VoIP to TDM options

Sangoma-Asterisk Configuration

This topic describes how to install and configure a Sangoma A108e board with AsteriskNOW. AsteriskNOW is a CentOS Linux distribution with Asterisk, DAHDi driver framework and web-based FreePBX administration UI.

When you have your server with Sangoma A108e card installed:

  1. Download the AsteriskNOW ISO
  2. Burn it to CD, and install using this guide
  3. Update your installation, by issuing yum update from root console. You will have the latest versions of software (but will probably be installing Sangoma drivers from source, which is more complicated).
  4. Install Sangoma drivers using this guide
  5. Open the FreePBX UI in a browser: http://<asterisk-server-ip>/admin. The default username is freepbx, password is fpbx
  6. Click on DAHDI and configure your card according to your needs.

The following links provide further information on configuring the available options:

Topic Link
Connecting Asterisk to ISDN - basic options voice.yeti.dk
Asterisk: ISDN PRI support with a Sangoma A108 PCI Express card on Debian Lenny www.rjsystems.nl
Asterisk 1.6 CLI command reference www.voip-info.org - CLI
pridialplan & prilocaldialplan options explanation markmail.org
Asterisk PRI www.voip-info.org - PRI
If your reports are not working www.freepbx.org

First, let's see if we have an active interface configured. w1g1 is the name of the interface:

# ifconfig w1g1
w1g1 Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol
UP POINTOPOINT RUNNING NOARP MTU:8 Metric:1
RX packets:32678 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:1 frame:1
TX packets:32678 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:1 carrier:17
collisions:0 txqueuelen:100
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
Interrupt:169 Memory:ffffc200102c0000-ffffc200102c1fff
# _

There should be a number of RX and TX packets. If not, the board may not be set up properly.

# wanrouter status
Devices currently active: wanpipe1
Wanpipe Config:
Device name | Protocol Map | Adapter | IRQ | Slot/IO | If's | CLK | Baud rate |
wanpipe1 | N/A | A101/1D/A102/2D/4/4D/8| 169 | 4 | 1 | N/A | 0 |
Wanrouter Status:
Device name | Protocol | Station | Status |
wanpipe1 | AFT TE1 | N/A | Connected |
# _

Device Status should be Connected.

Read T1/ E1 alarms using Wanpipe Hardware Level Debugging Utility:

# wanpipemon -i w1g1 -c Ta
***** w1g1: E1 Rx Alarms (Framer) *****
ALOS: OFF | LOS: OFF
RED: OFF | AIS: OFF
LOF: OFF | RAI: OFF
***** w1g1: E1 Rx Alarms (LIU) *****
Short Circuit: OFF
Open Circuit: OFF
Loss of Signal: OFF
***** w1g1: E1 Tx Alarms *****
AIS: OFF | YEL: OFF
***** w1g1: E1 Performance Monitoring Counters *****
Line Code Violation : 385
Far End Block Errors : 0
CRC4 Errors : 1
FAS Errors : 0
Rx Level : > -2.5db
# _

Here we see that

  • there are no alarms
  • Line Code Violation number is small (it should not increase).

List all channels in /proc/dahdi:

# cat /proc/dahdi/*
Span 1: WPE1/0 "wanpipe1 card 0" (MASTER) HDB3/CCS/CRC
1 WPE1/0/1 Clear (In use) (SWEC: MG2)
2 WPE1/0/2 Clear (In use) (SWEC: MG2)
3 WPE1/0/3 Clear (In use) (SWEC: MG2)
4 WPE1/0/4 Clear (In use) (SWEC: MG2)
5 WPE1/0/5 Clear (In use) (SWEC: MG2)
6 WPE1/0/6 Clear (In use) (SWEC: MG2)
7 WPE1/0/7 Clear (In use) (SWEC: MG2)
8 WPE1/0/8 Clear (In use) (SWEC: MG2)
9 WPE1/0/9 Clear (In use) (SWEC: MG2)
10 WPE1/0/10 Clear (In use) (SWEC: MG2)
11 WPE1/0/11 Clear (In use) (SWEC: MG2)
12 WPE1/0/12 Clear (In use) (SWEC: MG2)
13 WPE1/0/13 Clear (In use) (SWEC: MG2)
14 WPE1/0/14 Clear (In use) (SWEC: MG2)
15 WPE1/0/15 Clear (In use) (SWEC: MG2)
16 WPE1/0/16 Hardware-assisted HDLC (In use)
17 WPE1/0/17 Clear (In use) (SWEC: MG2)
18 WPE1/0/18 Clear (In use) (SWEC: MG2)
19 WPE1/0/19 Clear (In use) (SWEC: MG2)
20 WPE1/0/20 Clear (In use) (SWEC: MG2)
21 WPE1/0/21 Clear (In use) (SWEC: MG2)
22 WPE1/0/22 Clear (In use) (SWEC: MG2)
23 WPE1/0/23 Clear (In use) (SWEC: MG2)
24 WPE1/0/24 Clear (In use) (SWEC: MG2)
25 WPE1/0/25 Clear (In use) (SWEC: MG2)
26 WPE1/0/26 Clear (In use) (SWEC: MG2)
27 WPE1/0/27 Clear (In use) (SWEC: MG2)
28 WPE1/0/28 Clear (In use) (SWEC: MG2)
29 WPE1/0/29 Clear (In use) (SWEC: MG2)
30 WPE1/0/30 Clear (In use) (SWEC: MG2)
31 WPE1/0/31 Clear (In use) (SWEC: MG2)
# _

This is a single PRI span with 31 channels. The spans are named WPE1, WPE2 etc. The boards are numbered 0, 1, 2 etc.

# asterisk -r
Asterisk 1.6.2.19, Copyright (C) 1999 - 2010 Digium, Inc. and others.
Created by Mark Spencer <markster@digium.com>
Asterisk comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; type 'core show warranty' for details.
This is free software, with components licensed under the GNU General Public License version 2 and other licenses; you are welcome to redistribute it under certain conditions. Type 'core show license' for details.
=========================================================================
Connected to Asterisk 1.6.2.19 currently running on asterisk (pid = 3517)
Verbosity is at least 10
asterisk*CLI>

asterisk*CLI> dahdi show status
Description Alarms IRQ bpviol CRC4 Fra Codi Options LBO
wanpipe1 card 0 OK 0 0 0 CCS HDB3 CRC4 0 db (CSU)/0-133 feet (DSX-1)

asterisk*CLI> dahdi show channels

  Chan Extension Context        Language   MOH Interpret   Blocked State
pseudo           default                   default         In Service
     1           from-internal             default         In Service
     2           from-internal             default         In Service
     3           from-internal             default         In Service
     4           from-internal             default         In Service
     5           from-internal             default         In Service
     6           from-internal             default         In Service
     7           from-internal             default         In Service
     8           from-internal             default         In Service
     9           from-internal             default         In Service
    10           from-internal             default         In Service
    11           from-internal             default         In Service
    12           from-internal             default         In Service
    13           from-internal             default         In Service
    14           from-internal             default         In Service
    15           from-internal             default         In Service
    16           from-internal             default         In Service
    17           from-internal             default         In Service
    18           from-internal             default         In Service
    19           from-internal             default         In Service
    20           from-internal             default         In Service
    21           from-internal             default         In Service
    22           from-internal             default         In Service
    23           from-internal             default         In Service
    24           from-internal             default         In Service
    25           from-internal             default         In Service
    26           from-internal             default         In Service
    27           from-internal             default         In Service
    28           from-internal             default         In Service
    29           from-internal             default         In Service
    30           from-internal             default         In Service
    31           from-internal             default         In Service

asterisk*CLI> dahdi show channel 1
Channel: 1
File Descriptor: 15
Span: 1
Extension:
Dialing: no
Context: from-internal
Caller ID:
Calling TON: 0
Caller ID name:
Mailbox: none
Destroy: 0
InAlarm: 0
Signalling Type: ISDN PRI
Radio: 0
Owner: <None>
Real: <None>
Callwait: <None>
Threeway: <None>
Confno: -1
Propagated Conference: -1
Real in conference: 0
DSP: no
Busy Detection: no
TDD: no
Relax DTMF: yes
Dialing/CallwaitCAS: 0/0
Default law: alaw
Fax Handled: no
Pulse phone: no
DND: no
Echo Cancellation: 128 taps currently OFF
Wait for dialtone: 0ms
PRI Flags:
PRI Logical Span: Implicit
Hookstate (FXS only): Onhook