Click-to-Dial for Outlook, CardScan, ACT! using SIP TAPI
From SIPfoundry sipx, The Open Source SIP PBX for Linux - Calivia
Note: This no longer seems to work in sipXecs 3.10. The reason is that the handling of REFERS has changed. For more details see here.
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Click-to-Dial for Outlook, CardScan, ACT! using SIP TAPI
Click-to-Dial? Here is how it works:
You click on a contact in MS Outlook, CardScan, ACT! or other TAPI enabled contact management sytem and select the dial option. Your IP desk phone rings and as you pick up the contact's number is dialed automatically establishing a connection. The key feature is that you can use the convenience of your desk phone with click-to-dial from your PCs address book.
This feature can be enabled by using the SIP TAPI application developed by Klaus Darilion at enum.at. The application can be downloaded from Sourceforge and more information is available at the enum.at Web site.
Click-to-Dial is a highly desirable feature and the following describes how SIP TAPI can enable this functionality in conjunction with the sipX IP PBX.
Installation of SIP TAPI on your Windows XP PC
We have tested SIP TAPI release 0.2.4 from November 2005 on Windows XP SP2, which is the same environment used by the developer. We tested it with Polycom and Snom IP desk phones.
To install download the .zip archive and store the included file siptapi.tsp in the folder \windows\system32\. Now open the Control Panel using classic view, click on Phone and Modem Options, choose the Advanced tab, and click Add and select -> SIP TAPI Service Provider.
Next, select the Dialing Rules tab and create a location that corresponds to your dialing properties. Installation of SIP TAPI is now complete.
Configuration and Use of SIP TAPI with sipX
We still need to configure the SIP parameters required for SIP TAPI to work with sipX. The following describes how to do this for MS Outlook. Start Outlook and navigate to Contact Management. Click on a contact you would like to call and the following dialog should appear:
Click on the phone number you would like to dial (e.g. Business) and the following dialog appears. Select Dialing Options. At the bottom of the Window go to Connect using line and select LineName: SIP TAPI for click2dial. Now select Line Properties.
Configuration of the SIP properties only slightly differs depending on whether your installation of sipX uses DNS SRV on your local LAN or not. Typical installations of sipX will most likely use DNS SRV so that SIP URLs for your users only include the company's domain name and not also the host name of the sipX host. E.g. you will want a SIP URL like sip:bob@company.com instead of sip:bob@sipx.company.com.
The following describes configuration of SIP TAPI in both environments, with or without DNS SRV. More information on DNS and how it affects SIP URI Addressing.
Case 1: Your sipX Installation DOES NOT use DNS SRV
In this case configuation and use of SIP TAPI is straight forward. On the Line Properties screen enter the following information: SIP DOMAIN is the fully qualified host name of your sipX server, which is also the domain portion of your user's SIP URIs. No outbound proxy setting is required. Under User Information enter your account information (user name and password of your SIP account). This is also the account for the line registered on your desk phone that you will be using with click-to-dial.
Case 2: Your sipX Installation uses DNS SRV
In this case you will have to define the sipX host as an outbound proxy.
On the Line Properties screen enter the following information: The SIP domain now is the domain portion only not including the host name of the sipX host. The outbound proxy address (fully qualified name or IP address) is the fully qualified name or address of the sipX host. User account information is identical to the first case above.
Note: The lr parameter was added to the address field for the outbound proxy (e.g. sipx.domain.com;lr or 192.168.5.222;lr). The technical explanation is that some proxies (like sipX) do not like preloaded route sets with strict routing.
Using SIP TAPI with the sipX High-Availability Configuration
When runnuing sipX in High Availability configuration two independent proxy servers load balance using DNS SRV. In looking up the IP address for the proxy server, the DNS server will return either address of the two proxies based on a weighted load balancing algorithm. Since SIP TAPI is not capable of doing DNS SRV lookups but instead can only lookuo DNS A records, it has to be configured with one of the proxies hardwired. Should that proxy be down, SIP TAPI will not work anymore even though the sipX system is still running perfectly.
To fix this, SIP TAPI would have to be extended to support DNS SRV lookups.
