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CallerID Lookup Sources

Caller ID lookup sources supplement the caller ID name information that is sent by most telephone companies. A caller ID lookup source contains a list of phone numbers matched with names. When FreePBX receives a call, it can query a lookup source with the number of the caller. If the caller is on the lookup source’s list, a name is returned that will be sent along with the call wherever the call gets routed to. The name will be visible on a phone’s caller ID display (if the phone supports caller ID), and is also visible in the FreePBX call detail records.

In order to set up a caller ID lookup source, click on the CallerID Lookup Sources link under the Inbound Call Control section of the navigation menu on the left side of the FreePBX interface as shown in the following screenshot:

The Add Source screen has three common configuration options:

• Source Description
• Source type
• Cache results

Source Description is used to identify this lookup source when it is being selected as a caller ID lookup source during the configuration of an inbound route.

Source type is used to select the method that this source will use to obtain caller ID name information. FreePBX allows a lookup source to use one of the following methods:

ENUM: FreePBX will use whichever ENUM servers are configured in /etc/asterisk/enum.conf to return caller ID name information. By default, this file contains the e164.arpa and e164.org zones for lookups. All ENUM servers in the enum.conf file will be queried.

• HTTP: FreePBX will query a web service for caller ID name information using the HTTP protocol. A lookup source that uses HTTP to query for information can use services such as Google Phonebook or online versions of the white/yellow pages to return caller ID names. When HTTP is selected as the source type, six additional options will appear for configuration. These options are discussed in the HTTP source type section.
• MySQL: FreePBX will connect to a MySQL database to query for caller ID name information. Usually, this will be a database belonging to a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software package in which all customer information is stored. When MySQL is selected as the Source type, five additional options will appear for configuration. These options are discussed later in the MySQL source type section.
• SugarCRM: As of FreePBX version 2.5.1, this option is not yet implemented. In the future, this Source type option will allow FreePBX to connect to the database used by the SugarCRM software package to query for caller ID name information.

If the Cache results checkbox is selected, then when a lookup source returns results they will be cached in the local AstDB database for quicker retrieval the next time the same number is looked up. Note that values cached in the AstDB will persist past a restart of Asterisk and a reboot of the PBX. Once a caller ID name has been cached, FreePBX will always return that name even if the name in the lookup source changes. Caching must be disabled for a new caller ID name to be returned from the lookup source.

Once all configuration options have been filled out, click on the Submit Changes button followed by the orange-colored Apply Configuration Changes bar to make the new lookup source available to inbound routes. Now that we have an available lookup source, we can configure an inbound route to use this source to set caller ID information. Click on the Inbound Routes link under the Inbound Call Control section of the navigation menu on the left side of the FreePBX interface as shown in the following screenshot:

Click the name of the inbound route that will use the new lookup source in the menu on the right side of the page (in this example, DID 5551234567) as shown in the following screenshot:

Scroll down the page to the CID Lookup Source section. Select the name of the new lookup source from the Source drop-down menu:

Click on the Submit button at the bottom of the page, followed by the orange-colored Apply Configuration Changes bar at the top of the page. Calls that are routing using this inbound route will now query our new lookup source for caller ID name information.