An account role defines the purpose of an account within a specific business model (for example, whether the account represents a phone line or a mobile user). It also controls account ID validation. For example, if the account role is Phone line, the account ID must be a valid phone number.
The following table shows which account roles are available for each business model:
| Business model | Account roles |
|---|---|
| Universal | All available account roles. |
| Cloud PBX | Phone line, Auto attendant. |
| SIP trunking | Phone line, IPv4 address. |
| Residential VoIP | Phone line, Auto attendant, Voucher. |
| PINless | PINless. |
| Internet access | User@domain, Voucher. |
| Prepaid card holder | Prepaid card, PINless, Voucher. |
| Mobile | Mobile, Voucher. |
The administrator defines account roles for both accounts and products. The account role is set during account creation. Only a product with a matching role can be assigned to an account, which helps prevent product assignment errors. For example, a product with the IPv4 address account role cannot be assigned to an account with the Phone line role.
Account realm
An account realm is a label automatically added to an account ID when the account is created. The realm is derived from the account role – for example, mobile subscriber accounts get the @msisdn realm. Not all account roles require a realm, for example, a Phone line account ID is stored as-is, with no realm appended.
The realm allows identifying an account within the relevant service. For example, the same phone number can be used across multiple services simultaneously without conflict, as long as each service uses a different realm.
Administrators can also define custom realms (SubRealms option on the configuration server web interface). A custom realm is selected for a product, added before the default realm, and separated by a dot. It applies to all accounts created with that product. For example, the Mobile subscriber account role defines the @msisdn realm by default. If the product is configured with the custom realm iot.sim, the account ID is stored as 11146557823@iot.sim.msisdn.
Owl Mobile provides two types of services: prepaid mobile services for mobile subscribers and a mobile app for calls and messages between app users.
To differentiate the two services, the administrator configures each product with a different realm:
- the prepaid mobile product uses the standard @msisdn realm
- the mobile app product uses the @mobile.app.msisdn realm
When a subscriber buys a SIM card, they can also install the Owl Mobile app for online communication. In PortaBilling, two accounts are created for this subscriber:
- 447700900001@msisdn – for prepaid mobile services
- 447700900001@mobile.app.msisdn – for the mobile app
To use mobile services, the subscriber uses their SIM card, which is handled by the 447700900001@msisdn account. When the subscriber installs the Owl Mobile app, the app registers using the 447700900001@mobile.app.msisdn account. When the subscriber calls another app user, the call is routed to the recipient's @mobile.app.msisdn account.
Although both accounts use the same phone number, the different realms distinguish the services and ensure each account is provisioned with the correct product and configuration.
