Jabber for Windows 10.5.1 released

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Cisco has released an updated Jabber for Windows client yesterday (October 8th), available for download on CCO (login required). The build number for this release is 10.5.1.43318 (be sure to check out Release Notes).The release contains a number of fixes and the following 5 are may be of particular interest:

  1. Jabber clients try to authenticate multiple times when using Expressway for Mobile and Remote Access (MRA). (CSCuq54657)
  2. Jabber search on a user is returning multiple Outlook contacts for users. (CSCup78097)
  3. Phone, company and photo intermittently missing on Windows 8. (CSCup29889)
  4. Jabber for Windows 10.5. 0 client registers with BOT or TCT device. (CSCuq93337)
  5. IM history does not show for some days even if available in the db file. (CSCuq90236).

 

Jabber vs. OCS/Lync – Feature Comparison

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Many are wondering how Cisco Jabber compares to OCS/Lync in terms of features and user experience. The two share some similarities and clearly leave other competing products far behind – as Gartner analysts clearly suggest. I have tried to summarize all features of the two in the following table:

Feature Jabber OCS/Lync
Presence
Presence indicators in Microsoft applications Yes Yes
Rich presence (e.g. “on the phone”) Yes No
Custom status messages Yes Yes
Instant Messaging
Group chat Yes Yes
File transfer Yes Yes
Screen capture-to-IM Yes No
Conversation history in Outlook No Yes
IM History for compliance Yes Yes
Telephony and Video
PC-to-PC audio calling Yes[i] Yes
PC-to-PC video calling Yes[i] Yes
PC-to-PSTN audio calling Yes No
URI dialing (e.g. someone@domain.com) Yes Yes
Click-to-call support Limited[ii] Yes
Mobility
Native iPhone/iPad client Yes Yes
Native Android client Yes Yes
Native Windows Phone client No Yes
Native BlackBerry client Limited[iii] Yes
Other
AD integration: authentication Yes Yes
AD integration: directory search Yes Yes
WebEx integration (click-to-meet) Yes Yes
Desktop sharing Yes Yes
Remote control sharing Yes Yes
Skype federation No Yes
Federation with other standards-based clients Yes Yes
VPN-less connectivity Yes Yes

[i] CUCM-registered client only
[ii] Limited support (from MS Office applications only)
[iii] Limited support (IM-only; EOL)

Your comments, as always, are welcome.

Bash Environment Variable Patch for UCM versions 8, 9 and 10

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Update: The patch is also applicable to Cisco Unity Connection versions 8.5.1 and up. I have updated the post to reflect this information.

With yet another vulnerability that has become public in the recent week, vendors are scrambling to issue security patches for their systems. Cisco is no exception here, and that’s a good thing. On October 1st Cisco has released bash environment patch for CUCM/CUC versions 8, 9 and 10 to protect these systems from Shellshock bug. All future software updates for CallManager/Unity Connection versions that have not reached E-O-M will be released with the patch included. But for now, affected customers should download and install ciscocm.bashupgrade.cop.sgn available on CCO under Products > Unified Communications Call Control Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CallManager) > Cisco Unified Communications Manager Version x.x > Unified Communications Manager / CallManager / Cisco Unity Connection Utilities-COP-Files.

The update does not require system reboot, but Cisco advises to make a backup copy just in case. Be sure to check patch installation instructions and you may also want to review the CSCur00930 (CUCM) and CSCur05328 (CUC) on the Bug Tracker for more information.

Stay safe!

Cisco Jabber 9.6.3 for iPhone/iPad Is Here

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Finally, Cisco has released an update to their Cisco Jabber client for Apple iOS devices and Cisco Jabber 9.6.3 is now available from the App Store. This version fixes the CSCuo85316 and CSCup28228 bugs, both of which were affecting users’ ability to connect their Jabber to CUCM/CUPS via Expressways. MRA is now fully functional across all popular platforms: Windows/Mac, Android and [finally] Apple iOS family devices.

Enabling Medianet’s Metadata on Endpoints Running TC6.0 Through TMS

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If you would like to bulk-enable Medianet’s metadata on Cisco endpoints running software TC6.0 and higher, you can do so using TMS Configuration Template with a custom API command. Here’s how:

  1. Navigate to Systems > Configuration Templates > Configuration Templates.
  2. Create new configuration template or edit an existing one.
  3. Click on ‘Select Advanced Settings’ tab and use the filter to search for ‘custom configuration’ for ‘Cisco TelePresence TC Endpoints’:
    TMS Custom Configuration Template
  4. Select the ‘Custom Configuration’ setting and click ‘>’ to add it to the settings list.
  5. Switch to ‘Template Settings’ tab and paste the following string in the ‘Custom Configuration’ line: 
    <Configuration>
<Experimental item="1">
<NetworkServices item="1">
<Medianet item="1">
<Metadata item="1">On</Metadata>
</Medianet>
</NetworkServices>
</Experimental>
</Configuration>
  6. Save the template. You’re done!

Test the configuration by applying the new template to a single endpoint and confirm that there were no errors and the setting has been changed successfully.

VCS Alarm: ‘RxPLIManager Line: 54’

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We had one of the VCSes raise an alarm a few days ago that reads as follows:

An unexpected software error was detected in ivy[14753]: SIGABRT (tkill(2) or tgkill(2))

A closer look into details reveals the following:

Stack 0x0000000000c2c407 RxPLIManager ppcmains/ivy/b2bua/offeranswer/sdp/RxPLIManager.cpp:54
0x00007f032c66f2a5 (InstructionPointer)
0x00007f032c9fab30 (__builtin_return_address(0))

Cisco has confirmed that it is a new bug with X8.1.1. The application automatically restarts, so there is no need to do anything other than acknowledge the alarm for the notice to go away.

User accounts are automatically disabled in CWMS 2.0 MR4

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Update #2 07-18-2014: A hotfix cisco-webex-meetings-server-2.0.1.416.B.iso has been released for customers who are affected by the defect CSCup62113. The hotfix is available via special download only; to obtain access to it, please contact Cisco TAC.

Update #1 07-08-2014: Apparently, another outcome of the bug is that the Personal Conferencing accounts have been removed from all user profiles after users were temporarily deactivated in CWMS. There is a way to re-enable the old host/participant access codes if a user creates a new Personal Conferencing account (regardless whether the same or a new PIN is specified). The old Personal Conferencing host/access codes will not show up in the users’ profile or WebEx Productivity Tools in Outlook.

So I have upgraded our CWMS 2.0 environment to the latest maintenance release (MR4 or 2.0.1.407). Everything went well and the systems tested successfully post the upgrade. Time to remove pre-upgrade snapshots of your CWMS VMs (don’t ever forget to do this, as snapshots left behind do have an adverse effect on VM performance) and call it a night. Well, it turned out that the newest maintenance release is bugged and this time it is a big one. If you haven’t upgraded to the latest maintenance release, but plan to do it sometime soon, you’d likely want to reconsider. Read on…

So I have learned today that all but two of my 5000+ users were deactivated in CWMS with a status “disabled on LDAP” (which, of course, isn’t true). Users can still authenticate with the CallManager (with which CWMS synchronizes), so directory synchronization with LDAP and LDAP authentication isn’t a problem. Turns out, CWMS would disable any user whose record hasn’t been updated in the CallManager within the past few weeks (8 to be precise, as claimed by a Cisco TAC engineer). There is no patch or hotfix available at this point, but a workaround is as follows:

  1. Make a change (any change) for the affected end user object(s) in the CallManager (you’d likely want to make the changes in bulk using BAT).
  2. Synchronize the users in CWMS
  3. Disable periodic synchronization.

I found it easiest to bulk update user objects using a query (Bulk Administration -> Users -> Update Users -> Query). I have made a copy of an existing Service Profile and saved it under a different name, then switched all of my users to that Service Profile using a query in Bulk Administration. Use Job Scheduler to verify that all records have been updated successfully.

Job Scheduler

 

Once the batch job completes successfully and you have confirmed that all records have been updated, proceed with synchronization of users with CUCM in CWMS.

Important: Do not forget to disable periodic synchronization!

CWMS Directory SynchronizationHope you did not have to go through this. I will update the post once a hotfix or an update with a fix becomes available. You can also save the bug CSCup62113 and add email subscription to receive updates on it in Cisco’s bug tracker tool.

 

VCS/Expressway Release X8.2 is here

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The long-awaited X8.2 for VCS Control/Expressway and Expressway-Core/Expressway-Edge is finally available on the CCO for download. In this version of software Cisco re-introduces support for Jabber Guest (which has been officially promoted to production just a few days ago). Apart from support of Jabber Guest, the new release adds a few other perks:

  • External XMPP Federation of CUPS-registered users with other deployments
  • Ability to change RTP/RTCP media demultiplexing ports
  • Better diagnostic logging and usability improvements in GUI

Please refer to the posted Release Notes for more details.

I the next few posts I will be covering deployment of Cisco Jabber Guest and MRA (Mobile Remote Access) for a small- to medium-size environment, so stay tuned.

New TMS Extension for MS Exchange 4.0.1

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A new version of TMS Extension for Microsoft Exchange has been released today and is available for download from CCO. Some of the highlights of the newest version:

  • Added support for MS Exchange 2013 (finally!), but with some limitations.
  • Added support for Office 365 in technical preview (again, with some limitations).
  • Added redundancy option, with TMSXE working in an active/passive cluster mode.
  • Now the mailboxes can be added in batch (using CSV import), and it is no longer necessary to stop the TMSXE service when adding/removing mailboxes.

For more information, read the full Release Notes posted on Cisco’s website.