Implementing Active Directory Integration with ShoreTel 11

Historically I have recommended that the ShoreTel server not be a computer in your domain. To many times, an Active Directory administrator will create a new Group Policy and forget about the ShoreTel user account. The end result is a down ShoreTel server and a call to TAC support! I still feel strongly about this, but you can still integrate Active Directory authentication for your ShoreTel users. Generally, ShoreTel users do not actually log in and log out of their Call Managers, or their Communicators as ShoreTel has renamed them in Version 11. Most implementations have the ShoreTel desktop application launched automatically when the user starts up their desktop computers. Most users do not even know that they are in fact logging into ShoreTel. Active Directory administrators however, most certainly know that a login has occurred. With ShoreTel 11 Active Directory integration has matured and the reasons for implementing active directory user authentication are increasingly more obvious. For example, now that ShoreTel has a complete Call Manager application running within your favorite internet browser, users will become aware that they are logging in as they will need to provide credentials each time they access the web application (see previous video this subject). ShoreTel Active Directory integration is relatively straight forward, stress-free integration. Once implemented, ShoreTel system administrators have the opportunity to determine which users will require AD authentication as it is possible, using this integration that they can remain authenticated by the ShoreTel directory system. The Version 11 web based Call Manager, for example, provides two links: one for the ShoreTel authentication and one for AD authentication. It is important that you first create a user in ShoreTel that has both ShoreTel administration privileges and an AD user account in your domain. You will also need to have the LDAP directory URL for your domain. For those of us that are not Microsoft wizards, you might need some help locating the LDAP directory URL. We were able to locate a tool from Softerra that can be of great help in searching your AD for user information. You can locate this very useful tool at http://www.softerra.com/portfolio_ldap-browser.htm and you can download a free versions. Once in ShoreTel Director you will navigate to System Parameters and to the Option page. Check the enable box and enter your AD LDAP URL and your are done. The next time you login to ShoreTel you will use your Active Directory credentials. You will notice that the Shoreware Directory login screen has changed, and each of your user accounts has a new field for Active Directory login credentials that can be synchronized with your domain based LDAP directory. The video clip shows you how this process is executed. As always we welcome your feedback!

Virtualize your ShoreTel Contact Center or ECC on ESXi?

Running the ECC on a virtual server is “not a supported configuration”, but will it work? Often we encounter installed base solutions that are pushing the support envelop with market driven customer requirements. Windows 7 may not be a supported desktop OS for a ShoreTel Communicator, but try telling an end user client that is it “not a supported configuration” after they just did an enterprise wide PC refresh. We quickly learn the difference between “not supported” and “does not work”, and find a way to get Communicator running under Windows 7. Similarly, we are beginning to see more Virtualization requirements surface in the installed base as well as written as requirements in new deployments. Prior to Version 11, virtualization was “not a supported configuration” for a ShoreTel HQ or DVM server. Now, not only are we being asked to virtualize ShoreTel, we are being asked to consider running a ShoreTel ECC in a virtual environment. We already know it is “not a supported configuration”, but will it work? We determined to find out for ourselves if this solution could be configured and we created a an environment in which we could configure, test and experience a Virtualized ShoreTel Contact Center. There are any number of issues you need to resolve when considering a Virtual Server environment. Is this going to be a customer premise based implementation or are we moving all of these servers to the “cloud”. How many servers will we need to host on our Virtual Machine? RAM? Network Interfaces? Storage requirements? These are all on the list of questions that should be answered before attempting a Virtual server implementation. In the case of the ShoreTel ECC, we also had one other (excuse the pun) key issue to worry about. Each ShoreTel ECC has a “dongle” or USB lock that must be installed on the server prior to deploying the ECC application. We had already learned how to bring up a ShoreTel HQ server and a ShoreTel DVM server in a virtual environment, but to bring up a ShoreTel ECC we had to solve the “dongle” issue. Fortunately after considerable research, trial and error, we were able to configure a USB driver for our Virtual server that enabled the installation of the ShoreTel ECC application! In our test configuration we built out a host platform using vSphere ESXi running on an HP DL360 with 2 Intel; Quad Processors and 32G of RAM with a Network Attached Storage. The ShoreTel HQ and DVM servers came up with little or no problem. They need to be configured before ShoreTel software load of Version 12.0 with a hardware configuration that meets ShoreTel minimum server specifications. In fact, it is hard to show it to you as you would not be able to see any difference between a Virtual ShoreTel and a ShoreTel server running directly on a hardware platform. T he ECC had some real challenges and we are still uncovering characteristics of the deployment that need special handling like the USB driver as previously mentioned. The results are very promising and we can only find one issue that we can not resolve. The application runs flawlessly however, and we are encouraged by what we have experienced with the deployment.

Have you set your Holiday Phone Message Schedule yet?

It was the night before Christmas and all through the house not a create was stirring, except the technical support team! It does not matter what holiday it is, the result is always the same. At 4:45PM the day before the Holiday our Call Center breaks new records for inbound calls from the client base. The question is always the same: “we are closing for a ½ day and how do we set the Holiday Greeting”. Ugh! Not like we did not have any warning about this holiday! Christmas seems to fall on the same date every year! Still it happens, a last minute rush to get the schedules modified and the recordings made! ShoreTel does a great job of allowing you to plan your entire Holiday greeting schedule well in advance! You can create a “2011 Holidays” list and in one short session set up your schedule for the entire year. The only task level event that needs to be undertaken at the appointed time, is to record the actual greeting callers will hear on that scheduled day. For this reason, I recommend a “Generic” holiday greeting. I don’t want to sound like a Grinch here, but I have all but given up on Custom Holiday Greetings! The old generic “ You have reached our Office during a time in which we are closed for the Holiday” is very workable. If you cant use the generic greeting, even though your schedules are already programmed for a year in advance, you will need change out the recoding for each Holiday! Remember, if you are closing early on any day, you need to create a “CUSTOM” schedule list like “2011 Half-days”! In the Shoreware Director under the Automated Attendant, Workgroup, Hunt group or Route Point assign the Schedule with the CUSTOM button down. Likewise, assign the Holiday Schedule with the Holiday button down. Remember, the company might be closed and the AA might play the Holiday message, but how about those Workgroups? Are they on the same schedule or does that group work different hours during the holiday? Whatever you do, do it now!