Standard Set Syncs

After you have the basic backbone, i.e sites, building, switch number built its time to run the sync.  The sync will communicate with the switch to populate your database with the sets as well as populating the following menu options:

For NEC 3C switches

  • 3C Device
  • 3C Station
  • 3C Address
  • 3C Profile
  • 3C User
  • 3C Pickup Group
  • 3C Emergency Group
  • 3C Telephony Area
  • 3C Zone
  • 3C LAN

For Cisco Switches

  • Cisco Phone
  • Cisco Directory

If needed, you can go into each menu option and add, modify or delete a record.  Please keep in mind that if you do make changes, they will only be reflected in the CAIRS database, the information is not synced back to the switch.

A good thing to use these menu options for is reporting.  Each option has a Global Reporting button in the Show ribbon group.  This allows you to build custom reports that provide you with the information that you need.  To learn more about building reports, please see Global Reporting.

Sync Schedule

Most of the time, when changes are made to a set you will save the changes and CAIRS will communicate those changes to the switch based on a schedule.  Most syncs are performed during times with less activity, generally during the late evening to early morning hours.  The sync schedule works in connection with the CES process to sync on the correct schedule.

A few notes about the sync schedule…

Multiple schedules can be created for the same switch.  This can allow for a daily schedule to sync changes made in the switch and weekly schedules to sync changes in CAIRS or vice versa.

If you are going to create multiple schedule it is a good idea to create a brand-new sync record instead of creating multiple schedules in one record.

After you have created the switch and the connection, you will now create the schedule.

Creating the Sync Schedule

  1. Click the Switches menu.
  2. In the Navigation pane, click VoIP Switch Sync à Sync Schedule
  3. Within the Actions pane, click on the Add New Switch Sync Schedule Main link. Then General window opens.
  4. Within the Information pane, complete the following fields (required fields are marked with and asterisk (*)):
    • Switch Name – click on the dropdown arrow to access a list of the switches that are in your database, from the list click on the appropriate switch
    • Sync Schedule – there are 3 options:
      • Use CES Sync Process Schedule – this selection will run the sync each time the CES process is set to run. This is not the most ideal selection as the CES process can run as often as every 60 seconds.  However, this option can be feasible if the CES process schedule is changed to a reasonable time interval.  This option can be easier for sites with only one switch, or sites that want all switches to run in the same timeframe.
      • Use Custom Schedule – this is the ideal selection as you will get to create the schedule for when the sync will run. This is selection works with the CES process in that CES will look at the schedule and run when the schedule indicates.
      • Disabled – only use this option to completely disable this schedule. It is a good idea to disable instead of delete!
    • Sync On Demand – this selection determines whether users will be able to click on the Sync Now button. You can with Enable allowing users to sync or disable not allowing them to sync.
    • Sync Switch Change – this selection determines what will be done with local data when the sync occurs, there are 4 options:
      • Ignore Local Changes and Overwrite from Switch – This is the default option.  When the switch sync runs, any changes made in CAIRS are overwritten with the information currently in the switch for the specified data.  This option should only be used if all changes are being managed in the switch and never in CAIRS.
      • Ignore Local Changes but Preserve Data – (Currently for NEC 3C Only) When the switch sync runs, any changes in CAIRS will stay in place.  This option is useful if changes from CAIRS are sent to the switch using a different sync schedule.  For example, there may be a weekly sync to bring changes from the switch into CAIRS (with this option set), and a separate daily sync to bring changes from CAIRS into the switch (with a different value for Sync Local Changes that actually would update the switch with data from CAIRS).  This option may also be used to temporarily prevent local changes from updating the switch while still allowing syncs to update CAIRS data from the switch.
      • Sync Local Changes When Requested – (Currently for NEC 3C Only) When the switch sync runs, any switch information that an authorized user specified as ready to sync by clicking either “Sync Now” or “Sync Later” from a switch-specific record, such as a set device, would be updated in the switch.  Other changes in CAIRS would not be updated until an authorized user specifies that those records should be synced.  However, those changes will be preserved in CAIRS until they are ready to be synced.
      • Sync All Local Changes Automatically – (Currently for NEC 3C Only) When the switch sync runs, all changes in CAIRS will update the switch.  Switch-specific records that are specifically scheduled to sync later will still not be synced until the specified date and time requested.
    • Description – enter in the description of the sync.
  1. At this point it is a good idea to save your progress, within the Actions ribbon group click on the Save button.
  2. Now it is time to create the actual schedule, within the Custom Schedule ribbon group, click on the Create Custom Schedule button. The Recurring Schedule window opens.  There are three sections within the window:
    • Start Time
    • Recurrence Pattern
    • Recurrence Range
  1. First, let’s determine the Start Time, this is the time of day the sync will start to run. It is a good idea to start the sync when there is not a lot of people using CAIRS. Click on the dropdown arrow to access a list of time, from the list select time.  The times list is in half hour increments.
  2. To change the time, simply click into the field and type in a new time. The time needs to be entered in the HH:MM AM or PM format.
  3. Next is the recurrence pattern, first let’s determine the frequency. When you choose a frequency whether daily, weekly, monthly or yearly, the recurrence selections change.
    • Daily – there are two selections. Every # day – you choose the number of days between the sync or Every Weekday.
    • Weekly – first you will choose how many weeks are in-between the sync, this defaults to 1. Next, you will choose what day of the week, this defaults to the current day
    • Monthly – when you select monthly, you get a few different selections:
    • Days: you determine what day of the month and the number of months in-between

**If you choose the 31st of every month, for those months ending in 30 days the sync will occur on the 30th.

    • On the – you will determine on which weekday whether 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th or last and the number of months in-between.
    • Yearly – the first selection to make is how many years in-between the sync, this defaults to 1. There are two additional selections:
    • Month – you choose what month and day of the month. From the first dropdown, choose the month and then type in the day. This defaults to your current month.
    • On the – you determine which weekday of the month whether 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th or last. For example, on the second Tuesday of every May.
  1. The last step is to determine the Recurrence Range, this tells CAIRS when to start and stop syncing. Within the Start dropdown select the date that the syncs will start.
  2. Next is the end date, you can either choose to select no end date or select a date to end the syncs. To select a date, click on the half arrow buttons to move forward/reverse one month at a time.  To select another date, click on the full arrow button to access a calendar, from there select the future.
  3. When you have completed your selections, click on the OK button. The schedule now appears in the Custom Schedule pane.
  4. If any adjustments need click on the Manage Custom Schedule button.
  5. When finished working with the sync schedule, click on the Save & Close button within the Actions ribbon group.

Syncing

As we talked about before, most of the time after you create the set you will save the information and CAIRS will communicated your changes to the switch at a scheduled time.  The sync schedule is determined by your CAIRS administrators.  There are 3 buttons that you need to be aware of within each set.

  1. Sync – the main purpose of this button is to let CAIRS know that this set is ready to be synced and to run the sync if the user selects to Sync Now
    • The top portion of the window allows you to determine when the sync will occur, you can either select Sync Now or Sync Later. If you choose later, the set will be synced based on the sync schedule.  If the set needs to be synced for sometime in the future, you can set a schedule here to sync at a later date and time.
    • The next selection is how you want to deal with local changes. There are 3 options
      Update Switch with Changes – this selection will update the switch with all the changes made in CAIRS

      • Keep Local Changes – skip Switch Update – this selection will keep just the CAIRS data
      • Overwrite Local Changes from Switch – this selection will take all changes that exist in the switch and overwrite the CAIRS data
    • The lower panes contain the information that will be communicated to the switch. If this is a brand-new set, the New Value column will be the only one populated.  If you are modifying a set, the old values will display as well as the new value.
    • To complete the sync process, click on the Ok button.

When you are back at the set you will notice a solid yellow line underneath the ribbon.  This line gives you the status of any changes and whether they have been synced with the switch.