Setting up a wholesale traffic exchange

This chapter demonstrates how to set up a wholesale
exchange platform with which you will accept calls from your customers
(a customer in this context is a carrier whose calls are terminated to
your network), and send those calls to the actual carriers. This operating
method earns profit from each call.

For more information about available fields, click
 on
the top-right corner.

Use this checklist to check off the operations you have completed while performing the system setup according to the instructions in this chapter. Please be sure to perform all of the operations in the order designated (all of the boxes should be checked), otherwise, the service will not work.

If you have just installed the PortaBilling software
or dedicated a new billing environment to configure the services described
in this handbook, make sure to first perform the initial configuration
of PortaBilling. To do this, use the PortaBilling
initial configuration handbook.

Route categories are tags (e.g., Cheap or Premium)
that you use to designate specific routes so that later you can organize
individual routing plans for your customers. It is possible to have a
separate route category for every termination carrier, although this is
not advisable, as it would make the maintenance of routing plans quite
complicated due to the large number of categories in each. The recommended
method is to create several route categories (Low-cost, Normal, Expensive,
etc.) and then assign each route to one of them.

1. On
   the navigation menu on the left, select Infrastructure, then Voice
   calls processing, and in the Routing section select Route
   categories.

   

2. On
   the Create route category panel, enter the route category name
   and description.

   

3. Click
   the Save button.
4. Repeat
   steps 2–3 if you need to create more route categories.

The tariff is a price
list for your termination costs.

1. On
   the navigation menu on the left, select Service catalog and click
   Tariffs.

   

2. On
   the Create tariff panel, fill in the tariff details:
   • Name
     – a short name for the tariff object; this is the name you will see in
     the select menus.
   • Currency
     – indicates the currency the vendor uses to charge you.
     The currency for the tariff may be chosen
     only once, and cannot be changed later.
   • Service
     – select Voice calls.
   • Applied
     to – choose Vendor, as this tariff describes your vendor’s
     termination costs.
   • Routing
     – enable the Routing, as this tariff will be used not only to calculate
     termination costs, but also to route SIP calls.
3. Click
   the Save button.

Rates define how a call to a specific destination
will be charged (e.g., what the price per minute is, how to round off
the total call duration, etc.). Please refer to the Call billing parameters
section for more details on available parameters
for rating voice calls.

Managing rates online is very convenient for maintaining
existing rate tables, as well as for reference purposes. For new price
lists or for major updates, importing the rates from a file is better.

1. On
   the vendor tariff’s panel (GlobalNet Termination), click Rates.
   
2. On
   the Add rate panel, fill in the rate details:
   • Destination
     – a destination prefix may be entered directly, e.g., 420 for the
     Czech Republic, or you can access the destinations directory by clicking
     the Destination link (in the column header). Here you can find
     the desired prefix by country name.
     You must create an entry
     for certain phone prefixes in the Destination register before creating
     a rate for them in the tariff.
   • Route
     category – choose one of the route categories you have created to
     apply to this particular route.
   • Preference
     – this is the routing priority for the specific destination in which 10
     is the highest priority and 0 is the lowest (i.e. does not use a destination
     for routing at all). For now, you can just set all of your vendor rates
     at a preference of 5, and the system will organize the available routes
     according to cost (LCR).
   • First
     interval, seconds – first billing unit in seconds.
   • Next
     interval, seconds – next billing unit in seconds.
   • First
     price – per minute price for first interval.
   • Next
     price – per minute price for next interval.
   • Effective
     from – if you want this rate to take effect sometime in the future,
     you can either manually type in a date or use the calendar (click on the
     DD-MM-YYYY link).
     When using the calendar, you can specify
     that the date you are entering is in a different time zone than the present
     one. PortaBilling will then automatically adjust the time.
3. Click
   the Save button.
4. Repeat
   these steps if you need to enter more rates.

Please see the Rate import
section on how to import rates from a .csv or .xls file for complete details.

 Perform the
Create tariff and Enter rates steps described above until
you have created a tariff with termination costs for each termination
partner you have; these tariffs are created as “Applied to: Vendor.”

Vendors are your termination partners, i.e. companies
you send calls to.

1. On
   the navigation menu, select Infrastructure, then select Vendors.

   

2. On
   the Create vendor panel, fill in the vendor details:
   • Name
     – type a short name for the vendor; this will be used on the web interface
     (for example, GlobalNet).
   • Currency
     – choose the currency in which this vendor charges you.
   • Opening
     balance – this indicates a starting balance for the vendor; the default
     is zero.
   • Billing
     period – the period in which vendor statistics is generated.
3. Click
   Save.

   When a call is sent from your network to the vendor’s
   gateway, the vendor performs an authorization for the call. Authorization
   can be done based on your PortaSIP IP address (in this case you just
   need to supply the vendor with that information and no further action
   is required on your part), or the vendor can provide you with a SIP username
   and password to use for call authorization. These credentials should be
   stored with the “vendor authorization” info and then associated with a
   specific connection so they can be used during actual call processing.

4. In
   this case, it is necessary to create an account for digest authorization
   of outgoing calls:
   • On
     your vendor’s panel (GlobalNet), click General configuration, then
     click Authorization.
   • On
     the Authorization panel, click Add and enter the
     credentials provided by the vendor.
   • Click
     Save.

     

5. Repeat
   these steps to add all of your vendors.

Connections represent the points from which calls
leave or enter a network and are directed to or from vendors where charges
are incurred.

1. On
   your vendor’s panel (GlobalNet), click Connections.
2. On
   the Create connection panel, fill in the connection details:
   • Description
     – type a descriptive name for this connection. It will be displayed in
     the list of connections.
   • Service
     type – select Voice calls.
   • Type
     of connections – select SIP.
   • Direction
     – select To vendor.
   • Tariff
     – choose the tariff that defines your termination costs for this connection/vendor.
   • Active
     – use the slider to set this connection as active.
   • Identify
     gateway by – choose how to identify the gateway: IP, gateway ID or
     both. Specify the IP address and/or ID of the vendor’s gateway or switch.
   • Capacity
     – specify the maximum number of simultaneous calls the connection can
     support (e.g., 50).
3. Click
   Save.

   

4. On
   your vendor’s panel (GlobalNet), click General configuration.
   • Vendor
     authorization – select GlobalNet-SIP for digest authorization
     of outgoing calls from your accounts.

     

5. Click
   Save.
6. Repeat
   these steps to add more connections to this vendor.
7. Repeat
   steps 2-6 to add connections for other vendors.

1. On
   the navigation menu, select Service catalog and click Tariffs.
2. On
   the Create tariff panel, fill in the tariff details:
   • Name
     – type a short name for the tariff; this is the name you will see in the
     select menus, (for example, Wholesale XCHG - Gold).
   • Currency
     – this indicates the currency in which you charge your customers.
     The currency for the tariff is only
     chosen once and cannot be changed later.
   • Service
     – select Voice calls.
   • Applied
     to – select Customer as this tariff will be used to charge
     your customers.
   • Managed
     by – select Administrator only here, since we are setting up
     a service without the involvement of resellers.

     

3. Click
   Save.
4. On
   your customer tariff panel (Wholesale XCHG - Gold), click General
   info.
5. On
   the General info panel, fill in the following information:
   • Default
     off-peak period – if you do not differentiate between peak and off-peak
     rates, just choose None; otherwise, select one of the previously
     defined off-peak periods.
   • Destination
     group set – if you wish to enter rates in the tariff, not for every
     individual prefix, but for a whole group of prefixes at once, you should
     create a destination group set and the destination groups beforehand.
     Leave this select menu empty for now.
   • Round
     up to, decimal places – instead of calculating xDRs with 5 decimal
     place precision, round up the xDR amount values (e.g., in cents, so that
     1.16730 becomes 1.17).
   • Default
     formula – this is the default rating formula, which is applied to
     every rate created in the tariff. If you leave this empty, the “old-style”
     rating is used.
   • Short
     description – type a short tariff description. This is shown in the
     rate lookup on the admin interface and the self-care pages for your accounts
     and customers.
   • Description
     – type an extended tariff description.
6. Click
   Save.

1. On
   the tariff panel, click Rates.
2. On
   the Add rate panel, specify the rate details:
   • Destination
     – select a destination prefix from the list or type it in directly, e.g.,
     420 for the Czech Republic.
     You must create an entry for certain
     phone prefixes in the Destination register before creating a rate for
     them in the tariff.
   • Rating
     mode – select Flat rate here.
   • First
     interval, seconds – type a first billing unit in seconds.
   • Next
     interval, seconds – type the next billing unit in seconds.
   • First
     price – type a per-minute price for the first interval.
   • Next
     price – type a per-minute price for the next interval.
   • Effective
     from – if you want this rate to take effect sometime in the future,
     you can either manually type in a date, or use the calendar (click on
      icon).

     

3. Click
   the Save button.
4. Repeat
   these steps if you need to enter more rates.

 Perform the
Create tariff and Enter rates steps described above until
you have created a tariff for each of your clients’ billing schemes; these
tariffs are created as “Applied to: Customer.” For example, if you plan
to have two types of clients (e.g., Silver and Gold) with different rates,
you will need two separate tariffs.

A routing plan allows you to apply individual routing
methods to certain customers, e.g., to block them from using certain carriers
for termination, or, conversely, to only allow them to use certain carriers
in a specific order. If you do not define any custom routing plans, the
system default routing plan which allows access to all available carriers
is used.

1. On
   the navigation menu on the left, select Infrastructure, then Voice
   calls processing, and in the Routing section, select Routing
   plans.

   

2. On
   the Create routing plan panel, fill in the plan details:
   • Name
     – the name of the routing plan.
   • Define
     a specific order for the route categories – enable this option.
   • Description
     – describe the intended purpose of this routing plan.
3. Click
   Save.

   

4. While
   on the Routing plan panel, go to the Route categories panel
   and click Add to include route categories in this routing plan:
   • Order
     – define the route category order in the routing list. Higher numbers
     will be at the top of the routing list. It is possible to include two
     or more categories with the same order number; in this case, PortaSwitch
     simply sorts the routes according to preference and cost. If you do not
     include a certain route category in the list, customers will not have
     access to any routes in that category.
   • Route
     category – choose the route category that you created earlier from
     the list.
   • Click
     the Save button in the toolbar, or the  icon
     on the right hand end of the row.
   • Repeat
     these steps if you need to include more route categories.

     

5. Go
   to the Profit guarantee panel, use a slider to enable the profit
   guarantee option and then define your settings:

   

   • Use
     both absolute and relative profit parameters – Select this checkbox
     to enable the option.
   • Absolute
     profit parameter – select Minimum required profit here. This
     parameter allows you to create a more aggressive profit guarantee route
     selection: the vendor’s cost per minute must be lower than the customer’s
     rate by at least the amount specified.
   • The
     minimum amount of required profit, USD/min – specify the value $0.0001.
   • Relative
     profit parameter – select Minimum required profit here. This
     parameter allows you to specify a relative threshold, so that for expensive destinations the profit is high,
     while for low-cost destinations a small profit is acceptable.
   • The
     minimum percentage of required profit, % – specify the value 0.001%.
   • Use
     the tariff for revenue calculation – this allows you to adjust routing
     so that vendors having prices equal to or higher than defined in this
     tariff will participate in the routing. Please refer to the Routing
     margin tariff section for details.
   • Send
     alerts about calls with losses – select this checkbox to receive
     real-time email alerts whenever a customer (with this routing plan assigned)
     makes a call on which you lose money.
6. Click
   Save.

Your wholesale customers’ remote gateways are represented
as accounts and are therefore billed according to the products you create
for those accounts.

1. On
   the navigation menu, select Service catalog and click Products.
2. On
   the Create product panel, fill in the product details:
   • Name
     – type in a short name for the product object;
     this is the name you will then see in the select menus.
   • Name
     visible to end users – specify the name of the product that your customers
     will see on their self-care interface.
   • Product
     type – choose Main product here.
   • Currency
     – product currency; only tariffs which have the same currency will be
     permitted in the rating list.
   • Managed
     by – choose Administrator only here, since we are setting up
     a service without the involvement of resellers.
   • Account
     default ACL – choose an Access Control List (ACL) for accounts
     with this product assigned. ACLs control which objects end users can access
     and which actions they can perform.
   • Account
     role – select the IPv4 address from the list.

     

3. Click
   Save.

Define which service types are included in the product.
A service type is a description of the physical service provided to end
users.

To add a service type:

1. On
   your product’s panel, click Services.
2. On
   the Services panel, click Add a service.
3. In
   the Select services to add dialog box, select Voice calls
   and click Add.

   

Define the default values of service attributes for
all accounts which this product will be assigned to. The configuration
of a limit on simultaneous calls represents a good example of service
attributes definition.

The rating list on the Usage charges panel
has two functions: it defines permitted access points (nodes and access
numbers) and specifies which tariff should be used for billing in each
of these points.

1. On
   your product’s panel, click Charges, then click Usage charges.
2. On
   the Usage charges panel, click Add.

   

3. Fill
   in the required information:
   • Service
     – select Voice calls.
   • Node
     – select the PortaSIP node.
   • Access
     code – leave this field empty for the basic SIP service.
   • Tariff
     – choose the tariff that will be used to calculate the charges for outgoing
     calls.
   • Overdraft
     protection – to configure overdraft protection for this product, consult
     the Configure overdraft protection section within the product section
     in the Overdraft
     protection configuration handbook.

On the Charges panel you can define special
pricing such as volume discounts, regular payments such as subscriptions,
and set up overdraft protection.

To access this panel, click Charges on your
product’s panel, then click General info.

Use the slider to turn on/off overdraft protection.
For obvious reason, turning off overdraft protection is not recommended
for general use.

This allows you to choose a subscription plan for
the product, so that this subscription plan will be automatically applied
to every account with this product assigned. Select None as no
subscription plan is specified for this service.

This allows you to assign a discount plan for the
product. Select None as no volume discount plan is specified for
this service. (In the General
configuration tools section you can find examples for setting
up volume discounts).

Define additional settings for the product.

1. On
   your product’s panel, click Additional information.
2. On
   the Additional information panel, fill in the following product
   information:
   • Notes
     – open the Notes panel to make notes about the product.
   • Product
     group – a product group is a custom grouping of add-on products on
     the account self-care interface. Select None for this product.
   • Account
     default ACL – the access level assigned by default to new accounts
     created with this product. The ACL determines which operations may be
     performed by accounts on the self-care pages. The default ACL value “Account
     self-care” allows all possible operations.
   • Information
     URL – if you have an external server with a description of product
     features, enter the URL here (e.g., http://www.myproduct.com).
     Your customers will be able to go there from their self-care page.
   • Description
     – your internal comments about the intended use of this product.
   • Description
     visible to end users – provide a product description to be shown to
     end users on their self-care interfaces.
3. Click
   Save.

At the end of the billing period, PortaBilling can
produce invoices for your customers. An invoice reflects all transactions
(calls, payments, refunds, subscription charges, and so on) that occurred
during a specific period. It serves as the primary record of services
provided to a certain customer as well as the primary record of his status.
To enable invoice generation you need to create a template for the invoice
layout first.

 Even if you
do not plan to distribute invoices to customers (e.g., invoices are produced
by an external accounting system), it is still a good idea to create a
template and use the word “statement” instead of “invoice.” This way your
customers will always have up-to-date information about their history
of service consumption.

1. On
   the navigation menu, select My company and click Templates.
2. On
   the Create a templates panel, fill in the template details:
   • Name
     – type a name for the template object; this will be used on the web interface.
   • Template
     type – select Invoice.
   • Managed
     by – select Administrator only.

     

3. Click
   Save.

   

If you calculate taxes for your customers using an
external taxation company (e.g., SureTax or Avalara), it is necessary
to configure the respective taxation method.

1. On
   the navigation menu, select Financial and click Taxation.
2. On
   the Taxation panel, select Taxation plugins.
3. On
   the Taxation plugins panel, select the required plug-in (e.g.,
   SureTax). Use a slider to enable the taxation plugin and specify the credentials:
   • URL
     – the URL for access to the SureTax API.
   • Login
     – your login to access the SureTax API.
   • Key
     – the key to access the SureTax API.

     

4. Click
   Save.

 To configure
taxation via the Avalara plug-in, please refer to the Configuring
taxation with Avalara handbook.

If you include taxes in your rates, it is necessary
to define which taxes will apply to your customers.

1. On
   the navigation menu, select Financial and click Taxation.
2. On
   the Taxation panel, select Customized taxes and fill in
   the information about the new tax:
   • Name
     – type in the name of the tax. This will be visible in the xDRs and in
     the taxation configuration for customers.
   • Rate
     (%) – specify the rate value for this tax.
   • Applied
     to – select which services this tax will be applied to: usage charges,
     recurring charges or all charges.

     

3. Click
   Save.

A customer class provides the ability to define the
business model and a group of parameters in a centralized manner, and
then apply those parameters to many customers simultaneously.

1. On
   the navigation menu, select Sales, then select Customer classes.
2. On
   the Create a customer class panel, fill in the customer class details:
   • Name
     – type a short name for this customer class.
   • Business
     model – select which customers this customer class will apply. Select
     SIP trunking from the list.
   • Currency
     – specify the currency in which you want to set the Collection threshold.
     When specified, this customer class can only be assigned to customers
     with the same currency. Once the currency selection is saved, it cannot
     be changed.
   • Managed
     by – select Administrator only.

     

3. Click
   Save.

1. On
   your customer class panel, click Finances, then click General
   info.
2. On
   the General info panel, fill in general information about the customer
   class:
   • The
     billing period is closed – select Automatically.
   • Configure
     the Statistics parameters:
     • Generate
       statistics – leave this option enabled to generate invoices for customers
       who belong to this customer class.
     • Send
       statistics via email – define how you will provide statistics to your
       customers.

       

   • Configure
     the Status change parameters:
     • Suspend
       customers – here you can specify whether PortaBilling must check
       whether the customer has sufficient funds for their subscription charges.
     • Block
       debit accounts – specify whether PortaBilling must check whether
       a debit account has sufficient funds for their subscription charges.
     • Permanently
       terminate customers after provisional termination – use the slider
       to enable the option. Specify the amount of days (e.g., 90) after which
       the provisionally terminated customer becomes permanently terminated.

1. On
   your customer class panel, click Finances, click Invoicing,
   then click Regular invoices.
2. On
   the Regular invoices panel, specify the invoicing parameters for
   the customer class:
   • Use
     regular invoices – enable this parameter to generate regular invoices
     for customers who belong to this customer class.
   • Invoice
     template – select the appropriate template which will be used to create
     a .pdf file with the invoice for your customers (e.g., Wholesale customers
     invoice template).
   • Generate
     invoice pdf – leave the default option At the end of billing period
     selected.
   • Send
     invoices via email – select Automatically to automatically
     send an invoice to a customer at the end of a billing period.
   • Configure
     Grace period, Automatic credit card charge and Actions
     if an invoice is overdue parameters for customers. Please consult
     the PortaBilling help for a description of parameters available here.

     

3. On
   the Out-of-turn invoices panel, specify the invoicing parameters
   for the customer class as described in the previous step.
4. Click
   Save.

1. On
   your customer class panel, click Finances, then click Taxation.
2. On
   the Taxation panel, select one of the available taxation methods
   and specify the taxation parameters for it. For the Fixed VAT Rate
   or Custom taxation methods, enable the Taxes included into rates/fees
   option and taxes that are calculated.

   

3. Click
   Save.

A customer is a company which sends you traffic for
termination and pays you according to the amount of traffic sent. The
customer’s contact information is used to distribute account usage information,
call statistics, invoices, and so on.

In this example, we will describe how to manually create a new
customer.

1. On
   the navigation menu, select Sales, then select Customers.
2. On
   the Create customer panel, fill in the customer details:
   • Name
     – type a short name for the customer object; this will be used on the
     web interface.
   • Balance
     control – specify the way the customer will pay for the service. Select Postpaid in this field.
     • Postpaid
       – after consuming the services;
     • Prepaid – prior to consuming the
       services.
   • Currency
     – choose the currency in which this customer will be billed.
   • Credit
     limit – assign a credit limit for the customer.
   • Business
     model ­– a business model defines what type of service is to be provided
     to the customer. Select SIP trunking for this customer.
   • Customer
     class – customer class allows you to define a policy for automated
     payment collection. By choosing a specific class here the customer will
     automatically inherit all of the class properties (grace period, invoice
     template, etc.). Select the previously created customer class.
   • Billing
     period – choose a billing period for the customer. A billing period
     defines the frequency of invoicing for this customer.
   • Billing
     period time zone – choose a time zone in which customer’s billing
     period will be closed and invoices will be generated.

     

3. Click
   Save.

Define the customer's personal information (such as
name, email address, and etc.).

1. On
   your customer’s panel, click Personal, then click General info.
2. On
   the General info panel, fill in the customer’s personal information
   and an email address for the receipt of accounting information. After
   the billing period is over, a list of xDRs and other statistics will be
   sent to this address.

1. While
   on the General info panel, click Address info.
2. On
   the Address info panel specify the customer’s address. In the BCC
   field type in the email address of your account representative. They will
   receive a copy of every outgoing email sent to the customer; this may
   be used for debug and archiving purposes.

Define credentials and preferred settings (such as
language, time zone, date input and output formats) for this customer's
self-care interface.

1. On
   your customer’s panel, click Personal, click General info,
   then click Web self-care.
2. On
   the Web self-care panel, define credentials for the customer self-care
   interface (such as login, password, time zone, etc.) and other preferred
   settings.

Define whether to suspend the customer when their
balance is insufficient to cover subscription charges.

1. On
   your customer’s panel, click Finances, click General info,
   then click Subscriptions.
2. On
   the Subscriptions panel, set the Suspend on insufficient funds
   parameter. This defines whether the system should check that the customer
   has sufficient funds for their subscription charges

1. On
   your customer’s panel, click Finances, click General info,
   then click Credit limit.
2. On
   the Credit limit panel, define the Credit limit warning threshold
   parameter. The customer can be notified by email when his balance is dangerously
   close to the credit limit and service will soon be blocked. The threshold
   can be specified:
   • As
     a percentage (e.g., 90%). The warning will be sent when the customer’s
     balance exceeds that percentage of his credit limit. So, if the credit
     limit is USD 1000.00 and the threshold is 90%, a warning will be sent
     as soon as the balance exceeds USD 900.00. This is only applicable when
     the customer has a positive credit limit.
   • As
     an absolute value. The warning will be sent as soon as the balance goes
     above the specified value.

Define whether to send this customer their statistics
and invoices by email.

1. On
   your customer’s panel, click Finances, and then click Invoices
   and taxation.
2. On
   the Invoices and taxation panel, set the Send Statistics via
   email option to Summary only. This delivers a call summary
   only and do not attach a details file; this could be useful in the case
   of a large number of calls. Other options are Full Statistics (attach
   a complete list of xDRs) or Do not send (this option prevents the
   delivery of event statistics to this customer via email).

1. On
   your customer’s panel, click Services.

   The Services panel provides an access to a
   group of panels where you can activate/deactivate various features of
   the voice calls service provided to the customer.

   This is a convenient way for managing parameters which
   are the same for a whole set of accounts. Instead of trying to configure
   them for each individual account, you can define them once at the customer
   level, then specify in the account configuration that the value in the
   customer’s configuration be used. Should you wish to change this value
   later, you need only modify it once for the change to be automatically
   propagated to all accounts.

   Please consult the PortaBilling help for a description
   of parameters available here. For now you may leave these with their default
   values. If you change them later, these changes will automatically affect
   all accounts created under this customer.

2. Click
   Save.

Accounts enable authorization of the customer’s actual
end-points. There are two main types of applicable authorizations:

• via
  SIP digest (the most robust and secure method),
• via
  remote gateway (or proxy) IP address.

In the following examples, we assume that you are
using the IP authentication method. In this case, the account ID must
be identical to the signaling IP address of the remote gateway/proxy.

If your gateway supports SIP digest authentication,
the account ID can be either the alphanumeric string or the gateway’s
IP address.

1. On
   your customer’s panel, click Accounts.
2. On
   the Create an account panel, fill in the account information:
   • ID
     – the IP address for the customer’s proxy or gateway.
   • Account
     role – select IPv4 address from the list.
   • Product
     – choose the main product, which you would like your account to have.
   • Activation
     date – choose the date from which the account is usable. By default
     the account is activated immediately upon creation.
   • Type
     – select Credit in this field.
   • Balance
     control – define the way the balance of the account is controlled. Select Subordinate in this
     field.
     • Subordinate – the balance will directly depend on the customer’s
       balance (only the customer tops up the balance);
     • Individual credit
       limit – this account may have its own balance and credit limit (the
       customer credit limit still applies.)

       

3. Click
   Save.

1. On
   your account’s panel, click Services.

   On this panel, you can activate/deactivate various
   features of the voice calls service provided to this account (e.g., assign
   a routing plan, etc.).

   Please consult the PortaBilling help for a description
   of parameters available here.

2. Click
   Save.
3. Repeat
   steps 3-6 if the customer has more than one signaling IP address of the
   remote gateway/proxy.

To assign the individual routing plan to the account:

1. On
   your customer’s panel, click Accounts.
2. On
   the Search account panel, search for the required account and click
   the account ID. You are redirected to the account management panel.
3. On
   the account’s panel, click Services, then Service configuration.
4. Navigate
   to the Outgoing calls configuration panel.
5. Use
   the Override and Enabled sliders for the Routing plan
   service feature in the Outgoing calls configuration panel.
6. Select
   the routing plan for this account from the list.

   

7. Click
   Save.

You may check the routing in your system prior to
actually making a phone call. This significantly simplifies troubleshooting,
especially when test calls are to be performed by the customer, who may
be not available at the moment.

1. On
   the navigation menu, type Routing simulation in the  Search field.
2. On
   the Routing simulation panel, enter the destination phone number
   and select a routing plan.
3. Click
   Test to display a list of applicable routes.

   

   

Make sure that the PortaBilling Radius and PortaSIP
servers are running.

Configure the remote gateway or SIP proxy to send
calls to your PortaSIP server (make sure the authorization username and
password are also configured on the remote side). Initiate a call and
monitor the results in PortaBilling.

 You can browse
the log file from the PortaBilling web interface using a log viewer where
you can see:

• Merged
  SIP and billing logs to provide an entire overview of the session flow;
• General
  information about a session in the form of a diagram between the main
  participants (e.g., SIP phones and PortaSwitch) with the issue description
  and troubleshooting instructions for the most common issues; and
• The
  ability to switch to the advanced log view if deeper investigation is
  required.

1. On
   the navigation menu, select Toolbox, then select Trace session.
2. On
   the Search session panel, specify the Time interval and
   Service type search criteria. To narrow the call log search, extend
   the search query by enabling additional filters and defining their values.
3. Click
   Apply filters to produce the call attempts list.

   

4. To
   obtain a detailed log view, click the  next
   to the call you are interested in. The Session logs panel opens,
   displaying general information about the call in the form of a diagram.

   

5. If
   deeper investigation is required, enable the Advanced view
   option. In the lower frame you will see a detailed copy of all messages
   in this call. The upper frame provides a call-flow diagram, representing
   the main participating entities (SIP phone, SIP proxy, B2BUA, remote SIP
   UA, etc.). If you click on a particular dialogue element here, the lower
   frame scrolls automatically to display the corresponding message.

   

This step demonstrates how to set up a bilateral traffic
exchange, e.g., when you receive traffic from and send traffic to one
and the same company. In this case the company is represented in the system
as both a vendor and a customer.

The following example better illustrates how this
scenario works. You have the following agreement with one of the VoIP
companies (let’s call it GlobalNet): you terminate GlobalNet traffic to
the United Kingdom with a tariff rate of 0.1 USD per minute; GlobalNet
terminates your traffic to the USA with a tariff rate of 0.11 USD per
minute. Therefore, the GlobalNet company will be presented as a vendor
in the system (as it terminates calls for you) and also as a customer
(since they will send their traffic to your network for termination).

To simplify the mutual settlement for customer and
vendor entities that represent one and the same company in the system,
perform the following offset.

1. In
   the left upper corner click  to
   open the navigation menu.
2. On
   the navigation menu, select Infrastructure, then select Vendors.
3. On
   the Vendor list panel, select the vendor you have a bilateral traffic
   exchange with (GlobalNet in our example).
4. On
   the vendor’s panel, select General configuration.
5. From
   the Offset balance with customer link select the customer that
   you have created previously (Asgard Telecom in our example).
6. In
   the Minimum amount to offset field specify the threshold value
   for automatically offsetting the vendor’s balance. When the balances of
   both the vendor and the associated customer reach the threshold value,
   PortaBilling  chooses the lesser of two balances and decreases
   both customer’s and vendor’s balances by this amount. The xDR records
   for both the vendor and the customer will be created for this transaction.
7. Click
   Save.