This is step by step guide to enable alerts and setup SMTP server on Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) and then use RTMT (Real-Time Monitoring Tool) to setup email alerts to be triggered when specific alert condition is met.

Note: This document is based on CUCM 11.5 version with Office 365

Add SMTP Server in CUCM

• Navigate to CUCM OS Administration page

• Login with OS Administration credentials:

• Navigate to Settings -> SMTP and enter Hostname or IP Address of SMTP server and click Save.

• SMTP Hostname is usually office.yourdomainname
• If you are not aware of SMTP hostname, then follow below steps to identify SMTP Server details.

Find out SMTP host of Office 365

• Navigate to outlook.office365.com, login using your office365 account and click on Gear icon on right top corner:

• Click on View all Outlook Settings

• Select Sync email, you’ll see SMTP settings as shown below:

Enable Alerts on CUCM

• Navigate to Cisco Unified Serviceability and login

• Navigate to Alarm -> Configuration

• Select one of CUCM node (Server) and click on Go

• Select one from Service Group and click Go:

• Select one of the active Service and click Go

• Click check box “Enable Alarm” and select “Error” from drop down for Alarm Even Level and click Save.
• You can also check Apply to All Nodes to apply this setting for all nodes in CUCM cluster.
• Repeat steps for Service Group, Service and Enable alarm steps for all the options.

Configure RTMT Email Alerts

• Login to Real Time Monitoring Tool (RTMT) for CUCM
• If you do not have RTMT, then you can download and install it from CUCM Administration -> Applications -> Plugins and search for Cisco Unified Real-Time Monitoring Tool for Windows / Linux (based on your system’s OS)
• Once logged in to RTMT, click on Alert Central

• All alerts will load and active alerts will show up on top in red:

• Right click on the alert for which you want to create email trigger and click on Set Alert/Properties:

• Put check mark against Enable Alert, put check mark against all nodes to Enable alert. Then click on Next

• Click Next:

• Following settings can be done on this screen:
  • Frequency:
    • Trigger alert on every poll – Every minute alert can be generated
    • Trigger upto__ alerts within __ minutes – you define how many alerts to be generated  every x minutes
  • Schedule:
    •  Trigger when alert occurs or define schedule

• Click Next
• Click check mark Enable Email and click on Configure to Add email address of recipient

• Enter description of email body and click Save.

And that is it!!! You have successfully enabled CUCM alerts, added SMTP configuration and setup RTMT to generate email alerts for critical alerts.

Now if you want to know how to enable Disaster Recovery System, go here.

If you have any question/comment, please let me know.