How to set up a multi-line Remote Agent

A single Remote agent record in VICIdial can represent more than one phone line. When you set Number of Lines above 1, VICIdial creates multiple entry slots under one configuration record and treats the destination as capable of receiving that many concurrent calls. This is what makes Remote agent entries useful for outbound auto-dial broadcast runs, survey Campaigns, and hunt groups — without requiring you to manually create a VICIdial user account for every line.

Before you start: plan your user ID range

Multi-line remote agents consume a block of user IDs. If your User ID Start is 300 and you want 4 lines, VICIdial will use IDs 300, 301, 302, and 303. You need to make sure none of those IDs are already taken by real VICIdial user accounts or by another remote agent. Check the existing user list and the Remote Agents list before picking your starting ID. A clean practice is to reserve a dedicated numeric range — say, 900–999 — for all your remote-agent entries so they never clash with regular Agent accounts.

For the underlying theory of how multi-line remote agents work, see VICIdial Remote Agents explained.

Step-by-step setup

1. Create the base VICIdial user account. Go to Admin → Users → Add User. Set the user ID to your chosen starting number (for example, 300). If this user will log in via the vdremote.php remote web page, set user level to 4 or higher. You do NOT create separate accounts for IDs 301, 302, 303.
2. Add the remote agent record. Go to Admin → Remote Agents → Add New Remote Agent. Set User ID Start to 300. Set Number of Lines to however many concurrent calls you need (4 in this example). Set External Extension to the destination number in full Dialplan format. Assign it to the correct Campaign.
3. Verify digits-only fields. User ID Start, Number of Lines, and External Extension must be digits only. Any other character will cause the form to reject the submission.
4. Set Status to ACTIVE. Once you save with Status = ACTIVE, VICIdial inserts the line entries and the slots appear in the real-time Campaign screen as R/300, R/301, R/302, R/303.
5. Test with a real call. Dial the External Extension number from a phone on the dialer first, before activating the remote agent in production. A routing problem at this stage is much easier to diagnose than one discovered mid-campaign.

Setup flow

flowchart TD
  A[Plan user ID range
e.g. 300–303] --> B[Create VICIdial user
ID 300, level 4+]
  B --> C[Add Remote Agent record
User ID Start=300
Lines=4
Extension=full dialplan number]
  C --> D{Digits-only
validation passes?}
  D -- No --> E[Fix fields and resubmit]
  D -- Yes --> F{User ID range
overlaps existing RA?}
  F -- Yes --> G[Choose a different
User ID Start]
  F -- No --> H[Set Status = ACTIVE]
  H --> I[R/300, R/301, R/302, R/303
appear in real-time screen]

Recording and API access on multi-line setups

Call recording on a multi-line remote agent works the same as on a single-line one: set Campaign Recording to ALLFORCE and enable recording on the base user's profile page. Recording applies to all lines. The Agent API and ra_call_control interfaces can address each R/ slot individually for hangup, transfer, or Disposition assignment. For a comparison of when to use a multi-line remote agent versus a standard agent setup, see remote agent vs standard agent. If you'd rather run VICIdial on fully managed infrastructure without worrying about this configuration layer, check our pricing page.