Hi @ all,
I wanted to share this solution for others to refer to if needed and also in the hopes for feedback on improving it with respect to “short notice” route configuration.
Challenge: Add remote worker capabilities to a hierarchical multi site PBX setup.
Solution: Controllable forwarding rules for remote workers.
Setup: Two separate PBX sites “A” and “B” are up and running. “A” is the primary site.”B” is the secondary site. Operating Procedures dictate that all VPN connections are going to site “A”. As such remote workers from site “B” have to be reachable by means of forwarding from “B” to “A”. When site “B” connects to the remote worker they can do so by using calendar based forwarding rules of the corresponding extension, B→A→”remote worker”. Challenges arise on how to formulate forwarding rules when the remote worker is “in and out of the office” on an irregular basis.
The approach I am suggesting is to host a “remote availability” calendar by means of a caldav solution hosted on site “A”. This way, remote workers are provided means through the UI they are accustomed to and can schedule call routing in advance.
The only unsolved use case is when a remote worker is working remotely on short notice and the update cycle of the PBX-calendar-reader is too long to adjust to the new situation in time.
@ Community: has anyone an idea on how to configure a forwarding framework where a remote worker can signal to B that he’s out of office on short notice?
The first thought that comes to mind is to use the “Do not disturb” feature of the ucp.
Are there webhooks that can be used? Is there a PBX feature I am overlooking?
I am aware that a VPN connection from B to A would address this use case. The reason I am pressing the afore mentioned setup is that occasional power outages prevent 99.999% reliable uptime of the VPN connection because “my boss said so”.
Thanks for reading, any feedback is appreciated.
Stay awesome.
Edit:
added a sketch for easier understanding of the setup
