ARR

IAX Bridge

Posted on Jan 1, 0001

IAX Bridge setup

Note: this isn’t accounting for firewall or VPN settings, purely from the PBX configuration side.

Information gathering

Before bridging instances, you’ll want to gather/create the following, best sticking to a standard.

  • Trunk name - As an example, on PBX1 create PBX1-to-PBX2 and vice versa on PBX2
  • Username - this will be the trunk name created on the PBX you’re connecting to
  • PBX extension range to be added to dial plan
  • A shared secret for authentication

Regarding the extension range, if you don’t want to use a prefix to dial the other site, the range should be unique to each instance. For example, PBX1 has extensions 1xxx to 3xxx and PBX2 has 4xxx to 6xxx.

Note that all variables are case sensitive. So PBX1 and Pbx1 are two different values, ensure that they’re entered the same in each relevant area.

Creating the Trunks

In FreePBX, head to Connectivity > Trunks.

Connectivity > Trunks

Select Add Trunk > Add IAX2 Trunk

Add IAX2 Trunk

General Tab

The following settings are subject to change, but work for current requirements.

Under the general tab, set the following:

Trunk Name: PBX$instance-to-PBX$instance  
Hide CallerID: No  
Outbout CallerID: N/A  
CID Options: Allow Any CID  
Maximum Channels: N/A  
Asterisk Trunk Dial Options: System  
Continue if Busy: No  
Disable Trunk: No  
Monitor Trunk Failures: No

Replace PBX$instance with the instance you’re configuring. For example, PBX1-to-PBX2 or PBX2-to-PBX1. This will be the username that the other site uses to connect with.

iax2 general tab

Dial Number Manipulation Rules

Leave blank for now.

iax2 settings Tab

Only the Outgoing section will be filled in here, incoming not required at this time, but should be reviewed in case it’s required for better security standards.

Trunk Name:

Under testing, Trunk Name was set to match the name set in the General tab configuration.

Peer details:

username=PBX$instance-to-PBX$instance  
type=friend  
trunk=yes  
transfer=no  
secret=superSecureSharedSecret  
qualifyfreqok=60000  
qualify=yes  
host=$ExternalIPAddress  
forceencryption=yes  
encryption=yes  
context=from-internal  
auth=md5

Set hostname to the IP or hostname of the PBX you wish to connect to.

As mentioned before, the username will be the Trunk Name created on the other side. Using the example names, if you’re on PBX2, it would be PBX1-to-PBX2.

Make sure that the shared secret is strong.

iax2 settings tab

Select Submit at the bottom of the page to commit the changes, then select Apply at the top to create the Trunk that we’ll be pointing to in the next part of the configuration.

Outbound Routing

If configured correctly, we now have a trunk created to route traffic through based on conditions that we’ll be setting next. As mentioned before, at this time we won’t be using a prefix to communicate with the other side (i.e. *775001), so to ensure that everything goes through smoothly, unique extension ranges should be used at each site.

For this example, PBX1 will use 1XXX and PBX2 will use 4XXX.

Head to Connectivity & Outbound Routes from the Navigation bar.

{{ :pbx-route-1.png?direct |}}

Select Add Outbound Route.

{ :pbx-route-2.png?direct |}}

Route Settings

Configure the Route Settings tab to match the following:

Route Name: PBX$instance-to-PBX$instance  
Route CID: N/A  
Override Extension: No  
Route Password: N/A  
Route Type: Intra-Company  
Music On Hold: default  
Trunk Sequence for Matched Routes: PBX$instance-to-PBX$instance  
Optional Destination on Congestion: Normal Congestion

{{ :pbx-route-3.png?direct |}}

Dial Patterns

This is where we set the conditions, that when matched, will route calls to meet our requirements.

**prepend**: N/A
**prefix**: N/A
**match pattern**: 4XXX
**caller id**: N/A

Leave the first two text boxes and the last box blank, and under match pattern, enter the external sites range. As above 4XXX would mean that any extension range matching 4000 to 4999 would be routed through the IAX2 trunk that we’ve created.

{{ :pbx-route-4.png?direct |}}

Import/Export Patterns

Leave blank for now.

Additional Settings

Leave blank for now.

Select Submit and once the page has reloaded, select Apply to commit the changes fully.

Call Testing

You should now be able to test that calls route between the two branches, ensuring that the extensions registered match those configured in the two sections above. Extension 1001 registered to PBX1 should be able to dial extension 4001 on PBX2.