The communication system’s Dial Plan is a collection of Dial Rules. The purpose of the Dial Plan is to control the routing of calls based on dialed numbers. Different Dial Rules within the Dial Plan are selected by matching dialed number patterns (the user part of a SIP URL).
The following types of dial rules can be created in sipXecs:
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- Voicemail: This is used to configure the system Voicemail server.
- Custom: This is used to build custom call routing to gateways.
- Long Distance: This is used to route long-distance dialed calls.
- Local: This is used to route local phone calls to gateways.
- Emergency: This is used for emergency call routing to gateways.
- International: This is used for routing calls to international destinations to gateways.
- Attendant: This is used for routing calls to auto attendants defined in the system.
Dial Plan configuration is located under the System menu. Clicking on the Dial Plan menu item will display the following page:
As seen in the above screenshot, there are some default dial rules already created, that allow the administration to simply add gateways and enable them. Existing Dial Rules can be edited by clicking on the rule’s name.
Additionally new rules can be created with the Add New Rule drop-down menu. Dial rules are processed in the order that they are listed so more specific dial plan entries should be listed near the top. Additionally, if a dial rule is matched and the user does not have permission to use the dial plan entry the call will fail.
Voicemail dial rule
There is typically only one voicemail per phone system. Its purpose is to control how voicemail is routed for mailboxes and how the voicemail system is accessed. The following screenshot shows the default Voicemail system settings:
The following options are available in Voicemail Dial Rules:
- Enabled: Dial rules can be enabled or disabled in the system as the administrator wishes. A rule might be disabled if it is being tested or if a temporary rule gets created to address a particular problem.
- Name: This is a descriptive name for the dial rule.
- Description: This is a description of what the dial rule is for, to help in documentation.
- Internal station extension length: The number of digits used for internal extensions in your installation. Add another voicemail rule if you have phones with different length extensions.
- Voicemail extension: The number dialed to reach the voicemail server. This can be left empty to disable Voicemail.
- Voicemail inbox prefix: The number dialed when directly dialing or forwarding a call to a user’s voicemail box.
- Voicemail type: The Voicemail type can be set to Internal Voicemail Server or Exchange Voicemail Server. Microsoft Exchange 2007 can be used as an alternative to the internal Voicemail Server. Select Exchange Voicemail Server and enter its name or IP address into the field provided. For every user or group of users, the desired voicemail server needs to be selected. Select the Permissions tab in the Users menu to do this. Choose only either the internal voicemail server or Exchange 2007 as these do not work when both confi gured on the system. Note: Due to a Microsoft problem Message Waiting Indication (MWI) does not work with Exchange 2007. Other external voicemail servers can be used instead of Exchange 2007 using this configuration.
- Voicemail host: IP address or name of the voicemail server. Leave empty if the voicemail server runs on the same computer as the call server.
- Schedule: All dial plan entries can be allowed to operate based on a schedule. Voicemail is typically not scheduled.
Custom dial rules
Custom dial rules are very useful for controlling special call scenarios. For example, if you are connecting a gateway to another PBX that has extensions 400: 599, a custom dial rule could be configured to send calls to that gateway when a three digit number is passed that begins with a 4 or a 5. The following screenshot show the custom Dial Rule page:
The following options are available for custom Dial Rules:
- Enabled: Dial rules can be enabled or disabled in the system as the administrator wishes. A rule might be disabled if it is being tested or if a temporary rule gets created to address a particular problem.
- Name: A descriptive name for the dial rule.
- Description: More information about this dial rule and what it is used for.
- Dialed Number: Defines the digits that this rule will match. Any number of prefixes and trailing digits can be added with the Add hyperlink.
- Prefixes: Prefixes are the initial part of a dialed number (or SIP URL). A prefix can be integers (for example,2), ranges (for example, 1-5), or lists (for example, 2, 3, 4).
- Any number of digits (Suffix): Defines how many digits will follow the prefix. Values from 0 to 18 or Any Number of Digits can be selected.
- Required Permissions: Defines the user permissions required to access the dial rule. 900 Dialing, Attendant Directory, International Dialing, Local Dialing, Long Distance Dialing, Mobile Dialing, Record System Prompts, Toll Free, or Voice Mail.
- Resulting Call: Defines what digits besides the dialed digits will be sent to the gateway.
- Dial(new prefix): Allows the administrator to change the prefix that will be passed to the gateway. This entry may be left blank to drop the prefix that was detected (when Matched suffix is selected in the following drop-down menu).
- And append (Suffix): The and append drop-down menu item can have one of three values; Nothing, Matched suffix, or Entire dialed number.
- Schedule: A schedule can be defined that determines when the custom dial rule can be used.
- Gateways: A list of gateways available to this dial rule. See the Adding gateway section earlier in this article for information about gateway selection and user locations.
Long distance dial rules
Long distance dial rules are used by the system to control whether the users are permitted to dial long-distance numbers or to select different gateways for least-cost routing of calls. The default long distance Dial Rule is disabled by default in the system. The rule is triggered by a number consisting of a PSTN prefix followed by the Long Distance prefix and a variable part starting with one of the patterns specified in the Area Codes field.
The following settings are available for long distance dial rules (click on Show Advanced Settings to see all of the dial rule’s options):
- Enabled: Dial rules can be enabled or disabled in the system as the administrator wishes. A rule might be disabled if it is being tested or if a temporary rule gets created to address a particular problem.
- Name: A descriptive name for the dial rule.
- Description: More information about this dial rule and what it is used for.
- Permission : Defines the user permissions a user must have to use this dial rule.
- Treat PSTN prefix as optional : If this is checked the caller does not have to dial the PSTN prefix (following). Dialing the PSTN prefix is optional by default. This item is only shown if Show Advanced Options is selected.
- PSTN prefix : The prefix dialed by the caller and dropped before the call is sent to the gateway. The Long Distance prefix is always sent to the gateway.
- Treat long distance prefix as optional: If this is checked the caller does not have to dial the long distance prefix. This item is only shown if Show Advanced Options is selected.
- Long distance prefix: The prefix dialed by the caller and sent to the gateway.
- Area codes : Optional comma-separated list of prefixes that specify the dialed numbers to which this rule applies. If the Area Codes field is empty the rule will match any number starting with the PSTN prefix followed by the Long distance prefix.
- External number length: The number of digits in the resulting number sent to the gateway. The PSTN prefix and the long distance prefix are not counted. Valid values are—Any number of digits and 5-15 digits.
- Schedule: A schedule can be defined that determines when the custom dial rule can be used.
- Gateways: A list of gateways available to this dial rule. See the Adding gateway section earlier in this article for information about gateway selection and user locations. The resulting call is sent to the gateways specified in the gateway list in the order gateways are listed.