Re: Hylafax without modems - SIP?

just a few comments from a hw perspective....
"I've just had to replace my Hylafax server as the cooling fan in the rack
case
has died and could not be replaced."

I find this very very odd.  There should be absolutely no reason why the
fan itself cannot be replaced, or the fan(s) assembly itself cannot be
replaced.  It may take a little time to search out a workable replacement.
At most, a little creative metal bending & removal may be required.

"USB to seral converter (new box doesn't have any COM ports.
9pin->25-pin serial cable"
"With the new server this isn't a option as I'm using a Raspberry Pi micro
computer"

You have overly constrained the problem by choosing a PI (why would you
ever do that? you spent $50 to save $300 and you spent more than $300 in
time/energy trying to "fix a problem" that followed from a poor choice of
hardware). A more direct solution would be to use a SFF PC or a 1U blade
populated with 2/4/6 line serial RS232 PCIe/PCI cards.  The modems plug
directly into the PC and you eliminate the serial/usb cables (which, IMHO,
are troublesome hacks because most of them are not done correctly-but that
is another story).

Good luck
J




On Wed, Jan 27, 2016 at 4:44 AM, Gary Stainburn <
[email protected]> wrote:

>  Content preview:  Hi Lee, Thanks for the reply. My comments are in-line
> On Wednesday
>     27 January 2016 01:14:35 Lee Howard wrote: > > I have never used USB
> modems
>     much with HylaFAX. Certainly I have never > used USB-to-serial
> adapters.
>    So... I may not have the perspective that > you need. > > Also, I do
> work
>    for Mainpine, and so my opinions are undoubtedly biased > because I
> have in-depth
>     experience with Mainpine's product. > > Why not use a 4-port internal
> PCIe/PCI
>     multi-port fax board like the IQ > Express? That will eliminate all of
> those
>     cables and power adapters. [...]
>
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> X-forward-disable: yes
>
> Hi Lee,
>
> Thanks for the reply.  My comments are in-line
>
> On Wednesday 27 January 2016 01:14:35 Lee Howard wrote:
> >
> > I have never used USB modems much with HylaFAX.  Certainly I have never
> > used USB-to-serial adapters.  So... I may not have the perspective that
> > you need.
> >
> > Also, I do work for Mainpine, and so my opinions are undoubtedly biased
> > because I have in-depth experience with Mainpine's product.
> >
> > Why not use a 4-port internal PCIe/PCI multi-port fax board like the IQ
> > Express?  That will eliminate all of those cables and power adapters.
>
> Many moons ago when I was building my first fax server, I considered
> multi-port cards although at the time I think I just looked at multi-port
> serial cards.
>
> With the new server this isn't a option as I'm using a Raspberry Pi micro
> computer
>
>
> http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/processor-microcontroller-development-kits/8326274/
>
> These are single board ARM based Debian derived linux boxes.
>
> >
> > > I've done lots of Googling and there is a lot of conflicting - and
> mostly
> > > very old - information out there.
> >
> > Yet, it's probably all quite accurate, still.
> >
> > > Does anyone have any more up-to-date opinions or advice on doing this?
> >
> > Your message body doesn't say VoIP/SIP, but the subject line does. So, I
> > am guessing that this question (and possibly those above it) were with
> > VoIP/SIP in mind.
>
> Although I was thinking about SIP I am open to any suggestions that would
> work.  Ideally, as the Mitel PBX controller is just a Windows based PC and
> the fax server is just a linux based PC, a software only solution would be
> the preferred option.
>
> >
> > > Most of the concerns about reliability were based on IP latency, but my
> > > fax server and my Mitel controller are both on the same Procurv Gigabit
> > > switch so hopefully that would be quick enough
> >
> > SIP is generally operated on UDP.  UDP allows the routers/switches to
> > drop packets at-will.  That can happen without respect to latency.
> >
> > While latency may be an issue if it's bad-enough most VoIP trouble that
> > I've seen has to do with dropped/missing packets.
> >
> > Your comments don't describe your infrastructure well, and so it's
> > difficult to determine if you're using a VoIP service provider for
> > access to the PSTN or if your equipment interfaces with the PSTN
> > directly.  If it's the latter then you have the ability to control much
> > more of the call path and possibly mitigate some of that packet loss.
>
> I have three Mitel 3300 controllers, one at each of my main sites, and all
> 3
> set up for resilience. Sorry I don't know too much about the internals of
> Mitel kit to give too much technical details.
>
> Each controller is connected to an ISDN30 which handles 99% of all incoming
> and outgoing calls.  I have a small number of PSTN lines for hisorical
> reasons and RedCare alarm lines etc.  These PSTN lines will of course have
> to
> stay with modems.
>
> Each site has a Linux box with modems etc. as described in my original
> post.
> For logistics reasons all Linux boxes are in the same cabinets as the Mitel
> controllers.  I have 150ish Mitel 5312 handsets which of course use VOIP
> and
> they work without issues 99% of the time.  The 1% we have are usually by
> WAN
> issues.
>
> >
> > See:  http://hylafax.sourceforge.net/docs/fax-over-voip.pdf
> >
>
> I'll give this a look.
>
> Lots of sites seem to refer to using Asterisk VOIP PBX software, and using
> iaxmodem.  Is this something I should be investigating, or would this just
> muddy the waters?
>
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Lee.
>
> Thanks again for your help Lee
>
>
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