Replicate a termination route between switches

If you run several switches with the same vendor, you can keep the vendor’s termination route on one switch only and let the other switches copy it. The source switch exports the set; each target switch imports it with a key and keeps its copy up to date. This tutorial sets up one source and one target. Allow 15 minutes.

The panel calls these objects Termination Routes; some screens and the notification e-mails still call them destination sets.

Before you start

• You have Administrator access to the panel of both switches.
• The termination route you want to share exists on the source switch, with its routes. See Termination routes.
• The target switch can reach the source switch on HTTPS (TCP 443). The import uses the IP address of the source environment, so the IP Firewall of the source must allow the Web access type from the target. See Set up the firewall.
• The currency of the set exists in the Exchange Rates of the target switch.

Step 1: Export the set on the source switch

1. Open Vendors → Termination Routes on the source switch.
2. Click Edit in the row of the set you want to share.
3. Open the Remote Management tab and select Type Exportable.
4. Click Save.
5. Copy the value of Export Key.

Screenshot "tutorials/destination-set-remote-management" has not been generated yet — see scripts/screenshots/screens.yml.

Result: the set is exportable. The key encodes the IP address of the source environment and the identifier of the set, so it is the same every time you open the form.

Step 2: Import the set on the target switch

1. Open Vendors → Termination Routes on the target switch and click Add.
2. Enter a Name and select the same Currency as the source set.
3. Open the Remote Management tab and select Type Importable.
4. Paste the export key into Key.
5. Select Notify On Import Error if you want e-mails when the import fails.
6. Click Save & Close.

For an importable set the form hides the billing fields, the Local Calling tab and the Routes tab: the connect fee, free seconds, grace period, post-call surcharge and every route come from the source set. Only the Name is local.

Result: within a minute the target switch downloads the set. A large set can take a few minutes, depending on the bandwidth.

Note

The target switch copies the set into its routing cache, not into its database. Its Termination Routes list has no Routes button for the set. To see or change the routes, open the source switch.

Step 3: Use the set in routing

1. Open Vendors → Routing Groups on the target switch.
2. Add the imported set to the routing group with the connection that terminates the calls, as you would add a local set. See Routing groups.

Every change to the source set, such as a new route, a deleted route, a new price or a new connect fee, reaches the target within a minute. You change the routes in one place only.

Step 4: Test it

1. Open Tools & Debugs → Test Dialplan on the target switch.
2. Enter a number that the shared set covers and click Proceed.
3. Check that the result shows the imported set with the prices of the source switch.
4. Change a price on the source switch and repeat the test a minute later.

Result: the target switch routes and prices calls with the current routes of the source set.

When the import fails

The target switch checks the source every minute. If the source cannot be reached, answers with an error or no longer has the set, the target marks the set as failed and goes through these stages, counted from the first failure:

Time since the first failure	What happens	E-mail
0 to 12 hours	The set stays in routing with the last copy. The Status column shows Temporary Fail since …	Import error warning
12 hours to 14 days	The set is removed from routing (Temporary Ban since …). The switch retries every 15 minutes	Temporary ban
One day before the end	The set is still banned	Warning before the permanent ban
After 14 days	The set is dead (Dead since …) and is no longer retried	Permanent ban

The Status tooltip shows the last error, for example Server connection timed out or No such remote destination set. A wrong key, a deleted source set or an incompatible format bans the set at once, without the 12-hour grace period.

When an import succeeds again, the set returns to routing and an e-mail reports the recovery. A dead set stays dead: click Reset Ban in its row to retry it.

The e-mails go to the address of the root customer of the target switch, and only when Notify On Import Error is selected.

Caution

A banned set routes no calls. If a routing group depends on an imported set alone, its calls fail while the source is unreachable. Add a local fallback route or a second connection to the group.

What’s next

• Termination routes: the fields of a set and its routes.
• Routing groups: how sets and connections are combined.
• Routing: how the switch chooses a route.