Public Distribution List Builder

Contents

Overview. 1

Requirements/Special Notes. 2

CSV Format 2

Choosing a Language Interface. 2

Obtaining Updates. 2

Revision History. 2

Overview

The mission of the Public Distribution List Build (PDLB) is very straightforward.  You can add members to new or existing public distribution lists quickly and easily using Class of Service membership, switch assignment, extension range information, importing aliases from a CSV file and/or cherry picking subscribers from a sortable grid.

 

You use the utility from the top down:

  1. Select a distribution list to add users to or select to create a new one.
  2. Populate the grid with the subscribers you want to add.  You can select all subscribers, use an extension range, select all subscribers in a COS, all subscribers associated with a switch and/or import users from a CSV file using their alias string.  You can add multiple sets of users to the grid, duplicates will not be added.  As such you can add multiple ranges of extensions or all users from a COS and a range of extensions etc…   Hit the “Add Subscribers to Grid” button  above the grid to add a group of subscribers to the grid.
  3. Once the grid is populated with the users you want to add to a DL, review it for accuracy.  You can remove individual users from the import list by unchecking the far left column on the grid.  The form is resizable and each column in the grid can be moved/sorted to assist you in finding the user(s) you want to select/unselect in the list.
  4. Once you’re happy with the list of users to add, click the “Add users to DL” button and the tool will start to work.
  5. When the utility is done, an error count will be presented and you can view the output log.

The Utility will not remove any members from standing distribution lists, it will only add users you select to a distribution list you select.  If you want the distribution list to be usable over the telephone interface, you still need to import it into Unity and assign it an ID and/or record a voice name so users can get to it over the phone.

Requirements/Special Notes

The DL Builder application works on Unity 3.0(1) and later.

The DL Builder only works with Exchange 5.5 or Exchange 2000 as the messaging back end.  This tool does not work properly with Domino.

NOTE: After creating a new distribution list, Unity will not see the list until the in memory cache has finished synchronizing.  This takes 10 minutes at the outside.

CSV Format

One of the methods of populating the grid with subscribers you wish to add to a public distribution list is browsing to a CSV file and loading those users based on their alias or extension number.  The format of the CSV file only needs to follow two rules:

1. The values need to be separated by commas.  Tab or CrLf or semicolon separated files will not be parsed correctly.

2. It needs to include a column header in the first line of “extension” and/or “alias”.  This is not case sensitive and can be padded on  the left or right (or both) with spaces.

For instance, a file that starts like this will be parsed without a problem:

first name, last name, home server, alias, fax number, extension, department, domain

Jeff, Lindborg, EXServer1, jlindborg,,Engineering, 2199, ENG_MAIN

John, Smith, Exserver7, jsmith,,,ENG_LAB

...

If the CSV file contains a column for both Extension and Alias, the extension column is used to search first.  If a match is not found then the alias column value will be used.

Each row of the CSV file will be read in and the corresponding column that contains “extension” (column #6 above) or “alias” in the first line (column #4 above) will be used to search for the subscriber.  If a match is found, that user will be added to the grid.  If more than one match is found for that extension (which should never happen) or alias, an error dialog will pop up alerting you to that fact and that row will be skipped in the file.

In the example above, the first row tells the parser that column #6 contains user’s extensions and column #4 contains the alias.  The next row would cause the parser to search for “2199” among all extensions for subscribers on the local box.  If no match is found, then it would fall back and look for “jlindborg” among all aliases for subscribers on the local box.  The 3rd row does not contain an extension so only a search for “jsmith” will be done among aliases for all subscribers on the local box. 

Again, only subscribers associated with the local Unity server will be loaded.  If you have multiple Unity servers in the same Exchange site, only those users associated with the local Unity server the PDLB tool is being run on will be loaded into the grid.

Choosing a Language Interface

This tool comes with built in support for several languages including US English, French, German and Japanese. By default it will display the language the Windows operating system is set for.  If that language is not supported it will default to US English.

To manually force the tool to show a different language than the default, you can select the Help | About menu option and click the “Change Language” hyperlink on the About box.  The languages installed will be presented in a drop down list and the display will update into that language immediately when you select it. 

NOTE: If you select Japanese as a display language and you are not running on a version of Windows that has the Japanese code page installed, the display will show all “?” characters.  This is expected.

Obtaining Updates

To check for updates to this tool, visit http://www.CiscoUnityTools.com

Revision History

Version 3.0.28 – 12/3/2003

*          Fixed timing problem where the LocationObjectID value wouldn’t always “stick” on newly created distribution lists – this caused it to show up in the directory but be removed by the directory monitors from the local SQL database.

Version 3.0.27 – 8/27/2003

*          Updated resource strings and copyright information

*          Updated TDRT.EXE included in setup package.

Version 3.0.26

*          Fixed some missing Japanese localization strings to the distribution search dialog

Version 3.0.25

*          Updated localization files for Unity 4.0(2) release

Version 3.0.24

*          Added some missing strings to the localized resource file.  CSCdz89472.

Version 3.0.23

*          Fixed some problems with the Japanese localization

*          Fixed problem with switch selection list for Unity 4.0(1) and later

Version 3.0.22

*          Include check to make sure messaging back end is either Exchange 5.5 or Exchange 2000.

Version 3.0.21

*          Updated localization files

*          Updated help

Version 3.0.20

*          Added support for internet subscribers (SMTP, AMIS, VPIM and Bridge).

Version 3.0.19

*          Localized into French, German and Japanese resource DLLs.

Version 3.0.17

*          Fixed CSCdw90155 – “Run time error when no choice is made for existing PDL”

*          Fixed CSCdw90122 – “Log file refers to wrong program”

Version 3.0.15

*          Updated help file

*          Fixed minor bug with COS user selection facility

*          Added plumbing to add to the Tools Depot utility in Unity 3.1(3).

Version 3.0.13

*          First released version of tool

 

© 2002 Cisco Systems, Inc. -- Company Confidential