Set up Access Control Using CarrierX Portal

There can be various reasons why you would want to use access control rules.

For example, you can apply the access control rules to outbound communications to prevent either calling or sending text messages to specific (e.g., paid) numbers. Or you can allow sending calls to one phone number only and rejecting the calls to all other phone numbers. Or you want to disallow sending (or receiving) all text messages which contain a certain text.

In this article, we will create access control rules to block all the voice calls to the phone numbers starting with 18807, but allow the voice calls to any other numbers. At the same time, the rules will allow sending text messages to the 15059983793 phone number and block sending text messages to any other numbers.

First, we need to create access control rules that will hold these settings. Then, we will associate the created rules with the access control lists and apply the voice-related lists to the account, and SMS-related lists to the trunk group.

Terms Used

We will use the following abbreviated terms throughout this article:

ACR
Access Control Rule, the rules used to form access control lists which can be associated with either an account or a trunk group.
ACL
Access Control List, the lists formed from the rules, their direction, and type of call (voice or SMS) to which they will be applied. Sometimes we use this abbreviation as an acronym and pronounce it like [ækl].

I. Create Access Control Rules

In this section, we will create access control rules (ACRs) through the portal.

We create the rules on the account level. Later, you will be able to use them with ACLs on either account or trunk group levels.

To create ACRs, log into your CarrierX account. On the left-side menu, locate and click the Configure menu. Click Global Settings.

Select Global Settings

Select the Access Control Rules tab.

Select Access Control Rules

Click Add Rule.

Click Add Rule

Fill in the following ACR fields:

Fill ACR Fields

Add an Entry, clicking New and entering the prefix for the phone numbers we want to block (18807).

Add Entry

When ready, click Create.

Click Create

You can see the created rule in the list of available ACRs.

Created ACR for Voice

You can create the second rule similar way. Try to do it yourself with the following parameters:

If everything is correct, you will see an ACR like this in the list of available rules:

Created ACR for SMS

Now, let’s use access control lists to associate these rules with our partner account and one of the trunk groups.

II. Create ACLs on Account Level

Now, with the rules ready, associate them with the lists.

Select the Access Control Lists tab. It is also in the Configure > Global Settings.

Select Access Control Lists

Click Add ACL.

Click Add ACL

Fill in the following ACL fields:

Fill ACL Fields

Now, add Access Control Rules:

Click New ACR

Select Created ACR

Finally, click Update.

Your new ACL will be present in the list of available access control lists. Click it to see its details.

Click Created ACL

III. Create ACLs on Trunk Group Level

To set access control lists for a trunk group, click the Configure menu on the left-side menu. Click Trunk Groups.

Click Trunk Groups

Click the trunk group you want to modify. Select the Access Control Lists tab.

Select ACL Trunk Group

Click Add ACL.

Add ACL Trunk Group

Fill in the following ACL fields:

Fill ACL Fields Trunk Group

Now, add Access Control Rules:

Click New ACR Trunk Group

Select Created ACR Trunk Group

Finally, click Update.

Your new ACL will be present in the list of available access control lists. Click it to see its details.

Click Created ACL Trunk Group

IV. Next Steps

You successfully created access control rules and combined them into access control lists. You also associated the created lists with your account and trunk group.

Now you can test the created access controls.

Testing Voice Calls

Let’s try and send voice calls to phone numbers to test the voice calls configuration we created:

Testing Text Messages

Now let’s try and send text messages to phone numbers to test the text messages configuration we created: