[This is pre-release documentation and subject to change in future releases. This topic's current status is: Milestone-Ready]

Topic Last Modified: 2010-07-07

Follow the steps below if you want to create a new dial plan. If you want to edit a dial plan, see Modify a Dial Plan.

To create a dial plan

  1. Open Communications Server Control Panel.

  2. In the left navigation bar, click Voice Routing.

  3. Click the Dial Plan tab.

  4. Click New and select a scope for the dial plan:

    • Site dial plan applies to an entire site, except any users or groups that are assigned to a user dial plan. If you select Site for a dial plan’s scope, you must choose the site from the Select a Site dialog box. Note that if a dial plan has already been created for a site, the site does not appear in the Select a Site dialog box.

    • Pool dial plan can apply to a PSTN gateway or a registrar. If you select Pool for a dial plan’s scope, choose the PSTN gateway or registrar from the Select a Service dialog box. Note that if a dial plan has already been created for a service (PSTN gateway or registrar), the service does not appear in the list.

    • User dial plan can be applied to specified users or groups.

    Note:
    After you select the dial plan scope, it cannot be changed.
  5. If you are creating a user dial plan, enter a descriptive name in the Name field on the New Dial Plan dialog box. After this name is saved, it cannot be changed.

    Note:
    For site dial plans, the Name field is prepopulated with the site name and cannot be changed.

    For pool dial plans, the Name field is prepopulated with the PSTN gateway or registrar name and cannot be changed.
  6. The Simple name field is prepopulated with the same name that appears in the Name field. You can optionally edit this field to specify a more descriptive name that reflects the site, service, or user to which the dial plan applies.

    Important:
    The Simple name must be unique among all dial plans within the Communications Server deployment. It cannot exceed 256 Unicode characters, each of which can be an alphabetic or numeric character, a hyphen (-), a period (.), a plus sign (+), or an underscore (_).

    Spaces are not allowed in the Simple name.
    Note:
    If you have configured Exchange Unified Messaging for Enterprise Voice and you are using a version of Exchange that is earlier than Exchange 2010 SP1, type the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the corresponding Exchange Unified Messaging dial plan in the Simple name field. If you are using Exchange 2010 SP1 or later, this dial plan name matching is not necessary.
  7. (Optional) In the Description field, you can type additional descriptive information about the dial plan.

  8. (Optional) If you are deploying dial-in conferencing, specify a Dial-in conferencing region. Dial-in conferencing regions are required to associate dial-in conferencing access numbers with a dial plan.

  9. (Optional) In the External access prefix field, specify a value only if users need to dial one or more additional leading digits (for example, 9) to get an external line. You can type in a prefix value of up to four characters (#, *, and 0-9).

    Note:
    If you specify an external access prefix, you do not need to create a new normalization rule to accommodate the prefix.
  10. Associate and configure normalization rules for the dial plan:

    • To choose one or more rules from a list of all normalization rules available in your Enterprise Voice deployment, click Select. In the Select Normalization Rules dialog box, highlight the rules you want to associate with the dial plan and then click OK.

    • To define a new normalization rule and associate it with the dial plan, click New. See Defining Normalization Rules for information about defining a new rule.

    • To edit a normalization rule that is already associated with the dial plan, highlight the rule name and click Show details. See Defining Normalization Rules for information about editing the rule.

    • To copy an existing normalization rule to use as a starting point for defining a new rule, highlight the rule name and click Copy, and then click Paste. See Defining Normalization Rules for information about editing the copy.

    • To remove a normalization rule from the dial plan, highlight the rule name and click Remove.

    Note:
    Each dial plan must have at least one associated normalization rule. For information about how to determine all of the normalization rules a dial plan requires, see “Dial Plans and Normalization Rules” in the Planning documentation.
  11. Make sure the dial plan’s normalization rules are arranged in the correct order. To change a rule’s position in the list, highlight the rule name and then click the up or down arrow.

    Important:
    Communications Server traverses the normalization rule list from the top down and uses the first rule that matches the dialed number. If you configure a dial plan so that a dialed number can match more than one normalization rule, make sure the more restrictive rules are sorted above the less restrictive ones.

    The default Prefix All normalization rule ^(\d{11})$ matches any 11-digit number. If, for example, you add a normalization rule that matches 11-digit numbers that start with 1425, make sure that Prefix All is sorted below the more restrictive ^(1425\d{7})$ rule.
  12. (Optional) Enter a number to test the dial plan and then click Go. The test results are displayed below the Enter a number to test field.

    Note:
    You can save a dial plan that does not yet pass the test and then reconfigure it later. For more information, see Test Voice Routing.

Any time you create a dial plan, you must run the Commit All command to publish the configuration change. For more information, see Publish Pending Changes to the Voice Routing Configuration.

See Also