• Integration with the phone Photo Library (copy mobile images to your Pronto Photos)
• Attach files from your eDisk to eMail messages
• Open files from your eDisk on the device and review (download)
• Storing files from the eDisk to the device for review if without service or to avoid downloading again (upload)

1. From how far back in the past should data be synchronized? On some devices you can tell the server to sync only with E-mail messages dating back as far as 1 week excluding intentionally all E-mail messages you have on the server.
   
2. How much data from each E-mail should be downloaded from the server? If you choose to not download all contents of each E-mail message, you will see a link inside each message on your device offering to "download the entire message". If you select to do that the message will be downloaded in its entirety the next time you connect.
   
3. There is also an option for downloading attachments automatically with a maximum size threshold. If an attachment is larger than the maximum size specified a link to download the entire attachment should appear in the message.
   
4. Which E-mail account folders should be synchronized? If you have 40 folders in your account, you should see them all in ActiveSync, but only those that you explicitly marked for synchronization will contain messages.
   

Use this script at your own risk and only in a test environment. The author of this post and the the host of this blog accept no responsibility for any problems caused by these downloads or their contents.

Please use these applications at your own risk and only in a test environment. The author of this post and the the host of this blog accept no responsibility for any problems caused by these downloads or their contents.

1. Create an account via the "Sign Up" link of http://talktoip.com if you do not already have one.
   
2. Generate some data worth syncing. You may create messages, calendar items, contacts, and tasks.
   
3. Connect your wireless ActiveSync capable mobile phone or PDA to the talktoip.com server.
   

1. First get a Nokia N80. Places like craigslist and eBay have them for sale and prices are dropping since the Nokia N95 has been released.


2. Get your N80 Flashed with the Internet Edition version of the Firmware if it does not have it already. A reliable service for me was iUnlock.


3. Configure a WiFi Access Point or multiple WiFi Access points on your phone


4. Configure your phone to use your CommuniGate Pro account for SIP

Registered Devices

Application	Expires	Network Address
PolycomSoundPointIP-SPIP_501-UA/2.1.0.2708	7:46:10PM	sip:ab@x.x.x.x
Nokia RM-92 V 4.0632.0.38	7:18:53PM	sip:ab@x.x.x.x;transport=UDP

• Voice Mail - To set voicemail options


• Divert Calls - Call Forward with time and destination options


• Alerting - This provides a simultaneous ring feature. I use this to have my mobile ring everytime I receive any call to my account


• Block Calls - Provides a Blacklisting option for specific callers. A Blacklisted Address book can be created to add blocked contacts to the list

• Vacation Message - Standard vacation messaging with the nice feature that does not repeat sending the same message to the same address wehn you receive more mail from that sender


• Redirect All Mail to - Message forwarding and copying options (applies to voicemail recordings too)

1. It generates the RSS Feed by copying the list traffic to the MailBucket service as the creator of that service has graciously given me permission to do


2. It stores all of the traffic I receive from the list to a folder and marks all of those messages read

1. Analyze the Application(s) you wish to create an audio package for


2. Create a list of the audio file names you will need to record


3. Record your audio using for favorite media recording software and save your audio as separate WAV files


4. If necessary, convert the recordings to the supported media formats


5. Create a TAR package of the files


6. Upload your audio package to the PBX environment you wish to use

Important Note from the documentation: If the PlayFile argument does not have a '.wav' or any extension, Communigate Pro will try supported extensions.

• Be sure to download the version of Batik they recommend on the project page


• Do create a text file in the root folder named 'filter' with the contents: tcp.port == 5060 || udp.port == 5060

1. Acknowledge that the bug has not been fixed yet


2. Acknowledge that Previous versions of the calendar client products did not behave this way it


3. Declare that there is no violation of the spec rfc2445 from either party


4. Label this a workaround for CommuniGate Pro therefore warranting a lower priority

CG/PL message composition example:

messageBody = "Below is your new conference ID number:\e " + thePassword; if isOpen then messageBody = messageBody + "\e\eThis conference is an 'open' one: anyone can start it"; else messageBody = messageBody + "\e\eBelow is your new conference Leader PIN (Password):\e " + OwnerPassword; end if; messageBody = messageBody + "\e\eThank you for using the Conference Center.\e"; void(SendEMail(MyEmail(),"Your new conference ID",parameter.owner,null,messageBody));

Another option for notification that can add more flexibility to the custom 911 notifications is to use the CommuniGate Pro Signaling Rules engine to fork all of the 911 calls to the CG/PL 911toemail application and incorporate any other rules engine actions options to minimize the need to develop more complex CG/PL applications. Using Signaling Rules can also help you create special cases based on the time of day or the name and perhaps the domain of the caller. Multiple rules can be created and multiple priorities can be used to order the rules and stop processing if criteria for the notifications have already been met.

Once the email composition application is ready a signal rule can be created In this part of the configuration interface:



If you are creating or have multiple rules you should consider the Stage and Priority options the Help link in the upper right corner of the above screenshot will provide detailed information about how to use these options. Following the Edit link on this page will take you to the configuration of the new 911 notify rule. Add any information you wish to describe your rule for other administrators to the Comment Field. An example that forks all of your users 911 cals to the 911toemail.sppr application for email notification to the postmaster is displayed below. Note that the 'To:postmaster' information will be contained in the 911toemail.sppr script



As mentioned above additional Actions and Parameters can be used to send Instant Messages to the Administrators Group of the ITSP. Another notification that may be useful is a notification to the primary contact of the ITSP hosted service business customer. ]]>ab@communigate.comab2007-01-02T12:39:00-08:00http://mail.communigate.com/~ab/files/Asterisk-Off.html#unique-entry-id-47http://mail.communigate.com/~ab/files/Asterisk-Off.html#unique-entry-id-47PBX Application services and the stock group of PBX applications in CommuniGate Pro (CGP), many have asked me questions ranging from CommuniGate vs. Asterisk to CommuniGate with Asterisk. I try to encourage a John Nash/Game Theory approach to reviewing these systems, however not everyone agrees with this. I am sharing in this posting notes I've taken and questions I've asked and answered about these two products. I continue to receive requests for a checklist like listing of all has that Asterisk does not and visa versa. This information is available and I believe better learned direct from both products documentation and trying both products as both can be downloaded and publish information about what services they offer and which RFCs they support.

I have received reports of clients registering their Asterisk to CommuniGate Pro via SIP and also registering CommuniGate Pro to Asterisk via SIP. This was done in some cases to experiment and in others to migrate from one to the other. I was informed in one case that Asterisk was used only to function as a software layer that provides a Digium card driver to CommuniGate Pro. I doubt that is efficient and would most likely not recommend that, but that fact that it might be possible is interesting. There are many other SIP devices you can get from a company like Voxilla to create a SIP environment from your PSTN connection. Cisco 2600 series routers with SIP WIC expansion modules have been tested successfully tested with CommuniGate Pro and are in production in several areas.

There is more that can be written about and Asterisk, I welcome comments to this posting in case there are important details we should address.

Text in blue came from others and I was asked to respond to it. I have copied my responses in bold text.

We already use Asterisk and SER as IP telephony platform, which scale very well, allow us to do anything we want, and they're free, besides
having much more applications ready for production (billing, voicemail, IVR, callback, etc...);

I agree that applications matter a lot. There are more available on Asterisk due to success of the ecosystem that has been created by the price and very groundbreaking approach of Asterisk. One can achieve this in (see CGPL) an example voicemail system comes with the platform. For delivery of these types of solutions, CommuniGate Pro is extremely more efficient and innovative in my opinion, but many do not realize how "ready and easy to develop" it it is. Most Asterisk friends tell me that even with the available community modules they end up doing more development on other items Asterisk does not have, things that does. The "and SER" addition to the above highlights a CommuniGate internal and external integration advantage. SER would not be an additional install to manage with CGP, a fully featured SIP proxy is part of the platform. We must and are working to publicize this more.

Yes, ComuniGate Pro cluster solves load sharing and redundancy problems, but Asterisk is free, more flexible, and already has dozens of
applications ready for production.

CommuniGate Applications are distributed with the download of Communigate Pro. They are designed to be customized. There is a "download psychology" that I this has been missed in the distribution of CommuniGate Pro. For some time now software professionals have become accustomed to downloading many separate pieces and parts to augment or add functionality to a downloadable product. This is common in many other products including open source projects. I have received questions from people requesting the download information for the voicemail application, auto attendant, or conference server for CommuniGate Pro. The assumption is that these are all separate downloads and there must also be a separate SDK. The download of CommuniGate Pro contains these applications and their audio with documentation and comments in their source to help with customization. Some find this hard to believe because the footprint of the package is under 12 megabytes and installs very quickly without much effort.

Asterisk is Free. CommuniGate Pro now has the Community Edition mode where 5 accounts or less on the

Does CommuniGate Pro come with a powerful Least Cost Routing engine? Rebrand capability for resellers? Callback and IVR applications? Flexible billing engine?

Least Cost Routing - IP trunking Gateways, The included Gateway Caller application, Signaling Rules, ENUM Support, and Advanced Routing

Rebrand? Yes, for graphical interfaces there is Skins support for multiple domains. Each domain can have it's own PBX and set of personalized applications. The Service provider can customize the delivery method for multi level re-branding (provider, license holder and provider's client)

For Callback and IVR see CGPL and the included PBX applications including webmail's click-to-call feature for contacts. I also have a XIMSS example with I will share on this blog another day.

It is possible today to create a "CDR Helper Application" for CommuniGate Pro. This follows the same integration model that External authentication solutions and 3rd party plugins do, The CGatePro Helper Protocol. A CDR helper application, running alongside CGatePro obtains the CDR records via its "stdin" channel. The application can be written in any language, and is usually very small and simple. It should implement the API of the Billing or reporting system planned for use with which could be MySQL or in another database format.

The CDR information can be sent to the Billing or Reporting system via RADIUS protocol which is used by some billing systems. The CDR information can also be sent to the Billing or Reporting system via HTTP protocol (to a specified URL).

VoIP is not just about SIP signalling, or dumping a simple CDR to some file, neither in a PBX cenario or a softswitch cenario. In the first case, it's about connecting to PSTN, supporting FXS/FXO/BRI/PRI/GSM/DECT equipment, creating IVR applications quicky, supporting call queues, ACD and voicemail, allowing users to save money by using DISA, increasing their productivity through TAPI and fax integration. In a softswitch
cenario, it's about uncompromised NAT traversal, codec translation, flexible billing, powerful LCR calculation, cost/profits analysis, etc...

We must not be communicating our platform's capabilities well. Perhaps we should brag more about the fact that these things can be done with CommuniGate Pro. One excuse I use for myself is that Communigate Pro is "difficult to believe" or the "market psychology" for downloading or how these solutions are build. In the end it is really our job to make this known. Hopefully more on this blog is a small start that will lead to more. If this CommuniGate Pro is the platform equivalent of the mythical "Automobile that runs on Water" it should be evangelized better.

We cannot count on the world to read our documentation. If some of the markets we work to serve seem to misunderstand us, our offering, or our message then we must deliver the information in an understandable form. I believe our PSTN support is the most innovative and not "race to zero" or "walled gardens", but it seems we have failed to communicate this. I am working more with the communications side of our company. Perhaps this could help escape many of the negative assumptions some make about us.

A client of one of our distributors is an Internet Telephony Service Provider (ITSP) that is serving 2 major vertical markets. Keys to this win was all of the time our distributor partner put into developing applications, integrating other products and testing to win the confidence of the provider. The service provider has followed the model of as a platform and does not request turnkey operability for all features of the platform. They create what they need with partners, own that intellectual property, and earn additional revenue from those services. The following services are delivered with this provider's offering:

Music on Hold for Cisco and Linksys Phones
E1 hardware gateways
Point of Sales (POS) over IP with Visa and Mastercard through CommuniGate
Fax over IP with CommuniGate
Certification with 2 other ITSPs for redundancy
Simultaneous ring calls to mobile phones when required

I disagree your PSTN support is innovative, CommuniGate Pro has NO PSTN support whatsoever, it just forwards the call to external gateways. Of
course we could discuss if PSTN support will be relevant in the future, with everyone using SIP clients, and using IP trunks to connect us to the world, but there are millions of PSTN equipments out there, and support for them IS needed.

"Just forwarding" in my opinion is a bit over simplified and unfair. The gateway workarounds and media proxy behavior are only two of several examples that I find unmatched in the industry. I do not see much long term value in the Software Driver to E1/T1 and all other interfaces model. Many do. I do see the need mentioned above, and there is significant life for it as there is for any interface. Many in the world still use parallel or USB1 interfaces to print instead of network interfaces, or bluetooth, or 1394 connections. Yes, all connections have their place, best-use scenario, etc... Are we too far ahead of the market? I do not believe so. I do see the risk of not pleasing the pragmatic telecommunications buyers. They will spend a lot on what is already known in the telco closets. We do test and do report information for those tested devices.

Our benchmarks (most recent SIP whitepaper) show where we are going with this. The pure IP trunks method is where we are strong in calls per second, etc... However, this does not mean that we only desire "large carrier customers". How many products that serve these largest environments scale down to a 25 user license? Good Examples are found where we compete in the messaging market, Critical Path and Open Wave specifically. While we can scale as they do and larger/more efficiently in messaging but they do not scale down. This says much about quality of architecture and code.


If not "racing to zero" means using CommuniGate Pro as a NGN platform to ensure long term business continuity and profits, integrating email,
fax, IM, VoIP, providing triple-play, value-added services, etc..., instead of just betting on VoIP call termination, with decreasing prices (look at VoIPBuster, and Skype), of course I'd agree CommuniGate Pro would be our choice if CommuniGate Systems had a "ready to run" product, instead of "ready to develop", at a price we could pay.

In my opinion most of the examples you gave of technology you prefer are less "ready to run" than CGP. However their approaches are very different. I do not think a product needs to stay "Telco centric" to solve the same problems, but I do recognize that transition times should be respected. The most recent build and interfaces and reflecting this. This is the part of delivery that some will find too slow, while others say it is too fast. We can only try to balance as best as possible. More applications are coming for CommuniGate Pro. I will write about them here as much as possible. Writing about those already included is also a good idea.

If "walled gardens" means not to bet/build/develop/rely on proprietary technology, then our hat is off to CommuniGate Systems, I personally have
known/loved/recommended CommuniGate Pro for many, many years now, (I believe I asked for a license in 1998), and I respect the way CommuniGate Systems has always managed to use standards to solve problems, and never developed closed protocols.]]>ab@communigate.comab2007-01-02T12:10:25-08:00http://mail.communigate.com/~ab/files/WM-TUI.html#unique-entry-id-46http://mail.communigate.com/~ab/files/WM-TUI.html#unique-entry-id-46Disclaimer: I nor anyone related to this posting cannot accept any responsibility for the modifications made by this tip. Proceed at your own risk with the information shared in this posting.

A friend shared this Windows Registry modification that adds a TUI dialpad with numbers to Windows Messenger. Windows Messenger is a Microsoft SIP client that should not be confused with .NET or MSN messenger (though compatible with those services). The source of the .reg file is:

windows_messenger.reg contents:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Messenger\Client] "CorpPC2Phone"=dword:00000001 "DisablePawn"=dword:00000001

The next time you launch Windows Messenger, you'll see the "Start Phone call" option. The interface is not very convenient, but it enables a phone keypad, that allows you to send send DTMF signals to the applications you connect to.
]]>ab@communigate.comab2007-01-02T10:04:29-08:00http://mail.communigate.com/~ab/files/CGPL-MOH.html#unique-entry-id-45http://mail.communigate.com/~ab/files/CGPL-MOH.html#unique-entry-id-45This solution was submitted by Marcos Taschelmayer and Rafael Veiga Saluotto of GetNet Comunicações.

The CG/PL code and CommuniGate Pro configuration below can be used to create a SIP URI Music on Hold (MOH) server. This solution does not provide a Music on Hold server that requires an RTP stream URI.

This CG/PL code and CommuniGate Pro configuration has been tested and confirmed fuctional with a Linksys SPA-941 IP phone with firmware 4.1.12(a).

Create the following CG/PL script named mohserver.sppr:

// mohserver.sppr // Accept an incoming call (stop if it's not possible) // Play the PressPound media file // Wait for any input for up to 5 seconds // If the "pound" ("#") symbol was entered, // play the Good media file - The audio file in this example is named MOH-Music.wav // Stop entry Main is if AcceptCall() != null then stop; end if; while isConnected() loop PlayFile ("MOH-Music"); end loop; end entry;

CommuniGate Pro Configuration for MOH

1. Upload the application and WAV file to the CommuniGate ProPBX where you wish to deliver the MOH service. In this example I use the root PBX of the main domain.



2. Create a user account called moh (warning you probably wish to create a hard password or disable authentication for this account as a person will not use it, but you do not want is easily accessable)



3. Use the simplified Real-Time Rule Divert Calls in the moh@domain.com account to redirect all calls to #mohserver



Linksys SPA-941 IP Phone Configuration

1. Connect to the phone advanced administration interface page



2. Locate the Field MOH Server on Ext 1 or 2 and add the moh SIP URI this field



To test this service place a call from the IP phone or receive a call on the IP Phone and use the IP phone to put the call on hold. The music should begin for the other party shortly after the hold button is selected.]]>ab@communigate.comab2006-12-28T14:20:34-08:00http://mail.communigate.com/~ab/files/objects-share.html#unique-entry-id-44http://mail.communigate.com/~ab/files/objects-share.html#unique-entry-id-44
In this example the name of one account on the system is named public.The public account is a non-human system account sharing a Calendar to a user account named dmaradona. The domain in this example is booker.local which is the default domain on my system.

dmaradona is a regular human user of the system. Therefore in this example we have 2 user accounts with the names dmaradona@booker.local and public@booker.local.



All of these settings are configured in webmail and this can be done by the administrator for the users. I am using the "basic" interface (sometimes named "***") to have one interface to reference. Other Webmail skins have these features, but their interfaces may present them in different locations or with navigation methods. It is not necessary to deliver the ability to share and subscribe to these resources directly to the end user after the user is configured with the resources they need. You can customize skins or change account settings to hide the more complex or power user features.



Part 1 - Share the resource

1. We first confirm that public@booker.local is sharing the Calendar Object in the public@booker.local account to dmaradona@booker.local. Start by loging to webmail of public@booker.local



2. Click on the Folders Link and select the Calendar folder that you wish to share. Optionally you can create a new Calendar object for public@booker.local and give it any name you wish such as 'Group Calendar' for example.



3. Once you have selected or opened that object, either via the direct link or from the 'Folders' page you will arrive at a view for this folder as shown below. Click the link named 'Folder Management' to navigate to a the page where you can adjust the Access Control List (ACL) for this specific Calendar object.



Switch to Folder management buy following the link above in the open Calendar object.



note: All Objects are IMAP Folders on the server side and the data contained in those folders tells the system how to display them. This is why Sharing the Group Calendar is really sharing a folder to another user on the system.

4. Make sure dmaradona is listed as a client that can access this folder. Add their user name to the left hand side field and select the options you wish to grant permissions or access for:

Lookup
Select
Seen
Flags
Insert
Post
Create
Delete
Admin

You can click help to find what privileges each of these options grant. These are the standard IMAP folder sharing ACLs.



Click Update after setting the ACLs

5. Once the permissions are how you desire them to be, select update and log out of the public@booker.local account



Part 2 - subscribe to the recource using the Folder Alias method

1. Login to the webmail of dmaradona and select Settings -> Folders



2. You should create a folder Alias for the public Calendar by entering any alias name you prefer in the Alias Name like "Company Calendar" and then enter the folder name as "~public/Group Calendar" Where Group Calendar is the name of the folder you configured ACLs for in the public@booker.local account.



You can then confirm your subscription to this resource by navigating to Settings -> Folders -> All Subscribed Folders and viewing the new Group Calendar alias you added to the dmaradona@booker.local account.



Part 3 - Reviewing the Shared Calendar in Outlook

Open Outlook for dmaradona and the folder Alias should appear in Outlook after a login. Outlook will need to download all of the information on the first try, but after it should access the data faster on the second and all following logins with Outlook.



Another View



Summary

This Folder Alias method works different from the shared folder method and may be easier to deploy for your environment because the configuration can be performed by the administrator for all users. However, it is also flexible enough for some users to configure. There are other sharing methods but I personally prefer this one because the object just appears in outlook and I do not see the account name that owns the object unlike the Folder Sharing method.

Also worth noting in the case of CalendarData that you can view calendars you have permission to view with a link to the calendar data. Some calendar clients like SunBird on Windows or iCal on Apple use this method. If you try this with SunBird, the like would look like this:

http://mail.domain.com/CalendarData/~user/Calendar.ics]]>ab@communigate.comab2005-09-16T20:10:00-07:00http://mail.communigate.com/~ab/files/cgp-voip.html#unique-entry-id-39http://mail.communigate.com/~ab/files/cgp-voip.html#unique-entry-id-39downloaded from the website of CommuniGate Systems.

Creating a good SIP network is a good first step toward connecting all of the communication tools an organization needs. Here is a diagram that provides an example of a phase 1 migration to CommuniGate Proas the main voice system for one office:



The cisco box in the diagram for example joins the CommuniGate ProSIP network with SIP modules and the phone network with the E1 modules it has installed. FXO devices with single or multiple lines are another alternative where all the channels of a T1 or e1 may not be needed. Legacy devices can connect via ATAs (Analog Telephone Adapters) available from many VOIP products sites.

For phones, it is simply registering the phone to use the CommuniGate Proserver. Most IP phones have web interfaces for this that are similar to configuring any of the soft phone clients. The X-Lite soft phone has been a good testing tool for me.

Starting from this higher level view you can then begin to connect the CommuniGate Procapabilities to the use on a voice network.

It is important to get to know SIP. Good Signaling starts everything. cs.columbia.edu has good information like this which can help as you test.

CommuniGate Pro Configuration Pages

In CommuniGate Pro-> Settings -> Network much had been added to support a strong NAT traversing SIP foundation.

LAN IPs
Local NAT/Firewall -> The info here helps with NAT traversal
Media Proxy -> Make sure firewalls allow these communications to occur
NATed IPs
NATed IP Addresses -> The SIP module must know the possible NATed networks you might need to traverse here

Settings -> Realtime (Signal, Rules, Nodes, and Media)
As you test you can adjust these log levels and read the logs to get and obtain more information about what is going on. I always also find the online help in the product helpful to me.

Settings -> SIP
I recommend raising logging here to learn more also. The online help also helps much here. The external PSTN gateway is my favorite part here. It is a very elegant way of connecting to an external SIP provider, SIP partner, or remote office if necessary.

Settings -> Router
Many new rules for signaling have been added here and reading up on those options has helped me much. A test tool for signaling routes was also added here just like the mail relay tools. I love routing calls as easily as I can route emails. I am not a fan of "VOIP call plans" but they are a necessary tool. I do like this option for many cases.

Router examples
pstnprovider-long = international_longdistance_free.sipprovider.com ; external sip provider account

pstnprovider-local = internalhost_outbound_FXO.domain.com@[10.10.10.10] ; ip address of FXO gateway configuration

pstnprovider-mobile = internal_ATA.domain.com@[11.11.11.11] ; ip address of ATA - not needed with good DNS - this is connected to a single mobile phone that calls other mobiles on the same mobile service provider for free

Signal:<011*> = 011*@pstnprovider-long ; dialing 011 and then any number routes the call ot my outbound provider

Signal:<1*> = 1*@pstnprovider-local

Signal:<+*> = +*@pstnprovider-mobile

Signal: = sipserver.host.com.5060.via ; special SIP routing for some internal calls

S:<313@domain.net> = ab@othercompany.com ; give a phone extension on your PBX to a partner at another company with a SIP address

S:<314@domain.net> = jon@domain.net ; an internal extension for an employee

S:<200@domain.net> = user@othercity.domain.net ; extension for a remote office user with their own SIP server

S:<100@domain.net> = attendant@domain.net ; this internal extension calls the internal attendant account that runs a CGPL attendant applications and provides a search by name directory to locate extensions internally

S:<317@domain.net> = newuser@domain.net ; wow a users account is their phone number extension so I do not need to re-provision all users again like another VoIP solution will require

Reading the online help in the product reveals that "S:" is "Signal:" or signal only route configuration.

OK, so now know a little bit about signaling and routing, so how do I route calls to the PBX and run a specific PBX App?

First lets look as what Apps we have in Domains -> PBX
Everything that ends in .sppr is an application. My install has conference, reception, passive queue, and voicemail. Most are obvious or commented. I encourage opening these and looking at the source. Then looking at the CGPL docs in the online help for more info on writing these Apps.

So now that we know what they are how do we use them?

Domain -> Accounts -> Select an account (mailbox, not forwarder or anything else) -> Select Realtime

This is where you select which applications to run for a specific account. Here is a typical user example:

On Busy: start voicemail
On No Answer for : 15 secs start voicemail
On Failure: return
On Self-Call: selfservice (for pre-authenticated checking of voicemail)

If I create an account for the attendant application (which is extension 100 above) I may configure my inbound calls to route here first. Then the "Realtime" configuration for this account would be:

On Busy: start reception
On No Answer for : 0 secs start reception
On Failure: default ()
On Self-Call: start reception

This then plays the welcome greeting and asks which extension you would like to dial.

The current applications in the PBX are:

Conference Call Manager - conference.sppr (media proxies run the conferences from the server)
Voicemail - voicemail.sppr
Voicemail Self Service for registered devices - selfservice.sppr
Call Center Queue example - passivequeue.sppr
Reception Attendant - reception.sppr

These are easy for programmers and even skilled non-programmers to write. There is currently a PBX app contest running at CommuniGate Systems. I believe it is worth looking closer at the architecture because in most cases you will want to customize these applications for your organization because it is that easy. In fact being too easy is what seems to throw most people off track from what I have seen. The easy routing, adding of audio, and < 200 lines for a voicemail application is hard to believe. I have seen voicemail source for other systems that is more than 10 times that number of lines of code.

I would invest the time in getting to know some of the PBX application internals here. For example:
.sppr files are the applications you can run while .sppi are functions you can call from .sppr files to do things like play the date as an example. The audio files are simply objects you can include in PBX Applications.

I did not even cover the 30-something supported platforms, multiple language support, multiple PBXs in one system, built in clustering, voicemails in the inbox with Message Waiting Indication (MWI) support, making sip calls from webmail and many more powerful things you can get with a truly unified full communications platform. I Hope this provides some help to those interested in testing CommuniGate Pro. The product manual always helps too.]]>ab@communigate.comab2005-08-03T13:52:00-07:00http://mail.communigate.com/~ab/files/mapi-ol2003.html#unique-entry-id-32http://mail.communigate.com/~ab/files/mapi-ol2003.html#unique-entry-id-32This is a quick reference guideto help with the configuration of MAPI Connector from CommuniGate Systems with Outlook 2003. The MAPI connector can be downloaded here: http://www.communigate.com/content/download.htm#mapi.

At the time of this posting MAPI conector is distributed as a .zip compressed package with two files:



The connector is installed with the binary named setup.exe. My system gives me the option of 'Upgrade' because I have an older version installed.



After selecting "Upgrade" or "Install", you can configure your email profile in Windows without opening Outlook.



This option opens the Windows native "Mail Setup" tool to configure the CommuniGate Proaccount. This tool is also available from the Windows Control Panel.

=

The "E-mail Accounts" option contains CommuniGate Proas an option. If this is a new installation you can select to add a new account.



Select Additional Server Types to use most all of Outlook's features with your account.



The option "CommuniGate Pro Server" exists because the MAPI Connector is installed.



The Next window displays the configured accounts.



Clicking Change will open server configuration options:



There is a Windows connectivity tab:



Advanced options include the ability to subscriber to other folders, Calendars, Address Books and more.



Troubleshooting helps if technical support is needed.



After all of our configuration is complete we can launch Outlook. If there is more than one Outlook Profile configured, this feature is compatible with CGP.



You also have the option of working connected or without a connection.



With the first connection Outlook and MAPI conector will create all of the account folders needed for collaboration and PIM services.



The manual of CommuniGate Pro explains Free/Busy information is published a the method for subscribing to others users Free Busy information to check their availability.



CommuniGate Proalso offers more advanced features than Outlook has with Exchange. Server Side rules for email is one example.



This is a server-side rules example.



The CommuniGate Pro PKI to encrypt, sign, and decrypt messages in outlook or webmail using the private and public keys of the user generated by CommuniGate Proor valid certificate generation system. This option does allow escrow keys if the admin or another user must have decrypt ability in the server PKI configuration. The Rules Engine can also be used to automatically encrypt all or some messages based on criteria.



CommuniGate ProSIP services are also integrated with Outlook and calls can be placed directly to contacts in your Address Book.

]]>ab@communigate.comab2005-08-01T20:54:00-07:00http://mail.communigate.com/~ab/files/spec-world-record.html#unique-entry-id-30http://mail.communigate.com/~ab/files/spec-world-record.html#unique-entry-id-30Thom informed me last Friday that the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation (SPEC) officially approved CommuniGate Systems' (CGS) SPECmail test results for 2 million and 2.5 million users. CommuniGate Systems is now the world-record holder for email servers. Results have been officially posted here:

http://www.spec.org/mail2001/results/

Sun Microsystems previously held the highest score with 1.5 million "virtual users". I believe Mirapoint also had the lead at some point in the past. One of my favorite things to point out is that there is small allowance for errors in this test, but CommuniGate Pro finished the test with no errors. CGS was also asked to join a SPEC subcommittee. We are very thankful for the support of our customers and partners who helped make this possible. I cannot thank our talented engineers and developers enough for all of the hard work they put into our product. ]]>ab@communigate.comab2005-06-25T16:01:00-07:00http://mail.communigate.com/~ab/files/evolution222-cgp.html#unique-entry-id-4http://mail.communigate.com/~ab/files/evolution222-cgp.html#unique-entry-id-4I am sorry to report that users will not be able to easily subscribe to calendars on CommuniGate Pro with Evolution. I did testing and server logs reading with Evolution 2.2.2 on MacOS X to reach the following conclusions:

1. The instructions I have for iCal would be the same instructions (maybe minor differences) for Evolution -- http://mail.stalker.com/~ab/iCal/

2. The only reason I am unable to subscribe to my CommuniGate Procalendar with Evolution is that Evolution does not yet support authenticated webcal/ical - It also does not support ssl for iCalendar.

This is now clear to me after confirming this in the roadmap for Evolution 2.4:

http://go-evolution.org/Evo2.4#Web_Calendar_Support

Unfortunately none of the Evolution developers have claimed this work yet according to the table on the page. The Mozilla Sunbird Calendar which is available for Linux does support ssl and authentication for calendars. This may be an alternative for your Linux users or they can use the Web Calendar features of CommuniGate Pro in the same manner.

There is another way to create a Calendar in Evolution and upload it to CommuniGate Pro for Reading with Evolution. This will be a publicly accessible calendar with no authentication. This is similar to a service such as http://icalshare.com which works with evolution.

This is how a user can publish public calendar from Evolution that any Evolution user (or iCalendar compatible client) will be able to subscribe to:

1. Open Evolution and select any calendar in the Evolution client that you would like to publish to the world

2. Right click on the calendar and select "Save to Disk"

3. Name the file and add the .ics extension, select the location, and make sure iCalendar format is selected (default), then click "Save As". An iCalendar file will be written to your location

4. Connect to CommuniGate Pro Webmail and select the Web Site icon or feature.

5. Choose the .ics file you saved from Evolution and upload the file to the public area of the Web Site in CGP. You can create folders if you wish, I saved my file to the root.

6. Switch back to Evolution and subscribe to the published .ics file.
New -> Calendar -> On The Web
Name: Your Preference
other options -> as desired
URL: http://server:port/~user/your_file.ics

This is one way that the Evolution features can be used. Perhaps with the method above, someone can find a faster and easier way for users to do this within the limitations of the Evolution client. I look forward to seeing the Evolution client mature to better support the built in security features of CommuniGate Proin the future.]]>ab@communigate.comab2005-06-02T10:15:00-07:00http://mail.communigate.com/~ab/files/cgp-virtual-disk.html#unique-entry-id-2http://mail.communigate.com/~ab/files/cgp-virtual-disk.html#unique-entry-id-2Subscriber's personal storage space can be mounted in most operating systems that support virtual disks over ftp. For example, in Windows one can open "My Computer" or Internet Explorer and provide a URL to the users personal storage area in CommuniGate Pro:
 
 
 
Note that the default ftp service on CommuniGate Pro is 8021 to avoid conflict with other software your system may have. You can change this in the server's access settings. When I provide the URL above Windows authenticates me against CommuniGate Pro:
 
 
 
After I authenticate successfully I have direct access to my files stored on CommuniGate Pro:
 
 
 
On the administration side quotas can be applied via the web admin interface for via the CLI (this can be used to create a service like gmail or sell more storage space like Apple's .mac service):
 
 
 
Administrators can also have access to these files:
 
 
 
Users can also access :
 
 ]]>ab@communigate.comab2005-05-25T21:05:00-07:00http://mail.communigate.com/~ab/files/windows-messenger-sip.html#unique-entry-id-1http://mail.communigate.com/~ab/files/windows-messenger-sip.html#unique-entry-id-1These instructions were written for test users who have accounts on the server partners.communigate.com.

The steps required to use your partners.communigate.com account with Windows messenger are:

1. Get and install Windows Messenger 5.1 from Microsoft  (not the same software as .NET or MSN Messenger)
2. Configure Windows Messenger to use the SIP service of partners.stalker.com
3. Connect and login to partners.stalker.com with SIP using Windows Messenger
4. Add your instant messaging contacts to your list with Windows Messenger
5. Use the Windows Messenger Audio Tuning Wizard to configure your microphone, speakers and webcam device

The Microsoft SIP client can be found with a search for "Windows Messenger" at http://microsoft.com. The version I used to write these instructions is 5.1.0639. It is possible that this software is already installed on your Windows PC. When not configured, the icon appears in the system tray with a red circle and white 'x' symbol.

   

You can open windows messenger by double-clicking this icon.



Configure Messenger

Windows Messenger's SIp configuration is fairly easy. You will need this data to configure the :

User Name
Password
Server

With the Messenger Window open, open the Tools -> Options configuration.


Select the Accounts tab and activate the SIP option. You can use the other services if you have accounts for Exchange or .NET/MSN. If you do not have accounts for those services I recommend deactivating those options. Select the SIP option and add your_user_name@partners.stalker.com for the Sign-in name:



Select the Advanced Button and configure mail.stalker.com as the servidor y then click the OK button:



Click OK again and then click on 'Click here to sign in' to connect to the server.


]]>ab@communigate.comab2005-05-07T19:30:00-07:00http://mail.communigate.com/~ab/files/iCal-CGP.html#unique-entry-id-0http://mail.communigate.com/~ab/files/iCal-CGP.html#unique-entry-id-0These are my notes and experience using Apple's iCal client scheduling software withCommuniGate System's (CGS) CommuniGate Pro (CGP) communications server software. I provide these notes in the interest in helping anyone who may be interested in using these applications together. In my opinion these two software solutions work well together and provide a very usable calendaring solution. If you feel there are errors in my notes please feel free to send email to ab@stalker.com with the text CORRECTION: in the subject line of your message I will try to correct any mistakes or errors found in these notes. Please do not contact Stalker Software support for help with information contained in this document. This document offers no guarantee of support for any client with CommuniGate Pro. This information should be used at your own risk, there is not  promise of support, functionality or protection from something going wrong contained in this document.

There are risks associated with using these two software packages together if you access your CommuniGate Pro calendar from other clients such as Mozilla Sunbird, Outlook, or even CGP's Webmail. I will try to explain the pitfalls as best as I can, but I suggest reading the documentation and help of the specific end clients as well as CommuniGate Pro to understand the calendar client's intent when subscribing and publishing events to the CommuniGate Pro server.

This capability is part of CommuniGate Pro's Groupware features that include many items such as MAPI, meeting request support, automatic request processing and quite a few more formats, functions and protocols supported. You license may or may not allow for the use of these features.

Please backup any existing calendars before you try using the software as described in the notes. I was able to quickly create a backup by copying the contents of the "Calendar" IMAP folder on CGP to a local folder. If I had not done this, my first iCal publish would have wiped all of my events from the server. You may need to learn how to do this with your MUA

Note: This document was composed with the Mozilla Composer application. Mozilla composer publishes directly to CommuniGate Pro's end user personal website features via http with proper authentication. The following software versions were used when this was written:

• iCal  Version 2.0 (1024) on MacOS version 10.4
• CommuniGate Pro version 4.3 with all Calendar related features enabled for the user account

Subscribing to a CommuniGate Pro Calendar with iCal

iCal can be configured to subscribe to CommuniGate Pro Calendar files by selecting Subscribe... from the Calendar menu in iCal. and entering a URL like this one in the dialog box below:

http://mailserver.example.com/CalendarData/~username/Calendar.ics



I really do wish this would also work with https, but the client returns an error and does not seem to support ssl for calendar subscriptions. It does at least support authentication and will as you for your CGP credentials:



After you provide the correct user name and password, iCal presents you with options for the calendar name and handling of the data contained in the .ics file.



Once you have subscribed to this calendar, the calendar is read-only. You will not be able to publish events and changes to the calendar.  This ready-only status is part of iCal's design. The subscribe feature is really designed to subscribe to another user's calendar. I have tried to do this with other CGP users that I have access rights to, but I have not sucessfully received other calendars. The CommuniGate ACLs should  work, but I think I need to read the logs more to see what is actually happening here.I notice that iCal changes my original URL to:

http://username@mailserver.example.com/CalendarData/~username/Calendar.ics

This makes sense to me, but it does not allow me to replace the second ~username with another i have rights to.

There is a workaround for this but it leaves the CGP directory structure for CalendarData. You can actually subscribe to iCal calendars that have been published to the personal webspace features of CGP. This however doe not respect ACLs and publishes those calendars so that all can subscribe to them. This may not be desired in an organization managing private internal information. it may work, however, for an ISP with Mac users who do want to share their iCal calendar with the world.

Publishing to a CommuniGate Pro Calendar or Personal Website with iCal

A local iCal Calendar or a new one that you choose to create can be set to publish it's contents to CommuniGate Pro. This allows users to have the content of their schedule on the server for access from webmail when their iCal client is not available. An event change in webmail will be applied to the subscribed calendar when it reaches it refresh interval, but not to the local iCal Calendar that is used for publishing. This can be a problem because the "Publish" feature in iCal will overwrite the Webcal changes. This leaves users in a position where they must choose which calendar client will control their schedule and which will only be used to read the schedule. This document doe not cover invites, acceptance, and free/busy management. However, consideration should be given to the use of those features when deciding which client will be used.

Once you decide which calendar you wish to publish to CommuniGate Pro, you can select the Calendar and choose Publish... from the Calendar menu. The following dialog box will appear:


The options I select in the above dialog box in order to overwrite the CGP default calendar are:

Publish calendar as: Calendar       Note: iCal will add the .ics when it creates the file on the server
Publish on: a Private Server
Base URL: https://mailserver.example.com/CalendarData/~username/      Note: ssl does seem to work here
Login: CGP_username
Password: your_secret_pass

The 4 checkboxes are more preferences than anything, but I would check them all if I used iCal as my main calendar client.

This publish option will overwrite all contents of the calendar with the events and items contained in the Calendar you published to CGP. The same filename of Calendar is what causes the overwrite. You can try other names if you with, but that will impact Webmail and overall consistency with the behavior of the system. I was able to use this same publishing method to write iCal and Free Busy (.vfb) data to the CGP personal website space. A change in the Base URL to something like https://mailserver.example.com/~username/iCal_Publish_test allowed me to publish the same information to the directory iCal_Publish_test on my personal webspace. This may be a good alternative to use for testing if you try this with your iCal client. I was very happy that I had a backup of all my calendar data when I first tested Publish with iCal and CGP.