VoIPNow server modules - VoIP (SIP) automation for WHMCS

[rack31]

Hi all,

 

I am extremely pleased to announce the release of VoIPNow AutoPilot for WHMCS V1.0.

 

VoIPNow AutoPilot for WHMCS is a set of modules and an addon for WHMCS that allows for full automation and provisioning of VoIP (SIP) accounts on VoIPNow servers using WHMCS.

 

Version 1.0 has been in production use for over 6 months already and has been robustly tested and put through it's paces in a live environment. I initially developed it for my own use (my primary business is VoIP using VoIPNow and I use WHMCS for my billing). This module has not only streamlined my existing business, it has increased my turn-over and made it possible for me to spend time on turning it into a commercial product.

 

Here is a short-list of the features:

 

Account automation features:

 

* Automated provisioning (account creation) of VoIPNow reseller, client and extension accounts based on VoIPNow templates

* Automated suspension / unsuspension of VoIPNow reseller, client and extension accounts (including WHMCS cron job support for scheduled functions)

* Automated termination of VoIPNow reseller, client and extension accounts (including WHMCS cron job support for scheduled functions)

* WHMCS server groups support for account creation over multiple VoIPNow servers

 

DID / telephone numbers automation features:

 

* Automated DID allocation to account upon reseller, client and extension account creation, per product/service

* Amount of DID numbers to allocate can be configured, per product, per product/service

* Automated DID allocation can be enabled or disabled, per product, per product/service

* Number matching is configured using regular expression, per product, per product/service

* WHMCS administrator email alert in the event of DID number allocation problem upon account creation (If no numbers or not enough numbers were allocated, but should have)

 

Pre-Paid airtime / calling-time automation features:

 

* Automated allocation of pre-paid airtime / calling time to VoIPNow reseller, client and extension accounts

* A unique, user-assigned 'recharge code' makes sure that airtime is allocated to the correct account on the correct server

 

Requirements:

 

* VoIPNow Express / Professional version 2.0.3 or higher

* WHMCS version 4.1 or higher

* PHP 5.1.2 or higher with PHP SOAP enabled (PHP must be compiled with "--enable-soap")

* libxml-2.5.4 version or later is required

 

If you are looking at adding hosted VoIP related products to your existing hosting business, the modules i have created make it very easy to sell and automate all aspects of the provisioning and management.

 

For more information, please visit my new website where i will be releasing more software in the future.

 

http://www.rack31.com/products/voipnow-autopilot-for-whmcs/

 

One a side note... This is a new forum account (rack31) that I created specifically for this product release. I have personally been using WHMCS for more 3 years and I have worked with VoIPNow since 2006, when the very first version came out (V1.5). I just wanted to mention this so you know a little about my involvement with both WHMCS and VoIPNow.

 

My website has a forum, although it's pretty empty at this stage. This is the first commercial software product that i have released, so i would appreciate any suggestions, criticism, tips, etc..

 

I will be spending the next couple of days putting the finish touches on some in-depth documentation and knowledgebase articles, for those interested.

 

If you have any questions regarding VoIPNow and how it can be used in your existing business, i am more than happy to assist and provide information, just pop me an email or leave a response in the forums (this thread or on my own forum).

 

I have also created a free Joomla! WHMCS authentication plugin and a 'login' type module, which are both freely available on my website.

 

Thanks and I appreciate you taking the time to read this

 

Harry

Rack31DotCom

[Dataone]

It looks very interesting I have been using Voipnow for internal comunications for a while and is excellent.

 

One question, can resellers use this plugin to handle their end customers?

[rack31]

Indeed they can. When they configure their 'voipnow server' in WHMCS, they should use their reseller username and password. They also will need to have API access enabled on their reseller account, in VoIPNow.

 

Obviously, they will only be able to manage clients and extensions, but it will provide them with the same automation from their reseller level and down.

 

VoIPNow is an excellent product and, in my opinion, is the best VoIP control panel for hosted VoIP.

 

Thanks for the response.

[Dataone]

Perfect I will buy a license soon ! right now we don't sell voip but is something we want to do

 

Thanks

[rack31]

We do offer 15 day trial licenses, so you can play with it and see it in action for yourself.

[rack31]

Okay, some 'Product/Service' configuration guides are available here :

 

http://my.rack31.com/knowledgebase/1/VoIPNow-AutoPilot-for-WHMCS

 

When configuring products, specific 'Custom Fields' must be used, depending on the product you are creating.

 

Screen shots to follow shortly, to make it easier to understand.

 

As more documentation and information is added, I will update this thread to inform those interested.

 

Thanks

[rack31]

Just a quick note to mention that the changelog is now available via our forums:

 

http://www.rack31.com/forum/voipnow-autopilot-for-whmcs/changelog/

 

VoIPNow AutoPilot for WHMCS is now on version 1.2 and some additions have been made to the product to make it even easier to automate VoIPNow 'client' type products via WHMCS.

 

Thanks to all those that have got themselves trial licenses and for providing feedback to me on their experience. I appreciate your time and efforts to improve the product.

 

FYI.. Just a quick mention about an upcoming feature / addition. I will be working on full automation of the invoicing for post-paid type products within WHMCS.

 

This means a hook for cron generated invoices of all customers that are on post-paid products, which will be a big time-saver when it comes to billing post-paid clients for previous month's usage.

 

Harry

Rack31DotCom

[Dancy]

Greetings,

 

Is it possible to enable user to choose DID/DIDs from the list of available numbers ?

[rack31]

At this stage, no. Numbers are allocated based on the regular expression defined in the product configuration and are allocated in bulk, as they are matched. Also, the quantity of numbers can be defined, for example you can say for resellers that it must allocate 25 numbers, for extensions only 1 number, etc..

 

Allowing the customer to select the number they want is not really possible right now because of the way the WHMCS cart/order form works. It would mean having a dynamic drop down list during the ordering process, populated with a list of available numbers in real-time.

 

Right now, only product add-ons and custom fields are able to be shown during the ordering process. Action hooks can also be used during checkout, but I will need to look into that in more depth to see what is possible.

 

It is something I will look into, but the fact that numbers are still able to be automatically allocated is a good start. Allowing people to select their number is a 'nice to have' and I will be looking into it at a later stage.

 

Getting something like this to work will take some thought, but it is on my 'todo list'.

 

Harry

Rack31DotCom

[rack31]

To extend the functionality of the core VoIP AutoPilot VN for WHMCS product, we have developed a few 'Addon Extensions'. These Addon Extensions do not change the core functionality, but allow you to extend certain functions such as the way in which DID numbers are assigned, etc...

 

The first of these Addon Extensions, that has now been made available, is called the 'DID Groups Addon Extension' and provides an easier way of presenting 'number types' to a customer, so they can select their desired type of number upon ordering.

 

More information here : http://www.rack31.com/products/voip-autopilot-vn-for-whmcs/addon-extensions/

 

Please also have a look at the changelog, if you are currently using VoIP AutoPilot VN for WHMCS, since there is a new version (1.3) available and all are urged to upgrade to this latest version.

 

http://www.rack31.com/forum/voip-autopilot-vn-for-whmcs/changelog/

 

If you have any problems, please let me know and I'll assist to get them resolved.

[aaaweb]

thank you harry

[rack31]

Just a quick message to inform you that version 1.5 of VoIP AutoPilot VN for WHMCS has now been released for download!

 

This release comes with the long-awaited 'Post-Paid Billing Addon', which allows you to create invoices or 'next invoice' billable items directly from WHMCS for all your post-paid VoIPNow customers.

 

Additional new features included are:

 

> The ability to define the 'direction' of 'pre-paid airtime' recharge products or 'post-paid limit' increase products. In a nutshell, you can define that it is either Outgoing Only, Incoming Only, Incoming and Outgoing (Duplicated) or Incoming and Outgoing (Divided). If and when you upgrade to this version, you MUST go to each and every 'pre-paid airtime' and 'post-paid limit' product you have defined under Setup > Products/Services and make sure you select the corresponding 'direction' for the specific product. Failure to do so will result in issues when provisioning these types of products. Apologies for the additional work, but making you do this means you get to see and understand how this works.

 

> The ability to 'override' the 'separator character' on a specific server, if you want to. This may be useful where you have a server in your environment that is not using the same separator character as all your other servers, in which case you can specify this on that particular server only and it will then be used instead when creating accounts on that server.

 

> The ability to enable 'SIP Trunking' support for 'pre-paid extension' or 'post-paid extension' type products (found under the product module settings).

 

For more information about all these new features please visit our knowledgebase and view the updated product configuration guides.

 

http://my.rack31.com/knowledgebase.php

 

Besides new features, I have also cleaned up some of the code and made some optimization changes for certain functions. An example, of one you can see, if the 'drop down list' of VN Templates that now appears under a products 'module settings'. Prior to this release, the 'VN Template' field was a text field that you needed to fill in manually.

 

I changed it to a 'drop down list' of templates found in your AutoPilot VN mappings, so you do not need to type this anymore. This saves time and also prevents problems with any 'copy and paste' or 'typo' errors.

 

For a full list of changes, please see out changelog here : http://www.rack31.com/forum/voip-autopilot-vn-for-whmcs/changelog/

[rack31]

VoIP AutoPilot VN 1.5.1 has just been released and is available for immediate download.

 

This release fixes some path related issues found with the Post-Paid addon extension, which can affect some hosts and server configurations.

 

I am also pleased to announce the immediate availability of our new White Label addon extension. This new addon extension allows for complete re-branding of our VoIP AutoPilot VN addon, DID Groups addon extension and Post-Paid addon extension, as well as all administrator emails and WHMCS notification messages.

 

If you plan on providing VoIP AutoPilot VN to your resellers, the White Label addon extension will allow you to re-brand by removing all references to Rack31, VoIP AutoPilot VN and VoIPNow® and replacing them with your own product information and company branding.

 

You can visit the changelog for more information about version 1.5.1 : http://www.rack31.com/forum/voip-autopilot-vn-for-whmcs/changelog/6/6/

 

The new White Label addon extension is now also available on our website : http://www.rack31.com/products/voip-autopilot-vn-for-whmcs/addon-extensions/

 

Thanks!

[rack31]

VoIP AutoPilot VN 1.5.3 has just been released and is available for immediate download.

 

In a nutshell, one bug was fixed and 'rechargeable calling card' product support is now included as standard.

 

You can visit the changelog for more information about version 1.5.3 : http://www.rack31.com/forum/voip-autopilot-vn-for-whmcs/changelog/6/6/

 

Thanks!

[keefe007]

How can I get your module to create a new user and then create a new extension under that user at the same time?

 

The way you have this module setup right now I'd have to have all of my customers under a single Voipnow client.

[rack31]

How can I get your module to create a new user and then create a new extension under that user at the same time?

 

The way you have this module setup right now I'd have to have all of my customers under a single Voipnow client.

 

When selling stand-alone SIP accounts to people, it is easier to simply put them into a 'generic' client account for your own internal use. Because single, stand-alone SIP accounts do not need any multi-user aware features, it makes things easier to manage.

 

When you sell someone a 'hosted PBX' type of product, it is just a client account that you are selling them. In those cases, they get their login and then they create their own SIP extensions.

 

Having things structured in this way is easier for most, but some may not necessarily like it this way.

 

I will add some functionality to allow this in future, but it will take some testing and changes to the code.

 

Consider that when you create a client and then an extension inside of that client, it means 2 different usernames (since in VoIPNow you cannot have duplicate usernames, for obvious reasons) and also you may need to use unique email addresses too... These are things that would need to be considered, and tested, for your requirements to work.

[rack31]

Just a quick post to let everyone know that VoIP AutoPilot VN 1.5.6 was recently released and it is available for immediate download.

 

A bunch of new features were added in this release, as well as in versions 1.5.4 and 1.5.5. I have just been really busy lately and have not had much time to post any updates here

 

You can visit the changelog for more information about version 1.5.4, 1.5.5 and 1.5.6 : http://www.rack31.com/forum/voip-autopilot-vn-for-whmcs/changelog/6/6/#41

 

Thanks to everyone that has purchased licenses and provided me with suggestions and feature requests. VoIP AutoPilot VN just keeps getting better and better, thanks to all your feedback.

 

To say thank you, and seeing as it's now officially the festive season with Christmas just around the corner, here is a 20% discount promo code. It is valid from now until 1 January 2011 and will give you a once-off discount on a leased or owned license.

 

2010xmaspromo (use this during checkout to receive your 20% discount)

[ernestmcoy]

Now there's VoIP and SIP capability for WHMCS. Thanks for the share rack31!

[rack31]

How can I get your module to create a new user and then create a new extension under that user at the same time?

 

The way you have this module setup right now I'd have to have all of my customers under a single Voipnow client.

 

Hello,

 

When selling stand-along SIP accounts / extensions, it is easier and cleaner housing them all under a generic client account without any multi-user aware features enabled.

 

The way you want it to work, means you will end up having a client account for each SIP account / extension you create, which in effect gives the client a 'virtual PBX' instead of an actual SIP account / extension. There are also problems creating this setup, because when you create a client account you specify an email address. If you then try to create an extension under that same client, using the same email address, it will fail.

 

When selling actual client accounts (hosted PBX's..), the client is then required to login and start creating their own extensions (for their staff, etc..)

 

Believe me, i did look into doing this in the early days but it was problematic. Remember, the extension account still has it's own unique login to the control panel, so they can login and see only their own extension...

 

I guess it comes down to what you sell and how you sell them. Do you sell client accounts (virtual PBX's) as well as stand-alone SIP accounts / extensions?

[rack31]

Just a quick post to let everyone know that VoIP AutoPilot VN 1.6.1 was recently released, and it is available for immediate download.

 

A bunch of new features were added in this release, as well as in versions 1.5.7, 1.5.8, 1.5.9 and 1.6.0. Again, I've just been really busy lately and have not had much time to post any updates here

 

You can visit the changelog for more information about version 1.5.7, 1.5.8, 1.5.9, 1.6.0 and 1.6.1 : http://www.rack31.com/forum/voip-autopilot-vn-for-whmcs/changelog/6/12/#51

 

Thanks again to everyone that has purchased licenses and provided me with suggestions and feature requests.

 

To say thank you, and seeing as it's now officially the festive season with Christmas just around the corner, here is a 20% discount promo code. It is valid from now until 1 January 2012, and will give you a once-off discount on a leased or owned license.

 

MerryXmas2011 (use this during checkout to receive your 20% discount)

[seandnz]

Would your addon work with the Cloud Version https://www.4psa.com/products-voipnow-hosted.html We have been using VoIP for years but now want to offer VoIP to our clients. If this is not a suitable product to use with your addon, could you post a URL which would be suitable? many thanks in advance.

[rack31]

Would your addon work with the Cloud Version https://www.4psa.com/products-voipnow-hosted.html We have been using VoIP for years but now want to offer VoIP to our clients. If this is not a suitable product to use with your addon, could you post a URL which would be suitable? many thanks in advance.

 

Hello seandnz,

 

The hosted version uses VoIPNow Professional. It's just hosted by 4PSA (on the Amazon cloud), and offered as a hosted service. It will work just the same.

 

We offer a 15 day trial license, so you can test it in your own environment.

 

http://www.rack31.com/products/voip-autopilot-vn-for-whmcs/free-trial/

[Frank196]

Hi Harry,

 

When is the next release update.

 

Extra features like VoIP credit shows up in WHMCS and Call History.

 

Looking forward for the next release

[rack31]

Hi all,

 

I'm working on a basic front-end for VoIP customers, so they can see their balance or limit, and recharge or increase their account limits directly from WHMCS without having to know their recharge code or limit code.

 

Time permitting, I'd also like to add some other account management features, like change password and maybe even some interaction with account settings.

 

I was hoping to have a release for the end of this month, but that looks unlikely with my current workload making some other WHMCS addons (watch this space..)

 

I'll do my best to get something out in the next 2 - 3 weeks, I promise.

[Frank196]

Hi Harry,

 

Hope you are well, any news on the release as we are looking forward for it.