MessageBird SMS service provider

How to create a MessageBird account

In order to use the MessageBird service you need to create an account. In this section we guide you how to do it.

On the main page please select the 'Sign up' button.

siwn up
Figure 1 - Clicking 'Sign up'

Then provide the login details and click 'Sign up with email' button.

provide account details
Figure 2 - Provide account details

Check your email and activate your account.

successfully registered
Figure 3 - Successful registration

After the login select the "Dashboard solutions" interface.

select dashboard solutions
Figure 4 - Select Dashboard solutions

And select SMS product.

choose sms
Figure 5 - Choose SMS

Send verification code to your phone number.

send verification code
Figure 6 - Send verification code

After the verification, you're all set up.

log in
Figure 7 - Successful Log in

How to setup Ozeki 10 and MessageBird for outbound SMS messages

This chapter provides you detailed information on how to configure MessageBird connection for SMS sending in the Ozeki 10 SMS Gateway software.

At first, please Log in to Ozeki 10 with your username and password.

log in to ozeki 10
Figure 8 - Login to Ozeki 10

Click on 'Add new connection' on the left.

add new connection
Figure 9 - Add new connection

Select the 'MessageBird' Connection and click on install next to it.

install messagebird connection
Figure 10 - Install MessageBird

Provide your API key and telephone number on the Install connection page.

provide api key
Figure 11 - Provide API key

You can find your API key in the MessageBird Dashboard.

messagebird api key
Figure 12 - MessageBird API key

After it you can send a test message.

send test message
Figure 13 - Send test message

If everything fine the message successfully sent.

message sent
Figure 14 - Message successfully sent

How to setup Ozeki 10 and MessageBird for incoming SMS and delivery reports

Before you can receive incoming delivery reports and inbound SMS, you need to forward ports in order to route the external traffic to your network.

1. Open a Web browser and type your Default Gateway number into the address bar then press Enter.

2. Enter your username and password to access the interface of your router. The default username and password should be listed in the documentation of your router or on a sticker on the side of your router. If the default username and password have been changed and you do not remember them, you will need to reset your router.

3. To forward ports on your router, look for a tab or menu named 'Port Forwarding/Port Triggering' or something similar.

4. No matter what type of router or interface you have, you will need to enter the same basic information. Enter the port you want to open under External (Port 1) and Internal (Port 2), or enter a range of ports to open under Start and End.
In this case Ozeki 10 uses port 9505 by default so you may also provide that in the 'Internal' section.

5. Select the Protocol (TCP, UDP, or both).

6. Enter the Private IP address of your PC where your Ozeki 10 installed.

7. Be sure you saved the changes.

port forwarding
Figure 15 - Port Forwarding

After having the changes saved, please specify the callback URL on the Advanced tab's Receive section.

receive message
Figure 16 - Receive message

In order to receive messages from MessageBird you need to change the webserver protocol to HTTP.

Select Edit and Preferences.

preferences
Figure 17 - Preferences

Under the Webserver configuration choose http protocol and click on the OK button.

webserver config
Figure 18 - Webserver config

To apply the changes please restart the Ozeki 10 service

Right-click on your Start button and select Run.

run
Figure 19 - Run

Type services.msc in the Run box.

services
Figure 20 - services.msc

To restart the Ozeki 10 service, select it in the service list and click Restart service.

rtestart ozeki 10
Figure 21 - Restart Ozeki 10

After the service restart you are able to receive messages form the MessageBird. Now we will demonstrate how you can buy MessageBird number and configure MessageBird to receive SMS messages.

Select the Numbers menu and click on the Buy a number button.

buy a number
Figure 22 - Buy a number

In the pop up menu choose your country, select the SMS capability and select a number from the list.

select a number
Figure 23 - Select a number

After the purchase you can see your number int he All Numbers list.

number purchased
Figure 24 - Number purchased

Now select the Flow Builder and click on the Create new Flow.

create new flow
Figure 25 - Create new Flow

Choose Create Custom Flow

custom flow
Figure 26 - Custom Flow

In the Set up new Flow menu specify the Flow name and the SMS trigger.

configure new flow
Figure 27 - Setup new flow

Then select your phone number and drag the HTTP Request under the SMS.

add http request
Figure 28 - Add HTTP Request

In the HTTP Request select the POST Method and paste the URL from the Ozeki 10. Finally click on the Save and Publish.

set up http request
Figure 29 - Set up HTTP Request

You can find the URL on the Advanced tab's Receive section.

callback url
Figure 30 - Callback URL

After the Publish you can see the new Flow in the Flow builder.

flow created
Figure 31 - Flow created

Send a Test Message to this number and you will see the message received in Ozeki 10.

test message received
Figure 32 - Test message received

Send texts using the C# SMS API through MessageBird

Automatic sms services run significantly better than human personal. Because of this fact most organizations choose to build automated sms solutions. Ozeki's C# SMS API offers an outstanding tool to achieve this goal. This C# api is great because it can also send texts through high performance sms protocols, such as SMPP,UCP or CIMD2. These protocols are used by mobile network operators to exchange sms between each other. By implementing this single API, you can reach many SMS services or GSM telephone networks with a single code base.

How to send text messages from an SQL database server through MessageBird

If you wish to Send sms from a database server, you can use the database connection offered by your SMS Gateway. To send and receive sms, Microsoft SQL Server, SQL Express, Access, MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB or any other ODBC/SQL compliant SQL database server can be used. The procedure is easy: you need to create two database tables: ozekimessagin and ozekimessageout.

The ozekimessageout table is going to be used for sending sms and the other, the ozekimessagein table shall be used to store incoming sms. To send a text, all you have to do is use an SQL INSERT command to create an SQL entry in the ozekimessageout table. Ozeki 10 will automatically SELECT the sms and it will deliver it to the recipient. During the delivery procedure it will update the status field and timestamp fields in the database to inform you when the SMS was sent from your system, when was it received by the mobile user and if an error occured, why wasn't it delivered.

Save texts into an SQL database
Figure 7 - Store sms in a database

This solution is useful, because it allows you to use custom queries and take advantage of SQL triggers and stored procedures. Another benefit is that most business applications are database driver, so it makes sense to use the database for SMS as well.

Send SMS from C# through MessageBird
Figure 33 - Send SMS from C# through MessageBird

Send email to sms from MessageBird

If you setup MessageBird, you can provide an email to sms and sms to email service to office users. Any email client that can send an email to a specially formatted e-mail address will be able to send sms. The email address format is phonenumber@hostname. An e-mail address could look like this: 079763000@email.domain.com. It is also possible to put the mobile number into the email subject. In both cases the email body will be forwarded as the sms to the specified phone number.

More information