1.9.3 Inbound SMS
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The system can receive text messages from external networks using following protocols:
- SIP (RFC 3428)
- HTTP
- SMPP
The inbound SMS can be convert to an IM and forwarded to a retail client. It is the case when you are interconnected with a provider that forwards the inbound SMS addressed to your numbering pool. For example if you offer DID numbers with inbound SMS support.
Inbound SMS can also be routed further to another SMS provider, in this case you act as a broker dealing in wholesale SMS traffic.
Regardless the protocol used to receive SMSes, first create a wholesale client account for the provider. Then, create a tariff with SMS rates and assign it to the account.
Wholesale model
If the inbound messages are sent using SIP they will come to voipswitch SIP listener directly. If the protocol is HTTP or SMPP the messages come first to VSServices which then decides where they will be forwarded.
If there is no matching retail client in the Routing/Routing plan then the voipswitch sends the message over http to the VSServices API. The API checks then the SMS/Routing plan and if a match is found, sends the message to the SMS provider assigned to the route.
The dialed number format from the incoming messages can be modified by the Dialing plan rules configured for the client account.
When voipswitch sends the request to VSServices it sets the forward parameter to 0 which informs that the request has already been processed by voipswitch so that the VSServices does not send it back to the softswitch.
Retail model - conversion to IM
If you want to forward the inbound SMS to retail clients make sure that the following key is set to false in the VSServices’s Web.config file (usually the full path is c:\inetpub\wwwroot\VSServices\Web.Config):
<add key="sms_no_sip_forward" value="false"/>
The matching Routing plan entry should point to a specific user (Retail client) or to the User lookup function.
If the SMS are addressed to the numbers which are DIDs associated with the accounts but not the account login you will have to create a Routing plan entry pointing to the lookup procedure using an SQL query to retrieve the account login.
Supported protocols
The inbound SMSes from providers to voipswitch can be sent in various protocols which configuration is described below.
SIP
In the client account add the IP address or addresses used for authentication of inbound traffic. If the provider requires username based authentication you will have to give the account’s login and password credentials.
Your provider will need from you the IP or FQDN of your voipswitch along with the SIP port. All SMS should be delivered to the voipswitch in form of SIP MESSAGE requests.
HTTP
The SMS are delivered to the VSServices SMS API which in turn convert them to SIP and sends to voipswitch using the credentials received in the request. It basically works as a bridge from HTTP to SIP.
The provider will have to send requests in the following format
where:
login – the account login
pass – the account password
from – the display name, will be converted to SIP user part and Display name in the FROM header
to – the destination address, will be put in the TO header of the SIP MESSAGE
text – the body of the message
For security reasons it is recommended to restrict access to the VSServices on a firewall and allow only the IP addresses of your SMS providers that send SMS to your network.
SMPP
VSServices supports inbound SMPP through an additional server component which is not shipped with the installation package. In order to use it please contact our support.