Defining Route Addressing Rules

By defining routing rules for a fax server, Facsys Administrators can automate the process of dial number mapping and/or instruct the fax server to prohibit transmission to specific destination numbers.

The routing rules defined for a fax server are listed in the server's Routing container. When the fax server queries its routing rules, all active rules are compared against the outbound message in the order in which they are listed in the Routing container.

To define a route address rule:

1. In the fax server's resource list, right-click on the Routing container and choose the New Route command. Enter the new address rule and the action(s) that should occur when a matching destination fax address pattern is found.

2. In the New Route Properties dialog box, define the new address rule. In the Route Address Rule area, specify the following :

• Address - Enter a literal address or an address pattern in this field. The address or pattern you define will be compared against the destination number of every outbound fax message handled by the fax server. The following characters are valid in a pattern definition:
  

• * - represents one or more characters
• # - represents any single digit
• ? - represents any single character
  
  For example, the pattern *(#1#)* will match against area codes (212), (516), (718), etc… The pattern +1(908)* will match against all canonically formatted US destination numbers having a (908) area/city code.
  
  Literal and pattern matching takes into account all characters you enter, including spaces and parentheses.
  
  
• Processed By - From the drop-down list, select the connection endpoint (eg. fax server or external service provider) to which you want to route messages having this address pattern.
  
  
• Do not process this address rule - Check this option to disable the rule temporarily. When disabled, the rule will still be listed in the Routing container, but it will not be applied to outbound fax messages.

3. Define the action to be applied to the address. In the Actions area, specify the following:

• This address is black listed and must be declined - Check this option to instruct the fax server to decline all fax messages having this specific address or address pattern.
• Remove xx characters from the left - To remove a number of characters from the left of the destination fax number, check this option and define the number of characters in this field. The "left" of the dial string is the beginning of the string entered by the fax sender.
• Remove xx characters from the right - To remove a number of characters from the right of the destination fax number, check this option and define the number of characters in this field. The "right" of the dial string is the end of the dial string.
• Add prefix - To add a prefix to the destination fax number, check this option and define the prefix.
• Add suffix - To add a suffix to the destination fax number, check this option and define the suffix.

4. To save the new route rule, click OK. The new rule is added to the fax server's Routing container.

Example:

Let's assume that a server settings are set to Country code = 1, Area code = 212, International prefix 011. In addition, it would have 2 prefixes, one that will be pre-pended for local calls, and another one for long distance. Since this Telco requires a 1 in front of all calls, both prefixes are "1" in this case.

Also, let's take a test number that is local to this server - 12125551234, and a long distance number - 14165551234 and an international number

A canonical number is represented as +country (area) rest_of_digits.

Here's how the country and area codes rules work (after these rules it will prepend the local or long distance prefix):

• If the number is sent without a + in front (i.e. 12125551234), the server will leave it as it is, and dial all digits using the local prefix. The same thing will happen for 14165551234
  
  
• If the number is sent with + in front and without area code in parentheses (i.e. +1 2125551234), the server will remove +1 because it matches the country code and dial 2125551234 using the local prefix. Same thing will happen for +1 4165551234
  
  
• If the number is sent with + in front and with the area code in parenthesis, it will try to match both the country and the area code and remove them if local. In this case, for +1 (212) 5551234, it will remove both +1 (because the country code matches) and 212 (because the area code matches) and dial 5551234 using the local prefix.
  
  
• If the number is +1 (416) 5551234, it will be treated differently: the +1 gets removed because it's the same country code, but 416 is determined as being the area code and it's not local, so the server will not remove it and the number will be considered long distance and will be dialed as 4165551234 using the long distance prefix.
  
  
• If the number is sent with + in front but the country code is not "1" (i.e. +44 123456789) it will be considered an international call and will be dialed as local prefix+international prefix+the whole number, i.e 101144123456789

See Also:

Testing Your Routing Rules

Re-Ordering Route Rule Evaluation