CUCM BAT Tool Question

[Ryan Schwab]

I'm wondering if there is a way to accomplish a task in the BAT tool in CUCM 7.1

What I want to do is update Line Text Label and ASCII Line Text Label on each line. Currently it is left blank, I want it updated to display Firstname Lastname #### (#### = extension).

Is there anyway to do this based on a custom CSV file? For example: create a custom csv file to match on an existing directory number, and update the line text label fields I input into the csv?

All thoughts are appreciated!

[David Hailey]

Ryan,

I'll take a look at the BAT tool shortly. However, here is something that may prove to be easier for you.

Use the Export capabilities of 7.1 to export the phone and line configurations. This will produce a TAR file with CSV inside. Use something like 7-Zip to open the TAR. Then you can make the changes you need within the CSV (I'd recommend using a copy of the file in case you need the original). Once complete, you can re-import and just overwrite existing records.

Hailey

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[Ryan Schwab]

Yeah, I was wondering about "overwriting" but wasn't sure if it would let me. I'll give it a try though, just seems a little more dangerous than a quick update.

Thanks!

[William Bell]

Overwrite is definitely what you want.

You won't need to export to a .tar file (Bulk Administration>Import/Export). You should go to Bulk Administration>Phones>Export Phones. Export ALL DETAILS. This will be a CSV delimited text file. Note there is some funky XML in there because the hardware specific data is actually XML strings in the database. Quite odd. Anyway, you can open the text file in Excel. I recommend opening Excel and then importing the text file. During the import, change all fields from General to Text (for fields that look like numbers). This is important if you have leading "0" digits for example. General would cause these to truncate. Anyway, in Excel you can go to the appropriate columns for the line appearance/labels you want to modify and use a basic macro to populate the value. Save the files as a CSV. Etc. Etc.

Just make sure you overwrite. BTW, phones will reset during the process so do it in the evening.

Regards,

Bill

[William Bell · Accepted solution]

You have two options.

1. Using BAT, you can re-import all of your devices with the line associations and line appearances corrected to suit your desire. On import, you will want to "overwrite" duplicate values.

2. Using AXL/SOAP to do a bulk update. This option requires some programming skill or a partner that knows what they are doing here.

Both require some footwork and I'd recommend some testing. But, you can accomplish what you need with BAT using an import file. It may make the most sense to export all of your phone records (BAT Export ALL DETAILS). Then tweak/modify using a macro in excel (for example). Save the text file. Then re-import. Sounds like a little overkill but it is the path of least resistance.

HTH.

Regards,

Bill

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[Ryan Schwab]

I'll give the export/import a go.

Thanks William.

[William Bell]

No problem. Let us know how it goes.

Regards,

Bill

[David Hailey]

Don't worry about overwriting records. It works fine.

[Ryan Schwab]

So, the export and re-add seemed to work like a charm. It's a tad  nerve racking essentially re-adding every single phone - but the system  isn't production yet anyways

It would be handy if Cisco could add a  feature in BAT to allow "updating" fields with a CSV file based on matching a  specific criteria (ie: MAC address).

Thanks David and William for the help!

[William Bell]

Well, BAT does support this type of transaction for device level parameters. However, it has not been extended to line level parameters. But I feel your pain.

HTH.

Regards,

Bill