Extensions Print

Extensions are essentially the phone numbers you give to the phones connected to the PBX, which are the extensions of the PBX. That is how one phone of the PBX can call another and how external calls can be directed to a particular extension etc. Extensions have a wide selection of settings.

Creating New Extensions

The Vodia PBX telephone system comes with some default pre-configured extensions. But of course you can create new ones.

To create extensions:

• Go to your selected domain in the Vodia PPX interface.

• New GUI's pop up window gives you the option to create new extension.

• Go to extensions by clicking on Extensions under Accounts as shown above.

• On top, click the tab Create to create new extension(s).

• Populate the fields for each of the extensions you want to create using the information shown below:

  • Number: This field takes an extension number and/or alias, i.e., a DID number. When entering DIDs as aliases to an extension number, use the following syntax: 505/9781234567/9781234567. To create multiple accounts at the same time, use a space between them: 505 506 507Note: Extension numbers should range from 2 to 4 digits. The number of digits must correspond to the PnP Dialplan Scheme setting so that the phone will allow the user to enter the required number of digits before it begins processing the call.

  • First Name, Last Name: The First name and Last name fields will be displayed for all internal and external calls (international characters are permitted).

  • PIN: The PIN is used in several areas of the system (e.g., when a user accesses the voicemail system from another extension or from an outside line, when calling into the system from the cell phone, when using the calling card feature, and when hot desking). When you create extensions, you can leave the PIN field empty and opt to have users set up their own PINs. Once a PIN has been set up, no one other than a user who registers with the extension credentials will be able to go to the mailbox.

  • MAC: Here you enter the MAC address of the phone (device) that you want to tie to this extension. The device will then get all its provisioning information based on this extension. You can also select '*' here which will tie this extension to the MAC of any device that requests first. You can also leave it blank if you don't want extension specific information delivered to a device during provisioning.

  • Select the dial plan from the dropdown for the extension, which it will use.

  • Of course, all these settings can also be changed later on after the extension(s) have been created.

• PressCreate.

• The extension(s) will be created which you can see in the "extensions list" or in "all accounts list", where you can enter each extension just by clicking it, in order to modify it if you want, as explained below.

Configuring an Extension

• Go to your selected domain in the Vodia PBX web interface.
• Go to Extensions
• Click on any extension from the list that you want to change.
• There are many settings divided into tabs:
  • The first tab is List which shows the list of extensions in case you want to choose another one.
  • The next tab is Create which, as explained above, is for creating new extension(s).
  • The next tab is General which has all the general settings of the extension.
  • The next tab is Redirection which has all settings involving redirection of the extension like DND, call forwarding, cell phone inclusion etc.
  • The next tab is Mailbox which has all the mailbox settings, including interface for uploading the greeting wave files, and shows the voicemails of the extension.
  • The next tab is Email for setting up the email address and other email settings of the extension.
  • The next tab is Registration for settings related to registrations for the extension. You may register one or more devices for one extension. When an extension is called, the system will call all registered devices in parallel. The first device that picks the call up will get the call, and the other devices will receive a CANCEL message.
  • The next tab is Permission where you can define what permissions the extension has. The permission to manage the domain should be given only to persons who are allowed to change passwords, create or delete accounts, change dial plans and rates, and so forth. The permissions to jump into calls and listen to conversations may be legally restricted in certain countries; please use extra caution here. This feature can be completely disabled by the license key for the system. The permission to override DND is useful for assistant extensions that are responsible for screening calls. Please define the permissions as a list of extensions, separated by space. You may use wildcards, for example "*" to match all extensions of the domain.
  • The next tab is Buttons for setting up the buttons of the device that will register to this extension. Here you can specify which button profile you want to assign to the extension. You may select Automatic which will automatically assign the correct default profile based on the snom phone type. Or you may also select any other profile, default or any other profile that you may have created (you can create or change any of the profiles in the Buttons page of the domain, see Buttons. Or you may define an extension-specific profile. If you are using a selected profile (default or otherwise) you may turn this into an extension specific profile by editing it and saving at the bottom of this page.
  • The next tab is Customize which lets you change the look and feel for this user. It also allows you to change the web pages & phone config templates, etc.

Explanation and Use of Some of the Settings Under Some Tabs

General

• Administrative usage restriction: This field controls what features are available for this extension. By default, all features are available. However the domain administrator may determine what features are available to the extension. The following types are available.

  • Classroom Extension: This type is used for classrooms. These extensions can not receive inbound calls except when a emergency number has been called. Classroom extensions turn DND on at midnight.
  • Hotel room: Hotel room extensions cannot tranfer calls and they cannot participate in conference calls. They cannot change service flags, and they cannot use anything that needs permissions.
  • Only mailbox enabled: Those extensions work as pure mailboxes, no registrations are allowed and no outbound calls are possible. However those extensions can receive FAX messages.
  • No registration Allowed: Those extensions do not accept registrations from SIP devices. However they can use cell phone numbers, which makes it possible to use them as virtual extensions on cell phones.

• Dial plan: Dial plans determine which trunks are used for outbound calls. Dial plans that are available on the domain show up in this dial plan dropdown.

• Outbound Number (ANI): ANI (Automatic Number Identification) is a service that tells the recipient of a telephone call which telephone number made the call. For more information, see Trunk ANI .

• ANI for emergency calls: When this field is populated, this ANI will serve as the callback number when an emergency number has been dialed. For more information, see Trunk ANI . The Emergency ANI will now be shown, enclosed in parenthesis when displaying "All Accounts" list, in versions above 63.0.

• FAX DID numbers: In this setting you can enter the numers that should be routed directly to the mailbox as FAX calls. Those numbers must be in the list of account numbers.

• Send daily CDR report to: Enter the extension number(s) that should receive the CDR report for this extension. Use semicolons between multiple email addresses, since email addresses may contain spaces (e.g., Fred Feuerstein <ff@domain.com>; Carl Clements <cc@domain.com>).

• Use ACD dialplan when logged in as an agent: This setting is useful for agents making outbound calls. When this setting is enabled, the dialplan selected under ACD will be used instead of the dialplan designated for that user's extension.

• Number ACD groups this extension can log into: This setting allows the admin to restrict the number of agent groups the agent can be logged into at any one time.

• Maximum number of CDRs: This setting allows the admin to control the number of CDRs that a particular user can retain. The admin can also control the accumulative number of CDRs that are stored on the disk (see also the domain's Maximum number of CDRs.

• Maximum call duration As the name suggest, this helps set the time limit allowed on the duration of the call on the extensions. It ranges between one minute to four hours.

• Proposed SIP transport protocol This is an extension level setting to choose the SIP protocol suitable as per extensions. If this is set to default, the one set in the Domainlevel would be considered, and if that is set to default, then one in the Adminlevel would be set as final.

• Generate PCAP traces for calls The PCAP traces of the call for troubleshooting could be generated from this level. There is another option under Trunk> VoIP Providers for capturing traces which shows, both the legs of the call, unlike extension level option.

• First name and Last name: These fields will be displayed for all internal and external calls (international characters are permitted).

• Position: This field is for the user's position/job function in the company.

• Company name: This field is reserved for the company name.

• SIP Password: The SIP password influences the connection between the VoIP phone and the system. Users should not change this password, as it will interfere with access to other registered SIP devices (e.g., soft phone).

• Web Password: This password is used to access the Vodia PBX web interface. Note: Use a combination of letters and digits and even a symbol to ensure password security. After you've entered a new password, the current HTTP session will stay valid until your next login. Permanent cookies will be invalidated on the next login.

• PIN: The user's PIN will be used in several areas of the system (e.g., when accessing their voicemail from an outside phone, when using the calling card account, and when hot desking). For optimum security, users should be required to use at least five digits.

• Timezone: This setting tells the system the user's time zone. It will affect the time stamps of the mailbox and all other time stamps related to the extension. When using the extension from a time zone that differs from the domain's time zone, users will need to override the domain setting.

• IVR Language: This setting controls the language of voice prompts delivered by the system, as well as the language that is displayed on the LCD of the user's phone. (Callers will not hear the language when calling into the user's mailbox.)

• Web Language: This setting allows users to control the language of the Vodia PBX web interface and in the emails they receive from the system. Users can override this setting during their initial login to the web interface.

• Upload picture: The uploaded picture will be displayed whenever the user calls another extension within the same domain (as long as the other extension has picture-displaying capability). To facilitate easier picture upload during the call setup, users should use a thumbnail image size. The format of the picture depends on phone model. For snom 370 phones, use a grayscale BMP image. For models that can display color photos, use a JPEG image. The system will display the picture on the landing page of the Vodia PBX web interface.

• Permissions to monitor this account: This setting defines which extensions may monitor the status of this account, for example with a BLF button. By default, all extensions are allowed to see the status of an account. The setting is a list of extensions and wildcard patterns, seperated by space characters. If the list element contains a "np" (no pickup) flag after a colon seperator, then the monitoring will show only if the account is idle or busy. An example for this settings would be "41 42 5* 61:np 70*:np". The "np" flag was introduced in version 61.

• Explicitly specify pickup preference: This setting allows users to specify the accounts that will be picked up when they execute the Call Pickup (87) feature. This setting is especially useful when extensions have been grouped with certain agent groups and hunt groups, as it will prevent the wrong calls from being picked up. If a star () is entered into this field, the system will have no preference list to draw from and will require a park orbit number after the *87.

• Explicitly specify park orbit preference: This setting allows users to specify a list of park orbits that can be used for parking calls. When park orbits have been entered into this field and the user executes the Call Park (85) feature, the system chooses the first available orbit. When a star () is entered into this field, the system will have no preference list to draw from, and the user will be required to enter the number of the park orbit after entering *85.

• Block outgoing caller-ID: This setting allows the user to control whether their caller-ID is shown when making outbound calls.

• Enable Call Waiting: This setting allows the user to turn Call Waiting on and off.

• Wakeup time: This field allows users to receive automatic wakeup calls from the system. Though this feature is used primarily in hospitality environments, it can also be used on an individual basis. A wakeup call can also be activated using star code *62.

• Lync Username: The username that will be used when registering the extensions with the Microsoft Lync server. The address is set in the domain settings.

• Lync Authname: The authentication information for the Lync registration.

• Lync Password: The authentication password for the Lync registration.

• Phone address book preference: This setting allows users to upload contacts from the domain and personal address books to their phones.

• Include local extensions in the phone address book: This setting allows users to add extension numbers from the system to their phone.

• Music on Hold This is the extension level music on hold feature which takes precedence over the one set in Domain level, given that various wav files are uploaded in the domain to be used here.

Redirection

• Do not disturb: This setting allows users to tell the system to leave their phone silent for all calls, both internal and external, and even calls from the hunt group. Only extensions with permission to override DND will be able to call the extension. DND override is an administrator setting. An extension on DND can place outbound calls at all times. You can also set DND using the *78 star code.

• Incoming anonymous calls: This setting controls the treatment of incoming calls; however, it does not affect internal calls or calls from a hunt group or agent group. See also the Black List (*92) feature.

  • No special treatment: All calls are sent directly to the user's extension.
  • Reject Call: The caller will be informed that the user does not accept anonymous calls and will not be put through to the extension.
  • Pretend to be busy: This setting prevents the call from going through but does not tell the caller why.
  • Ask for name: The caller is prompted for his or her name and then put on hold while the extension is called. After the system reads out the recorded name, the user can decide whether to accept the call, send it to the mailbox, or reject it.
  • Ask for name even if the caller-ID is present: This setting requests the caller's name, even if the caller-ID is available. Only white list callers will be put directly through.

• Hot Desking at: This setting allows users to specify an extension where they will pick up their calls. All calls (including calls from an agent group or hunt group) will be sent to this extension. For more information on hot desking see Call Forwarding Codes .

• Disconnect call with busy when extension is busy A radio button option to simply disconnect the call when extension is busy.

• Forward all calls to: This setting allows users to redirect all calls to another extension. Only calls that are headed directly to the user's extension will be affected by this setting. If a user is part of a hunt group, agent group, or paging group, calls originating from these groups will not be redirected.

• Forward calls when busy to: This setting allows users to forward all calls to the extension that is specified, only when the extension is busy. This condition is true if either the phone itself signals that it is busy or if the lines parameter has been set for the extension and this number has been reached. If this settings contains the word "busy", the system will not redirect the setting, instead attempt to send a busy signal to the caller if the call was not already connected.

• Forward on no answer to: This setting allows users to redirect all calls after there has been no answer for a predefined period. The waiting period is defined in the domain but can be overridden by the Call forward no answer timeout setting (next bullet item). (If the mailbox picks up earlier, this setting will have no effect; if the call is redirected, the mailbox timeout will be cancelled.)

• Forward on no answer timeout: This setting determines how long the system will wait for the user to answer the phone before forwarding the call (default is 10 seconds). This field is effective only if the Call forward on no answer field has been set.

• Forward when not registered: This setting allows the user to specify where calls will be forwarded if the user's extension is no longer registered for any reason. If the user is part of a hunt group, agent group, or paging group, calls originating from these groups will not be redirected.

• For the cell phone settings, there is a separate page .

• When this cell phone calls the PBX (VPA) - The steps to setup the Virtual Private Assistant :

  • The incoming calls to the PBX should land directly on the Auto-attendant.
  • The cell phone number of the extension should be entered in the "redirection" section in the same format that it comes in with, so that the PBX can match and recognize that the incoming number and the cellphone number tied to the extension are identical.
  • Under Domain > Settings > General Settings , turn on "Trust caller ID" to ON.
  • This extension should have a PIN number assigned to it (More than 4 digits is usually accepted).

• Record incoming calls from extension: This setting controls the recording on an extension (applies to calls coming from another extension for the entire domain).

• Record outgoing calls to internal numbers: This setting controls the recording on an extension (applies to calls going to another extension for the entire domain).

• Record outgoing calls to external numbers: This setting controls the recording on an extension (applies to calls going to external numbers for the entire domain).

• Record outgoing calls to emergency numbers: This setting controls the recording on an extension (applies to calls going to an emergency number).

Mailbox

Every extension has a voice mailbox on the Vodia PBX; however, the administrator can disable users' mailboxes and use an external mailbox, such as Microsoft Exchange. This section applies only to the voice mailbox of the system. This tab has all the mailbox settings, including interface for uploading the greeting wave files, and shows the voicemails of the extension.