SIP URI

Recently I was performing an integration between Microsoft Lync Server 2013 and an Alcatel OmniPCX phone system at a customer site. The existing PBX already had an element of VoIP via a separate platform called OpenTouch which allowed users to have multiple devices associated with a single extension. For an unknown reason when calling OpenTouch users via Lync Server 2013, which caused the call to be sent to an AudioCodes Virtual E-SBC and then onto the Alcatel PBX via a direct SIP trunk, the users handset would not ring. After working with the customers Alcatel vendor, it transpired the OpenTouch platform did not like INVITE’s that were sent with a from destination of +441234567890;ext=7890 for example, and the ;ext= element was causing the issue. In order to remove this aspect from an INVITE the ;ext= element needed to be stripped from the INVITE header using a Message Manipulation on the AudioCodes E-SBC, as with Sonus devices a regular expression is required in order to remove any parts of an INVITE we do not need. On an AudioCodes devices running version 6.8 of the firmware, the following was performed.

1. When logged into the device and expand VoIP -> SIP Definitions -> Msg Policy & Manipulations and then select Message Manipulations.

2. In the Message Manipulations table, click add and provide an Index number, such as 1 if this is your first manipulation and then proceed to configure the manipulation as per the provided screenshot below.

3. To understand how Message Manipulation works, in the condition section this where we look for specific information within the INVITE. In this case we are using a regular expression to place each part of the INVITE header into a variable. For example the (.*) part of the condition places the value into variable $1, this would be the +441234567890 part of the number only, the next part of the regular expression (;ext=) would be placed in variable $2 which would only be the (;ext=) part of the header and so on and so forth. By placing each part of the header into variable we can then control the manipulation by specifying an Action Value, this Action Value constructs the header using only specific parts that we wish to use. For example, to gain a result that removes the ;ext= element, we would use $1 (+441234567890) and then $4 (@) and then $5 (domain.com) to construct a header that displays [email protected].

4. Once this is complete, expand VoIP -> VoIP Network -> IP Group and then edit the IP Group you wish to apply the message manipulation to. When the properties of the manipulation opens, enter the Manipulation Set ID that you entered in step 2 into either the inbound or outbound manipulation set ID dialog boxes depending on the direction in which you need to apply the manipulation, as illustrated below.

That’s it, when performing a debug trace on the gateway you should now see the ;ext= element has now been removed from the INVITE header.

Thanks to Siplifi (https://www.siplifi.com) for the assistance.

I recently experienced an issue at a customer whereby they had used the very helpful LyncAddContacts VBS script from the EXPTA blog, however this process had gone slightly wrong for the customer and they wanted to delete all contacts that had been pushed out to users and start again. Unfortunately the handy dbimpexp.exe tool does not allow you to explicitly delete contacts from users in bulk or individually. To get around this issue I utilised the following Microsoft SQL query against the Lync RTC database in order to delete a users contacts in their entirety. Please use the following information with caution, the query listed below modifies tables in the RTC database and should be used at your own discretion.

1. Using the Microsoft SQL Management Studio tools connect LyncServerName\RTC using an account that has full CSAdministrator rights.

2. When connected, under databases right click “RTC” and select “New Query”.

3. In the new query entry fieldtype the following:

DECLARE @RC int
DECLARE @_Owner nvarchar(4000)
EXECUTE @RC = [rtc].[dbo].[ImpDeleteContactGroups2] “[email protected]”
GO

4. Under the Execute command detailed above change the users SIP address to be the desired one. To run this for multiple people at once, add more Execute lines for each person and then click Execute in the tool bar to run the script

5. Once the query has run, log into the Lync 2010 client as the user(s) and ensure their contacts list is now blank.

That’s it, the process is complete.

AudioCodes E-SBC – Removing ;ext= From An INVITE Header

Lync Server 2010 – Deleting User Contacts Via SQL