Archive Mitel 5000 voicemail message for computer storage - Solution

[MEFMITEL]

I have a large voicemail--actually a recording of a conference call--stored on voicemail.  I'd like to get that saved somehow so I can put it onto my computer and free up the voicemail storage.  Any idea how I can do that, and also have the file in either an .mp3 or .wav format for storage?  The system is a Mitel 5000 CP.

By the way, I had enhanced integration enabled to have messages moved to my email through Exchange.  Unfortunately this message is >50MB, which is the limit on our email system.  This has caused some other issues with the Mitel, such as all voicemails have stopped being delivered through enhanced integration since this happened and we've had to switch to copy/forward.  That will be another post sometime!

Thanks.

[PC77375]

You can ask your mail admin to create an email without an attachment limit, LargeVM@company.com for example, then create a mailbox in your 5000 with voicemail forward to email to that new email address. When you are in your voicemail, and listening to the message, forward it to the newly created voicemail and it should then forward to your new email with no attachment limit log into the email and save the wav attachment to your local computer hard drive. You can then either delete the email and voicemail boxes after you are done, or leave them for future use.

[MEFMITEL]

Great suggestion, I'll try and report back.
Mark

[MEFMITEL]

Looks like I won't be able to try this after all.  Our email provider has indicated that 50MB is a hard limit on email size, so I can't increase the limit to try this solution.  Thanks, though.

Mark

[dozer]

What version of 5000 are your running and what voicemail are you using?  The base voicemail, Enterprise Messaging, Nupoint, ESNA? 

[MEFMITEL]

I believe this is the information you are looking for.  The system is a 5000CP with an HX controller, all software should be up-to-date.
Application Name         Status         Start Time         Version
Unified Voice Messaging         Running         Apr 4 08:05         5.1.0.20
Call Processing         Running         Apr 4 08:04         5.1.0.20
Processor Module         Running         Apr 4 08:05         5.1.20
Digital Expansion Interface         Running         Apr 4 08:05         5.1.20
Keypad         Running         Apr 4 07:47         5.1.20
Loop Start Ports         Running         Apr 4 08:05         5.1.20
Onboard TFTP Server         Running         Apr 4 07:47         5.1.20
PPP Connection         Running         Apr 4 08:05         5.1.20
Single Line Ports         Running         Apr 4 08:05         5.1.20
Single Line Module - 4 - Bay 2         Running         Apr 4 08:05         5.1.20
System Resource Application         Running         Apr 4 08:04         5.1.20
Dual T1/E1/PRI Module - Bay 1         Running         Apr 4 08:05         5.1.20
Webserver         Running         Apr 4 08:05         5.1.20

[NTEDave]

If you had checked your post on another Mitel forum you may have been a bit further forward with this 

Plug a USB stick into the front of your 5000
Run a Database Backup and tick the Backup voicemail box
It will backup the VM info to U: which is the USB stick

Once it's done stick the USB stick in your PC and I can't remember the exact path but it's fairly clear where the VMs are.

They are a weird Linux format .N08A

Once I found the file format I googled it and found this on another forum:

http://www.sundance-communications.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?/ubb/get_topic/f/4/t/003403/p/1.html#000003

So do a backup and convert and hopefully you can still access this recording from a mailbox to delete it.

[MEFMITEL]

I'm very embarassed that I haven't posted on the other forum.  I'm going to post an update there tongiht.  I lost track of where I was with this thread on both sites, which I try to not do.  Regardless, I had our technician try this and we weren't able to convert the file.  I've been trying to figure out how to FTP into the phone system to try and retrieve the voicemail that way, but I haven't received the information from the technician how to FTP in yet. 

I want to try and do the conversion myself after copying off the voicemail files, but when I go into the programmer and launch "database save and voice processor" I get a warning that says "All data in the voice processor save directory and any subdirectories will be deleted.  Continue?"

That's a pretty scary warning!  Since I'm and end user and not a technician, I clearly am afraid to accept that message.  If I continue, am I going to delete all our user's voicemails?  I can't believe that's the case, but I've seen stranger things before and I sure don't want to risk that.

Thanks.

[NTEDave]

 

It means it's going to delete all of the data in the save file on the USB not on the 5000, I was a bit wary when I first saw that warning!

So if you stick a USB stick in and leave the destination as U:\ it will delete everything on the USB stick.

The 5000 does have an FTP server but i'm fairly sure you will only see IP Phone firmware in there, even if you could see the messages they are going to be saved as N08A anyway so you will have to try and convert it still.

[MEFMITEL]

I'm able to get the files out, but when I try to convert using the instructions provided--or even just try to play the file as a .raw file--all I have is static.  I tried this on several .n08a files, and with both Sound Switcher and Audacity with no luck.  Any other suggestions?  I've read every post I can find on every site and Google findings but nothing addresses the conversion of an .n08a file, other than the post you had referenced which unfortunately doesn't seem to work.

[ralph]

Any chance you can do a sample recording and post it here?
I'd like to take a crack at it.

Ralph

[MEFMITEL]

Be glad to, thanks for taking a crack at it!  I had to zip these, since you can't post a .n08a file.  I went ahead and stuck the .env file into the zip as well, although I don't think you need that.  Good luck!

Mark

[ralph]

well, I tried.  Just static too.

Ralph

[dozer]

Its a proprietary format.  Let me give a few friends a call up in support this coming week to see if they will send me the conversion software.  I use to be able to convert rhetoric files but I know they dont work here.

[MEFMITEL]

A solution has been found on the Tek-Tips forum by Sarond!  Basically, the .n08a format needs to be decoded to raw prior to conversion.  Here are all the steps:

From DB Programming, save the voicemail file using Operations/Voice Processor Operations/Voice Processor Save
Save to USB Port Choose what to save.

Once the file is downloaded, the next step is the decoding:
Download the G729 codec
http://www.voiceage.com/media/G729.zip
Unzip the file somewhere eg. C:\G729
From a Dos prompt, decode the file using "va_g729_decoder.exe filename.n08a filename.raw"

Finally, convert to whatever format you need:
Import this file in to Audacity as a Raw Data with the following settings.
Encoding: Signed 16 bit PCM
Byte order: Little-endian
Channels: 1 Channel (Mono)
Sample Rate: 8000 Hz

That's it...this worked!  Thanks to all who have tried to come up with a solution.  Hope this helps others when they need to grab a file off their Mitel 5000.

Mark