pre-paid and CCM?

[kdotzoltan_2004]

Is it possible to offer some sort of a pre-paid solution to CCM subscribers?

What I want is, that I should be able to assign a given ammount of credits (minutes, whatever) to a user and/or extension, then only allow that user to call (or to call OffNet numbers) while his/her credits last.

Is it possible? Where could/should I start looking? I'm also thinking about developing a solution, but I only have an idea for a half-working solution -- I don't see how I could interrupt a call, once it bypasses the credit limit, but I might solve some of the problem based on CDR records, and some small application developed for this.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[teodorgeorgiev]

Well, the story with the Call Manager is really hard.

Let me try to put some light:

The CCM does not support Radius AAA, which is really a very dumb move of Cisco.

If you want to make a billing software for CCM, you should write an application that works with the MS-SQL database of the CCM. Inside the CCM there is a CDR table, where all the calls are stored. It is called "CDR". Your application should connect via ODBC to the MS-SQL database of CCM and calculate the usage of every customer. If you are interested, I can show you an PHP/SQL basic source, doing this.

So far so good. You have a billing. The other issue is to make it PREPAID.

To make it PREPAID, you should find a way to block a particular customer once his limit is topped. For this, you have to write an MS-SQL "stored procedure" /trigger, which should watch the balance of every customer. Once the balance reaches zero, your MS-SQL stored procedure should move the customer into (let say) a calling search space, where outgoing external calls (to the trunk groups) are prohibited.

This is what I can say in a few lines. To describe a whole solution will take pages.

Think twice and twice before doing this, as it could be really dangerous and could screw the database. Every upgrade of the CCM could change the database structure and you will be in a trouble.

In case you need support, Cisco TAC will probably refuse to give you a helping hand once their hear you have tweaked their product at such a level :)))

hth

[kdotzoltan_2004]

Thanks, but I already have a billing, with SQL stored procedures and PHP interface. :)

I also thought about changing CSS-es, once the customer crossed it's credit limit.

The most problematic issue is the following: if one has 5 minutes left and is engaged in a conversation, how could I cut off the active call? As the entry won't make into the CDR before the call is completed.

Is Radius AAA capable of anything like that? I don't see how, as it's only admission/authentication, right? I have to admit, I don't know much about Radius unfortunately.

[teodorgeorgiev]

Radius can do that perfectly. The issue is:

Cisco CCM ***DOES NOT*** support Radius. If they did, the Earth would be a better place to live :)

A good workaround is to redirect all outgoing calls to a gatekeeper, which supports Radius AAA. Then it will authenticate and calculate the credit-time for each station, based on the ANI/CLI.