Accessing Hunt Groups

Hunt Group Overview

A Hunt Group is a group of lines that are organized hierarchically, so that if the first number in the hunt group list is busy, the system dials the second number. If the second number is busy, the system dials the next number, and so on.

The phone users can log in to or log out of the hunt groups by using the HLog softkey or the Hunt Group line button on the IP phone. The phone provides a visual status of the login state, so that the user can determine whether they are logged in to one or more of their line groups.

The Hunt Group feature provides the following functions:

  • The HLog softkey on the IP phone allows the user to toggle between login and logout of phone.

  • A hunt group allows a caller to automatically find an available line from amongst a group of extensions.

  • The Hunt Group Log Off feature allows phone users to prevent their phones from receiving incoming calls that get routed to directory numbers. Regardless of the phone status, the phone rings normally for incoming calls that are not calls to one or more line groups associated with the phone.


    Note

    The directory numbers (DNs) belong to line groups that are associated with the phone.

  • System administrators can log in or log out the users from the phones that are automatically logged into hunt groups.

  • The HLog softkey allows a phone user to log a phone out of all line groups to which the phone directory numbers belong.

  • From Cisco Unified Communications Manager Release 9.0 onward, the Hunt Group Log Off feature enables the use of mobile device as a desk phone. When you use the Hlog softkey through your mobile client, you no longer receive calls that are placed to the hunt pilot.

Hunt Group Prerequisites

  • The phones must be running Skinny Client Control Protocol (SCCP) or Session Initiation Protocol (SIP).

  • The phone ringtone file must be located in the TFTP directory (/usr/local/cm/tftp).

Hunt Group Configuration Task Flow

Before you begin

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

Configure a Softkey Template for Hunt Group

Configure a softkey template for the HLog softkey.

Step 2

To Associate a Softkey Template with a Common Device Configuration, complete the following subtasks:

Optional. To make the softkey template available to phones, you must complete either this step or the following step. Follow this step if your system uses a Common Device Configuration to apply configuration options to phones. This is the most commonly used method for making a softkey template available to phones.

Step 3

Associate a Softkey Template with a Phone

Optional. Use this procedure either as an alternative to associating the softkey template with the Common Device Configuration, or in conjunction with the Common Device Configuration. Use this procedure in conjunction with the Common Device Configuration if you need to assign a softkey template that overrides the assignment in the Common Device Configuration or any other default softkey assignment.

Step 4

Configure Phones for Hunt Group

Configure phones to automatically log in to or log out of hunt groups and hunt lists.

Configure a Softkey Template for Hunt Group

The HLog softkey appears on the phone when the phone is in the following call states:

  • Connected

  • On Hook

  • Off Hook


Note
You must create a new softkey template to configure the HLog softkey. You cannot configure the HLog softkey in a standard softkey template.

Use this procedure to make the HLog softkey available:

Procedure

Step 1

From Cisco Unified CM Administration, choose Device > Device Settings > Softkey Template.

Step 2

Perform the following steps to create a new softkey template; otherwise, proceed to the next step.

  1. Click Add New.

  2. Select a default template and click Copy.

  3. Enter a new name for the template in the Softkey Template Name field.

  4. Click Save.

Step 3

Perform the following steps to add softkeys to an existing template.

  1. Click Find and enter the search criteria.

  2. Select the required existing template.

Step 4

Check the Default Softkey Template check box to designate this softkey template as the default softkey template.

Note

 

If you designate a softkey template as the default softkey template, you cannot delete it unless you first remove the default designation.

Step 5

Choose Configure Softkey Layout from the Related Links drop-down list in the upper right corner and click Go.

Step 6

From the Select a Call State to Configure drop-down list, choose the call state for which you want the softkey to display.

Step 7

From the Unselected Softkeys list, choose the softkey to add and click the right arrow to move the softkey to the Selected Softkeys list. Use the up and down arrows to change the position of the new softkey.

Step 8

Repeat the previous step to display the softkey in additional call states.

Step 9

Click Save.

Step 10

Perform one of the following tasks:

  • Click Apply Config if you modified a template that is already associated with devices to restart the devices.
  • If you created a new softkey template, associate the template with the devices and then restart them. For more information, see Add a Softkey Template to a Common Device Configuration and Associate a Softkey Template with a Phone sections.

What to do next

Perform one of the following procedures:

Associate a Softkey Template with a Common Device Configuration

Optional. There are two ways to associate a softkey template with a phone:

  • Add the softkey template to the Phone Configuration.

  • Add the softkey template to the Common Device Configuration.

The procedures in this section describe how to associate the softkey template with a Common Device Configuration. Follow these procedures if your system uses a Common Device Configuration to apply configuration options to phones. This is the most commonly used method for making a softkey template available to phones.

To use the alternative method, see Associate a Softkey Template with a Phone.

Before you begin

Configure a Softkey Template for Hunt Group

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

Add a Softkey Template to a Common Device Configuration

Step 2

Associate a Common Device Configuration with a Phone

Add a Softkey Template to a Common Device Configuration

Procedure

Step 1

From Cisco Unified CM Administration, choose Device > Device Settings > Common Device Configuration.

Step 2

Perform the following steps to create a new Common Device Configuration and associate the softkey template with it; otherwise, proceed to the next step.

  1. Click Add New.

  2. Enter a name for the Common Device Configuration in the Name field.

  3. Click Save.

Step 3

Perform the following steps to add the softkey template to an existing Common Device Configuration.

  1. Click Find and enter the search criteria.

  2. Click an existing Common Device Configuration.

Step 4

In the Softkey Template drop-down list, choose the softkey template that contains the softkey that you want to make available.

Step 5

Click Save.

Step 6

Perform one of the following tasks:

  • If you modified a Common Device Configuration that is already associated with devices, click Apply Config to restart the devices.
  • If you created a new Common Device Configuration, associate the configuration with devices and then restart them.

Associate a Common Device Configuration with a Phone

Before you begin

Add a Softkey Template to a Common Device Configuration

Procedure

Step 1

From Cisco Unified CM Administration, choose Device > Phone.

Step 2

Click Find and select the phone device to add the softkey template.

Step 3

From the Common Device Configuration drop-down list, choose the common device configuration that contains the new softkey template.

Step 4

Click Save.

Step 5

Click Reset to update the phone settings.

Associate a Softkey Template with a Phone

This procedure is optional. You can use this procedure as an alternative to associating the softkey template with the Common Device Configuration. This procedure also works in conjunction with the Common Device Configuration: use it when you need to assign a softkey template that overrides the assignment in the Common Device Configuration or any other default softkey assignment.

Before you begin

Configure a Softkey Template for Hunt Group

Procedure

Step 1

From Cisco Unified CM Administration, choose Device > Phone.

The Find and List Phones window appears.

Step 2

Choose the phone to which you want to add the softkey template.

The Phone Configuration window appears.

Step 3

From the Softkey Template drop-down list, choose the template that contains the new softkey.

Step 4

Click Save.

A dialog box appears with a message to press Reset to update the phone settings.

Configure Phones for Hunt Group

Use this procedure to configure phones to automatically log in to or log out of hunt groups and hunt lists.

Before you begin

Ensure the phone directory numbers belong to one or more hunt groups.

See the Administration Guide for Cisco Unified Communications Manager for information on hunt groups and hunt lists.

Procedure

Step 1

From Cisco Unified CM Administration, choose Device > Phone.

Step 2

Perform one of the following tasks:

  1. To modify the fields for an existing phone, enter search criteria and choose a phone from the resulting list. The Phone Configuration window appears.

  2. To add a new phone, click Add New.

    The Add a New Phone window appears.

Step 3

In the Phone Configuration window, perform one of the following tasks:

  1. To log out the phone from the hunt group, uncheck the Logged Into Hunt Group check box.

  2. To log in the phone to the hunt group, ensure that the Logged Into Hunt Group check box is checked.

    Note

     
    The Logged Into Hunt Group check box remains checked by default for all phones.

Step 4

Click Save.

Configure Hunt Group Service Parameter

The Hunt Group Logoff Notification service parameter provides the option to turn audible ringtones on or off when calls that come in to a line group arrive at a phone that is currently logged out. This ringtone alerts a logged-out user that there is an incoming call to a hunt list to which the line is a member, but the call will not ring at the phone of that line group member because of the logged-out status.

To configure the Hunt Group Logoff Notification service parameter, perform the following steps.

Procedure

Step 1

From Cisco Unified CM Administration, choose System > Service Parameters.

Step 2

From the Server drop-down list, choose the server that is running the Cisco CallManager service.

Step 3

From the Service drop-down list, choose Cisco CallManager.

The Service Parameter Configuration window appears.

Step 4

In the Clusterwide Parameters (Device - Phone) section, configure values for the following Hunt Group Logoff Notification service parameter:

Enter a name for the ringtone file that Cisco IP Phones play when a member of a line group (hunt group) has logged out. The default value for this service parameter is None, which indicates no ringtone. You can enter a maximum of 255 characters.

Step 5

Click Save.

The window refreshes, and Cisco Unified Communications Manager updates the service parameter with your changes.

Hunt Group Interactions

Feature Interaction

Non-shared-line Directory Number

If a phone is logged out of a line group and an extension on the phone is not shared, the line group does not ring that directory number (DN) in the line group. When the line group would normally offer the call to the DN, call processing skips the DN and acts as if the DN does not belong to the line group.

Shared-line Directory Number

Because the Log Out of Hunt Group feature is device-based, when a user logs a phone out, the feature affects only the logged-out phone. Calls to a line group that contains a shared-line directory number behave as follows:
  • The DN does not ring if all phones that share that DN are logged out.
  • The DN does ring if one or more phones that share the DN are logged in.
  • The audible ring on a phone that is logged out is turned off by default. Cisco Unified Communications Manager provides a system parameter that can be set, so that a different ring tone plays when a call comes in to a logged-out hunt group member.

Hunt Group Restrictions

Restriction Description

Multiple Line Groups

When the user enables the Hunt Group Log Off feature by pressing the HLog softkey, the phone gets logged out from all associated line groups. This is because Hunt Group Log Off is a device-based feature. If a phone has DNs that belong to multiple line groups, pressing the HLog softkey logs the phone out of all associated line groups.

7940, 7960, and third-party SIP phones

  • When a phone that is running SIP (7906, 7911, 7941, 7961, ) is logged in to hunt groups and Call Forward All is activated, the call gets presented to the phone that is running SIP.
  • When 7940 and 7960 phones that are running SIP are logged in to hunt groups and Call Forward All is activated, the phones get skipped and the next phone in the line group rings.
  • 7940 and 7960 phones that are running SIP and third-party phones that are running SIP can be logged in to or logged out of hunt groups by using the Phone Configuration window, but no softkey support exists.
  • 7940 and 7960 phones that are running SIP and third-party phones that are running SIP do not show "Logged out of hunt groups" on the status line.
  • 7940 and 7960 phones that are running SIP and third-party phones that are running SIP do not play the Hunt Group Logoff Notification tone regardless of whether the tone is configured.