Setting the Routing Rules

This page describes how to create outgoing routing rules.

Overview

VoipNow can route calls based on the call destination and cost.

The Routing rules describe how a call is sent to destination. They are associated with charging plans. Without routing rules, calls cannot be routed to the destination.

To add a new routing rule group, follow the steps below, go to Channels link in the Navigation Area, click the Outgoing routing rules icon, and enter the details of the new routing rule group.

Routing rules

VoipNow allows you to define four routing rule types.

Only the Route through rule can be set as final.

Route through

In this case, the call is directed through a particular channel.

Process target number

This rule can be used to perform complex operations (e.g. deleting or inserting digits, adding a prefix, etc.) on one number before directing the call through a particular channel.

Portability check

This rule is used to identify the network a number belongs to and to choose the appropriate charging method for determining the call cost.

The routing rules following this one select the call cost based on the results provided by this rule.

This routing rule is not available unless the Number portability engine option is enabled. By default, this option is disabled.

To enable it, navigate to the Unified Communications → Zero Priority → Charging tab. VoipNow provides the engine that checks for portability, but if a certain customer wants to create a portability client, they should contact the customer support center for detailed information.

Block

VoipNow forbids the call to be initiated to the provided destination number.

The Block rule is final by definition, in the sense that, when the rule is matched, the other rules are no longer checked.

Example:

Screenshot: Routing Rules Input Form Example

If an extension user dials a number starting with 02 followed by any other 8 digits, 02XXXXXXXX, during the Business hours time interval, then the call is routed through the cheapest channel, Best cost;
The destination number is prefixed with 325 becoming 32502XXXXXXXX; also, 004 is added to the extension's CallerID before the first digit if its public number matches any 07XXXXXXXX combination, resulting a new CallerID, 00407XXXXXXXX;
The rule is added in the third position and it is considered final;
It is advisable to place the Route through action on the last position inside the outgoing rules group;
The logical sequence is to first Block calls to certain destinations, then to Process target number or to perform the Portability check and as soon as all these actions are triggered, to allow certain calls matching the Route through rule to reach their destination.

Highly Important

The rule's position in the group is very important because it defines the order in which VoipNow matches the call rules.

Tips

For all the extension/destination numbers, you can specify any combination of the digits 0-9 and the characters '.' , '*';

The number entry supports the Asterisk number matching. You can enter a basic regular expression containing:

X matches any digit from 0-9.
Z matches any digit form 1-9.
N matches any digit from 2-9.
\[\] matches any digit or letter in the brackets.
\ matches 0, 1 or any number of the previous expression.
. matches one or more characters.

Example:

Number 0. will match any number starting with 0.
Number 1X[123]N will match any number starting with 1, followed by any digit between 0 and 9, followed by 1, 2 or 3 and followed by any digit between 2 and 9, for example 1528.

To customize rules for outgoing calls routed outside the VoipNow system through the channels available. You can group these rules according to four algorithms.

Video tutorial

Hi and welcome to our series of VoipNow server configuration tutorials. In this video, you will learn how to set routing rules.

Routing rule groups can be added from the Outgoing Routing area, in the Channel Management page. These groups determine how outgoing calls are routed outside the VoipNow system through the channels available. Without them, calls cannot be routed to destination.
Using routing rules, you can also have all calls routed through the channel providing the lowest cost, by using the best cost algorithm.
If you've gone through our previous videos, you should already have one or several SIP channels set up on your server. If you haven't, please go back and configure your channels; you will need them in the following configs.
To start, add a rule group and give it a name. Then you can add routing rules. VoipNow lets you define four routing rule types, which are: Route through, Process target number, Portability check and Block. I will explain each, as well as show you how to use them.
First, let's cover the Process target number rule. This type of rule can be used to perform complex operations on a number such as delete or insert digits, add a prefix and more.
For example, for number format 40 in time interval “anytime”, we choose to delete the first two digits from the number.
Then we set a Route Through rule, which gets calls directed through a particular channel, while also offering the complex operations available for Process target number rules. In this case we will route numbers with 40 through our channel of choice.
In the following example, instead of choosing a particular channel, we pick the Best cost algorithm, also with the Route through rule. This will ensure that the channel which delivers the best cost for a given destination is always used.
Finally, the Block rule type forbids the call to be initiated to the provided destination number. Here is how we set a rule to block all numbers with the pattern 3539.
What’s important to know is that the rule's position in the group defines the order in which VoipNow matches the routing rules. The Block rule is final, which means that when the rule is matched, no other rules will be checked.

I hope you now have a better understanding on how to add routing rules. The next step is to learn how to create charging plans. To do that, please watch the video tutorial in the Setting a Charging Plan page.

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