Server used as MGC and after to CM

For details regarding MGC, see F204301.

For connection to CM, see F104616.

>>>14) APPENDIX D: Look for all CP and VMM-MG cabinets present in the system

See F105920.

>>>15) APPENDIX E: Display all Circuit Packs present in the system

See F105946.

>>>16) APPENDIX F: VAL boards and Virtual VALs (vVALs)

In a standard Avaya Aura system there are two different kind of devices for hosting audiofiles (maximum 10 devices per system):

VAL boards and Virtual VALs (vVALs).

For details regarding Avaya Aura systems, see F204301.

For info and technical details regarding VAL boards and Virtual VALs (vVALs), see F104299.

If you are interested to know how many VAL boards Virtual VALs are supported by end-user's Avaya Aura system, see

F104488.

If you are interested to know how many Announcements are supported by end-user’s Avaya Aura system, see F104487.

For Backup and Restore of Announcements stored on Val boards and Virtula VALs, see F105907.

>>>17) APPENDIX G: Add a VAL board to the system

See F104898.

>>>18) APPENDIX I: Register a Virtual VAL on VMM-MG cabinets and enable it

See F104604.

>>>19) APPENDIX J: Backup and Restore of Announcements for VAL boards and Virtual VALs

See F105907.