FYI all trixbox CE users

Just to give everyone a heads up from the Rhino’s mouth. Rhino products are proud to continually work with trixbox CE and future trixbox distributions. We also take great pride in our customers and realize that the more information that is posted the better informed we all are. That is why we take it very seriously to keep our customers informed of any ongoing issues with our hardware and distributions that we recommend.

The following issue has been popping up all over so please be aware of what you are installing at all times.

Please note that if you do a yum update for any of the following systems we cannot support your system until the system has been completely restored to factory settings.

trixbox CE 2.2

trixbox CE 2.2.1

trixbox CE 2.2.2

trixbox CE 2.2.3

trixbox CE 2.2.4

trixbox CE 2.2.5

trixbox CE 2.2.6

trixbox CE 2.2.7

trixbox CE 2.2.8

trixbox CE 2.2.9

This includes any future releases on the trixbox CE 2.2.x branch

This is due to errors in the trixbox repositories and this leads to corruption to your trixbox system.

The repositories for the upcoming trixbox 2.4 will be updated from what our trixbox sources have said, but for the trixbox 2.2.x repository this is not something that they can currently fix.

If you are seeing HDLC and FCS aborts in your logs. This is could be due to one of the following reasons:

1:

Make sure that your T1/E1 cards are at the following revisions and have the apropriate drivers installed on your system.

R1T1 -EC and Non-EC models must be at Hardware version 37 or above

R2T1 and R4T1 must be at Hardware version 36 or above

Driver revision must be at 2.0 and above.

If the above criteria is not met then you may see the aborts in your logs.

2:

If you are using CentOS4 and are using SATA drives you may see this issue.

You must use a kernel greater than 2.6.9.

By upgrading to an asterisk distribution with an updated kernel such as CentOS5 will alleviate these issues.

Please try one of the following systems:

Elastix

trixbox CE 2.4 (Beta for Cent 5)

RhinOSterisk (Alpha)

We have just released a new set of Drivers. Driver package rhino-2.2.1

You can get the latest and greatest Rhino Drivers today from the following location:

ftp://ftp.rhinoequipment.com/Drivers/rhino-current.

NOTE: If you are using Rhino Digital PCI cards that were purchased prior to 10/15/07 you MUST

upgrade your hardware revision. To do this please read the blog listed bellow, or contact

Rhino technical support for assistance.

https://support.rhinoequipment.com/blog/2007/09/14/r4t1-ec-hardware-upgrade/

The basic principle is that we need set E1 mode at the driver level. There are no jumpers or any other physical changes that need to be made for Rhino OST PCI Digital Cards to work in E1 mode. Everything is done at the driver level.

1) Install the Digital PCI card into your server

If you are unclear on how to install your PCI card into your server please see the following documentation:

ftp://ftp.rhinoequipment.com/Documentation

2) Install the Rhino drivers

trixbox CE users please use an updated package that is located at ftp://ftp.rhinoequipment.com/Drivers/RPMS/trixbox/

All other distrobutions please use the package located at ftp://ftp.rhinoequipment.com/Drivers/Beta/rhino-2.2.1beta2.tbz2

3) Either insmod or modprobe with E1

NOTE: Make sure that the r1t1 or rxt1 drivers are not loaded when trying to switch to E1

insmod /lib/module/`uname -r`/extra/r1t1.ko e1=1

or you should be able to just modprobe with the settings

modprobe r1t1 e1=1

Generally you will need to have the modprobe r1t1 e1=1 in whatever file that you set to call the module on system start up.

If you are using an r1t1 then use:

modprobe r1t1 e1=1

For an r2t1 or r4t1 use:

modprobe rxt1 e1=15

4) Next, make sure that you now have 31 channels on your zaptel span

cat /proc/zaptel/*

5) Configuring of the card is now necassary, lets edit /etc/zaptel.conf

NOTE: This is just a generic view of what the zaptel.conf should look like

span=1,1,0,ccr,hdb3,crc4

(NOTE- the framing is dependent on what your carrier uses Rhino has no knowledge of what you should be specifically using for your telephony system)

bchan=1-15,17-31

dchan= 16

6) Now configure /etc/asterisk/zapata.conf or zapata-auto.conf or you may even be using zapata-channels.conf

signalling=pri_cpe

context=from-zaptel

channel=>1-15,17-31

7) Now define your trunks and dialing routes and test.

If you are still experiencing difficulties please contact Rhino Support immediately and we will get you setup right away!

As of last testing we have observed the following issues. This list is as of 10/23/2007. Please note user experience may vary and some of these issues may have been resolved in later builds and only apply to the versions listed.

trixbox CE

2.2.3 - genzaptelconfig does not recognize our cards.

2.2.x> the 2.6.9 kernel does not properly implement apic and has poor IRQ managemen. Use of multiple high interrupt devices like Digital Cards in combination with each other, extra network devices or RAID will cause interrupt issues and instability.

2.2.4 Zaptel does not install. You can run yum -y install zaptel-*

Digital cards shipped after 10/05/2007 require a new driver use the 2.2.1 package in the beta directory of our ftp. If you recieved a digital card in a ceros this update has been made.

Zaptel version 1.4.2.1 Does not build correctly. This seems isolated to this version

Some Qwest and Ameritech lines are not sending voltages across correctly. This issue may also occur in other AT&T regions. This issue can be overcome by upgrading your rcbfx firmware to 1.11.

Rhinosterisk 70021008-0917may not have an extensions.conf. You can correct this by rerunning install_amp

Some netgear routers will randomly reboot with qos and vlan enabled causing SIP delays.

The trunk version of genzaptelcon does not work with rhino cards, However genzaptelconf can be adjusted to work with any card. (more…)

Be part of the next big thing… well sorta…… (more…)

You may wish to open some or all of the ports on your firewall depending on your situation. Some routers do not allow allot of pinholes and may crash or reboot repeatedly, if this occurs contact your router maker for updated firmware. You do not need to open all of these ports only the ones you use. There are 2 types of firewalls, software and hardware. You may have to open these ports and properly forward them in all devices and programs. Many situations have 1 or more hardware firewalls and a software firewall. If after opening these ports you still have issues try placing your system in to the DMZ of the firewall and see if the issue resolves. It is recommended to open only the ports needed as opening to0 many could put you at risk of attack.

For more information on Port Forwarding please visit the following URL:

http://www.portforward.com/english/routers/port_forwarding/routerindex.htm

If your telco does not provide far end disconnect supervision or if they just dont do it well you may need to “fake” supervision in order for your lines to disconnect properly. You may fake supervision by adding a few lines to your zapata.conf .

Add the following to your /etc/asterisk/zapata.conf

callprogress=yes
busydetect=yes


After doing this restart asterisk. There may still be a disconnect delay but it will be reduced.

It has been brought to our attention that the scripts that do the registration pop-up and the package manager login can be finicky and still give you issues weather you have registered or not. There are ways to remove these annoyances. Fonality probably has a reason to collect the information so a standard disclaimer, only use this information for good and only as a last resort.

(more…)