Using Pexip Infinity as a Skype for Business gateway

To route calls to SfB meetings via a Virtual Reception (IVR gateway) you need:

• A Virtual Reception configured specifically to handle SfB meetings.
• A Call Routing Rule to route the calls handled by the Virtual Reception into the relevant SfB meeting (typically you will adapt your existing rule configured above that routes point-to-point calls to SfB clients).

The Virtual Reception requests the caller to enter the SfB Conference ID (typically a 5-7 digit number) which it then uses to retrieve the full conference URI from the SfB server. The Infinity Gateway then matches this conference URI and routes the caller to the appropriate SfB meeting.

To configure the Virtual Reception:

1. Go to Services > Virtual Receptions and select Add Virtual Reception.

2. Configure the following fields (leave all other fields with default values or as required for your specific deployment):

   Option	Description
   Name	The name you will use to refer to this Virtual Reception, for example "Skype for Business IVR gateway".
   Theme	Optionally, you may want to assign a specific theme to this Virtual Reception to brand it as the gateway to SfB conferences, for example by customizing the voice prompts.
   Virtual Reception type	Select Skype for Business.
   Skype for Business server	Select the SfB server to use to resolve the SfB Conference ID, for example fepool-eu.
   Lookup location	You can optionally specify the system location that will perform the SfB Conference ID lookup on the SfB server. If a location is not selected, the IVR ingress node will perform the lookup. This can assist in scenarios where an external device connects to a Virtual Reception via a Conferencing Node in the DMZ and that node is not trusted by the SfB FEP. This allows you to nominate the location (in which the Conferencing Nodes are trusted by SfB) to perform the lookup.
   Alias	Enter the alias that users will dial to use this SfB gateway Virtual Reception, for example sfb.lobby@example.com.

3. Select Save.

To configure the Call Routing Rule:

1. Go to Services > Call routing.
2. Select the existing Call Routing Rule that currently routes calls to your SfB clients (as configured in Configuring rules to allow devices to call Skype for Business clients via the gateway above).

3. Modify the following fields (leave all other fields unchanged):

   Option	Description
   Match against full alias URI	Select this option. (The alias of the SfB conference contains various parameters that must not be stripped away.)
   Destination alias regex match	Amend the regular expression to also match against aliases that contain parameters after the domain portion, for example: .+@example\.com(;.*)?

   Note that this rule will still continue to support the routing of point-to-point calls to SfB clients. This modification just enhances the scope of the rule to also include routing to SfB meetings.

4. Select Save.

Using the SfB IVR gateway service

After the Virtual Reception and Call Routing Rule have been configured, non-SfB users can now dial the alias of the Virtual Reception (e.g. sfb.lobby@example.com) and then, when prompted by the IVR service, enter the SfB Conference ID of the conference they want to join.

The Infinity Gateway will then route the call into the appropriate SfB conference.

Note that:

• SIP and H.323 endpoints can bypass having to enter the destination alias via DTMF tones. They would do this by including the SfB Conference ID in their dial string when dialing the Virtual Reception. The dial string should be in the format: <reception_alias>**<conference_id>@<domain>.

  For example, if the alias of the Virtual Reception is sfb.lobby@example.com and the SfB Conference ID is 572450, then the endpoint can dial sfb.lobby**572450@example.com to be transferred directly into the SfB conference.

• web app users can also be provided with a preconfigured link URL that, when clicked, will automatically provide the SfB Conference ID to the Virtual Reception and take the user directly into the SfB conference. The URL needs to be in the format:
  https://<address>/webapp/conference/<reception_alias>?name=<name>&extension=<Conference ID>
  for example https://vc.example.com/webapp/conference/sfb.lobby@example.com?name=Alice&extension=572450

To route calls to SfB meetings directly via the Infinity Gateway you need:

• To decide on an alias pattern that participants will dial to access the SfB meetings. The alias pattern will typically include the SfB Conference ID, for example the pattern could be: 88<ConferenceID>@example.com i.e. a prefix of 88 followed by the Conference ID, and thus the participant would dial 8812345@example.com to access a SfB meeting with a Conference ID of 12345. Note that a prefix is only required if you have a conflicting dial plan on your video conferencing side that could clash with your SfB Conference IDs.
• A Call Routing Rule that matches that alias pattern and transforms it such that it contains just the SfB Conference ID which it can then pass on to the target SfB server.

To configure the rule:

1. Go to Services > Call routing and select Add Call Routing Rule.

2. Configure the following fields (leave all other fields with default values or as required for your specific deployment):

   Option	Description
   Name	The name you will use to refer to this rule.
   Priority	Assign the priority for this rule.
   Incoming gateway calls	Ensure this option is selected.
   Outgoing calls from a conference	Leave unselected.
   Match Infinity Connect (WebRTC / RTMP) Match SIP Match Skype for Business (MS-SIP) Match H.323 Match Teams	Select one or more of Match Infinity Connect (WebRTC / RTMP), Match SIP, Match H.323 and Match Teams as appropriate. (Do not select Match Skype for Business (MS-SIP) as this rule is only handling call requests received from outside the SfB environment.)
   Match against full alias URI	Leave unselected.
   Destination alias regex match	Enter a regular expression that matches the calls to be sent to the SfB meeting. For example, to match any alias in the style of 88<ConferenceID>@example.com you could use: 88(\d{5,7})@example\.com Note that \d{5,7} which matches the numeric 5-7 digit Conference ID, is enclosed in a ( ) group.
   Destination alias regex replace string	This must transform the dialed alias so that it only contains the Conference ID. In our example, to extract the Conference ID from the dialed alias we would use: \1 which replaces the originally dialed alias with just the Conference ID group from the regex match field.
   Call target	Select Skype for Business meeting direct (Conference ID in dialed alias). This type of call target is specifically designed to take the Conference ID (that we extracted via the regex strings) and send it to the nominated SfB server so that the call can be routed into the SfB meeting.
   Outgoing location	If required, you can ensure that the outgoing call to SfB is handled by a Conferencing Node in a specific location. If an outgoing location is not specified, the call is placed from a Conferencing Node in the ingress location (the same location as the Conferencing Node that is handling the incoming call).
   Skype for Business server	Select the SfB server that you want to use to perform the Conference ID lookup and to handle the call, for example fepool-eu.

Using the direct SfB gateway service

After the Call Routing Rule has been configured, non-SfB users can now dial an alias that matches your specified pattern (e.g. 8812345@example.com) to be routed directly into the appropriate SfB meeting (in this example the SfB meeting with a Conference ID of 12345).

Ensuring that SfB is configured with a dial-in access number

To ensure that a numeric SfB Conference ID is generated, your SfB environment must be configured with a conferencing dial-in access number.

Waiting in SfB's meeting lobby

Participants joining the SfB meeting may also be held in a Skype for Business meeting lobby.

Custom footer for meeting invites

You may also want to add a custom footer to the meeting invites that are sent out for scheduled conferences, so that it includes the alias details for the Pexip Infinity Virtual Reception that users will need to call (and from where they will enter the Conference ID).

Trusting Conferencing Nodes

When calling into a SfB meeting, by default, the SfB Conference ID lookup is invoked from the ingress node (the same Conferencing Node that is handling the incoming call) and the call to SfB is placed from the ingress location (the same location as the Conferencing Node that is handling the incoming call). In both cases you can override the default behavior by specifying the location that will perform the Conference ID lookup and the location that will place the outbound call.

The nodes that perform the lookup and place the call must be trusted by the Front End Pool to ensure call success.

Anonymous (unauthenticated) participant timeout

There is a SfB setting (AnonymousUserGracePeriod) that represents the amount of time an anonymous (unauthenticated) user, such as a gateway participant, can remain in a SfB meeting without an authenticated user being present in that same meeting. The default value is 90 minutes.

You can check the current value by using the following PowerShell command: Get-CsUserServicesConfiguration and you can set the timeout value with: Set-CsUserServicesConfiguration

For more information, see https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/skype/Set-CsUserServicesConfiguration.