# Networked Voice Mail Detailed Description

## Network Configurations

Networked Voice Mail supports the following types of voice mail server configurations:

- Distributed embedded voice mail servers

- For resilient users, the users' voice mail server must be on their extension's primary ICP. A resilient user would typically be programmed with a mailbox on both the primary and secondary controllers.

- Centralized voice mail servers (one or more dedicated voice mail server nodes in a network or cluster)

- The users' voice mail server must not be on their primary ICP.

- Users can only use the telephone interface to configure Forward to Email (the destination Email address must be programmed by the administrator).

You can have up to 250 voice mail servers in a network.

For more details, see Network Configurations.

## Remote Mailboxes

The following features are not supported for remote mailboxes:

- Dial-by-name.

- Address confirmation using mailbox user name (confirmation is done using mailbox number).

## Operator Mailboxes

- Each voice mail server has its own operator mailbox.

- Users can only send voice messages to the operator mailbox that is on the same voice mail server as the user's mailbox.

NOTE: We recommend that you program the same message on the Auto Attendant of each node to prevent caller confusion.

## Visual Voice Mail

Visual Voice Mail does not support Networked Voice Mail (that is, Visual Voice Mail can only be used to access local mailboxes).

## Resiliency

### Distributed Voice Mail Configuration

In a distributed voice mail configuration, a resilient user has two mailboxes, one on the primary ICP and one on the secondary ICP. The user must program each mailbox separately (greetings, passwords, etc.). The system is programmed so that the user gets a message waiting notification when there is a voice message on either mailbox.

Networked Voice Mail cannot deliver messages to the secondary mailbox of a user. If a user's set is re-homed to its secondary ICP, Networked Voice Mail messages will be returned to the sender with a failure to deliver message. Only users on the secondary controller are able to leave messages in the mailbox on the secondary controller.

### Centralized Voice Mail Configuration

In a centralized voice mail configuration, a resilient user has a single mailbox. If a message notification cannot be routed via the user's primary ICP, the system is programmed to route it via the secondary ICP.

Since there is only one voice mailbox, Network Voice Mail can deliver messages when the user's set is re-homed to its secondary ICP.

## User Management

RDN Synchronization is used to manage voice mail users in a networked voice mail configuration. With RDN, you modify voice mail users from the User and Services Configuration form in the System Administration Tool and let System Data Synchronization distribute the changes to the telephone directories in the cluster or network.

## Compression

Networked Voice Mail does not support compression.

## File Management

MiVoice Business uses the following folders in the /vmail partition to store Networked Voice Mail messages:

Folder | Description
/vmail/vpim/outgoing | Outbound messages are placed here until they are sent.
/vmail/vpim/outgoing/backup | Used to recover outbound queue information if ICP resets while there are messages in the outbound queue.
/vmail/vpim/incoming | Inbound messages are placed here until they are distributed to the appropriate mailboxes.
/vmail/vpim/sent | Sent messages are placed here temporarily in case they are rejected at the far end. There is a subfolder for each mailbox, with a maximum of 100 messages per subfolder (first in, first out).

## Messages

- Each message contains a single attachment.

- If an incoming message has multiple attachments, the attachments are grouped into a single attachment.

- Messages sent to a distribution list are sent as a single message with multiple destination addressing.

- If a message is rejected by the far end, the server returns it to the sender attached to a non-acknowledgment (NACK) message.

## Security

Security is provided by:

- Refusing connection attempts from hosts whose IP address is not recognized. To be recognized, a server must be defined in the VM Network Servers table or in the System Options form.

- Discarding any incoming messages in non-VPIM format, as well as error messages from unrecognized servers.

- Encryption of messages between MiVoice Business systems.

## VPIM Commands

Networked Voice Mail supports the following VPIM commands:

- HELO

- EHLO

- MAIL FROM

- RCPT TO

- DATA

- QUIT

- NOOP

- RSET

For security reasons, the following VPIM commands are NOT supported:

- VRFY

- EXPN

- HELP

- EVRB

Related Topics

- About Networked Voice Mail

- Planning for Networked Voice Mail

- Network Configuration

- Programming Networked Voice Mail