asterisk users - Mar 2007 - Using server side phonebook directory with SPA941

Hello list,

I got a couple of those "wouldn't it be great questions", as
following:

1. Is it possible, with asterisk to hold a central phonebook directory
of callers?, so that when this party calls a "textual" caller ID will
be displayed on the phone display.

2. How can this be configured with Trixbox, I've looked at the
configuration options - I assume it plays no difference me basing it
on mysql or astdb?

3. What protocol does the phone (Linksys SPA941) talks to the
asterisk server to retrieve this information ?

4. Has someone done this? What softphone should I use to test it first
(I'm connecting it with outlook, so it has to be win* software)


Thanks for helping,
Maxim.


-- 
Cheers,
Maxim Veksler

"Free as in Freedom" - Do u GNU ?

On Tue, Mar 27, 2007 at 12:45:44PM +0200, Maxim Veksler
wrote:
> Hello list,
> 
> I got a couple of those "wouldn't it be great questions", as
following:
> 
> 1. Is it possible, with asterisk to hold a central phonebook directory
> of callers?, so that when this party calls a "textual" caller ID
will
> be displayed on the phone display.
Can be done reasonably easily in the dial plan. What I have is quite noddy 
but it does the job. In the incoming bits of dial plan where calls come in, 
I call this as a macro in the context where incoming calls arrive, before 
handing it off to the Dial() bits:

exten => _4535XX,1,Macro(setisdncallerid,${EXTEN},PSTN,9)

What this macro (pasted below) does is allow alpha tagging of incoming 
calls, plus some defaulty stuff set by the gateway (caller ID not 
present/withheld comes through in my case as either anonymous or just
"0" or
"00", so this macro tidies this up before passing the call on.)

It also inserts the access digit (9) in front of the caller ID as in my case 
outside calls need a 9 prefix. This is just so that call routing works 
correctly if people return missed calls/save numbers from the handset etc.
Obviously you will have to tweak this for your setup.

If there is no alpha tag in the DB, it sets some defaulty thing (In my case 
"PSTN" to give some indication where the call is coming from.)

It can also do a CPI tag based on destination number, for queues/group 
numbers, so that the alpha tag on the call gets set to something like 
"Main Number" etc. to distinguish a DDI call from a Queue Call.

The database entries look like:

*CLI>database put tag 01234567890 "Some Name Here"

and for CPI (called party) Tag:

*CLI>database put 453510 tag "Helpdesk"

[macro-setisdncallerid]
; ${ARG1} = Called Party Number (XXXXXX) as presented from BT.
; ${ARG2} = default tag to add to incoming calls
; ${ARG3} = prefix to insert to incoming CLI
;
; Frobs the incoming caller ID headers how we like it:

exten => s,1,NoOp("macro-setisdncallerid: ${ARG1}")

; In my case the internal extension is 7XX where XX is the
; last two digits of the incoming DDI number. This just makes
; it display right in the caller ID:
exten => s,2,Set(DIALED_EXTEN=7${ARG1:-2})

; For cisco phone, set different ring cadence to indicate
; an external call:
exten => s,3,SIPAddHeader(Alert-Info: Bellcore-dr2)

exten => s,4,GotoIf($[ "${CALLERID(num)}" = "anonymous"
]?400)
exten => s,5,GotoIf($[ "${CALLERID(num)}" = "0" ]?500)
exten => s,6,GotoIf($[ "${CALLERID(num)}" = "00" ]?500)
exten => s,7,GotoIf($[ "${DB(tag/${CALLERID(num)})}" !=
""]?700)
exten => s,8,Set(CALLERID(name)=${ARG2} to ${DIALED_EXTEN})
exten => s,9,Set(CALLERID(num)=${ARG3}${CALLERID(num)})
exten => s,10,Goto(900)

exten => s,400,Set(CALLERID(name)=${ARG2})
exten => s,401,Goto(900)

exten => s,500,Set(CALLERID(num)=unknown)
exten => s,501,Set(CALLERID(name)=${ARG2})
exten => s,502,Goto(900)

exten => s,700,Set(CALLERID(name)=${DB(tag/${CALLERID(num)})})
exten => s,701,Set(CALLERID(num)=${ARG3}${CALLERID(num)})
exten => s,702,Goto(900)

; If there is a CPI tag set, use that: (i.e. SUPPORT)
exten => s,900,GotoIf($[ "${DB(${ARG1}/cpitag)}" !=
""]?950)

exten => s,950,Set(CALLERID(name)=${DB(${ARG1}/cpitag)})
> 2. How can this be configured with Trixbox, I've looked at the
> configuration options - I assume it plays no difference me basing it
> on mysql or astdb?
> 
> 3. What protocol does the phone (Linksys SPA941) talks to the
> asterisk server to retrieve this information ?
When an incoming call arrives with asterisk, the SIP headers can be set 
appropriately before you present this information to the handset. It's in 
the incoming SIP packets to the handset.
> 4. Has someone done this? What softphone should I use to test it first
> (I'm connecting it with outlook, so it has to be win* software)
There are a few to choose from. I use Counterpath's X-Lite client:
http://www.counterpath.com/

Rob