Creating Voice Routes

Routes are used in Lync Server to direct calls through a specified gateway or a set of gateways. Routes are processed after numbers are normalized based on a dial plan, and they determine which gateway will place a call. Creating a new route has the following options:

• Starting Digits for Numbers That You Want to Allow—Routes are based only on a matching pattern. Enter the beginning of the digit string, including the + symbol.

• Exceptions—In some cases, using route priority might be difficult or some patterns should be excluded from traversing a specific trunk. The Exceptions option enables an administrator to exclude strings that would otherwise match the route pattern.

• Suppress Caller ID—This option enables an administrator to prevent the caller’s actual caller ID from being passed along on the route. An alternative caller ID must be entered that is typically a main or generic phone number. A limitation here is that this cannot be variable based on the calling party ID. Instead, only a single phone number displayed for all outbound calls can be used.

• Associated Trunks—A list of trunks that calls matching this route can use. Calls will be placed in a round-robin fashion if multiple trunks are associated.

• Associated PSTN Usages—This specifies the PSTN usages allowed to use this route. Usages are associated with users through voice policies.

To create a new route, follow these steps:

1. Open the Lync Server 2013 Control Panel.

2. Click Voice Routing.

3. Click Route.

4. Click New to create a new route.

5. Enter a Name for the route.

6. Enter a Description for the route.

7. In the Starting Digits for Numbers That You Want to allow field, enter the beginning digits that this route should match, and then click Add.

8. Repeat this step for any additional patterns this route should handle.

9. If any numbers that might match this pattern should be excluded, click the Exceptions button and enter those numbers.

10. If the outbound caller ID should be altered for this route, check the box Suppress Caller ID and enter an Alternate Caller ID.

11. In the Associated Trunks section, click the Add button, select the outbound trunks, and click OK.

12. In the Associated PSTN Usages field, click Select, choose any PSTN usages, and click OK.

13. Click OK to save the route.

The Lync Server Management Shell can also be used to create new voice routes via the New-CsVoiceRoute cmdlet. A Priority parameter is available that can be used to order the listing of voice routes displayed, but it should not be used to try to control the order of route selection. That should instead be done by ordering PSTN usages within the voice policies.