Bridge Phonism’s cloud-based device management with Webex by Cisco.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJ02ns08080Webex integration
Phonism’s Webex by Cisco integration serves as a robust bridge between Phonism’s cloud-based device management and Webex by Cisco. Its primary objective is to assist Webex partners in the ability to deploy, manage, secure, and migrate VoIP devices at scale.
Security-compliant third-party SIP devices (phones and gateways) allow Webex customers and partners to have a flexible device management strategy where they can support Cisco devices with a fully managed Cisco-on-Cisco experience with deep Webex integration, as well as a self-managed device management option (partner-managed devices and customer managed devices) for non-Cisco third-party devices via Cisco public API integration, enabling them to cater to new and already deployed SIP devices at scale.
The partner-managed devices solution covers all third-party devices that comply with Cisco’s security and support requirements. Key features and benefits of this integration include:
Seamless asset synchronization: Automatic syncing of assets, ensuring your Webex organization structure and the user and partner-managed devices within these organizations stay updated on both platforms.
Unified SIP credential management: Manage SIP credentials directly within Phonism. Any changes made are automatically synchronized with Webex and updated in the device configuration, eliminating redundancy and reducing error.
Device configuration data ingestion: Pull device configuration data from Webex, allowing for a richer and more accurate device configuration experience in Phonism.
Ring-ready device configuration: Devices are auto-configured to a ring-ready state using Phonism’s certified configuration templates. This ensures that the devices adhere to best practices and are ready for immediate use.
By integrating Phonism with Webex by Cisco, users can enjoy a cohesive device management experience, reducing manual efforts and ensuring their device ecosystem is always optimized and up-to-date.
Prerequisites
Phonism requirements
Active Phonism account. If you don’t have a Phonism account, contact sales@phonism.com.
Account-level super admin user access.
Email Template:
SUBJECT: Phonism Account Creation Request - Cisco Webex Integration
BODY Content:
Dear Phonism Team:
I'm writing to request a Phonism Account Creation Request - Cisco Webex Integration for the following Organization:
Organization Name: <Your company Name>
Super Admin Username: <Your email address>
First Name: <First Name>
Last Name: <Last Name>
Email: <Your email Address - NOTE: Must be a valid email to receive validation confirmation link>
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Once your email is validated, you will asked to accept Terms & Conditions and be prompted to change password. |
Webex by Cisco requirements
Access to partner-managed devices for Webex with a full-admin Partner account.
Full admin for the owned organization.
Authorization to add integrations from Webex App Hub.
Authorization to create Service Apps in Webex.
Webex Calling
Feature enablement request required. To request enablement, follow these steps:
Log in to Control Hub with the Webex Partner Full Administrative credentials for your Partner Managed Organization.
Select Launch my organization. Your Partner Managed Organization’s Control Hub launches.
Select Account.
Copy the Organization name and Organization ID.
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Email webex-wholesale-pm@cisco.com with your partner/customer org information to request feature enablement.
Include in your e-mail the following:
Paste in e-mail body: Organization name and Organization ID.
Please add the Feature toggle request for the Partner ORG ID: XXXXXX
Feature Toggle :wxc-partner-managed-devices-scopes
Scope Name: spark-admin:devices_config_read
Email Template:
SUBJECT: Partner Managed Device Feature Enablement - Toggle Enablement
BODY Content:
Dear Cisco Webex Wholesale Team:
I'm writing to request Partner Managed Device Feature Enablement - Toggle Enablement for the following Organization:
Organization Name: < Your company Name>
Organization ID: <Your Orginization ID>
Feature Toggle: wxc-partner-managed-devices-scopes
Scope Name: spark-admin:devices_config_read
Direct Email Address to reply to: <Your email Address>
Additional technical requirements
Your Webex region must be known.
Device managed and device feature enabled for the partner account.
Third-party security requirements
The partner-managed devices solution allows Webex partners and customers to support any non-Cisco SIP device (phones and gateways) on the Webex platform that complies with Cisco’s security and support requirements as listed below.
Support for TLS 1.2
Support for the IdenTrust certification authority
Basic failover capabilities (single primary/secondary)
Support Cisco’s minimum password security requirements
Active support from the device vendor
Webex Cloud Certification
Webex Calling
INSTALLATION AND SETUP
Phonism integrates with Webex by using two Webex applications.
A Phonism Webex Integration app that is available through Webex App Hub. This app is responsible for syncing all the assets between Phonism and Webex.
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NOTE: This app does not need a download. More information can be found by clicking the link above. |
A Webex Service App that has to be created and owned by the Webex Partner Managed Organization’s Partner Full Admin. A Service App User will need to be created to manage the Webex Service App. This app is responsible for creating the API Tokens for accessing and refreshing the config device info file of each partner managed device.
App Hub integration
Once you have a Phonism account and have successfully logged in, select the following link to start, depending on your region: some text
US integration: https://app.phonism.com/integration/webex/wizard
EUW integration:https://app.euw1.phonism.com/integration/webex
Upon redirection to Phonism, log in to Phonism using your Phonism Super Admin account and continue the onboarding by following the on-screen wizard. The wizard guides you through the following:some text
Log in to Phonism
Check for Webex Authorization
Check permissions available in Webex
Summarize the assets to be synchronized
Finalize setup and begin synchronization
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Note: You can synchronize the entire partner organization including yours, or selected organizations during this setup. These can be edited later on if needed in Phonism. |
Once the integration is configured, Phonism begins asynchronously pulling users and phones in a new branch of your Phonism Hierarchy, automatically creating new Domains and Tenants within that branch representing each one of your Webex Organizations and Locations.
Click Manage Phones / Start Managing Devices to be redirected to Phonism.
Create a Service App user in Control Hub
Before you begin:
This user must be a Partner Full admin who can create users and Service Apps for the Partner Managed Org.
Additionally, you’ll need a Service App User who can log in to the http://developer.webex.com portal.
The Service App User needs a valid e-mail address. This must be a new user and you must be able to activate the email address and set the password.
You can’t add existing users in your organization or users who already have a Webex account.
Sign in to Webex Partner Hub.
Click 'Launch my organization' (this will redirect you to Webex Control Hub)
Under Management, select Users.
Click Users on the top if not already selected.
Choose Add users button.
Enter the first name, last name, and email address.
Click + and then click Next.
Click Add Users.
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NOTE: The next button floats to bottom right-hand screen and sometimes can be missed depending on your browser size. |
After the Service App User is created an email will go out to their account and be asked to activate it.
Use this Service App User’s credentials to activate the Webex account by signing into Webex for the first time on a desktop or mobile and verifying the user's email address.
Now that your Service App user is created, use these credentials to log in to the Webex Developer Portal to create and authorize the Service App.
Create and authorize the Service App
Use the Service App User’s credentials created and activated in the previous steps to sign in to the Webex Developer Portal (shown above).
Select My Webex Apps from the menu under your avatar.
At the top of the page, click Create a New App and then Create Service App to start the wizard.
Enter the following information:
App name: Phonism ServiceApp
Icon: Select a Favicon or add you can add your own
Description: Type a description such as: “ServiceApp for Phonism Integration and creation for API Tokens.”
Contact Email: Enter the email address of the Service App user.
Select the scope: spark-admin:devices_config_read
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Note: This scope “ spark-admin:devices_config_read” will not appear until you have been authorized by Webex to receive this feature toggle. Review Webex Cisco Requirements step 5. |
10. Next, scroll down to the bottom of the page and select Add Service App.
On the confirmation page, it’s important to first copy the Client ID, Client Secret and Service App ID to save for future use.
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Note: It’s important to note that if you do not copy this information, you can regenerate the Client Secret, but it will only appear once. You'll need this information when filling out Phonism's integration form. |
Next, select Request admin authorization. When this request is accepted, a new field appears under Authorization called Org Authorizations, where you’ll be able to select which org you’d like to apply the authorized Client Secret to.
Next, add the integration app in Webex Partner Hub
Under Management, select Apps.
Select Service Apps.
Find and select (click) the app you’ve just created in Webex Developer Portal.
Select the toggle to authorize and click Save.
Now that you’ve authorized the integration in Partner Hub, let’s go back to Webex Developer Portal to find the organization. You should now see a section under Authorizations that says Org Authorizations.
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Note: You may need to refresh the screen or log out and back in. It can take up to 30 minutes to appear. |
When Org Authorizations is available, select the org from the drop-down menu.
Enter the Client Secret.
Click Generate tokens.
Click Save.
After Save, copy the following generated tokens:
refresh_token
access_token
Next, login into Phonism with your Phonism Super Admin account:
North America: https://app.phonism.com/
Europe: https://app.euw1.phonism.com/
Add the Service App in Phonism
Once your Service App is created, you can add the Service App information to your Webex integration in Phonism.
Log in to Phonism and navigate to the Enterprise level.
Click the Integration tab and edit the Webex integration.
Enter the form values with the following Service App details:some text
Client ID
Client secret
Access token
Refresh token
Device info API URL: The API URL is used to pull device configuration data from Webex. It can be assigned globally for all the Organizations/Domains under the integration or can be assigned per Organization/Domain.
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Note: If submission fails the first time, ensure that the Access and Refresh tokens are not inverted on the entry. |
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Note: Partner-managed devices and users transfer to Phonism. Once synchronized, information from Webex Partner Hub should be visible from Phonism. The sync process starts when you click Import Webex Data into Phonism after the API Token is added. You can sync all assets on demand by clicking Sync next to the integration. By default, each enabled Webex integration is synchronized every 24 hours. |
REMOVE WEBEX INTEGRATION
If you need to remove the integration for any reason, follow these steps.
First, remove the link. This keeps any assets administered in the Webex instance intact.
Log in to Phonism and select Account.
Select Service Provider and then Enterprise.
Select the Trash icon on the right side.
Next, delete the items in Phonism or submit a ticket for us to fully delete the instance and its data.
USE CASES AND FUNCTIONS
Hierarchy synchronization
Phonism syncs the Webex hierarchy into Phonism, beginning from the Enterprise automatically created by adding the Webex integration. Each Webex Organization corresponds to the respective domain in Phonism and each Webex location corresponds to the respective tenant in Phonism.
Device info file per organization
Each organization / domain can have a distinct device info file URL to pull device configuration data from Webex, it depends on the region of each Webex organization.
SIP credentials management
For partner-managed devices, SIP registration credentials must be managed by the Partner. By using our integration, Phonism manages SIP credentials on your behalf and ensures both Webex and the device are in sync.
When Phonism identifies a new Webex user associated with a Partner-Managed Device, it does the following:
Create a new phone at the appropriate tenant in Phonism using the MAC in Webex.
Create a new user (Phonism treats Common Areas as Users) and associate it with the new phone.
Retrieve and store device configuration metadata from Webex.
Create VoIP credentials for each SIP registration defined in Webex for the device.
Generate passwords for corresponding SIP registrations and update them in Webex.
Assign relevant VoIP credentials to the phone's corresponding lines in Phonism.
Automatic device redirection
When a redirect service account is associated with Phonism, all related MACs added to your Phonism account are configured for automatic redirection to Phonism for a Zero-Touch Provisioning experience. This includes devices added through the Webex integration.
More information on setup can be found here: Zero-Touch Provisioning
Automatic device redirection
For select devices, when a Webex integration is added to your Phonism account, Phonism templates are automatically added at the root of your Webex integration. These templates are optimized for Webex service, incorporating best practices and ensuring the device is configured to a ring-ready state. For automatic template application to occur, you must do the following:
Navigate to the root of your Webex integration in Phonism.
Go to the Templates tab.
Review each template that was automatically imported.
Update the Template State and set it to Auto Apply so that all relevant devices under this hierarchy will have these templates applied to them.
BEHAVIOR CHANGES IN PHONISM
The following applies to hierarchies and assets associated with a Webex integration.
Asset creation, updates, and deletions
Domains / Organizations:
Must be created in Webex Control Hub; can’t be created in Phonism.
New organizations are periodically synchronized into Phonism.
Organizations are read-only in Phonism.
Tenants / Locations:
They must be created in Webex Control Hub; can’t be created in Phonism.
Updating the Tenant only updates the name of a Location in Webex.
Deleting a Tenant can’t be done in Phonism and must be done in Webex Control Hub.
Users / Users - Workspaces:
Creating a user from Phonism also creates a user in Webex. Users created in Phonism are created with a Webex Calling Pro license and extension associate.
Workspaces can’t be created from Phonism and must be created in Webex Control Hub.
Updating a user updates the corresponding user or workspace in Webex.
For workspaces, updating the last name updates the name of the workspace in Webex. For users, updating the first name, last name, or/and email will update the corresponding value in Webex.
Deleting a user from Phonism also deletes the user or workspace in Webex.
Devices:
Creating a phone from Phonism also creates a phone in Webex. Assigning a user is required when creating.
Updating a phone doesn’t have any impact on the corresponding device in Webex.
Assigned users and extensions are read-only after creation.
Deleting a device from Phonism also deletes the device in Webex.
VoIP credentials:
SIP usernames and authorization IDs are pulled from Webex and both values remain read-only in Phonism.
The password of each VoIP username is auto-generated and pushed to Webex any time that the integration pulls a new SIP registration.
Updating a VoIP credential password updates the password of the corresponding SIP registration in Webex.
Device configuration from Webex
Webex provides a generic configuration file for partner-managed devices. Phonism retrieves, parses, and stores these configuration values. For select phone models, these generic values are auto-converted into phone-compatible configurations. For other phones, these values are accessible in Phonism through Phonism tags for phone and template configuration.
Device synchronization interval
Phonism checks periodically for asset updates due to Webex API limitations.
Asset creations, updates, moves, and deletions are reflected in Phonism.
Updates of organizations, locations, users, workspaces, and devices are polled every 24 hours by default.
If a device requests a configuration file from Phonism, an on-demand synchronization check is performed, given that we haven’t done a synchronization check within a certain period.
TROUBLESHOOTING
Common issues and resolutions
Problem: Integration isn't syncing.
Solution: Verify that your Webex Service App's permissions are correctly set in Webex Control Hub. Also, check if your account has the correct access level in Phonism.
Locate logs and error messages
Log in to Phonism.
Select the Logs tab.
Filter by date, device, or error code.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Does the integration auto-update?
A: Yes, Phonism periodically checks for updates from Webex and syncs any changes.
Q: Can I add organizations directly in Phonism?
A: No, all organizations MUST be added in Webex Control Hub first.
Q: Can I add locations directly in Phonism?
A: No, all locations MUST be added in Webex Control Hub first.
Q: Can I add users directly in Phonism?
A: Yes, users can be added from Phonism and it will be synced on Webex Control Hub.
Q: Can I add devices directly in Phonism?
A: Yes, devices can be added from Phonism and it will be pushed to Webex Control Hub. This can be done by adding manually a single phone, by importing a config file, or by a bulk import of a CSV file.