PBX pools & extensions

A PBX pool is a shared set of extensions. Every device, ring group and queue belongs to one — and it is the one planned way around tenant separation, for the cases where two customers really should be able to dial each other.

Open PBX pools

In the sidebar, go to PBX > PBX pools. Every system has at least the built-in Global pool.

The PBX pools list. "Global" is the built-in pool everything belongs to unless assigned elsewhere.

Click Extensions on a pool to see everything reachable inside it — devices, ring groups and queues together, by extension number.

Everything that shares the Global pool can dial everything else in it by extension — devices, ring groups and queues alike.

The Context line under the page title (for example pool_1_voiplix) is the actual dial-plan context this pool's members share — the same idea as a device's "Effective endpoint context" on the devices page, just shared across a group instead of one device.

Why pools matter: the tenant-separation exception

As covered on The devices list & tenant separation, since v2.2.6 one customer's devices cannot dial another customer's extensions by default. A PBX pool is the deliberate exception: put two (or more) customers' users in the same pool, from the user's own edit page, and their devices, ring groups and queues can reach each other by extension — exactly as if they were one shared office phone system. Outside of a shared pool, the wall still applies.

A pool's Users button lists which customers currently belong to it. Assigning a customer to a non-default pool is done on that user's own account — a PBX pool only ever adds a connection on purpose; it never removes tenant separation as a whole.

Creating a new PBX pool

Click Create pool, give it a Name and an optional Comment, and save. Ring groups and queues then offer it in their own PBX pool dropdown when you create or edit them.

What "PBX functions" means

The sidebar's PBX section — IVR, Ring groups, Queues, PBX functions, PBX pools, External DIDs, Phonebook, BLF groups, Quickforward rules, Music on hold, Voicemail settings, Cloud PBX — is, as a whole, what the product calls "PBX functions": everything that turns a set of separate phones into a small, working phone system. IVR, ring groups, queues and pools are covered on this page and the ones around it; the rest — Phonebook (speed dials), BLF groups, Music on hold, PBX functions (feature codes), External DIDs, Cloud PBX, Quickforward rules and the browser softphone — have their own write-up in More PBX features.

The PBX functions page itself lists a narrower thing: a set of built-in feature codes for the phone system (short numbers staff or customers can dial to trigger a built-in action, rather than a menu you configure like an IVR or a ring group) — see PBX functions and External DIDs.

Device rule groups

One more piece worth knowing about here: Customers > Device rule groups holds reusable caller-ID manipulation rules that can be assigned to several devices at once, instead of repeating the same rule on each device individually. On a device's own Rules tab, you can either set rules directly on that one device, or pick a shared rule group.

Device rule groups — empty here; create one to share the same caller-ID rules across many devices.

Click Rules on a group to set its caller-ID manipulation: separate panels for Destination rules (rewriting the number the call was placed to) and Source rules (CallerID) (rewriting the caller ID shown), each with Cut (how many digits to strip) and Add (what to prepend instead), plus a min./max. length filter so a rule only applies to numbers of a certain length:

A rule group's Rules page — Destination rules and Source (CallerID) rules, each a list of cut/add manipulations.

Click Devices on a group to see which devices currently use it, with a Change rule group dropdown on each row to move a device between groups (or back to none). A brand-new group naturally starts with no devices — you move a device into it from here, not from the device's own edit page:

A rule group's Devices page — move a device in or out using its own row's dropdown.

Check

Open a pool's Extensions page and confirm every device, ring group and queue you expect to reach each other is listed there together, under the same context.