Out Of Office BLF with Snom & 3CX

Today I had someone asking me to configure some way to manually set the PBX to "in the office" or "out of office" and have the phone have lit LEDs to show the "out of office" being enabled.
To be honest I've never been asked to do so since most people are happy using the automatic "office hours" routing provided by 3CX.

So to configure this I had to get a little creative. I used the 3CX emergency dial code and the Snom Action URL

What you'll need:

-3CX commercial edition (since the dial code needed to enable/disable out of office is only included in the commercial version.)
-SNOM Phone (3xx/8xx) with version 8 Firmware

Step 1 : Configure the "EMERGENY DIAL CODE" in 3CX

Log into the 3CX Management console, and go to settings in the left pane.
Click advanced and then click the "dial codes" tab.
At the bottom you will see the "Emergency dial code" this field is empty and you must enter a value there, I used *123. (note that to enable out of office you need to dial *1232 , to disable *1231)

Step 2: making the XML files needed by the Snom phones

We need to make 2 files, 1 to enable out of office and light up the LEDs on the phone, and one to disable out of office and the LEDs.

The config i used to enable the leds and out of office:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<SnomIPPhoneText>
<Title>LED Control Feature</Title>
<Prompt>Prompt Text</Prompt>
<Text>Your message here</Text>
<Led number="1">Blink</Led>
<Led number="2">Blink</Led>
<Led number="3">Blink</Led>
<Led number="4">Blink</Led>
<Led number="5">Blink</Led>
<Led number="6">Blink</Led>
<Led number="7">Blink</Led>
<SoftKeyItem>
<Name>#(or another key you like)</Name>
<URL>http://127.0.0.1/command.htm?number=*1232&outgoing_uri=IP OF 3CX</URL>
</SoftKeyItem>
</SnomIPPhoneText>

And to disable the LEDs and out of office:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<SnomIPPhoneText>
<Title>your title</Title>
<Prompt>Prompt Text</Prompt>
<Text>Your message</Text>
<Led number="1">Off</Led> 
<Led number="2">Off</Led>
<Led number="3">Off</Led>
<Led number="4">Off</Led>
<Led number="5">Off</Led>
<Led number="6">Off</Led>
<Led number="7">Off</Led>
<SoftKeyItem>
<Name>#(or another key you like)</Name>
<URL>http://127.0.0.1/command.htm?number=*1231&outgoing_uri=IP OF 3CX</URL>
</SoftKeyItem>
</SnomIPPhoneText>

These XMLs are used by the Snom "minibrowser" and will be read by configuring an URL in the snom (more of that later)
<Text>Your message</Text>  this will be displayed when using the XML on the phone's lcd.
I used something like "to enable/disable out of office press # , then press X)

<Led number="1">Off</Led>this is used to define the LED's state, you can set it to On/Off/Blink
<SoftKeyItem>
<Name>#(or another key you like)</Name>Here we define a "softkey to the phone (in my case #) that will be used to send a command to the phone to actually call the *1232 or whatever dial code you defined in 3CX.
<URL>http://127.0.0.1/command.htm?number=*1231&outgoing_uri=IP OF 3CX</URL>
</SoftKeyItem> This is used to enter the command being sent to the phone , number=the emergency code you defined, and outgoing_uri is your 3CX IP.

Save both files as a .XML file and upload them to the 3CX provisioning folder (or another webserver)
You can find the provisioning folder under :
C:\docs&sett\allusers\application data\3CX\Data\http\interface\provsioning or C:\programdata\3CX\Data\http\interface\provsioning

Step 3: Configuring the Snom to use your XML in an Action URL

First make sure your snom is atleast version 8.
Then log on to the phone's webconsole and in the left pane select "function keys" then choose the buttons you would like to use. I used the two bottom ones.

From the drop down menu select "Action URL" and in the value field enter the url to the XML.
In case you used the 3CX provisioning folder:
http://YOURPBX:5000/provisioning/ENABLEOUTOFOFFICE.xml

and in the other button:
http://YOURPBX:5000/provisioning/DISABLEOUTOFOFFICE.xml





Then click save and you're done. Now a user can press the configured button to enable/disbale the leds and complete by pressing the commandbound button to send a phonecall to the the PBX enabling/disbaling the out of office

Configuring Topex Mobilink with 3CX

Today i'm going to show you how to successfully configure the Topex Mobilink with a 3cx PBX.
The Mobilink is an inexpensive and robust GSM/UMTS Gateway, but onfortunately there is almost no information regarding it's setup. And as always with these devices, configurtion can be a pain. So i'll provide you a step-by-step with screenshots.
This is the Mobilink, complete with Antenna with a long cord, so you can place it where needed.

















First off, insert a simcard in the mobilink.
You can open the simtray by pressing the small yellow button with a pen.
































Then connect it to your network, the default IP address is: https://192.168.173.1
Click on administration in the left pane, you'll be prompted to log in.

Default username: admin
Default Password: 99admin11

When you login to the webpage, you'll see that the WI is not too intuitive, but hey, the device costs less then a smartphone... What do you expect:)

If you have a pincode on the sim, you need to enter that in the Mobilink.
click mobile in the left pane --> settings --> more
here you can enter the pin.

Next we best change the network settings to fit your needs.
Click network in the left pane --> IP Settings --> correct them and save.

Now click the "commit" button on the left and let the device reboot.
You can now access the device on the entered IP address.

It's best to see if there's mobile connection now
Mobile --> status

Next you need to configure the incoming calls.
Go to Call controll --> Access IN --> enter your pbx IP here.

Now for Incoming mobile calls:
Call control --> Incoming Calls --> Edit --> More --> make sure mode is set to "trunk" and you are using "target" mode. Enter the local PBX extension where incoming calls should be connected to in the "target" field.
Leave all the rest default.

Now configure outgoing calls:
Call control --> Outgoing Calls --> Enable (that's all for defaults)

Next you need to tell the Mobilink where your PBX is:
Call Controll --> Settings --> here you can enter the PBX IP

Now click Commit to save everything and reboot the device.
That's it, the Mobilink is ready for action. Now for the PBX.

First off, we need to configure the Mobilink as PSTN Gateway, so NOT as trunk for outgoing.

In the 3cx management console go to pstn devices --> add gateway --> choose generic --> enter the name for the gateway --> Next

Enter the IP of the Mobilink and keep the rest as shown in the screen. --> Next

In the overview choose which inbound extensions will be called when there is an incoming call... but this doens't matter, because the Mobilink invites the target you specify. --> Next

Now you have the outgoing PSTN device ready.

Create an outbound rule stating that phonecalls starting with the celular prefix of your country should be routed to the pstn gateway(mobilink)

Now we need to configure incoming calls from the Mobilink to the 3CX PBX.

Open the Voip providers tab in 3CX Managament console --> Add voip provider --> Generic Sip Trunk --> Next

Enter the IP of the Mobilink--> Next

In the next screen you'll need to enter the external number (doesn't matter what you enter here) and an auth. ID, doesn't matter either. --> Next

Skip the incoming and outgoing rules and finish the config.

Now open the Voip provider(Mobilink) you just made by double clicking it and go to the "Source ID" tab. --> Check the thick that says "Source identification by DID"
--> click "Add Mask" --> enter * as mask --> Apply.

Ok, we're done, you should be ready to make phonecalls in and out using the Mobilink GSM Gateway with 3cx. If not leave a message and I'll see if I can help you.

3CX Tunneling with 3CX-Softphone

For those of you who don't know yet, 3cx is a software based PBX. It is installed on windows systems and very easy to use/configure and so on...
And it's rather cheap ;-) http://3cx.com

So I wanted to test out their tunneling protocol to overcome the natural issues of SIP (Firewalls/nat/portfiltering by isp/etc...)
And it turns out that for once the setup is really easy!!

Step 1:
Configure the 3CX pbx to accept tunnels
in the management console click on general-->then select the tunnel tab-->choose a STRONG password
and the ip to listen on. Then restart the sip service in the console.

Step 2: configure nat/portforward for port 5090 tcp to the pbx on your firewall/router.

Step 3: configuring your 3cx softphone
Click on the "iphone" menubutton, select accounts-->enter your PUBLIC ip in the "i am out of office field" then select tunnel and enter the LAN ip of the pbx in that field.

Now you're set to go and all VOIP traffic will go over one port!!
Download the 3CX Phone here!!