Interconnected Trixboxes: from PSTN through box A, dial extension on box B
Submitted by zultron on Tue, 10/23/2007 - 7:36pm.
Dear forum,
Our Trixboxes in Austin and Boston are connected via an IAX trunk as described here:
http://www.sureteq.com/asterisk/trixboxv2.2.htm#17.3_-_Trixbox_to...
That is, we create two symmetrical IAX2 trunks in a peer/friend agreement. This is working to the point where internal extensions in Austin (1XX) can dial internal extensions in Boston (2XX).
Both the Austin and Boston trixboxes are connected to local POTS lines. When an outside caller dials the Austin line, he gets an IVR where he can dial Austin (1XX) extensions; however, he is unable to dial Boston (2XX) extensions. The converse is the same when dialing Boston from the outside: Boston-local extensions can be dialed, but Austin-local extensions cannot.
In case it's relevant, Austin internal extensions can dial out to the PSTN through either Austin (9-NXX-XXXX) or Boston (8-NXX-XXXX), and vice-versa for Boston.
How can we configure the system so that outsiders can call our Austin number and be able to reach the Boston 2XX internal extensions?
Thanks in advance for your kind help.
 
Probably a Miscellaneous Destination + IVR choice
Tue, 10/23/2007 - 7:50pm
Never thought about this, but when I tried it, you are right - it won't let you dial a remote extension. What does work is put an option in the IVR for the Dallas Office - set up a miscellaneous destination and make that what the IVR option connects to - make the Misc. Dest a fake ring group or queue, with a failover destination of the proper IVR on the remote system - So, I press 3 for Dallas, the IVR sends the call to 999, which is routed out through an Outbound Route to Dallas, where it is a ring group with a failover destination of the IVR in Dallas at which point I can dial an extension in Dallas.
Seems convoluted, but it took me about 45 seconds to set it up.
Greg
 
Nice stopgap
Tue, 10/23/2007 - 8:19pm
Greg, thanks for the idea. This will help get the functionality we need sooner.
We would like to have something more seamless, though. I wrote 'Austin-Boston', but actually 'Boston' is really 'Beijing'. The problem is that an outsider dialing Austin will dial some number (3 in your example) and get a Chinese-language IVR--not very friendly. We're a start-up right now, but once we get rolling, our Austin and Beijing numbers will be customer- and business partner-facing, so we'll need something that looks more transparent.
It's clear that I could do something by adding a hook into the ivr (eg. create an '[ivr-2-custom]' context in extensions-custom.conf that matches the remote system's extension pattern), but since I always prefer a light touch, I'd like to learn whether an alternate Trixbox configuration could do the trick, or whether such a hack is really necessary.
 
Yeah, it's a Hack
Tue, 10/23/2007 - 8:30pm
The problem is the IVR is filtering what it accepts for dial strings to match what it has defined as extensions - there are other ways to do this, but probably a custom context would be best - create your IVR as a custom context, and when they dial an extension, have it do some range checking as to where to send it.
Another option is to populate your machine here with vitrual extensions, with follow-me to their real extension - such as extention 1420 here, which is really 2420 in Beijing - your Dial-By-Name and Extension dialing will work here, but still connect them to Beiging - lots of ways to go about this.
Greg
 
This is an issue with
Wed, 10/24/2007 - 6:03pm
This is an issue with contexts and it is intentional. It needs to be there, otherwise you inbound callers could dial out on your dime.
Add this context to you extensions_custom.conf
[ext-local-custom]
exten => _2XX,1,dial(iax2/trunkname1/${EXTEN}
exten => _1XX,1,dial(iax2/trunkname2/${EXTEN}
You will need to modify these lines to work with your system. Change the extension match to work with your system and change the trunknames to fit your system. It should work swimingly.
 
It works!
Wed, 10/24/2007 - 7:23pm
I was planning to do something similar, but you saved me the work of figuring out the dial command. Thanks!
For the next person, here's exactly what I did:
In Boston:
[ext-local-custom]
exten => _2XX,1,dial(iax2/ToAustin/${EXTEN})
in Austin:
[ext-local-custom]
exten => _1XX,1,dial(iax2/ToBoston/${EXTEN})
Since the 1XX extensions are local to Boston, we don't need to add the second line as John put above, and of course the converse is true for Austin. (Also, don't forget the trailing ')'!)
Thanks again.
 
Member Since:
2007-01-04